Daybreakers (2010)

Daybreakers is currently in theatres. Directed by the Spierig Brothers, this movie stars Ethan Hawk, Willem Defoe and Harriet Minto-Day.

Daybreakers was a good movie. Not great, but mildly entertaining. However, it had a few intriguing points that make it worth seeing.

In this movie, an epidemic has swept the world, turning most of the population into vampires. The movie calls it an epidemic, but the specifics of the disease are never clarified. It seems to me to be not a sickness at all, but more like a social trend. The main character Edward's brother admits to changing Edward not because of overwhelming thirst, but because he wanted his brother to be immortal as well. This seems to be the reasoning in most cases, with each vampire turning their family and friends until vampires overwhelmingly outnumber humans. The demand for blood quickly outstrips supply. Famine and riots quickly ensue.

It seems to me that the epidemic is selfishness. People disregarded balance, thinking only of preserving the ones they love. They scrambled to change everyone, regardless of the consequences. When the blood began to run out, they rioted, or executed the crazed Nosferatu-esqe starving vamps to delay the problem. Basically, Daybreaker vampires are more human than most people would most likely be willing to admit. The transformation has not changed people's essential nature.

However, this is not to say that the film does not have problems. The director used a blue filter over much of the movie that I found uncomfortable to watch. Additionally, the last ten minutes needed to be cut off, or ten more minutes needed to be added. The end completely invalidated everything the heroes had been working toward for the majority of the movie, and made the whole experience seem pointless.

Without the ending: B +

As it stands: C

Underwood and Flinch Podcast

I started listening to "Underwood and Flinch" today, a free novel on podcast, and I'm already on section eight. The author, who also reads for the podcast, does a great job preforming as he reads, and I feel like I'm listening to an old thirties radio program.

It's a pulpy vampire story about Underwood and the family that serves him, the Flinches. There's secret Satanist plots, vampire resurrections, mobsters, and basically a lot of frothy good entertainment. Overall fun listening!

-DR

Live Evil (2009)

A New Must-See!!



Interesting concept. We think of vampires as the ultimate predator, but we never think of them as subject to the laws of evolution, where a lack of resources or a change in ecosystem could lead to extinction. Nifty!

-DR

Martin (1977)

Martin was directed by George A. Romero and stars John Amplas, with cameos from Romero himself and Tom Savini, horror make-up and effects guru.

What a perfect, quiet little movie!

This film really cuts to the core of what it means to be a vampire. Vampirism is not about lace or sparkles or sex appeal. All those things have been later additions to the myth, covering up the raw truth: that a vampire is a human who preys on other humans, cutting them down and feeding upon them for sustenance.

In what I feel is the most important scene, Martin attacks his grandfather in the park. His grandfather has tried to exorcise him, believing him under the influence of the vampiric family curse. Martin leaps upon him, dress in full Dracula garb, complete with children's pop-in vampire teeth.

At first, one is take aback, thinking not only that the film has sold out, but done so using the absolute worst effects imaginable. However, as his grandfather cowers on the ground, Martin spits out the teeth, laughing, and shouts, "It's only a costume!" I think this is the main focus of the movie: that all the romantic trappings surrounding vampires are essentially a costume, masking their true, monstrous nature.

After all, besides claiming to be over eighty years old, Martin displays no real supernatural powers. It is quite possible he is only a human monster, abet one we have sympathy for.

In all, this movie reminded me a lot of Brian del Palma's Carrie (1976). I don't want to say too much, but both play on that essential happy moment before the tragic downfall. Wonderful.

A+

True Blood, Anyone?

Scientists are now able to convert blood types.

Seems like it won't be long until artificial blood? Maybe vampires really will decide to come out of the coffin. :)

-DR

Throat Sprockets by Tim Lucas

Throat Sprockets was written by Tim Lucas and published in 1994 by Delta Books.

I picked this book up on a whim, not knowing that it had been listed by Rue Morgue as one of their "50 essential alternative horror novels," among other accolades.

