House of Dracula (1945)

November 28th, 2008

House of Dracula was an American vampire horror film released by Universal Pictures Company in 1945. It was a direct sequel to House of Frankenstein and continued the theme of combining Universal’s three most popular monsters: Frankenstein’s monster, Count Dracula and The Wolf Man.

The main plot is that both Dracula and Larry Talbot are both seeking a cure from their respective monster afflictions from Dr. Edelmann (Onslow Stevens).

Dracula actually appears to be searching for a cure for his vampirism. Somehow Dracula survived his destruction by sunlight exposure from the previous film House of Frankenstein and initially seeks to be cured of his vampirism at the hands of the doctor as he seems apparently tired of his monster nature. But after re-meeting the doctor’s beautiful assistant whom he knew in his alias of “Baron Latos”, Dracula’s monsterous nature reasserts itself and infects Edelmann through a blood transfusion of his vampire blood, which turns Edelmann into a Jekyll and Hyde like creature. Though Edelmann succeeds in destroying Dracula, Edelmann realizes that he is slowly degrading into a murderous monster himself.

Lawrence Talbot soon arrives at Edelmann’s castle, seeking a cure for the curse that turns him into a werewolf (Talbot’s return from death having been maintained from his particular invulnerability to silver weapons which was used to explain his first reappearance as shown in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man) as Larry Talbot was bludgeoned to death by his father using a silver topped cane in the original The Wolf Man. The Frankenstein Monster plays a minor role in this film, only being found during Talbot’s attempt at suicide by drowning in the ocean late in the film. The Monster does not actually go into action until almost the climactic finish, which results in Talbot finally being cured of his affliction and falling in love with Edelmann’s attractive assistant (Martha O’Driscoll) and killing the Hyde like version of Edelmann. The Frankenstein Monster once again burned to death in yet another fire destruction of the castle he is in.

Also appearing in the film is Jane Adams, whose character, Nina, is a hunchback and was thus billed as one of the monsters in the film. In fact, her character is portrayed sympathetically and the use of an attractive actress to play an otherwise misshapen individual is notable for the time.

Tags:
Posted in Vampire Originals | No Comments »

Vampyres (1974)

November 28th, 2008

Vampyres (1974) is an erotic and bloody lesbian vampire film directed by Spanish film director José Ramón Larraz on location in England.

A glamorous, and frequently nude, lesbian vampire duo named Fran (Marianne Morris) and Miriam (Anulka) waylay various unsuspecting travellers, of both sexes, to their Gothic mansion, in order to satisfy their insatiable thirst for blood.

Tags:
Posted in Vampire 1970's | No Comments »

Dracula’s Daughter (1936)

November 28th, 2008

Dracula’s Daughter is a 1936 vampire horror film produced by Universal Studios, a sequel to the 1931 film Dracula. Directed by Lambert Hillyer from a screenplay by Garrett Fort, the film stars Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden, Marguerite Churchill and, as the only cast member to return from the original, Edward Van Sloan. Dracula’s Daughter tells the story of Countess Marya Zaleska, the daughter of Count Dracula and herself a vampire. Following Dracula’s death, she believes that by destroying his body she will be free of his influence and can live as a human. When this fails, she turns to psychiatry and Dr. Jeffrey Garth. When his efforts fail, she kidnaps Janet, the woman Jeffrey loves, and flees with her to Transylvania in an attempt to bind Jeffrey to her. She is foiled and destroyed when her jealous manservant shoots her with an arrow.

Ostensibly based on a short story called Dracula’s Guest by Bram Stoker, the film bears little or no resemblance to the original source material. David O. Selznick initially purchased the rights to the story for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Selznick, probably knowing he could not legally make the film because of Universal’s copyright on the original film, sold the rights to Universal. After first assigning the picture to James Whale, Universal production head Carl Laemmle, Jr. finally put Hillyer in the director’s chair.

Upon its release, Dracula’s Daughter was not as successful as the original, although it was generally well-reviewed. In the intervening decades, criticism has been deeply divided. Modern critics and scholars have noted the strong lesbian overtones of the film, overtones that Universal acknowledged from the start of filming and which they exploited in some early advertising.

