Toronto After Dark 2009 – Strigoi

The Strigoi is a concept that comes from Romanian mythology and is the unrestful soul of a person that has risen from the grave. Generally divided into two categories strigoi vii, or living vampires, and strigoi morti, or dead vampires. Either dead or living, strigoi are said to suck the vitality out of a person, institution or community, either by actually drinking its blood or simply by being a drain. The film Strigoi has brilliantly mixed this mythology together with a modern day setting, creating a synthesis of the old and the new. It is a film in the horror and vampire genres that has no equal and it truly, genuinely amazing.

Strigoi is the story of a young man called Vlad who had returned to his grandfather’s home in Romania from a trip to Italy unexpectedly. When Vlad returns he finds the people of his village to be acting very strangely. After discovering that a local man has died under suspicious circumstances without an investigation into his death, he begins to investigate himself. Discovering that his name has been fraudulently signed to the man’s death certificate he finds himself drawn into a conspiracy that shakes the beliefs and values of the village and delves into a history that he did not know existed.

This is a film that is rich in so many things. It is rich in culture. It is rich in story. It is rich in lore. It is rich in people. Watching it is like eating the most delicious, filling, phenomenal meal of your life. You gobble it up and feel satisfied, but it still leaves you wanting more, even as your pants are getting too tight. Writer-director Faye Jackson has created a movie that is both very British and very Romanian at the same time. Pulling together tidbit of history and marrying them with a very smart script the film has a way of drawing you in slowly and gently before you even realize how invested you really are.

The production design on this film was spectacular. Everything from the music to the costumes to the makeup and effects was seamless. Jackson attempted to find music that was reflective of the time but also fit the story. Her depiction of the village and its people – and Romania in general – is so very tender it can only have come from someone with an excellent understanding of the people she was portraying. She manages to create a movie that has additional layers for the viewer depending on their knowledge of Romania. You can watch the movie with no knowledge of Romania’s history and it creates its own little encapsulated world, or you can watch it with knowledge and see beyond the world she has so carefully created to the truth that lies just beneath.

Don’t let anyone make similes to other films or filmmakers with Strigoi in a better attempt to explain it to you. It is a movie that is certainly unique and stands a lone in its genre. It is, like all truly great horror, a movie about people and what happens when they’re put into unusual circumstances, not simply another mindless genre movie about kills. I was honoured to see its world premiere and I believe that Strigoi has a brilliant future ahead. Significant congratulations go to Faye Jackson and producer Ray Muraru. This is a job very well done.

Toronto After Dark runs from August 14 to 21, 2009 at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto. Click here for our coverage.

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