Therapy for a Vampire (Movie Review)

With horror fans already flying high on the strength and quality of What We Do in the Shadows it's safe to say no one would turn their nose up to another vampire comedy. With that being said, it's entirely possible that audiences might become a little pickier with subsequent attempts at the genre. Therapy for a Vampire steps in with a completely different approach that's perhaps just as fresh, but even less mainstream. 

Brace yourself for some uber German names. Set in the 1930's Count Geza von Közsnöm (Tobias Moretti) is a vampire who has become bored with afterlife. He no longer feeds on the living and instead sips from a flask of blood fetched by his assistant- plus he's bored with his wife, Countess Elsa von Közsnöm (Jeanette Hain). While seeking psychological help from Dr. Sigmund Freud (Karl Fischer) he captures a glimpse of a painting done by Freud's assistant, Viktor (Dominic Oley). The painting is striking similar to his long lost love, but is actually of Viktor's girlfriend, Lucy (Cornelia Ivancan). Geza becomes fixated on Lucy and decides that he will make her his by any means necessary. 

A plot point running parallel to Geza's quest for Lucy is Elsa's quest to see her reflection once again. Being a vampire, Elsa cannot just look in a mirror, so over the years she's hired artists to paint her and none have been up to the task. So Geza enlists Viktor for selfish reasons- to spend some alone time with Lucy. This plays out as the heart of the film, making the title just a little misleading. Letting Geza work out his issues on Freud's couch could have squeezed a little bit more of the comedy from the premise as opposed to some of the quirky or sometimes Three Stooges-esque comedic style that takes over. 

David Rühm does however have some fun with the typical vampire clichés including some clever tricks in regards to why a painter cannot capture Elsa's beauty. Where the film falter's though is the very bizarre showdowns between Geza and Elsa and sloppy vampire effects that come with them. Where some of the obvious wire-fu effects of What We Do in the Shadows became charming to a degree, here they are just clearly technical flaw and not a part of the joke. Really though, these end up not being fights so much as it's like watching two black cats hissing at each other. 

It's easy to see a more sure handed director getting a hold of this idea and turning it into something a little more viable. As is, Therapy for a Vampire for all it does well is at least a worthwhile vampire comedy with flaws tangled up in what's a well intentioned, but sometimes misguided comedic style. 

Note: Screened as part of the 2015 Fantasia Film Festival.