Dracula’s Daughter begins a few moments after Dracula ends. Count Dracula has just been killed by Professor Von Helsing (Edward Van Sloan). Von Helsing is taken by police to Scotland Yard, where he explains that he indeed did kill Count Dracula, but because he was already dead for over 500 years, it cannot be considered murder. Von Helsing, instead of hiring a lawyer, enlists the aid of a psychiatrist, Dr. Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger), who was once one of his star students. Meanwhile, Dracula’s daughter, Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden), with the aid of her manservant, Sandor (Irving Pichel), steals Dracula’s body from Scotland Yard and ritualistically burns it, hoping to break her curse of vampirism. However, Sandor soon makes her realize that her thirst for blood has not been quenched and that all that is in her eyes is “Death”. The Countess resumes her hunting, mesmerizing her victims with her exotic jeweled ring. After a chance meeting with Dr. Garth at a society party, the Countess asks him to help her overcome the influence she feels from beyond the grave. The doctor advises her to defeat her cravings by confronting them and the Countess becomes hopeful that her will plus Dr. Garth’s science will be strong enough to overcome Dracula’s malevolence. The Countess sends Sandor to fetch her a model to paint. He returns with Lili (Nan Grey). Countess Zaleska initially resists her urges but succumbs and attacks Lili. Lili survives the attack but when Dr. Garth tries to hypnotize her to learn what happened, she suffers heart failure and dies. As the Countess comes to accept that a cure isn’t possible — and the doctor discovers the truth about her condition — the Countess lures him to Transylvania by kidnapping Janet (Marguerite Churchill), the woman he loves. She intends to transform him into a vampire and her eternal companion; Dr. Garth agrees to exchange his life for Janet’s. Before he can be transformed Countess Zaleska is destroyed when Sandor shoots her through the heart with an arrow as revenge for her breaking her promise to make him immortal. He takes aim at Dr. Garth but is shot dead by a policeman.

Tags:
Posted in Vampire Originals | No Comments »

Brides of Dracula (1960)

November 28th, 2008

The Brides of Dracula is a 1960 British Hammer Horror film directed by Terence Fisher. It stars Peter Cushing as Van Helsing; Yvonne Monlaur as Marianne Danielle; Andree Melly as her roommate, Gina; Marie Devereux; David Peel as Baron Meinster, a disciple of Count Dracula; and Martita Hunt as his mother.

It is a sequel to Hammer’s original Dracula (USA: Horror of Dracula) (1958). Alternative working titles were Dracula 2 and Disciple Of Dracula. Dracula does not appear in the film (Christopher Lee would reprise his role in the 1966 Dracula: Prince of Darkness) and is mentioned only twice, once in the prologue, once by Van Helsing.

Shooting began for The Brides of Dracula on 16 January 1960 at Bray Studios.[1] It premièred at the Odeon, Marble Arch on 6 July 1960.

Marianne Danielle, a young schoolteacher en route to take up a position in Transylvania, is abandoned in a village by her coach driver. At the local inn, she ignores the warnings of the locals and accepts the offer of Baroness Meinster to spend the night at her castle.

At the castle, she sees the Baroness’s handsome son, whom she is told is insane and kept confined (his leg is chained). When she sneaks to meet him, he says his mother usurped his rightful lands and pleads for her to help. She agrees, and steals the key to his chain from the Baroness’ bedroom. Upon discovery of this, the Baroness is horrified; yet when her son appears, she obeys him and goes into the next room. Later, the servant Greta (who has taken care of the Baron since he was a baby) goes into hysterics. She forces Marianne to look at the Baroness’ body, and the puncture marks in her throat. Marianne flees into the night. She is found, exhausted, by Dr. Van Helsing. She doesn’t remember all that has happened, nor is she familiar when asked with the words “undead” or “vampirism.” He escorts her to the school where she’s to be employed.

When Van Helsing reaches the village inn, he finds there is a funeral in progress. A young girl has been found dead in the woods with wounds upon her throat. He contacts Father Stepnik, who turns out to have asked the expert on vampirism to come here. Father Stepnik has suspicions about the castle and the Baroness. That night, Baron Meinster’s first victim rises from her grave, aided by Greta, as witnessed by Van Helsing and the priest. Van Helsing goes to the castle and discovers the Baroness has now risen as a vampire, full of self-loathing and guilt. After sunrise the next morning, he “releases” her with a wooden stake.

