The Hunger
The following is my contribution to the Film Experience Vampire Blog-A-Thon. Check it out.
Like garlic and running water, there exists in this world certain elements which I try my best to avoid. One of those is the Vampire. While I can forgive even a bad movie, book or comic many faults if it features a type of character which I have a weakness for, such as Underwater Nazi Zombies or Post-Apocalyptic Barbarians, Vampires automatically receive a few knocks against it before I even crack open the case or pages. It’s true, I’m prejudiced against Vampires.
I do have a reason for this seemingly unfounded intolerance. I have enjoyed the occassional vampire story over the years, but it has to be told within a particular style for me to sink my teeth into it. I can’t stand the romantic vampire, or even the vampire story which attempts to rationalize a vampire’s existence in the real world, with various cliques and traditions. Even the tragic vampire story starring a protagonist who fights his affliction holds no real interest for me. I leave that one for the werewolves. This may seem to suggest that I’m just being cranky and would rather these types of vampire stories shouldn’t exist, but considering they have an audience which enjoys them, I bear no ill will. Rather, I become so frustrated at not being able to seperate the kind of vampire story I like from all the rest that I’ve practically given up on the genre, a defeatist stance that resulted in my avoiding the magnificent I Am Legend for so long.
So if I don’t enjoy the permutations of vampire fiction detailed above, what do I like? Nothing scares me as much, or keeps drawing me back as frequently, as loss of self. And, again, I don’t mean a gradual loss, the kind that results in a protagonist sacrificing their life for a loved one, or retaining just enough control to herocially alter events. No, what hits me hardest are those bleak vampire stories in which the character almost instantaneously turns into a feeding machine, it’s emotions swept away by an insatiable need to prey upon mankind, including and especially loved ones. The very idea that one overwhelming biological change could so alter a lifetime’s worth of moral guidance makes me anxious just thinking about it.
This, to me, is pure horror. Love, compassion, heroism and all the other traits humanity clings to made meaningless with a simple bite on the neck.
October 30th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
Have you seen Cronenberg’s Rabid? You might enjoy that one if, if it’s sudden change in personality that interests and horrifies you.
October 31st, 2006 at 12:20 am
Yes, I have seen Rabid. I didn’t feel that it was quite as effective as Cronenberg’s earlier film, Shivers aka They Came From Within. Thanks for visiting, Tuwa! I enjoyed your contribution to the Vampire Blog-A-Thon.
October 31st, 2006 at 9:17 am
I haven’t seen that one still (or Videodrome–for shame!)
I’ve just spent way too long reading your archives. They’re fascinating, but I need to stop and go have breakfast. ^_^ Good work.
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:59 pm
I love this little essay on your relationship to the vampire archetype. Is there a particular example of a vampire story or film that sufficiently examines this transformation of self for you?
I didn’t participate in the vampire Blog-A-Thon, but if I had, it would have been to look at Cronenberg’s the Fly remake through a vampire-movie lens. That film is definitely about the horror of transformation of self (a theme that has really gotten under my skin since I was a child as well), even if it is not so sudden.
November 5th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
Thanks, Tuwa. Hope you enjoy your rummage through the archives.
Brian, I’d say Salem’s Lot is a good example. It doesn’t pull any punches in quickly turning ordinary people into amoral bloodsucking creatures.
I guess I stated my case a little too strong as far as the length of transformation sequences go as I do enjoy some of the slow ones. I just normally dislike watching a transforming character make one last sacrifice before having his or her humanity swept away. I think that’s one of the things that differentiates horror from action or even dark fantasy. I like that sense of overpowering helplessness in the face of evil.
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