Therapy for a Vampire

2014 [GERMAN]

Comedy / Horror

Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 59% · 30 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 59% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.3/10 10 1159 1.2K

Plot summary

Horror comedy film following vampire count Geza von Kösznöm who's visiting groundbreaking neurologist Sigund Freud because he's bored of his life and frustrated of the "eternally long" relationship with his wife Elsa.

Director

David Rühm Photo
David Rühm

Top cast

David Bennent Photo
David Bennent as Radul
Anatole Taubman Photo
Anatole Taubman as Ignaz, der Einbrecher
Tobias Moretti Photo
Tobias Moretti as Graf Geza von Közsnöm
Jeanette Hain Photo
Jeanette Hain as Gräfin Elsa von Közsnöm
720p.BluRay
776.78 MB
1280*690
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
25 fps
1 hr 24 min
Seeds ...

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by 7 / 10

Amusing Vampire Comedy

If Woody Allen had tackled the classic vampire theme, just past his prime, it might have played out something like this. The script has some sharp dialog and witty word play which is done justice by some good actors who know how to have fun with their lines while still playing it straight for the most part. The film wisely chooses to keep broad comedy at a minimum while loading on the 1930s atmosphere. Not a classic but quite enjoyable for what it is. If you liked Love At First Bite you should find this entertaining.
Reviewed by 6 / 10

Analyze this, Sigmund!

From personal experience I know there's only one thing worse than zombie comedies, and that's vampire comedies! I vividly remember how much I hated painfully embarrassing films like "Love at First Bite" or "Vampire in Brooklyn", and even the almighty Mel Brooks failed to bring a smile on my face with his parody "Dracula: Dead and Loving it". Therefore I wasn't really planning to watch "Therapy for a Vampire" when it played at the Fantastic Film Festival in my country, but since I had nothing better to do I went to see it anyways. I'm very glad I did, in fact, as this Austrian/Swiss co-production turned out an incredibly pleasant surprise. Writer/director David Rühm was present at the festival to introduce his film, and that probably also helped me to appreciate the film even more, because he's a really amiable person and more than obviously a hard-working guy. This is Rühm's first film in 17 years and he explained that he needed this time primarily to gather funds and raise money for this ambitious project. The humor in "Therapy for a Vampire" is almost constant and often very sharp, but it never becomes vulgar or tasteless, and the film never turns into slapstick neither. The basic plot is quite inventive and David Rühm's explanation on how he thought up the idea makes perfect sense. Since they are immortal and forced to live only at night, it must be very difficult for vampires not to get depressed, especially since they cannot even stop and look at themselves in the mirror for a moment of reflection. This is what happens to Count Geza Von Kösznöm in Vienna in the year 1932. He seeks the help of the acclaimed psychiatrist Dr. Sigmund Freud because he's bored with his life and tired of his wife Elsa's nagging that she can't admire her own beauty in the mirror. Freud suggests that his assistant Viktor could paint Elsa's portrait, but then Count Von Kösznöm spots Viktor's girlfriend Lucy and sees in her the reincarnation of his muse Nadilla whom he lost centuries ago. The Counts wants Lucy to become his new bride, but how do you get rid of an immortal wife? Apart from an inventive script and surefooted direction, "Therapy for a Vampire" also benefices from delightful costumes, set-pieces and … gore! The make-up effects are delightfully old-fashioned and even the special effects that are generated with the help of computers and modern techniques are admirable. The gimmick of making the world-famous psychiatrist pioneer Sigmund Freud a lead character was a brilliant idea of Mr. Rühm, and there are several more truly original comedy sequences, like for example the vampire lady walking around tipsy after having killed two drunken sailors ("Their blood was full of schnapps!") or Lucy accidentally falling in love with the Count's hideous sidekick Oscar when under hypnosis. "Therapy for a Vampire" isn't the type of film that will make an everlasting impression, or one that will show up in the lists of best genre films of the year, but it's a more than enjoyable horror/comedy and certainly worth an hour and a half of your time!
Reviewed by 7 / 10

Translating well(?)

Some things are not translating well and I'm not sure how this will play with audiences who're not familiar with the German/Austrian language. It can be a lot of fun, if you get into the mood. It's slapstick, but it's also a lot of wordplay. I don't think it gets too silly, but it's not like it's high class humor.The acting is spot on, especially because everything is played straight, the characters are not comical or sketchy in a one dimensional way. They have character and they have issues. And all that put together produce situations that become great comedy. Watching it with company elevates the whole thing of course, and you shouldn't have an aversion towards horror movies (on the contrary you should have an open mind towards them)
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