BATHORY
A legend has many faces.
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SUMMARY:
Bathory is based on the legend surrounding the beautiful Hungarian Countess Erzsebeth
Bathory, proclaimed as the most prolific vampiric murderess in the history of
mankind who tortured young virgins to bathe in their blood, or could she have
been a victim of the politcal elite in a century heaving with religious wars
and witch-hunts?
STARRING: Anna Friel (Land of the Lost), Karel Roden
(RocknRolla), Vincent Regan (300), Hans Matheson, Deana Horvathova,
Franco Nero
DIRECTED BY: Juraj Jakubisko
PRODUCED BY: Jakubisko
Film (CZ/SK), Film & Music Entertainment
(UK), Eurofilm Studio (HU)
DRAMA / THRILLER, 138
Minutes, 2008
English, CinemaScope 35mm
DETAILED SYNOPSIS:
A LEGEND HAS MANY FACES.
Countess Erzsebet Bathory is proclaimed the most prolific
murderess of mankind – torturing young virgins, tearing
the flesh from their living bodies with her teeth and bathing
in their blood in her quest for eternal youth. Through
his lens of magical fantasy, director Juraj Jakubisko lifts
the veil on the horrific legend and presents its many faces
in this provocative new film inspired by the life of this
notorious woman.
Turn of 17th century Europe heaved with religious conflict
and war, and for two centuries Hungary had served as the
bastion of Christianity. Ferenc Nadasdy (Vincent Regan),
one of the country’s wealthiest noblemen and commander
of the Hungarian army, fought tirelessly to protect the
Holy Roman Empire from the Ottomans. Violence and cruelty
were customary amongst medieval aristocrats and the rumored
bloodlust of his neglect wife, Countess Erzsebet Bathory
(Anna Friel), enraged the local clergy whose sermons of “bloodbaths
behind castle walls” inflamed the malcontent simmering
in Central Europe.
A noblewoman of luminous beauty and more property and riches
than King Matthias II (Franco Nero), Bathory’s alleged
deed play into the hands of Palatine Gyorgy Thurzo (Karel
Roden), whose political allegiances were influenced by
his thirst for personal gain. In a desperate bid to gain
control of the Nadasdy-Bathory fortune, Thurzo bets on
vengeance, setting in motion the case to destroy the widowed
Countess.
Was Bathory a persecuted Renaissance healer whose enthusiasm
for science spawned rumors of vampirism, or a lonely widow
whose passion for life, love and the arts was turned against
her in a century besieged by war and witch-hunts? Taking
inspiration from the controversy, Jakubisko’s bloody
fairytale brings fiction to life, shining fresh light on
the dim corners of Bathory’s legend, her nemesis
Palatine Thurzo, her would-be lover the famous Italian
painter Caravaggio (Hans Matheson), and the local sage
Darvulia (Deana Horvathova).
Bathory's worldwide theatrical
debut was July 5th, 2008 at Korlovy Vary IFF. The film
took the number one position at Czech and Slovakian box
office overperforming the US blockbusters “Hancock” and “Kung
Fu Panda”, taking a local record for the Slovakian
Film Industry and sold 76.668 tickets in Czech Republic
on 26 prints and and 35.925 tickets in Slovakia earning
4.854.965 Skrones at the box office and leaving behind
local performances of “Harry Potter” or “Da
Vinic Code”. In Slovakia the film performed as the
best weekend opener from all films entered Slovakian cinemas
in 2008.
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Flyer Front
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Flyer Back
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Bathory Extended Promo
Bathory Website
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