Story Line
A fantasy of becoming a young ‘vampire’ in today’s Russia acts as a global satire on the ruling elite, pushing the boundaries of the vampire genre. Based on Victor Pelevin’s novel, the story chronicles the journey of an ordinary young man who receives a Faustian gift of power and knowledge when he is inducted into a super-race of elite vampires that rule humanity through the cults of beauty, money, and blood. These vampires don’t drink blood; they feed on something far more sinister. This unsettling metaphor appears to have troubled the Kremlin, leading to the film’s ban one week before its scheduled release.