I can see why it garnered such attention. Lucas chronicles his protagonist's (unnamed, an affectation that works here) growing obsession with the film Throat Sprockets and how that fixation draws him, and eventually the world, into oblivion.

Throat Sprockets is absolutely dominated by the influences of Lynch and Burroughs, which is both good and bad for the novel. Lucas juxtaposes the film and the protagonist's life as they intertwine, until the whole world is drawn into "sprocketing," the vampiric throat fetish featured in the film, and characters in the film begin to make appearances in the protagonist's life.

This use of overlapping symbols works for most of the novel, until the last section. I just don't know what to think of the last chapter. It almost ruined the entire book for me, honestly. Did Lucas really need to push the film's influence all the way to destroying the world? In the chapter before, we see how pervasive the film has become, how society has contorted itself into a mimic of the film.

Really, I think this vision of declining society is more evocative than a ruined landscape. The last chapter comes across as muddy and confused, with the Christian anti-vampire group STOKER roaming the land like Burroughs' Wild Boys, killing off sprocketers. It just came across as too contrived, and left me in a funk all night after I finished reading.

The Novel, Minus the Last Chapter: A

The Last Chapter: I don't even know.

Let The Right One In (2008)

Let The Right One In, or Låt den rätte komma in, was directed by Thomas Alfredson, and stars Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson. It was filmed in Sweden, and can now be seen in theatres with English subtitles. It is based on a book by the same name, by John Ajvide Lindqvist. There is currently an American remake in production.

Let The Right One In is an excellent film. I attended with both my parents, neither of whom particularly enjoy Horror, and we all left with similar feelings of satisfaction. Let The Right One In combines just the right amount of gore and grisliness with what is, at heart, a love story. Oskar and Eli are, despite Eli's status as a vampire, just two isolated children who find solace in one another.

The treatment of Eli's character is really what makes the movie unique. She is not Anne Rice's Claudia, a spoiled and cunning woman in miniature, but a child. Her every movement is imbued with vulnerability, and the need to be accepted. When Oskar buys her some chocolates from a shop, she eats one, though she throws up moments later, because she so wants to be his friend. Eli is innocent, a word almost never used to describe a vampire. Her stomach rumbles with hunger before she goes out to feed, and she kills not out of blood lust but out of necessity.

This is not to say, however, that she is "good" or "tame." She does not feed on animals or from willing donors, but on any person she can. When Oskar is attacked by bullies, she responds with all the violence that comes with uncontrolled power. She is the perfect mix of monster and angel, making her awkwardly budding relationship with Oskar darkly endearing.

Overall: A+

The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula

The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula by Eric Nuzum, published in 2008 by St. Martin's Griffin. Available in paperback.

I really enjoyed this book.

It's really more of an anecdotal retelling of Nuzum's encounters interspersed with facts than a scholarly text, but this what, in the end, keeps this account appealing. Rather than composing a thorough and, in the end, lifeless account of the psychological motivations of the vampire-obsessed, or theories concerning how the vampire archetype originated, Nuzum focuses on what most audiences would most be interested in: stories about hanging out with crazy weirdos who think they're vampires.

However, this is also the weakness of the text. Though Nuzum sets out to discover the appeal of the vampire image and lifestyle, he has seemingly already made his appraisal: that these people are simply outcasts looking for empowerment, which they find through self-delusion. Nuzum fails to truly bond with any of his subjects, and keeps a cynical distance which is then imposed upon the reader. There is no growth over the course of the work. Nuzum gains no understanding, and many of his subjects are simply minor characters, passing in and out of the background.

However, this is not to say there is nothing to learn from the book. If one is interested in the history of Bram Stoker, this book provides quite a bit of information on his life and the conception of his most famous novel, along with the facts about his inspiration Vlad Tepes. However, I felt there were a few topics that were grievously overlooked. Anne Rice was barely mentioned, and though I harbor no particular love for her work, one must admit that she revitalized and forever altered the vampire mythology. Nuzum says he watched every episode of Buffy, in order, yet he never sets down his conclusions about the series. All in all, there were quite a few loose ends.

Research: A

Book Overall: B-