Tale of a Vampire (Shimako Sato) [13] - Financed in Japan, directed by a lady,inspired by an Edgar Allen Poe poem, and oozing Anne Rice- ness - strange in many ways! Julian Sands is the title character, pining for a love lost last century, who finds a replacement working in a dust-filled library, but he's also pursued by a mysterious man with a grudge (Kenneth Cranham). Sands seems born to the role ('Gothic' was good experience, no doubt) and Cranham is a good foil: together, with help from excellent cinematography, they overcome a script with some glaring errors (I doubt many public libraries in London are open till closing time) and the result, on a budget of less than a million pounds, is striking. More 'Daughters of Darkness' than 'The Lost Boys', gore bores will hate it, but if your IQ is less lukewarm you could do a great deal worse. B-.