This double-feature DVD packages two documentaries about vampirism within the distinct­ive National Geographic yellow frame. Sadly, approaching the subject from an original angle is a difficult task these days – even harder in documentaries which show little interest in exploring its literary manifestations.

Is it real? Vampires is part of a National Geographic series that analyses classic forteana, from ancient astronauts to chupacabras. Driven by a narrative apparently designed for viewers suffering from ADHD, this impersonal investi­gation will be over-familiar and repetitive to vampire aficion­ados. What triggers the “Is it real?” question in this case seems to be a desecrated grave in Romania in 2004 (FT187:22; 195:9) and a corpse with part of its heart missing, a tell-tale sign of a ritual against vampires – the family of the deceased believed that he had come back as a vampire, and the only way to stop him was to consume the ashes of his heart. From this starting point, the narrat­ive meanders through numerous manifestations of its central topic: from 19th-century New England vampires to modern psychopaths with a thirst for blood and a self-proclaimed vampire of the modern Goth scene. There is also room for praising Bram Stoker’s novel and trying to answer some de rigueur questions: Who was Vlad Tepes? Why do we like vampires? And, of course: are they real?

The second feature, Vampires in Venice, is an interesting crossover between vampire folklore and one of TV’s favourite subjects of the moment, forensic anthropology. Italian specialist Matteo Borrini analyses the so-called ‘Vampire of Venice’, a skull with a brick between its jaws that was found in a 16th-century mass grave in Venice. Borrini takes the skull on a trip around Italy’s top laboratories to discover the vampire’s identity and the origins of the ritual designed to destroy it, just like Brennan and friends would do in an episode of Bones. Learning about the procedures of forensic anthropology is entertaining and informative, but the investigation feels too staged, with a forced sense of dynamism that tarnishes the final product; but, after all, this appears to be the current, unfortun­ate trend in TV documentaries.