The Barcelona Vampiress (Catalan: La vampira de Barcelona) is a 2020 Spanish historical thriller film directed by Lluís Danés which stars Nora Navas as the title character and Roger Casamajor alongside Bruna Cusí, Francesc Orella, Sergi López, Mario Gas, and Núria Prims. It is shot in Catalan.
Contents
Plot
Set in 1912 Barcelona, the plot concerns about the endeavours of morphine-addicted journalist Sebastià Comas to unravel the truth about the kidnappings and killings of children scapegoated by the police to Enriqueta Martí, nicknamed as the "Vampire of the Raval".
Production
The screenplay was penned by Maria Jaén and Lluís A. Martínez. The film is a Brutal Media and Filmax production, with the participation of TVC.
Release
The film was presented at the 53rd Sitges Film Festival in October 2020. Distributed by Filmax, the film was theatrically released in Spain on 4 December 2020.
Reception
Javier Ocaña of El País deemed the film to be "an ambitious, sometimes grandiloquent work, which always comes to fruition with courage and singularity" when retelling the events of 1912, managing to portray a country's moral mystery.
Toni Vall of Cinemanía rated the film 2½ out of 5 stars, pointing out that the cast was "uneven", featuring "a solvent but not brilliant [male] lead", with Danés otherwise rather pulling his best in the representation of the setting (El Raval).