[MOVIE SUMMARY] "Pure Blood" (2002)
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seen the movie and/or would like a summary for personal use.
Contains spoilers.
2002
PURE BLOOD
Cast
The General ............ Marius Weyers
Eugene ................... Danny Keogh
Young Gertrude ........... Amanda Lane
Fanus .................... Carl Beukes
Old Gertrude ..... Aletta Bezuidenhout
Dr Martin ................ Joss Levine
Sally ................. Jennifer Steyn
Becky ................. Emily McArthur
Hope ...................... Nomsa Nene
Craig .................. Chris Vorster
Comments
Troma distributed this film, which is a clue that it is either
(1) disgusting or (2) original. "Pureblood" falls into the latter
category. There is some blood (always a given in a vampire movie),
but blood and gore are not the focus. However, this South African
movie may be difficult for non-South Africans to understand unless
they are familiar with the South African public mindset at the time
that the movie was made. In the 1980s, South Africans were fighting
apartheid (abolished in 1991) and there were a lot of political
factions plotting to maintain their power after the heat died down.
To understand this movie, think in terms of one of those groups (the
vampires) trying to assure themselves a place in South Africa's
future.
Summary
History: The General, in trying to maintain his pure vampire
bloodline, attempted to impregnate two females. The first woman, who
bore him a son named Eugene, revealed just before his birth that she
was not a virgin, so the General decided to try again. The second
time, the General made sure to choose a virgin, a young girl named
Gertrude and locked her in the house for the entirety of her
pregnancy. Gertrude's son, Fanus, is to be the instrument for
continuing the General's pure bloodline.
Years later. The General is dead, and Fanus, now a constable in the
General's private police force, returns home one day to find Eugene
in his living room. To a stunned Fanus, Eugene introduces himself as
Fanus' brother, them both having the same father. Gertrude does not
dispute, so Fanus accepts Eugene into the household. Eugene moves in
with them, against Gertrude's wishes, because Eugene and Gertrude
were lovers at some point in the past. They both harbor ill feelings
toward the General and they both would like nothing more than to get
their revenge.
It has come time for Gertrude and Fanus to start baking the
cakes that they routinely donate to charity. While looking for red
food coloring in the cabinet, Fanus finds a bottle labeled "Blood of
Sacrifice". Gertrude is aghast and fears that the General has found a
way to come back from the dead and is using Eugene to do it, but
Eugene denies it, although he has started to wear the General's old
uniform. He opens the bottle of "Blood of Sacrifice" and dips his
finger into it. Suddenly his finger starts to burn. Eugene smashes
the bottle of blood, and the General suddenly appears. He orders
Eugene to inject Fanus with his blood and then to bring Fanus to him.
He wants to give Fanus eternal life.
After making a dozen or more cakes, Gertrude goes to lie down.
Dr Martin and his wife Sally arrive to pick up the cakes, but the
icing has yet to go on them. Fanus goes to wake up Gertrude and finds
her lying dead in a pool of blood, having committed suicide by
cutting her wrists. Rather than inject the General's blood into
Fanus, Eugene injects it into Gertrude. Believing his mother to be
dead, Fanus is given two weeks compassionate leave. On his way home,
he again runs into Becky, a girl he met several days ago when he saw
her ceremoniously raising the Australian flag on the grounds of the
Pasop Quality Security Service, so they introduced themselves to each
other. Becky invites him to join her for a drink after she gets off
duty.
Fanus goes home to find Eugene finishing the cakes. Suddenly,
Gertrude walks into the kitchen and, like a zombie, begins to spread
icing on the cakes. The doorbell rings. The doctor and his wife have
again come for the cakes. When they go into the kitchen, Fanus is
surprised to see that Gertrude has transformed into her younger self.
Eugene introduces her as a friend of Fanus. The doctor and Sally
don't suspect anything and join them for dinner. During dinner,
Gertrude begins to play footsies under the table with Martin and asks
him to check her foot because there's something wrong with it. Martin
takes Gertrude into the lounge where she starts to seduce him and
then, while he id distracted, injects him with the General's blood.
Later, Sally also accidentally injects herself with the blood.
Fanus, believing young Gertrude is one of Eugene's girlfriends,
orders Eugene to send her home. When Eugene follows her into the
bedroom, Gertrude has reverted to her older self and explains that
she has no control over the transformations. The younger Gertrude is
a part of her that wants revenge on the General for all that he has
put her through. When Fanus joins them in the bedroom and sees that
his mother is still alive, Eugene explains Gertrude's return from the
dead as the doctor making a mistake. Later, young Gertrude again
appears and convinces Eugene to inject himself with the General's
blood so that he can spend eternity with her and they can get back at
the General.
Having all been injected with the General's blood, Martin,
Sally, and Eugene are transforming. They find that they crave blood,
cannot tolerate sunlight, and must wear sunglasses to protect their
eyes. Eugene's hearing has become hypersensitive. Gertrude proclaims
Eugene "a General" and orders him to take control of his troops. They
buy cases of liquor and begin to party until Gertrude convinces him
that he can do so much more. Eugene cuts his arm and collects the
blood, which he uses to make icing for all the cakes that Gertrude
made. The plan is to give pieces of cake to the constables and
kommandants of the General's police force, turn them into vampires,
and then use them to go after the General.
Meanwhile, the maid is on to them, but when Hope tries to
explain it to Fanus, he tells her that he doesn't believe that kind
of stuff...until he comes upon Eugene, Martin, and Sally feeding on
the blood of a child. Fanus gets a gun and is about to shoot Eugene
when the General himself walks in and stops him. The General promises
Fanus that he will soon become a General himself, but as the General
examines Fanus to see whether he has properly transformed, Eugene
stabs the General with a syringe filled with his blood. The General
hemorrhages and dies.
Fanus returns to the police station and enlists the help of
Craig to fight against Eugene and his growing troops. Craig doesn't
elieve him and, instead, hitches him up to his shock machine. When
Fanus comes to, he finds himself dumped in an alley. Fanus goes to
Pasop's. Becky tries to take him to the hospital, but Fanus wants to
go home so that he can stop Eugene. While Fanus and Hope smash the
cakes, Becky accepts tea and a slice of cake from Gertrude.
When Gertrude and Eugene find all the cakes smashed, Gertrude
realizes that Fanus' blood is tainted and can be used to kill them.
Gertrude recommends that they kill Fanus before he can kill them.
Martin attacks Fanus, but Hope stabs him in the back. Eugene shoots
Hope. The police arrive, but Fanus has taken Becky to a hospital
where he is transfusing her blood with fresh blood, curing her of the
vampirism.
Two months and three weeks later, Fanus and Becky are living in
a trailer and fighting the vampires. They come upon an accident, and
Becky starts licking the blood from the ground. "The darkness is
coming back," she says. Suddenly, Eugene and the two Gertrudes
appear. Eugene tells Fanus that it is he, not the General, who is
Fanus' real father. Fanus and Becky try to run. Old Gertrude tries to
convince Eugene to let it be, but young Gertrude goes after Fanus.
Just as Young Gertrude is about to stab Fanus, Old Gertrude runs a
sword through her, killing the both of them. With both Gertrudes
gone, the darkness is lifted from Becky, but Eugene is holding her
hostage. Fanus begs him to let Becky go."There's a future out there,"
Eugene says, "and I don't fit in." Eugene hands the gun to Fanus, and
Fanus shoots him between the eyes. As they drive away together, Fanus
gives Gertrude's ring to Becky. "I DO want to be a part of [the
future]," he tells her.