Is there really such a thing as a new idea? Last night I was channel-surfing and stumbled across the beginning of an odd, sci-fi horror movie called Priest. The reason for the name is complicated; look it up if you’re interested.
It took me about 15 minutes to figure out that it was a dystopian future re-telling of The Searchers with vampires replacing Indians. Sort of a combination of The Searchers, Underworld, and 1984. Fifteen minutes was about all I could stomach.
In some places it was shot-for-shot the same as The Searchers. I assume that the title character eventually rescues his niece, captured by vampires, and, after a crisis of conscience, lets her live. I guess I’ll never know.
I’m not really a big movie guy. I don’t know why, I’m just generally not. I like anything with Merryl Streep in it. Hate her politics. Adore her acting. And I generally have no interest insmash’m crash’m movies.
However, and I know the timing is unfortunate, last night a financial advisor sponsored a client screening of the new Batman movie. If the genre just turns people off, skip it. But it really is well done. And its one of those where you obviously have to engage in the willful suspension of disbelief. But I’ll see it again. Perhaps I have an irrational attraction because the director did the Superman movie my daughter will be in. But it has an attraction.
We go see the Batman movies at the Imax. My son loves it. As to Dave’s movie, I cant watch vampire movies anymore. The whole Twilight thing and vampire rage has ruined it. As a sci-fi fantasy reader, I do run across them in things like the Dresden series, but no vampire books for me either. I think they have become soft porno for teenage girls.
Steve
Sigh, tis true. I miss the good old days when vampire stories were soft porno for middle-aged men. I watched The Vampire Lovers (1970) a few months ago though.
I don’t know much about Priest; I’m more favorably disposed to watch odd, sci-fi horror as many, but it had the look of one of those video-game movies (minimal plot, lots of shoot ’em ups, obvious CGI effects)
Really weird and twisted soft porn since in entails fantasies of being killed/eaten and sometimes brought back to live a life as the undead….
Remember, I only watched a few minutes of it but it was clear these weren’t sexy vampires. More like the creatures in Alien. I’m not recommeding it; I’d say it’s about a one star. Just remarking on the rebooting of The Searchers.
The Vampire Lovers is practically sui generis. Ah! the old Hammer films. I don’t know of any vampire picture in which the soft core porn aspects were more luridly presented.
The Vampire Lovers is a fairly “straight” adaption of Sheridan Le Fanu’s _Carmilla_, which is pretty much responsible for the erotic protype vampire. I think before that book in the 1870s (before Dracula), the vampires were largely maggot – ridden undead, easily confused by throwing grains of salt before them.
The movie had problems with the censors because of the level of nudity and the lasciviousness of the lesbian seduction scenes. The film studio successfully retorted, but its literary!!! Which is my excuse.
For those of you who are interested, Carmilla, a classic of the horror genre, is freely available in text or as an ebook.
And we all know you’re all about the literary, PD. 😉
Please remind my wife.
Really weird and twisted soft porn since in entails fantasies of being killed/eaten and sometimes brought back to live a life as the undead….
Tag line from The Lost Boys:
I think that pretty well explains it! Plus, everyone is pretty.
FWIW, Carmilla is not my favorite vampire story (that would be Dracula, which was highly influenced by it), and its not my favorite of Sheridan Le Fanu’s (that would be The Haunted Baronet).
I’ve not read any of the Dresden series, but my siblings love it and I saw a couple of TV episodes. Sheridan Le Fanu is also credited with originating the occult detective story with Green Tea, though it doesn’t have the more modern hard boiled detective style that I suspect Dresden is written with.
And The Vampire Lovers is not my favorite late Hammer film, that would be Captain Kronus — Vampire Hunter, which I’ve read Hammer is going to remake.
And no, I still haven’t seen the Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter film, its always about third on the list of things I’d like to be doing.