Based on Aleksey Tolstoy’s 1839 short story The Family Of The Vourdalak — you may remember that tale being made as part of Black Sabbath and the movie Viy — director and writer Santiago Fernández Calvete’s (The Exorcism of God, The Second Death) Sangre Vurdalak — retitled A Taste of Blood for U.S. audiences — this movie retells the tale of a vampire hunter named Aguirre (Germán Palacios) who has returned home in the moments between day and night to his locked-up family, unsure if he’s been turned into a vampire himself.

The family dynamics between his daughter Natalia (Alfonsina Carrocio), his son  Manuel (Lautaro Bettoni), wife Eva (Naiara Awada), youngest daughter Malena (Carmela Merediz) and Natalia’s boyfriend Alexis (Tomás Carullo Luzzio) form the basis of this film, as they debate whether to let Aguirre into the home, as some are convinced that he has become a vourdalak, others believe he’s still human and we’re left to believe that outside of the supernatural, the patriarch of this family may have always been a monster.

It’s brave to try and make a story that Bava made so well, but this film moves the story to modern times, add guns and cars, yet ends up none the worse for it. It’s got some great tension and ends up standing quite well on its own.

A Taste of Blood is available on VOD and blu ray from Cleopatra Entertainment.