B-Horror and Gay Porn in Eulogy for a Vampire

A A A Comments By Andrew Schenker Tuesday, Oct 20 2009

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Eulogy for a Vampire
Directed by Patrick McGuinn
Opens October 23, Quad Cinema

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"I didn't know monks had boyfriends . . . or smoked," says one of the handsome young things in Eulogy for a Vampire. They do both in Patrick McGuinn's film, but it's hardly as glamorous as all that. Attempting a marriage of gay porn and operatic B-horror, Eulogy abounds in scarred flesh, ripped bloodlines, and vampire rituals—or at least its last 15 minutes do. Until then, this tale of guilt, lust, and vengeance in a rural monastery is a frustratingly tame affair, more notable for its sloppy construction and slipshod plotting than any of the hot-blooded thrills we'd expect from either side of the genre mash-up. Buried somewhere in the overly elaborate narrative—which details the 25-year legacy of a crime of passion—is some kind of statement about the consequences of sexual repression, but a vivid set-piece in which a priest lustily bullwhips a row of young "sodomites" notwithstanding, the film is too unfocused to register a consistent theme or attitude. Despite the occasional keeper of an image—a trio of hooded creatures ravaging a naked man, a priest rubbing his face in a used pair of tighty-whiteys—and a few tasteful displays of soft-core coupling, this is one gay vampire film that's surprisingly anemic.

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