The Baron, meanwhile, visits Marianne at the school and asks her to marry him. She accepts, much to the good-natured envy of her roommate Gina. Once Gina is alone, however, Baron Meinster appears and consumes Gina’s blood. When Van Helsing comes for a visit the next day, he finds the school in a small uproar over Gina’s death. Van Helsing gives instructions about the body — to be kept away from the school and with people watching it until he returns. As it happens, Marianne is alone with the coffin at sunset. The locks on the coffin fall off, and Gina rises. She talks soothingly to a terrified Marianne, asking forgivenss for “letting him love me,” and asking to kiss her. She also reveals the whereabouts of the Baron, who is hiding at the old mill.

Van Helsing discovers the body of the stablekeeper, Severin, and enters the stable just in time to see Gina escaping. Marianne doesn’t want to believe the Baron is a vampire, but she does tell Van Helsing what he needs to know. The vampire hunter goes to the old mill and is confronted by both of Meinster’s “Brides” as well as Greta—who, as a human, isn’t repelled by the cross. Greta is killed in a fall but the cross falls into the well below the mill and is now out of Van Helsing’s reach as the Baron arrives, brandishing a length of chain. In the fight that follows, the Baron bites Van Helsing and leaves him. When Van Helsing wakes, he realizes what has happened. He heats a metal tool in a brazier until it is red-hot, then cauterizes his throat wound and pours holy water on it to purify it; the wounds immediately disappear.

Baron Meinster, meanwhile, goes to Marianne and forces her to come with him to the old mill. He intends to bite and turn her into a vampire in front of Van Helsing. Van Helsing throws holy water into the Baron’s face, which sears him like acid. Meinster kicks over the brazier of hot coals, starting a fire. While the Baron flees outside, Van Helsing takes Marianne up into the mill, then out via the huge sails, which he moves to form the shadow a gigantic cross. The shadows falls on Baron Meinster, who is killed by it, and Meinster’s vampire brides die in the fire.

Tags:
Posted in Vampire 1960's | No Comments »

Vampire Hunter D (1985)

November 28th, 2008

Vampire Hunter D is the title character of a series of novels by Japanese horror and pulp author Hideyuki Kikuchi.

Beginning in 1983, Kikuchi has so far written 17 “D” novels, illustrated by Final Fantasy series designer Yoshitaka Amano. The first and third books were adapted into internationally released anime movies (licensed in the USA by Urban Vision), reaching a minor cult status in the U.S.; the first ten novels are now available in English from DH Press, the prose division of Dark Horse Comics. On November 17, 2007, Digital Manga Publishing released an English manga based on the first book followed by a second volume adapting the second book on July 25, 2008. The third volume is set to hit in Fall 2008, possibly coinciding with the 11th English adaptation of the novel series. At least two art books, a survival-horror video game, Japanese-language audio dramas, and various other official (as well as fan-based) memorabilia exist based upon the Vampire Hunter D series.

D, a sort of lone wolf-like knight-errant, wanders through a far-future post-nuclear Earth that combines the best of pulp genres: western, science fiction, horror and high fantasy with a good dash of H. P. Lovecraftian mythos, folklore and occult science. The planet, once terrified by the elegant but cruel Nobles (vampires), ancient demons, mutants and their technological creations, is now slowly returning to a semblance of order and human control — thanks in part to the decadence that brought about the downfall of the vampire race, to the continued stubbornness of frontier dwellers and, to the rise of a caste of independent hunters-for-hire who eliminate supernatural threats.

The year is approximately 12,090 AD. Some time in 1999, a nuclear war occurred (Possibly between the United States/NATO and the Soviet Union, given that the series was published during the height of the Cold War) and nearly ended all life on earth. The Nobility were vampires that planned for a possible nuclear war and sequestered all that was needed to rebuild civilization in their shelters. They use their science combined with magic to restore the world in their image. Nearly all magical creatures are engineered, with a very small number being demons who survived the holocaust. Despite their technology being great enough to create a blood substitute, they still prefer humans. As such they create a vampire-human civilization, eventually reducing the planet to parklands and cities. The society eventually stagnates when vampire technology perfects prophesy and determines they are at their zenith and are doomed to fall, and be overthrown by humans. The human race was also transformed at this time, with fear for the vampires being woven into the genetic level, and the inability to remember vampire weaknesses like garlic and crucifixes.

