Eternal

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Cast & Crew

Conrad Pla

Raymond Pope

Caroline Néron

Elizabeth Kane

Victoria Sanchez

Irina

Nicholas Baillie

Dean Cusack

John Dunn-Hill

Inspector Thurzo

Sarah Manninen

Wildcat

Liane Balaban

Lisa

Yves Corbeil

Captain Gérard

Ilona Elkin

Nancy Cusack

Kathleen Munroe

Connie

Johanna Nutter

Rita Pope

Romano Orzari

Detective Angie Manning

Wilhelm Liebenberg

Director

Federico Sanchez

Director

Wilhelm Liebenberg

Writer

Federico Sanchez

Writer

Tommaso Calevi

Producer

Ronald Gilbert

Line Producer

Wilhelm Liebenberg

Producer

Bruce Robertson

Executive Producer

Federico Sanchez

Producer

Jamie Thompson

Cinematographer

Isabelle Lévesque

Film Editing

Elisabetta Giacomelli

Casting

Aldo Tirelli

Casting

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Critic Reviews for Eternal

Audience Reviews for Eternal

• Jan 18, 2011

  <I>Eternal</I> is a decent thriller, but not innovative enough that I can recommend it to demanding horror aficionados, or to anyone other than a cadre of die-hard Elizabeth Bathory and vampire fans. <B><I>ETERNAL</I> (2004)</B> Canada WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: Wilhelm Liebenberg and Federico Sanchez FEATURING: Conrad Pla, Caroline Néron, Victoria Sanchez, Sarah Manninen, Ilona Elkin, John Dunn-Hill, Yves Corbeil, Ted Rusoff, and Nick Baillie GENRE: <B>OCCULT-THRILLER / MYSTERY</B> TAGS: Horror / Occult / Crime lesbianism, vampirism, ritual murder, lesbian rape <B>PLOT: When a Montreal police detective's wife mysteriously disappears, he tracks her final moments through an erotic Internet chat site and winds up in over his head on the trail of a murderous occultist.</B> COMMENTS: When Detective Raymond Pope's (Pla) wife Jessica (Manninen) vanishes, he makes the disturbing find that she led a double life when he traces her activities on a lurid lesbian website. Jessica met a stranger for kinky sex and was never seen again. When Pope determines that her liaison was with an enigmatic heiress named Elizabeth Kane (Néron) and her sexy personal <I>Renfield</I>, Irina (Sanchez), Pope's investigation of Kane's recreational quirks leads to an unraveling of his personal life and exposure of his own extracurricular activities. Worse, bodies start to pile up faster than you can say, "deliver me from evil." The corpses are the victims of salacious, violent sex crimes, and Pope's (ahem) <I>DNA</I> shall we say is somehow all over the cadavers. Pope is blamed for adultery with his partner's now murdered wife, and a Vatican detective pays Pope a visit with a veiled warning about Elizabeth. Pope's quest to locate his wife, exonerate himself of the sex murders, and uncover Elizabeth's secrets leads him on a high-stakes mission to Venice. There he discovers that Elizabeth and Irina are into some twisted weirdness that is way, way out of his league. The Erzsébet Báthori (Elizabeth Bathory) legend is revived in this cross-genre vampire hunter thriller with shadings of <I>Eyes Wide Shut</I> (1999), <I>Caligula</I> (uncut: 1979), <I>The Hellfire Club</I> (1961)</I>, and <I>Baba Yaga</I>(1973). Sadly, <I>Eternal</I> does not meet the quality of the aforementioned films, though it certainly has its colorful moments. The film somehow lacks the sort of tension that its suspenseful plot points should build, and while creepy, falls short of being really scary. Pope is regrettably, a walking collection of detective movie stereotypes, whose every action is a cliché, and whose every other word starts with 'F.' As an example, after a scholarly bookseller eloquently recounts the amazing true history of Countess Báthori, a mug-faced Pope responds banally, "That's one f**K of a story!" Quite. Néron is marginally adequate in her performance as Erzsébet Báthori incarnate in the modern world, but crude and sleazy, she is about as well cast for the role as would be Ricardo Montalban, physically unequipped to replicate the 17th Century Countess's reputed beauty, femininity, poise, sinister quirkiness and capacity for abject rage. The dialogue that Liebenberg and Sanchez scripted for her is more befitting of bar talk uttered by nouveau riche housewives on an episode of the "reality" show, <I>The Hills</I>, than the measured prose of a modern incarnation of the multi-lingual, classically educated, centuries-old aristocrat whom she portrays. The most photogenic character is Kane's minion Irina, nicely embodied by the coy and pretty Victoria Sanchez, who is no Ingrid Bergman, but who has the screen presence to carry the role of a scheming, alluring, upstart occultist toady. Character actors Yves Corbeil, Ted Rusoff deliver the only interesting performances as the Vatican agent and the literary curator respectively, but their screen time is limited to a few minutes. To its credit, <I>Eternal</I> sports a great look and feel. Striking architectural shots, historic Italian venues, Venetian canals, location Renaissance interiors, along with Baroque masquerade costumes, all filmed in a semi-neo noir style, present a commanding visual signature. All of this is not enough to salvage the film however, which fails to deliver twists, surprises, squirmy chills, or imaginative supernatural or occult revelations. The story is adequate, but not creative enough to do justice to it's stylish, chromatic production design. Instead it relies heavily on the voyeurism and sensationalism of strong lesbian themes, lesbian rape, necrophilia, ceremonial blood-letting, nudity and sex. Not that these are elements one can't enjoy, but they require a stronger context to justify their use, otherwise they become gimmicks and plot substitutes. <I>Eternal</I> is however, the first film I am aware of which takes its cue from Erzsébet Báthori and relates the historical facts about the 17th Century Hungarian countess with absolute historical accuracy, notwithstanding the miscasting of the lead. Despite its authenticity though, the picture shies away from depicting the full range of the legendary serial killer's flamboyant perversions, focusing only on the most salient highlights of her twisted debauchery in a contemporary, almost sanitary context. <I>Eternal's</I> plot is more or less fresh for a vampire hunter movie, combining mystery, occult and crime suspense. "Cinephiles" will want to avoid it nevertheless, as will jaded, thinking horror fans. Vampire lovers, and Erzsébet Báthori enthusiasts however will find <I>Eternal</I> to be a worthwhile change of pace from the glut of blood-sucker tales that has recently washed over the media channels in a sanguine tide of predictable mediocrity. <div style="width:120px;font-size:10px;text-align:center;"></div><a href="http://www.flixster.com/videos?videoId=11150245"><img src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/T80gmoQaCSE/0.jpg" border="0" /></a><div style="font-size:10px;width:120px;text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"><I>Eternal</I></a> - trailer</div>
  

  Super Reviewer
• May 05, 2007

  This movie must be Canadian because it keeps reappearing on TV. It is a combo vampire, renegade cop, soft porn and horror film.
  

  Super Reviewer