All the MoonsExplores a Gorgeously Melancholy Vampire Story

In former nineteenth one C Spain , at the end of the Third Carlist War , a bomb dismantle an orphanage and everyone perishes — except one girl ( Haizea Carneros ) , who ’s pulled from the wreckage by amysterious woman(Itziar Ituño ) . AsvampiremovieAll the Moons explicate , what happens next is a miracle wrapped in a incubus .

Vampires are a well - wornpop - culture subjectby this power point , so for filmmaker Igor Legarreta to observe a unequalled way of approaching this textile is an accomplishment right off the bat . All the Moons ( already distinctive because it ’s tell in the Basque language ) is gorgeously photographed ; its bumpkinly beauty come alive in scene alight with fireplaces , campfire , lanterns , and golden fair weather beaming through trees . But this dreamy world is full of iniquity , with a passage of meter set by two wars ( the Spanish Civil War arrives in human action three ) and the anguish implicit in in a come - of - age story where the young protagonist does n’t age .

On the verge of death , the slight subsister acquiesces when the openhearted alien offer to heal her . The fair sex is motherly and she put up self-confidence the girl has been longing to hear , though to us her hope of “ you ’ll never be alone again , and neither will I ” feels ominous , because … how can that be ? A big focus of All the Moons is the reverence of loneliness , something the girl must endure after she ’s separate from her newfound mother figure . But she ’s tough and resourceful , training her cutis to allow her to go out into the sunshine , and prey on animal blood to quell her thirst .

Amaia (Haizea Carneros) faces her future.

Amaia (Haizea Carneros) faces her future.

Fear of aloneness really comes into sport once she stumble into the lifetime of Cándido ( Josean Bengoetxea ) , a widower still mourning the loss of his daughter ; it ’s implied she perished when she was around the age Amaia ( the name he gives the girl ) is likely . There ’s a rough adjustment period ; though All the Moons does n’t lean too difficult into vampire figure , there is a wryly amusing instant when Cándido blusters at the girl for not eating the soup he ’s made — the garlic soup . They before long spring a makeshift family , offering a lightning - in - a - bottle moment of happiness for both of them .

In vision reminiscent ofYou Wo n’t Be Alone — another recent motion-picture show about a young girl unknowingly translate into a supernatural creature — Amaia imagines her “ female parent ” dropping by to cue her that “ this is n’t your blank space ” and “ We ’re not like them , ” and that her status is permanent . And she ’s right ; it ’s all well and good until the profoundly Catholic multitude in the settlement poster that something is off about this street child who betray in from the woods .

You could almost imagineGuillermo del Torodirecting All the Moons , as it has some of his preferent touchstones : an orphan , a ghost curse , even the Pan ’s Labyrinth - same wartime backcloth . But Legarreta turns out from anything overtly medieval ( away from a dyad of scenes of frightened villagers with great mullein , which palpate very classical monster movie ) to encompass the innate ravisher of his scope . His vampires blend in with the Tree and stalk the wartime wounded rather than ripping out throat of random dupe . ( In fact , beyond her initial “ turning ” we never really see Amaia drink human blood line ; she ’s more of a poulet stealer . )

Amaia and Cándido (Josean Bengoetxea).

Amaia and Cándido (Josean Bengoetxea).

The acting is also very naturalistic , particularly from untested Carneros , who is absolutely convincing as “ only a fille … an old girl ” as Amaia calls herself when she ’s probably around 50 geezerhood old but still looks like a tween . The perfumed relationship between Cándido and Amaia is the heart of the flick , and it makes the agony of her immortality — something she realise she ’ll never be able to force anyone else into , thus dooming herself to being alone forever — all the more touching .

In some ways , All the Moons is reminiscent ofLet the Right One In , another story about a father protecting his vampire daughter . But while that cinema is parky and gory , All the Moons has an almost fagot - narrative quality ; it ’s scummy on gore ( and special effects , really , unless its outstanding cinematography counts ) , pulling its terror more from the emotional fallout of a pick made at a heroic moment that ends up bound for timeless existence .

All the Moons is now streaming on Shudder .

“Everything will be all right.”