Unlike vampires from traditional lore, the Nobility have the ability to reproduce sexually, although their offspring will permanently cease aging after reaching physical maturity, in keeping with their immortality.

D is a dhampir, the half-breed child of a vampire father and human mother, therefore he makes the ideal vampire hunter. He is renowned for his consummate skill and unearthly grace, but feared and despised for his mixed lineage: born of both races but belonging to neither. Often underestimated by his opponents, D has surprising power and resourcefulness, possessing most of the strengths and only mild levels of vampiric weaknesses. It has been seen in both movies that his power is not only physical, but extends into magic as well, his magical powers make him one of the strongest beings on earth if not the second strongest second only to his father. However he prefers his physical powers,only using his magic in time of great pain or stress. Unlike most dhampirs, D is able to live as a “normal” human, though marked by his unearthly beauty and powerful aura, and thus rarely accepted by humans. His only notable weaknesses are that he is, while not unfeeling, emotionally remote. He is also (far more rarely than other dhampirs) randomly susceptible to sun-sickness, a severe type of sunstroke, about once every five years. Otherwise, D does not suffer from vampiric weaknesses usual to dhampirs, possessing an imposing supernatural aura to his opponents and godlike reflexes surpassing even vampires.

D is the host for a sentient symbiote, Left Hand, a wise-cracking human face residing in his left palm, who can suck in massive amounts of matter through a wind void or vacuum tunnel. Left Hand enjoys needling the poker-faced D, but only appears as needed, rarely witnessed or heard by anyone other than D, yet aware of many of D’s thoughts and actions. At all other times, D’s left hand appears normal. Besides providing a contrast to D’s reserved demeanor, Left Hand is incredibly useful, possessing many mysterious powers such as psychometry, inducing sleep, determining the medical condition of a victim, and the ability to size up the supernatural powers or prowess of an enemy, even beyond D’s keen senses. In the first and second novels, Left Hand can also revive D when his physical condition is suffering, by consuming the four elements and converting the resulting energy into life force. This ability even saved D from the usually fatal stake through the heart he received from Rei-Ginsei in the first novel. Left Hand has its own mind and will, and acts as D’s guide and sole permanent companion, providing a reservoir of knowledge pertaining to the lost Noble culture. So far, Left Hand’s origins are unknown, and it is unclear how they came to be joined. However, some of its nature is revealed in the third book, which features a similar creature; it is implied he was one of the Barbarois (human/monster hybrids) who served in the personal retinue of Dracula.

D rides a cybernetic horse with mechanical legs and other enhancements, wields a crescent longsword which looks similar to Yoshitaka Amano’s scimitar sword design found in many of his artworks, but the sword has a hefty length to that of a Japanese nodachi, and always wears a mystical blue pendant. The pendant cancels many automatic defenses, such as laser fields and small nuclear blasts, produced by vampire technology, and will allow him to enter their sealed castles. In the novels and game, he also uses wooden needles which he can throw with super speed. He protects his milk-white face from the noonday sun with long black hair, flowing black clothing and cape, and the shadow of a wide-brimmed hat. Though he appears to be only 17 or 18 in the first novel (slowly aging as the series goes on), D’s age is unknown (although he is implied to be at least hundreds of years old, and possibly over ten thousand years old). His beauty is mesmerizing, usually wooing women unintentionally and sometimes even making men flustered.

Very little is known of D’s parentage, or his past. Some Vampires whisper dark rumours about the Sacred Ancestor, Count Dracula, bedding a human woman called “Mina the Fair” (perhaps named after Mina Harker). Dracula conducted bizarre crossbreeding experiments (involving himself and countless human women), with the only successful product of the experiments being D. D, wanting nothing to do with his father save for killing him, refuses to go by his true name. Instead, he shortens it to the first letter.

Dracula’s role in the novels is very mixed, appearing both as bane and savior to isolated towns, and deified as an ancestral god-king to the vampires, many of whom never even met him. D quotes Dracula’s precepts (“Transient guests are we” — implied to refer to the Nobility, obviously) in the first novel. Dracula appears both as a lawgiver honored for his intelligence, who showed some interest in preserving humans, and as a ruthless scientist in the second novel, conducting hybrid breeding experiments with humans in order to perpetuate his own dwindling species. D appears to have encountered his father on at least one occasion, as when at times D reaches a place where the imprint of Dracula’s power remains, D remembers Dracula telling him that “You are my only success.” Like D, Dracula is portrayed as a mysterious and handsome young wanderer, who deals out both life and death.

