Saturday is Horror Day #186 - The Invitation

 The Invitation

If it looks too good to be true, it probably is...

Evie (Nathalie Emmanuel) has recently lost her mother to cancer, and her father long before that. Although she is a strong woman, she misses what she no longer has, although she has a wonderful friend in Grace (Courtney Taylor). They do what they must to survive, even if their employer is less than stellar or humane.

Evie takes a DNA test, and to her surprise discovers that she has a number of relatives in England. Her 

cousin Oliver (Hugh Skinner) reaches out to her and wants to meet up with her when he is in New York. Grace is skeptical, but Evie is thrilled. Turns out he is very charming and handsome and loaded. He tells her of an upcoming family wedding and invites her to attend... on his dime. Reluctant at first, Evie agrees, and it's off to England for her, Grace's well-meaning advice ringing in her ears:

Oliver takes her to the estate where they will be staying for the wedding, owned by the charming Walt DeVille (Thomas Doherty). He is even more handsome and charming than Oliver - with the added bonus of not being a relative. The place is complete with servants, including butler Renfield (Sean Pertwee) who is something less than cordial due to an incident on her arrival, but he changes his tune when he learns who she is. The maids of honor are Victoria (Stephanie Corneliussen) and Lucy (Alana Boden). The former is a bit of a bee with an itch but the latter is rather sweet and friendly. Evie even gets her own maid, an older woman, Mrs. Swift (Carol Ann Crawford).

Renfield tells Evie she can go anywhere in the house except the library, which is locked due to renovations.  But, although everyone is welcoming to her and clearly happy she is there, Evie begins to experience strange events which make her question the wisdom of being there. And she has questions. Such as where are the bride and groom, as they are nowhere in evidence. And as she begins to understand what is going on, she may be in too far to do anything about it.

Without giving any spoilers, if you are familiar with a certain horror story, you may catch on early what is happening here. And I don't consider that a bad thing. In fact it was fun to try to figure out what was going on.  All I will say is Whitby and Carfax. Whether you recognize those clues or not, it's an interesting story about a young woman trying to connect with relatives, to be part of a family, who gets more than she bargained for. I am a huge fan of this particular horror fandom, so I enjoyed it. Evie is a pretty interesting and strong heroine, growing more so as the movie goes on. By the end of the film, I would say she is certainly badass. I wish they would make a sequel. I would surely watch it. There are other horror tropes to explore, such as werewolves. I mean, wolves are mentioned in the film, but not a werewolf in sight, more's the pity.

I thought the cast did a great job, the evil people were sufficiently evil, especially Victoria and Renfield (I love Sean Pertwee, btw). I was never bored and really enjoyed watching this. I'll give this film 4 Stars.

Wednesday Briefs: Dracula #29(6.6)

 Good morning and Happy Hump Day! If it's Wednesday, then it must be time for more flash fiction from the Wednesday Briefers! We're a group of authors who bring you our finest flash fiction every week, 500 to 1000 words, inspired by one of our prompts.

Dracula awakens to find Andrei has put the boat ashore to attend to business of his own. So what does he want to do? Take a walk? See what's going on in this week's chapter of Dracula. Don't forget to see what the other Briefers are up to. Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!

Dracula #29(6.6)

“I do not hunger,” Nico replied.

Well, that answered that question, at least for the moment. But that was still a situation Avram intended to monitor. For Nico’s sake, as well as his own.

After a time, Dracula straightened, perhaps tired of staring at himself, although Avram would have sworn that would never happen. He began to pace the length of the boat, as he’d done before, in the space beneath the church floor, his expensive black Venetian boots thudding heavily against the wooden deck. At least there was more room for him to walk here, although Avram didn’t think Nico would appreciate that fact as he hated confinement of any kind. He assumed that’s why he didn’t spend his days resting in a coffin as other vampires were said to do. But that was hearsay, of course. He had no personal knowledge of any other vampires and had no wish to meet any should they actually exist. If he hadn’t already been aware of Dracula’s nature, he would denounce vampire stories as mere superstition. Local legends meant to frighten the young and the foolish. But he knew only too well now that at least some of the stories were real. Vampires truly walked the earth. And common sense insisted that if there was one, then there must be others for Dracula was surely not the only one. Which led him to wonder which other old wives’ tales had their roots in reality. Maybe he should ask Nico…

He was drawn abruptly out of his reverie by the sound of Nico’s imperious command of, “Come!” He glanced up, startled. But before he had a chance to respond, the vampire strode to the side of the boat nearest to the shore. As Avram watched, he leapt onto the land in a graceful arc that would have been the envy of any ballerina before turning expectantly toward Avram.

What does he want to do now?

Avram shook his head.  “Meshuggeneh,” he muttered under his breath, but he followed nonetheless.  What else was there to do? Not possessed of the vampire’s impressive athletic ability, however, Avram couldn’t just vault onto the shore. He eased himself over the side and waded through the shallow water in which Andrei had drawn up the boat. Luckily, it came no higher than his knees. He jumped in surprise when his path was bisected by a small gray snake that swiftly skimmed across the surface of the river. Just a grass snake, he realized. Nothing to get excited about. His cheeks heated, as he chose to ignore Nico’s snicker of amusement.

He pulled himself out of the river and onto dry land, rejoining his employer. “And we’re doing this why?” He leaned down and wrung out the bottom of his pants legs.

“Exercise” was the ridiculous reply.

Avram narrowed his eyes at Dracula. “Excuse me?”

Dracula’s bland expression gave nothing away. “Exercise. Do you need me to tell you what the word means, Avram? I would have thought you’d have heard of it before.” Not waiting for a reply, the vampire pivoted, turning his steps toward the tree line.

Avram sighed and followed. “Where are you even going? We can’t go very far or Andrei will leave without us.” He eyed the wild grass carefully for any  distant relatives of the water snake that might be lurking there, trying to match his stride to Nico’s. He started to add that Nico might get his clothes dirty if he continued in this vein, but then realized he probably didn’t care as he didn’t want to wear those things to begin with.

Nico slowed his pace, allowing Avram to catch up just as they reached a narrow dirt road, probably the same route Andrei had taken. “He will not leave without us,” the vampire said with great confidence.

“How can you be so sure?” Avram argued, more from habit than because he believed what he was saying. Therefore he was not surprised when at the vampire’s reply

“Because I am sure.”

 to be continued

Now go see what's up with the other Briefers!

Cia Nordwell

J Ray Lamb