The film premiered at the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival. It was theatrically released in France on 25 October 2023, by The Jokers, to critical acclaim.
In 18th-century Eastern Europe, a courtier and envoy of the King of France, Marquis Jacques Saturnin du Antoine, knocks on a stranger's door in the middle of the night, having lost his horse and companions through being robbed. The stranger does not let him inside, but advises him to go to the house of a man named Gorcha. En route through the forest the following morning, Jacques Antoine sees Gorcha's daughter Sdenka singing, but she leaves at his approach. He then meets Gorcha's youngest son, Piotr, who takes him to the house.
Gorcha's elder son, Jegor, arrives home, having spent the past month seeking revenge against the Turks who pillaged the village. Gorcha left to fight the Turks, and had said that if he did not return within six days it would be because he had died fighting; if he should return after those six days, he would have become a vourdalak and nobody should let him in. Jegor, however, does not believe in vourdalaks. He knows where a horse for Jacques Antoine can be found, but it would have to wait until the next day.
It is later revealed that Sdenka fell in love with a traveller, and because everyone in the area knows, she now cannot get married. When Jacques Antoine approaches Sdenka and aggressively tries to seduce her, she tricks him into almost falling off a cliff. She had arranged to meet the traveller at the cliff so they would flee together, but someone found out and killed him.
That evening, six days since Gorcha left, he is spotted lying at the edge of the forest, looking like a corpse. Piotr's dog will not stop barking at Gorcha, and Jegor compels Piotr to shoot it. Gorcha reveals the severed head of the band of Turks' leader, whom Jegor failed to kill.
That night, Jacques Antoine has nightmares about Gorcha. The following day, Gorcha is nowhere to be seen and Jegor's son Vlad is unwell. Jegor looks for Gorcha while Sdenka and Piotr, with Jacque Antoine's help, sharpen a stake and perform a ritual on Vlad.
That night, Jacques Antoine sees Vlad walking outside. He appears to be sleepwalking, and Gorcha is nearby, chewing on his shroud. Jacques Antoine attempts to subdue Gorcha, who hurls him against a tree before drinking Vlad's blood. Jacques Antoine awakens the next morning and finds the family digging a grave for Vlad's dead body.
During the funeral, Piotr and Sdenka encourage Jegor to drive the stake through Vlad's heart. However, Gorcha interrupts him, reproaching the family for Vlad's death. Piotr attempts to attack Gorcha with the stake, but loses his nerve. Gorcha implies to Sdenka that it was he himself who was responsible for shooting her lover.
Gorcha compels Jacques Antoine and Sdenka to dance for him. Piotr, whose supposed effeminacy was criticised by Jegor and Gorcha, appears wearing lipstick and flowers, wanting to kill his father, who shoots him dead. Blaming Jacques Antoine for the family's recent misfortunes, Jegor beats him. He announces that Jacques Antoine will be given a horse the next morning, and then must leave to never return; if he comes back, Jegor will kill him.
Jegor leaves Jacques Antoine bound in the cellar for the night, and he is woken by Vlad calling for his mother. Outside, Vlad approaches Jegor's wife Anja; Jacques Antoine tries to warn her to stay away, to no avail. Mother and son embrace, and he drinks her blood. In the morning, Sdenka approaches Jacques Antoine, declaring that she will throw herself from the cliff, as Piotr was the only thing keeping her alive. She then leaves.
Jegor and Anja, now a vourdalak, give Jacques Antoine a horse. In the woods, however, he cannot find Sdenka. Returning to the house that evening, Jacques Antoine believes he sees her singing in a bedroom. He again tries to convince her to leave, but instead she seduces him, and they start having sex. However, Jacques Antoine discovers he is actually interacting with Gorcha, who has been drinking his blood. Jacques Antoine stakes Gorcha and stumbles into the dining room, where Jegor and his vampirized brother, wife and son are seated around a table. Jacques Antoine sets the house on fire and rides away.
At dawn, he finds Sdenka at the edge of the cliff and convinces her not to jump, informing her that she is free. Having been bitten, Jacques Antoine gives her his horse and a map of Europe before jumping off the cliff. Sdenka rides away, chewing a shroud. A French duchess later takes her in.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 26 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10.[7]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 76 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[8]
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