When you think Switzerland, you immediately think of chocolate, watches and banks, but even this small European country has a dark and evil soul. Filmmaker Olivier Beguin is in the midst of shooting CHIMERES there, told us about the film and passed on some exclusive photos.

Following the shorts DEAD BONES, a cannibal movie set in the Wild West starring Ken Foree and Italian shock maestro Ruggero Deodato, and the satirical EMPLOYÉ DU MOIS (EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH), about an employment agency for out-of-work monsters featuring genre icon and Lucio Fulci stalwart Catriona MacColl, Beguin is making his feature debut with CHIMERES, a new take on vampires. The plot revolves around a young couple, Alexander and Livia, on holiday in Romania. Hospitalized after being hit by a car, Alexander must undergo a blood transfusion—with horrifying consequences: upon his return, he seems afflicted with a strange disease.

“From July to December 2011, I was living in Paris and looking for an idea for a feature film—one that could be done as an indie film, as financing for genre movies, especially horror, in Switzerland is not the easiest task,” Beguin tells Fango. “We sat down with Colin Vettier, with whom I wrote EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH, and started to throw ideas around the table. Among them, we talked about vampires and how we could try to do something different. It started as a very dark comedy, then evolved into a dramatic love story. The scale of the story was perfect to do it as an indie film. We raised the money through the Cinema Fund in Neuchatel, my hometown, the Loterie Romande and the cultural foundation of the Banque Cantonale of Neuchatel, and the crew all worked for differed payment on the project. In late 2011, we started working on the preproduction with Lluis Fe Perez and Gwenn Deschenaux, for a shoot that would take place in in Romania, Brussels and Neuchatel.” In the latter area, Beguin will film some of the action scenes and the movie’s goriest moment, and Fango has been invited to the set, so stay tuned…

CHIMERES stars Jasna Kohoutova and Yannick Rosset, “an actress and actor I worked with previously on my short films,” Beguin says, adding that the horror vets from his previous movies also return. “It was a huge pleasure having Catriona MacColl in EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH, so I naturally offered her the role of Alex’s mother, and I’m glad she’s part of our gang again. Also, Ruggero Deodato returns for a cameo,” as—what else?—a butcher, as seen in the pics below. Keep an eye on FANGORIA magazine for an in-depth report on CHIMERES, watch the film’s teaser below the photos and visit the official website and Facebook page. 

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