The Vourdalak

The Vourdalak (Le Vourdalak, 2023) is a French Gothic horror film you can watch online on iFILM. Director Adrien Beau adapts Aleksey Tolstoy's 1839 story of a French royal envoy, the Marquis d'Urfé, who stumbles on a lone farmhouse after losing his way in a hostile forest at night. The family inside is welcoming. Too welcoming.

In Slavic folklore, a vourdalak is an undead creature that returns to feed specifically on those it once loved — which is what gives the premise its particular dread. Beau chose to embody the monster as a hand-crafted theatrical puppet, and that decision lands far harder than a digital effect would. Ariane Labed, Grégoire Colin and Kacey Mottet Klein co-star. Stream The Vourdalak (2023) online on iFILM.