Tags:
Posted in Vampire 1980's | No Comments »

Blade (1998)

November 28th, 2008

Blade is a 1998 vampire action film starring Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, loosely based on the published stories of the fictional Marvel Comics character Blade. It was directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. Snipes plays the titular character, a half-man, half-vampire superhero vampire hunter who becomes the protector of humans against the vampires. Blade grossed $70 million at the U.S. box office, and $130 million worldwide. This success is often credited with starting the current superhero revival in American cinema.[citation needed] Two sequels, Blade II and Blade: Trinity, were subsequently produced.

A man is led to a rave club by a seductive woman, only to find that the club is filled with vampires eager to feed on the human members of the crowd. In the middle of the carnage, a vampire-hunter named Blade arrives. As a half-vampire hybrid known as a “daywalker”, Blade has all the strengths of a vampire but none of their weaknesses except the thirst for blood. He slaughters the vampires in the club, leaving only Quinn alive and horribly burned.

Blade tracks Quinn down to a hospital, but Quinn is able to bite a resident hematologist, Dr. Karen Jenson, before escaping once again. Blade brings Karen back to his lair and introduces her to Abraham Whistler, his mentor and weaponsmith. Karen resolves to study vampirism and find a cure before she becomes a vampire. She soon discovers that the anticoagulant EDTA reacts explosively with the vampire infection. Meanwhile, Deacon Frost, a young upstart in the vampire community, clashes with his vampire elders. He believes that vampires should rise from the shadows and enslave humanity. The elders shun him for his radical views and because he was not born a vampire, like they were. Frost studies ancient vampire lore and comes to believe that he can awaken La Magra, a vampire god, to gain godlike power. Together with his minions, he kills the chief vampire of the region and imprisons the other elders.

Blade combats Frost’s various minions in an effort to uncover his plan, but Frost manages to invade Blade’s lair, kidnapping Karen and mortally wounding Whistler. Blade gives the infected Whistler a gun to commit suicide, then arms himself with a large supply of EDTA. He storms Frost’s home, overrunning the bodyguards, and discovers his own mother, whom he believed dead, in Frost’s bed. She reveals that Frost was the vampire that bit her while Blade was still in the womb and caused him to become a daywalker. Thunderstruck, Blade is defeated and taken to the Temple of Eternal Night for Frost’s blood ritual.

Frost sacrifices the elder vampires in a magic ritual and gains the power of La Magra. Karen manages to break free and feed Blade her blood, giving him the power to fight back. He kills his mother while Karen kills Frost’s lover Mercury with garlic spray. Blade then cuts through Quinn and the rest of Frost’s minions before engaging Frost in swordplay. Frost’s new powers make him immune to normal weapons, so Blade injects him with EDTA, causing Frost to explode. Blade and Karen return to Blade’s lair, where Karen successfully cures herself of vampirism. Blade chooses to forgo the cure in order to continue hunting vampires with their own powers. An epilogue finds Blade killing a vampire in Russia.

Frost sacrifices the elder vampires in a magic ritual and gains the power of La Magra. Karen manages to break free and feed Blade her blood, giving him the power to fight back. He kills his mother while Karen kills Frost’s lover Mercury with garlic spray. Blade then cuts through Quinn and the rest of Frost’s minions before engaging Frost in swordplay. Frost’s new powers make him immune to normal weapons, so Blade injects him with EDTA, causing Frost to explode. Blade and Karen return to Blade’s lair, where Karen successfully cures herself of vampirism. Blade chooses to forgo the cure in order to continue hunting vampires with their own powers. An epilogue finds Blade killing a vampire in Russia.

Tags:
Posted in Featured Articles, Vampire 1990's | No Comments »

Blade II (2002)

November 28th, 2008

Blade II is a 2002 vampire action film directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Wesley Snipes. Based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Blade, it is the second film in the Blade series.

Two years after the end of the previous film, Blade cuts a swath through the vampire population of Prague to find his old mentor Abraham Whistler being kept in suspended animation. He rescues Whistler, who has been turned into a vampire, and administers an accelerated version of the cure that was developed in the first film. Whistler revives and learns that Blade has procured a new weaponsmith in his absence, Scud.

