

The Viennese Vampire comedy THERAPY FOR A VAMPIRE (Der Vampir auf der Couch) by director/author David Ruehm is like the famous alpine Republic Austria herself: Charming, playful, witty … and a little darkish around the dungeons. The film starts in a moonlit night in Vienna 1932, as a burglar tries to steal valuables left in the garden of a very gothic castle. Not a good idea. Said castle is inhabited by Vampires, but – immortality and superpowers aside – your average Vampire can be stricken by decidedly human depression, as is Count Geza von Kösznöm. “I hate my wife” he tells Sigmund Freud in one of his nocturnal sessions at the famous psychotherapist’s. Nothing special for Herr Professor. “Do you have a mistress?” Freud asks … and gives Count Geza a brilliant idea: What if his byzantine maker Nadila has reincarnated in Lucy, a young and headstrong woman? Maybe he can turn Lucy and feed her boyfriend to his attention greedy Vampire wife? If you ever wondered, how Vampires cope without a reflection – in a mirror or in a beloved’s eyes – you have to see this movie. It has premiered at the Zurich Film Festival and will see its next screening at the Korea Film Festival
Haha! Depressed vampires eh? Sounds interesting but didn’t that also show a bit in Interview with a vampire? That was my first thought when I read about this one, here of course.
Depression seems to be a common trait in Vampires, yes … unless they are Eric Northman 😉 This Austrian Vampire also features a quite common compulsive disorder of Vampires: he must count stuff … so in the movie his wife keeps him occupied by spilling a ton of dried peas in the castle