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Released by: MVD Visual
Released on: November 19th, 2013.
Director: Naoki Yoshimoto
Cast: Ayumi Kakizawa, Masaya Adachi, Ko Murobushi, Mutsuko Yoshinaga
Year: 2008
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The Movie:
Directed by Naoki Yoshimoto in 2008 and presumably made for peanuts, Sanguivorous is an odd fifty-six minute long experimental film that relies more on strange visuals than anything related to actual storytelling. Though the packaging notes that this is a silent film, some narration gets us up to speed and sets up what little story there is.
A young woman (Ayumi Kakizawa) is suffering some strange ailments. When she prays, blood comes out of her body and her behavior is becoming increasingly erratic. Her boyfriend tells her of an old legend that revolves around a boat that washed ashore hundreds of years ago containing a coffin that was transported from Romania. When he finishes his story, she feels the urge for blood and at this point, is drawn into the inner circle of a vampire cult that would like her to offer up her boyfriend as a blood sacrifice.
A decidedly bizarre mix of silent film style visuals and surrealist color tweaking and heavy camera filtering, Sanguivorous is interesting enough even if it doesn't always work. It was meant to be seen more as an art piece than a narrative film, so if you keep that in mind before sitting down with it you'll likely take away more of an appreciation for the picture than if you were to pop it into your DVD player expecting something more conventional. The story is weak, there's really no way to sugar coat that. It's disjointed and was obviously not the focus of the picture nor a sticking point for Naoki Yoshimoto when he made it. Some of the visuals are pretty cool though, and taken on that level, there's some interesting compositions and wild use of primary hues to build mood and atmosphere.
The performances aren't anything to write home about but Ayumi Kakizawa is quite fetching and has a decent screen presence. She uses her body language in effective ways throughout the picture and if nothing else she's interesting to watch. The man who plays the older vampire character is also fairly eerie and odd enough to look at that he's an intriguing part of the movie. The movie does, intentionally or not, make an interesting statement about mankind's tendency to push back the primal side of things and about how it may or may not be better to let that which lies in waiting inside of us free to explore.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Sanguivorous looks like the low budget shot on video production that it is, so while the image is free of any damage (it was shot on what looks to be consumer grade DV) there are some issues with compression artifacts and contrast. On top of that, the movie is… weird looking. Intentionally, mind you, but weird looking. Detail varies from scene to scene and much of the picture is filtered to give it a sort of surreal quality. It's an odd looking film but you get the impression that the transfer on this DVD at least replicates it accurately.
There isn't a whole lot of dialogue in the movie but there are a few snippets here and there. The Japanese language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track gets the job done well enough and the English subtitles that accompany the dialogue when it actually occurs are easy enough to read and free of typos. This is not a particularly deep or enveloping mix, but it works.
Extras include a quick nine-minute long making of featurette that's worth checking out and a short film entitled nowhere made by the same director. The featurette lets the director talk about what he was going for with this picture and why he wound up making it in the style he ultimatey used. It does lend some insight into the intent behind the picture and is worth watching to gian a better understanding of what exactly he was doing here. Menus and chapter stops are also included.
The Final Word:
Sanguivorous doesn't have a whole lot going in terms of its narrative but it's definitely got a whole lot of weird visual to look at. It's atmospheric and interesting enough that, if you're in the right frame of mind, it makes for a trippy experience. It might not be something you'll need to watch over and over again but as weird vampire related art projects go, you could do worse.