As Whistler and Scud begin to argue, a pair of vampires invade Blade’s base and deliver a truce offering. Blade accepts and visits the fortress of the ancient vampire Eli Damaskinos. There he learns that a disease spread by Jared Nomak has created a new strain of infected vampires called Reapers that threaten to wipe out all human life on the planet. The vampires offer to ally with Blade in order to combat this mutual threat. Blade agrees and teams with the Bloodpack, an elite vampire squad that was created to battle Blade himself.

Blade and the Bloodpack stake out a vampire nightclub, and their uneasy alliance quickly wears thin. When the Reapers attack, Blade pursues Nomak, and learns that he too bears a personal grudge against vampires. After the battle, the group deduces that the Reapers’ only weakness is ultraviolet light. They concoct a plan to lure the Reapers into the sewers and ambush them with UV grenades. Though Blade develops an unusual connection with Nyssa, the daughter of Damaskinos, he is ultimately betrayed by the Bloodpack during the ambush.

Blade, Whistler, and Scud are taken back to Damaskinos’s fortress as prisoners, where Damaskinos reveals that he created Nomak in a botched effort to breed a superior race of vampires. Scud also reveals himself as a traitor, but Blade kills him with his own bomb. As Nomak assaults the fortress, Whistler and Blade break free. Damaskinos prepares to flee, but he is betrayed by Nyssa. Nomak kills Damaskinos and infects Nyssa before Blade catches up to him. Blade and Nomak engage in an epic battle before Blade stabs Nomak in the heart. On the brink of death, Nomak feels relieved of his pain and completes the fatal blow.

As the sun dawns, Blade stoically grants Nyssa her final wish to see the sun, to die as a vampire before the Reaper virus takes hold of her. In an epilogue, Blade goes to London in order to settle an old score with a vampire flunky.

Tags:
Posted in Vampire 2000's | No Comments »

Night Watch (2004)

November 28th, 2008

Night Watch is a 2004 Russian fantasy action thriller film by the Kazakhstan-born film director Timur Bekmambetov. It is loosely based on the novel The Night Watch, and is the first part of a trilogy, followed by Day Watch and ending with the 2009 release of Twilight Watch.

In the prologue, which is set in medieval times, humans with extra powers are called Others. The Others are proponents of either light or dark and confront each other to do battle. Geser, lord of light, realizes that the two forces are evenly matched and both will be destroyed. In parley with Zavulon, general of dark, the two agree to a truce in which the light will form a Night Watch and the dark a Day Watch to maintain the balance before the coming of the Great One who will choose either Light or Dark and thereby bring one to prominence.

In modern Russia, when his wife leaves him for another man, Anton goes to see an old woman who he believes will be able to bring her back. This woman tells him that his wife is pregnant by the other man and the fetus must be aborted or she will return to the other man. Anton accepts responsibility for this. The old woman prepares a drink involving Anton’s blood which he drinks. The shot cuts to his wife telling the other man they have to split up. The old woman starts to cite an incantation to abort the fetus, and Anton’s wife on a distant boat collapses and clutches at her womb but just as the incantation is about to be complete, two figures become visible in the room, and a third appears at the door, who shapeshifts into a tiger, and restrains the old woman. They express surprise when Anton sees them and note that he must be an “other”.

Twelve years later, Anton has become a member of the nightwatch along with the three figures. At Anton’s request, Kostya, his neighbor, takes him to his father, a butcher, to procure blood for Anton to drink. The father does so reluctantly and notes after Anton leaves that the Night Watch only drink blood when they are hunting a vampire.

A twelve-year-old boy, Yegor, is hearing a psychic call by a vampire who intends to feed. Anton tracks Yegor, being able to hear the call as he nears Yegor. On the way he sees a blond woman with her hair flying about even though she is inside a subway train with no airflow.

Two vampires are about to feed on Yegor when Anton arrives, and he is attacked by the male vampire, whom Anton can see only in a mirror. Anton wounds the female vampire, who hides. The other members of the Night Watch arrive and turn on special lights on their truck. Anton then picks up a mirror shard and directs the light from the truck towards the male vampire’s chest, destroying him. A member of the Day Watch arrives and reveals that the daywatch are aware of the “murder” of one of their dark ones.

