I have been finding a lot of great horror films on Shudder. I just watched the best vampire film in years. I’d say it’s as good as the Swedish film, Let the Right One In. Sometimes, a monster is just a lost soul looking for love.
All the Moons
Directed by Igor Legarreta and starring Itziar Ituno, Haizea Carneros, Josean Bengoetxea, Lier Quesada, and Zorion Equileor, All the Moons is a haunting film that takes place during the Spanish Civil War, specifically the Third Carlist War in 1876. Bombs are going off near an orphanage, and the nuns herd the children into the church for safety. One little girl wanders away from the group to look at a painting of an angel when a bomb leaves everyone dead in the church, and the little girl is seriously injured.
The girl (Haizea Carneros) sees a hooded figure making its way towards her, and she asks the woman if she is an angel. The mysterious woman (Itziar Ituno) takes the child home, but since the child is near death, the woman offers a solution for survival. She offers the child a bowl containing a dark liquid. The woman warns the child that she is to avoid the sun.
The girl, an orphan, now has a mother’s love, while the woman fusses over and protects the girl from harm. Other vampires make their camps close to the battle grounds. They feed on the dying soldiers. One night, the camp is attacked by soldiers, and during the melee, the girl is separated from Mother. Ten long years pass as the child hides out in a cave where she learns to survive, and after many painful experiments, learns to exist in the sunlight. She is lonely and eventually leaves the cave and wanders onto the farm of a widowed cheese farmer named Candido (Josean Bengoetxea). Candido takes her in as his own child and names her Amaia, after the daughter that he lost to disease. Will the townspeople recognize that Amaia is not human? Will the priest call for her death?
Conclusion
Vampire films, by tradition, should be horror stories, but Igor Legarreta has given us a horror story wrapped in a beautiful bow of sights, sounds and feelings. After years of watching vampire films, I witnessed all aspects of the genre from Bela Lugosi’s Dracula to Ann Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. I even tolerated the Twilight franchise version of sparkling vampires…but none of them left me emotionally and spiritually moved as did the sympathetic depiction of Igor Legarreta’s Amaia. All the Moons is a story of loss and hope.
You can watch All the Moons on AMC’s Shudder. Please watch this film. I’d hate for you to miss this beautiful fairy tale