Victorians & Vampires: A Mock-Historical Quest

Critic Reviews

In a filmic landscape littered with banal attempts at reviving historical epics, 'Victorians & Vampires: A Mock-Historical Quest' presents itself as a lampooning sortie into the depths of cinematic pretension. Oh, how director Ang Leemur aims to blend the starched collars of Victorian sobriety with the bloodthirsty allure of mythical monsters, and yet delivers a contraption that is as anemic as the vampires it parodies. Star Mackerel-een O'Herring is as inappropriately named as she is naïvely cast, traversing a storyline that dabbles in cultural appropriation with the finesse of a chainsaw carving fine art. Her counterpart, Geraldine Sparrow, brings a semblance of grit to the escapade, but her struggle against ennui-inducing creatures provides no real peril to anyone but the audience's waning attention span. The mockumentary style cynically narrated could have slashed through the history with insightful wit, but instead we find it aping the comedic efforts of greater parodies that came before it. Lest we forget the preposterous Meringue Davies, whose aviation escapades are as overdone as the meringue namesake—peaks too stiff to chew through. A PG rating ensures that the gore is as nonexistent as the alleged danger, and the levity is as forced as a chuckle in a morgue. The film scores points for the aesthetic alone, presenting a semblance of lush visuals one might truly desire to sink their teeth into. In its favor, 'Victorians & Vampires' does prompt audiences to question the veracity of history, yet its reluctant score reflects its inability to fully engage with its own material.