Anton is healed by Geser who notes that he could have solved things more easily by entering into a shadow world called the Gloom. He reveals a legend about a virgin who was cursed and people and animals around her died or sickened, she was accompanied by a vortex of damnation. Either this virgin who has been reborn must die or they must find who cursed her. Geser gives Anton an assistant called Olga in the shape of a stuffed owl. Anton refuses and laughs until he sees Geser throw it out the window, whereupon it turns into a living owl that flies away.

At Anton’s apartment, the owl arrives and shapeshifts into a woman. Kostya arrives and says he knows that Anton killed the vampire Dark Other. Anton and Olga track Yegor to his home where they must enter the Gloom as Yegor is there hiding from the female vampire. The Gloom almost takes Yegor, but a blood sacrifice from Anton distracts it enough for them to escape. Emerging from the Gloom, Anton sees a photo of Yegor and his mother, Anton’s wife of twelve years ago. Night Watch members Tiger and Bear arrive to protect Yegor but they start kissing and the boy follows the call of the female vampire.

Anton and Olga go to a command and control centre set up near the apartment of the woman, Svetlana, from the subway train. A vortex is over her apartment and bad things have been happening to those near her. There is a flashback to twelve years prior where Anton recalls hearing the nightwatch that rescued him from Daria, that she had lied to him and the boy was his son. Anton enters Svetlana’s apartment and talks with her, whereby it is revealed that she cursed herself, meaning she is an Other. This revealed, the curse ends and the vortex disappears.

Yegor escapes the grips of the female vampire after Zavulon enters the roof and tries to save Anton’s life. Here Anton tries to kill Yegor, Zavulon’s assistant reads Anton’s personal file aloud and hearing that Anton tried to kill him as a fetus, Yegor willingly turns to the Dark, much to the dismay of Anton.

Tags:
Posted in Vampire 2000's | No Comments »

John Badham’s Dracula (1979)

November 28th, 2008

Dracula is a 1979 horror/romance film starring Frank Langella as Count Dracula. The film was directed by John Badham and the cinematography was by Gilbert Taylor. The original music score is composed by renowned composer John Williams. The film’s tagline is: “Throughout history, he has filled the hearts of men with terror, and the hearts of women with desire.”

The film also starred Laurence Olivier as Professor Abraham Van Helsing, Donald Pleasence as Dr. Jack Seward, Kate Nelligan as Lucy Seward, Trevor Eve as Jonathan Harker, Tony Haygarth as Milo Renfield, and Jan Francis as Mina Van Helsing. It won the 1979 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film.

Like Universal’s earlier 1931 version starring Bela Lugosi, the screenplay for this adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula is based on the stage adaptation by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, which ran on Broadway and also starred Langella in a Tony Award-nominated performance. Notable for its Edwardian setting, and strikingly designed by Edward Gorey, the play ran for over 900 performances between October 1977 and January 1980.

The film was shot on location in England: at Shepperton Studios and Black Park, Buckinghamshire. Cornwall doubled for the majority of the exterior Whitby scenes; Tintagel (for Seward’s Asylum), and St Michael’s Mount (for Carfax Abbey).

Set in Whitby, England (circa 1920’s) Count Dracula (Frank Langella) arrives from Transylvania via the ship Demeter one stormy night. A sickly Mina Van Helsing (Jan Francis), who is visiting her friend Lucy Seward (Kate Nelligan), discovers Dracula’s body after his ship has run aground. After praising her as his “Saviour,” the Count visits Mina and her friends at the household of Lucy’s father, Dr. Jack Seward (Donald Pleasence), whose clifftop mansion also serves as the local asylum. At dinner, he proves to be a charming guest and leaves a strong impression on the hosts, Lucy especially. Less charmed by this handsome Romanian count is Jonathan Harker (Trevor Eve), Lucy’s fiance.

Later that night, while Lucy and Jonathan are having a secret rendezvous, Dracula reveals his true nature as he descends upon Mina to drink her blood. The following morning, Lucy finds Mina awake in bed struggling for breath. Powerless, she watches her friend die only to find wounds on her throat. Lucy blames herself for Mina’s death as she had left her alone.

