Alexandru Maftei is a modest but pleasant presence in the contemporary film scene, having directed, among others, the mild romantic comedy Bună! Ce faci?/Hello! How Are You?. Now he's back and this time he turns up the adrenaline: Domnișoara Cristina/Miss Cristina is quite the opposite genre, a period piece based on the eponymous fantastic novella by Mircea Eliade. And what he does is fantastic indeed: the first proper, blockbuster-vibed period horror movie in the history of this country's cinema. And it was about time!

Domnișoara Cristina follows the young painter Egor Paşchievici who joins his lover Sanda at her family's rural estate and find himself inexplicably attracted to the portrait of Sanda's long departed aunt, miss Cristina. Egor starts dreaming of her and when the lines between dream and reality are starting to blur and Cristina is brought to life by her family's occult practices, he finds himself in a desperate fight for his sanity and Sanda's salvation. Meanwhile, the estate is surrounded by a cursed village in which children and animals are dying and the scorched earth has become barren.

So there you have it, a classical tale with all the typical elements: a haunted mansion surrounded by death and natural disasters, not to mention a beautiful ghost, a young artist and a family hiding a deadly secret. This is the stuff of pure bliss for all Gothic fans and Maftei's film surely delivers in terms of atmosphere and (guilty) horror pleasures.

The film is by no means a masterpiece but it is very efficient in its goal: to be a thrilling, well-made commercial hit. The films looks good, it's costumes and period details are spot-on, and the frights are well-timed and not too vicious. The dialogue is a bit wooden at times and the actors could be more natural but these are minor problems in an otherwise entertaining mystery flick. The novella was adapted before, in 1992, but this one is definitely stronger on the thrills and the fun factor.

Domnișoara Cristina premiered at this year's Transilvania International Film Festival and it will hit Romanian cinemas this Friday. As it happens, just in time for Halloween.

By Ioana Moldovan, columnist, ioana.moldovan@romania-insider.com