Lost in a hostile forest, the Marquis d’Urfé, a noble emissary of the King of France, finds refuge in the home of a strange family. A film by Adrien Beau, starring Kacey Mottet Klein, Ariane Labed, Grégoire Colin, Vassili Schneider, Claire Duburcq, Gabriel Pavie, and Erwan Ribard.

In the middle of the night, a man knocks on a villager’s door. Claiming he has been robbed by a group of barbarians who killed his escort, and stole his luggage and horses. The villager dismisses him, asserting they won’t open the door to anyone. He suggests the man find shelter tonight, and tomorrow morning he should take the path to the west until he comes across the home of old Gorcha. Gorcha will provide him with food and a horse for his trip. The villager also warns the man to keep moving, as the forest is full of many other dangers.

The next morning, the man ventures west on a path through the forest as he was told. He encounters a mysterious woman singing in the forest. Admiring her silently, he steps on a dry twig, the snap echoing through the trees. The woman turns toward him before vanishing into the woods.

The man continues on the path and encounters a domestic dog. He follows the dog, which leads him to its owner. Initially thinking the dog’s owner is a woman, he introduces himself as Marquis Jacques-Antoine Saturnin d’Urfé (Kacey Mottet Klein), Diplomatic Envoy of the King of France. Upon realizing the owner is a young man, he apologizes for his misunderstanding and explains that he is lost and searching for the home of old Gorcha. Reluctantly, the young man leads the Marquis to his house.

Jegor (Grégoire Colin) returns home to find a stranger in the house. The man introduces himself as Marquis and explains his unfortunate incident: he lost his escort and luggage, and was told that a certain Gorcha might be able to provide a horse for him to continue his journey. He promises rich compensation for anyone who helps him. Jegor informs Marquis that he’s in old Gorcha’s home and that they are all Gorcha’s children. He introduces himself as the eldest son, then presents his wife Anja (Claire Duburcq) and their son Vlad (Gabriel Pavie), his younger brother Piotr (Vassili Schneider), and his younger sister Sdenka (Ariane Labed) — whom Marquis had seen singing in the forest earlier. Despite Anja mentioning that the Turks had taken all their horses, Jegor assures Marquis that he will find a horse for him by tomorrow.

Jegor reveals that their village was pillaged by the Turks over a month ago. He then joined the survivors in the region to hunt down the Turks. They managed to track the Turks and took their revenge, killing a dozen of them. But the Turks’ leader, the infamous Alibek, escaped.

When Jegor learns that Gorcha is missing, he becomes infuriated at his brother and sister for letting their aging and ill father leave the house. He threatens Piotr, demanding to know where their father went and what he said before leaving. Suddenly, Sdenka begins to speak Gorcha’s cryptic message that was left before he went on a mission to fight the Turks.

In Gorcha’s message, he informs his children that he has decided to leave. He instructs them to wait for him for six days. If he hasn’t come back at the end of six days, it means he has been killed in action. However, Gorcha’s message also warns that if he does come back after six days, his children must not let him inside the house no matter what he says or does, because he would no longer be their father, as he would become a cursed Vourdalak.

A Vourdalak is a type of vampire in Slavic folklore, particularly associated with Russian and Ukrainian legends. A person typically becomes a Vourdalak if they die while hunting vampires or if they’re bitten by one. They often appear as they did in life, making it difficult for loved ones to recognize the danger they pose. Unlike some other vampire myths, a Vourdalak is a person who returns from the dead and preys specifically on family members and close friends. This makes them particularly tragic and terrifying figures in folklore.

To everyone’s shock, Jegor finds Gorcha lying near the house on the end of the 6th day. Despite Piotr and Sdenka’s attempts to stop him, believing it’s no longer their father, Jegor dismisses their superstitious concerns, he carries Gorcha and helps him sit at the dining table. There, Gorcha takes out the severed head of the infamous Alibek. He instructs his children to hang the head over the door so everyone will know the Turks are gone, their leader vanquished by Gorcha’s hand.

Directed by French filmmaker Adrien Beau in his directorial debut, “Le Vourdalak” is a horror drama with vampire elements that proves oddly satisfying. Beau co-wrote the screenplay with Hadrien Bouvier, basing it on the 1883 gothic novella “La Famille du Vourdalak. Fragment inédit des Mémoires d’un inconnu,” written in French by Russian author Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy.

Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (Алексе́й Константи́нович Толсто́й ) was a prominent Russian poet, novelist, and playwright of the 19th century. He was a distant relative of the famous novelist Leo Tolstoy. La Famille du Vourdalak, written in 1839 when he was just 22 years old, is considered a significant early work in the development of vampire fiction. It was one of the first major vampire stories written in French, predating Sheridan Le Fanu’s influential Carmilla by several decades. While not as famous as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Tolstoy’s La Famille du Vourdalak was an important early contribution to the vampire genre, helping establish key tropes and vocabulary that would influence many later works. Its combination of folklore, atmosphere, and character-driven horror made it a significant precursor to the vampire stories that followed. A.K. Tolstoy is considered Russia’s most important 19th century historical dramatist, known for his dramatic trilogy about Ivan the Terrible and the Time of Troubles: The Death of Ivan the Terrible (1866), Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich (1868), and Tsar Boris (1870).

Visually, “Le Vourdalak” is a feast for horror fans who appreciate the macabre. The Super 16mm format creates a sense of raw, almost documentary-like realism, achieving a vintage aesthetic reminiscent of 1970s European horror films. Cinematographer David Chizallet captures the gloomy, unsettling mood of the gothic setting. Dimly lit interiors and stark landscapes are punctuated by sudden bursts of violence, depicted with a startling rawness that lingers long after the scene fades.

The filmmaker’s decision to use a life-size marionette puppet to portray the patriarch Gorcha, instead of a real actor, is an intriguing artistic choice. The puppet gives the film a unique and haunting look, with uncanny movements that might not be achievable through makeup and CGI. This choice makes Gorcha one of the most memorable vampiric villains in recent years.

Le Vourdalak premiered at Biennale di Venezia on 2 September 2023. The film was theatrically released in France on 25 October.