At a loss for the cause of death, Dr. Seward calls for Mina’s father, Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Laurence Olivier). Van Helsing suspects what might have killed his daughter: a vampire. Moreover, he begins to worry about what fate his seemingly dead daughter may now have since her encounter with the creature. Seward and Van Helsing investigate their suspicions and discover a makeshift tunnel within Mina’s coffin (clawed by hand) which leads to the local mines. It is there that they encounter the ghastly form of an undead Mina, and it is up to a distraught Van Helsing to destroy what remains of his own daughter.

Lucy meanwhile has been summoned to Carfax Abbey, Dracula’s new home, and soon she reveals herself to be in love with this foreign prince and openly offers herself to him as his bride. After a surreal “Wedding Night” sequence (employing lasers and shot by famed James Bond title sequence designer, Maurice Binder), Lucy, like Mina before her, is now infected by Dracula’s blood. However, the two doctors manage to give Lucy a blood transfusion to help prevent her vampirism, but nothing can stop the inevitable now.

Now aided by Jonathan, the elderly doctors realise that the only way to defeat Dracula (and save Lucy) is by destroying him. They manage to locate his coffin within the grounds of Carfax Abbey, but the vampire is waiting for them (despite it being daylight Dracula is still a very powerful adversary to his enemies). Dracula escapes their feeble attempt to kill him and bursts into the asylum to free the captive Lucy. While there he murders his one time slave, Milo Renfield (Tony Haygarth) for warning the others about him. Dracula now intends for he and Lucy to return to Transylvania together.

In a race against time, Harker and Van Helsing just manage to get onboard a ship carrying the vampire cargo bound for Romania. Below decks, Harker and Van Helsing find the Count’s coffin; upon opening it they see Lucy sleeping beside her new “husband”, Dracula. Again they try to destroy him, but the Count awakens and once more fights with his assassins. In the struggle, Van Helsing is fatally wounded by Dracula as he is impaled by the stake intended for the vampire. As the enraged Count now turns his attention to Harker, the dying doctor uses his remaining strength to throw a hook (attached to a rope, from the ship’s rigging), into Dracula’s back. Harker seizes his only chance and hoists the Count’s body up through the cargo hold and into the sunlight above. Dracula then suffers a slow and painful death as the solar rays burn his body to ashes.

Lucy, now apparently herself once more, reaches out to Harker for support, but is coldly rejected by her one time suitor. It is at that moment that she looks up to see Dracula’s cape flying away in the wind, where she smiles enigmatically, hopeful that her true love is not quite so dead after all. It is left up to the viewer to decide the meaning of the ending, specifically whether Dracula is escaping or Lucy is carrying his baby.

Tags:
Posted in Vampire 1970's | No Comments »

The Addiction (1995)

November 28th, 2008

The Addiction is an unconventional 1995 vampire film by Abel Ferrara, starring Lili Taylor, Edie Falco, Paul Calderon and Christopher Walken. It was written by Ferrara’s regular screenwriter, Nicholas St John, filmed in black and white and released simultaneously with Ferrara’s period gangster film, The Funeral.

The film is widely considered an allegory about drug addiction.

Kathleen Conklin (Taylor), a young philosophy student at New York University, is attacked by a woman (Annabella Sciorra), who tells her “order me to go away” and, when the frightened Kathleen is unable to do so, bites her neck and drinks her blood. Kathleen develops several of the traditional symptoms of vampirism, including aversion to daylight, but the film’s main focus is on her moral degradation. The film opens with a narrative of the My Lai massacre, and the vampires repeatedly resort to the strategy of blaming their victims for not being strong enough to resist them. As one of Kathleen’s victims weeps incredulously over the damage, Kathleen coldly informs her: “It’s not my actions but your incredulity that needs examination here.” At her graduation party, she says “I’d like to share a little bit of what I’ve learned” and savages the neck of the nearest person, precipitating a bloody, chaotic vampire orgy. Eventually Kathleen meets Peina (Walken), who claims to have conquered his addiction and recommends that she read William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch. In an ambiguous finale, Kathleen is again confronted with the woman who first bit her, who stops her suicide attempt and quotes R. C. Sproul to her. But Conklin resists, receives absolution from a Catholic priest, and is shown walking away from a grave with her own name on it, in broad daylight.

Tags:
Posted in Vampire 1990's | No Comments »