Film Review: The Brides of Sodom (2013)

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SYNOPSIS:

Set in a post apocalyptic world where vampires named for Greek gods, and witches rule. It is a classic vampire story with some real twists: The plot centers around a male vampire named Eros who falls in love with a human named Samuel. Eros wants to “save” Samuel and make him a vampire, but Eros evil vampire lover, Dionysus has other ideas. Matters are complicated by Eros’ sister/lover, Persephone, an ambiguous Bookkeeper and three witches, who know secrets of the universe and The Laws Of Eternity.A deep tale of decadence,erotica and Major stylized horror themes,shot around surreal and post apocalyptic sets on one hand and lavish,dark Gothic atmospheres on the other.

REVIEW:

The vampire genera has split over the last couple of decades, you still have the scary vampire movies (Lost Boys, Salem’s Lot) but now more and more recently there has been an influx of romance vampire movies, and Brides of Sodom is the latter. It has everything that you could hope for in a love story; love triangles, betrayal, conspiring, becoming an outcast, incest, and lots of man on man vampire love. Yes, this movie walks the line between vampire movie and soft core gay p*rn.

The plot is simplistic and yet somewhat complex and well written, it’s almost (and heaven save me for saying this) Shakespearean in its own way. The love triangles and betrayals are almost similar to plots out of Macbeth, Romero and Juliet, and Hamlet

The movie opens with some really creepy music as heads on pikes move past the camera; this opening sets a mood for a completely different movie that you won’t be seeing. Once the credits are finished rolling we are greeted with a monologue that tells the story of the end of the world. Vampires have taken over the world and only a handful of humans are left alive.

Then we are in the vampire’s palace as they feed on a small band of humans, all except one. We are then introduced to most of the cast that the movie revolves around. The surviving human is Samuel (Domiziano Arcangeli); he is saved from being eaten by a vampire named Eros (David Taylor). For some reason Eros feels a strong connection with Samuel and asks the leader of the vampire clan, Dyonisus (Dylan Vox) if he may keep Samuel for his self. Dyonisus suspiciously allows this, even though Eros sister and lover, Persephone (Rachel Zeskind) begs him to not allow the human to live amongst them.

 

We then are transferred to the last human outpost, where, what looks to be the last group of human survivors, are planning their rescue plan for the group that was just abducted by the vampires. This, of course, includes Samuel how is the brother of one of the surviving members, Dominic. But did the vampires really take Samuel or did he willingly go with them and why?

As we get a chance to ponder on that question, we are returned once again to the vampire palace where Samuel and Eros are trying to understand one another and the different cultures that separate them. Samuel is taken to see Dionysus; while Persephone tries to persuade her brother to just kill the human and let things go back to normal. Well, Dyonisus has his way with Samuel and things will never go back to being the same.

When Samuel is allowed to return to Eros chambers, he tells him about everything that happened and they decide to leave the clan and make it on their own. Now this news is very upsetting to Persephone, who only wants her brother to stay with her, and also Dyonisus, who has now also fallen in love with Samuel and wants him all for himself.

I know the plot doesn’t sound too convoluted, but it just goes over the top form here, the humans set up an alliance with Persephone to get back Samuel, Samuel is turned into a vampire by Eros so their love can last forever, Dyonisus has Eros killed, and Persephone and Samuel team up to steal a book to resurrect a witch to bring Eros back from the dead.

Are all these plot lines needed for a movie that is basically about a vampire and human who fall in love with each other? No, but I can’t say that I saw it all coming. Just when you think the movie is going one way, it goes the opposite, when you don’t think two people would every help each other out, they end up doing just that.

The one thing that I wondered throughout the movie was do the names that they give the characters embody the trait of their Greek god that they are named after? Let’s start with Eros; he was the Greek god of love, and that is truly what the character in the movie was, his love was desired by both Samuel and his sister. Next we have Persephone; she was the Greek goddess of the harvest, but was also the goddess of the underworld, and you can easily make the case that if she would have let Eros and Samuel go that there would have been a lot less bloodshed and death. Now lastly we have Dyonisus; this is the only name that the spelling had been changed for whatever reason, but he is the god of wine, parties, and madness, and is the other central character in the destruction of Samuel and Eros’ relationship, through backstabbing and treachery.

What else can I say about this movie, I can say that I wasn’t into the movie so much for the characters, but more for the way it was written. The plot twist do make it fun to follow (I really could have done without all the visual romance scenes). So, if you like erotic vampire movies, with more drama and romance then action, then this might be one that you want to check out.