Hall Baltimore (Val Kilmer), a horror author noted for witch stories, arrived in a small town for a book signing. The decline of his career was demonstrated by the venue: a hardware store that happened to double as a bookstore. He only signed one book. Sherrif Bobby LaGrange (Bruce Dern) is a fan, as well as an aspiring writer. He had an idea for a book titled The Vampire Executions. Hall politely declined to be a co-author. However, when the sheriff offered a chance to visit the morgue and the victim of a murder, Hall consented. The corpse of a young woman with a stake through her heart laid on a gurney. Maybe she was a vampire, the sheriff suggested. Hall also learned that Edgar Allen Poe once stayed in the town. He eagerly visited the ruins of the old hotel and saw the plaque.
Edgar Allen Poe slept here
Duly impressed, he checked in for the night at the local motel and fell into a restless sleep. The ruined hotel, the murdered girl, and talk of vampires intermingled in a dark dream. Here, he met Virginia (Elle Fanning) - the murdered girl? - and visited the hotel - which was open for business - and had dark history of a dozen murdered children. In the morning, he investigated the dream only to find many truths in it. As such, he agreed to co-author a book with the sheriff and made multiple trips into dreamland to further investigate the various crimes with the help of Edgar Allen Poe (Ben Chaplin).
For an 80-minute film, it has far too many characters, too many plot threads, and too scattershot a storyline. Coppola was trying some experimental filmmaking and it clearly doesn't work. Virginia proves to be a stand-in for Hall's tragically killed daughter, for Poe's dead wife, and for the child who escaped the previously mentioned murder of a dozen children only to be buried alive like in a Cask of Amontillado. The ending is entirely unsatisfying. Is Flamingo (Alden Ehrenreich) actually a vampire or just some Goth poser? Does the devil live in the 7-faced clocktower? Is the sheriff the serial killer that he is supposedly pursuing? Let the audience decide. The important thing is that Hall has a mental breakdown about the death of his daughter, thus 'dealing' with the tragedy.
Joanne Whaley - who was Kilmer's ex-wife IRL - plays his shrewish wife here. Yikes! How much of these interactions are acting vs. re-enactments?
Skip this one.
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