The Vourdalak is a Vampire Folktale of Tragedy and Death

I had stumbled upon The Vourdalak by accident while I was scrolling through Shudder, and I was in shock with how brutal this film was. We follow the story of a family who is caught in the throes of a vampire, and each of them suffer in different ways by his hands. 

Every single death is hard to watch, knowing that these people are family to one another. A stranger who stumbles upon this family is forced to watch so much death happen throughout the film, and he slowly becomes more brave against this monster. 

And the major problem, is that the monster is someone the family is quite close to. 

The film follows the story of a man who is allowed to take refuge in the home of a strange family he finds in the woods.

French Marquis Jacques Saturnin du Antonine loses his horse and is robbed. He meets a stranger named Piotr, who leads him to his family for refuge, that belongs to a man named Gorcha. Jacques meets the rest of the family, that consists of many family members. The oldest son of Gorcha named Jegor had been fighting off an army that had attacked the village. 

Gorcha on the other hand, did not return back home. 

He had told his family that if he had not returned, he would have become a vourdalak, which means vampire. Jacques later meets Jegor's wife, and his child as well, that he deems to be sort of strange, but he is just grateful for safety. Then he meets a woman named Sdenka, who is the sister of Jegor and Piotr. 

He attempts to seduce her, telling her about his life in the French Court, but she decides to mess with him, pretending that he is going to fall off a cliff. Sdenka then drops a bombshell, telling Jacques that she had fallen in love before, but someone had learned of her lover, and as punishment, she wasn't allowed to get married. Her lover had been killed once she was wanting to flee with him. 

Then after Jacques gets to know about the family members, he meets Gorcha, who is looking quite strange. 

Gorcha is obviously revealed to be a vampire.

Gorcha creeps out the majority of the family members, and while Piotr and Sdenka become a bit wary of him, Jegor and his family are happy to see that he is back. Jacques freaks out when Gorcha forces Piotr to kill his dog, once he becomes annoyed with his barking. Gorcha then reveals the head of the leader of the army that Jegor and Gorcha were fighting, claiming that he is now dead, and the village has been avenged. 

What makes the reveal so freaking cool, is that Gorcha is the only character in the movie who is not played by a person. Gorcha is a puppet, and even though it does look fake in some scenes, the puppet also looks so unnatural. I think the intention of the puppet was to let the audience know that this thing is not human, and it's so impressive that this idea actually worked for the film. 

Later that night, Jacques wakes up from a horrible nightmare, and he finds out that Jegor's son is now unwell, and Gorcha has gone missing. The next night, Jacques attempts to confront Gorcha, trying to protect the boy, but he gets shoved against a tree, and knocks out. Gorcha feasts on the boy, drinking his blood. 

The next morning, Jacques wakes up in the woods, and finds out a dark truth. Jegor's son is now dead. Piotr and Sdenka are both aware that the boy is now a vampire, and will come back if Jegor does not stake him. Gorcha interrupts Jegor, and Piotr tries to attack him, but he runs away in tears when Gorcha mocks him for his implied sexuality. 

He then reveals to Jacques that he was the one who killed Sdenka's lover, coming off incredibly creepy to his own daughter. 

Things only continue to get so much worse for the family.

Gorcha makes Jacques and Sdenka dance together in front of him inside of the home, while Jegor's wife goes along with creating a beat for the duo as she laughs in shock over her son's death. After the dance is done, Piotr suddenly bursts in the house, preparing to challenge Gorcha. He is suddenly killed by Gorcha, leaving Sdenka in shock. 

Jacques is then beaten by Jegor and brought to the basement to be tied up. He witnesses Jegor's wife get beaten by her son, who is now risen from the dead as a vampire. Sdenka goes to Jacques later that night, telling him that the only reason why she was able to stay with her family, was knowing that Piotr was by her side, the only brother she deeply cared for. 

She is planning to end her life by throwing herself off the cliff, and she leaves Jacques. The next morning, Jegor unties Jacques, and has a horse ready for him, telling him he must leave. His wife is also there to say goodbye, and she is now a vampire. Jacques storms off on his horse to search for Sdenka. He cannot find her, and with an ounce of courage, he goes back to the house to rescue her. 

She seduces him instead, and the two of them have a night together, but a horrible twist occurs during their moment. 

Jacques realizes he is actually with Gorcha.

Jacques panics, and realizes that he has also been bitten. He stakes Gorcha, and runs into the house. He finds the rest of the family in the dining room, and Jegor has now lost his mind. He is now a vampire himself, with his vampire family, and the corpses of Piotr and his dog around the table. 

Jacques runs away from the family, and goes back to Gorcha. He sets the house on fire, knowing it's the only way to end this curse once and for all. He runs away from the house as the family inside is screaming in pain, and he stumbles upon Sdenka standing at the edge of the cliff. 

He convinces her to not end her life, and he tells her that she should be the one to have a good life, because she deserves it. Jacques gives up his horse and map to the Court to her, thanks her for their friendship, and he ends his own life, to prevent himself from becoming a vampire. 

Sdenka leaves, and it is revealed that she also is now a vampire. The film ends with a quick summary that she was taken in by a French duchess. 

This film is so just so sad. I was not expecting the film to take such a dark tone, the buildup was amazing, and I felt so sorry for the entire family. I was not expecting to like the main character either, because he came off like a spoiled jerk in the beginning of the film. 

Once he saw what was happening to the family, I realized he did have a heart. I was in shock that he had the guts to end his life, but I think his adoration for Sdenka was the only thing that kept him going. 

What's even worse, is poor Jacques had no idea about Sdenka becoming a vampire, and she will possibly spread the curse wherever she goes. 

---

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn