Ever since I was a small girl I have been drawn towards the stories about these
gorgeous creatures with their white skin, their mesmerizing eyes and immortal beauty.
On this page I'd like to express my thoughts about vampires, their fictional
world and the numerous vampire stories made over the years with the help of movie reviews, opinions on books and
perhaps even a drawing or two. Hopefully, along the way, I'll be able to answer my own question as to why I find these
creatures so fascinating.
But honestly, how can we not find them enticing? Immortal yet
passionate creatures, forever young and beautiful, able to mesmerize the senses with their mere presence and inhuman strength
and agility. And well yeah, sure there are a few downsides like a constant insatiable hunger for blood,
getting your ass kicked by a pissed off slayer with fashion sense or getting barbequed to a crisp at sunrise, but
what's life without a little challenge?
Vampires reflect the evil we all have in us. Their eerie sensuality
is something we'll never possess. They are the badasses we envy, but know we can never be. Their immortality appeals to our
dread of dying, their eternal youth and beauty to our fear of getting old.
So tell me, if you were given the choice, would you become a vampire?
Morten Harket
It may be a bit strange, but I've always
associated the song Hunting High and Low with the tragic, self conscious new age vampires I've grown to love so much.
Maybe it's because of the lyrics that I linked it to a vampire’s passionate, eternal and somewhat obsessive hunt of
a loved one. Or maybe what gave this song it's mystical and supernatural feel was the magical combination of A-Ha's
amazing music and Morten Harket's utterly fascinating and fantastic voice (did you know his vocal range spans 5 octaves
and that he held a note for 20,2 seconds on their song Summer Moved On?). Either way; I thought it made
a great theme for this page.
The image shown here of Morten Harket is completely unconventional,
as his pictures are normally not this eccentric. But in this case it couldn't be more appropriate with the theme of this page
and I couldn’t resist putting it up here.
.
The Vampire Chronicles consists of a series of wonderful novels written
by American author Anne Rice. The books revolve mainly around vampire and French aristocrat Lestat de Lioncourt, who
was born into darkness in the 18th century. The stories follow Lestat, his past and the impact his decisions in life
has made on other vampires and humans around him.
Anne Rice's vampires differ from traditional vampires as they are sensitive
and passionate, thus making them quite receptive for humanlike emotions and torment. These emotions however make them interesting,
extremely sensual and perhaps a bit too human for vampire standards, but ever so entertaining. Anne Rice also made the, in
my opinion perfect decision to disregard the well known vampire ability
to transform into bats, making her vampires a bit more credible and convincing in my book.
They do however, like conventional vampires, posses superhuman senses,
strength and speed and the older vampires develop, besides the ability to fly, special powers, which they themselves call
gifts.
Anne Rice did a wonderful job in creating an amazingly detailed world around her vampires, making
them all interesting and, in a way, dramatically tragic. Her character Lestat de Lioncourt is a wonderful persona who you
can't help but like, dispite all his shortcomings and evil deeds.
The first novel in the series, Interview with the Vampire (1976), was adapted to film
in 1994 and was a box office hit. It stars Tom Cruise as Lestat, Brad Pitt as Louis de Pointe du Lac, a young Kirsten
Dunst as vampire-child Claudia and Antonio Banderas as Armand. I've never been a really big fan of Tom Cruise (I never
fell victim to the Top Gun craze back then) but lately I'm enjoying his performances (MI-III) and I loved his presentation
as Lestat, as he characterizes him wonderfully.
Parts of the second book, The Vampire Lestat
and the third, Queen of the Damned were merged together in the 2002 movie adaptation The Queen of the Damned, which stars
Stuart Townsend as Lestat and now deceased Aaliyah as Akasha. The movie received some heavy criticism, especially because Anne
Rice's fans didn't like two major books merged together in merely 150 minutes of film. Despite
these negative critics the movie became a success, which was said to be primarily due to Aaliyah's unfortunate death
6 months prior to the release of the movie.
I don't particularly like the movie Queen of the
Damned, so I won't be extensively reviewing it here. The movie was shallow, rushed and basically a joke if you're an Anne
Rice fan. They were about to lose the movie rights to Anne Rice once more so they were in a hurry to slam 600 pages in
a workable script. And it shows.
If you merely like to see Stuart Townsend without
shirt or Aaliyah exessively curling her metal bra all over the place, then this is the movie for you. If you're
a fan of the books and loved the complex world Anne Rice created for her vampires, stay away, this movie will only give
you headaches.
.
Tom Cruise showing he can be sexy as hell as Lestat de Lioncourt
Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles
1994, Warner Bros.
Directed by Neil Jordan
Cast:
Brad Pitt - Louis de Pointe du Lac
Tom Cruise - Lestat de Lioncourt
Kisten Dunst - Claudia
Christian Slater - Daniel Malloy
Antonio Banderas - Armand
I really enjoyed this movie. Not only because of the impressive cast, which,
in my eyes, was merely a rather pleasant bonus, but because of the excellent cinematography, gorgeous costumes (I'm a sucker
for those white baroque shirts) and nicely written script.
I realise not everyone liked the casting of Tom Cruise for the part of Lestat
de Lioncourt (which I'd like to blame on his curly blond locks), but you have to admit he did a pretty good job in capturing
the character and his sarcastic wit.
In the movie Lestat seems shallow, with hardly any depth at all. Merely
a bloodlust vampire who finds himself superior to humans but who, at the same time, likes to lavish himself in the
riches the human world can provide him.
But at the same time you can't help but feel there has to be more to him.
That his shallow behaviour is not all it seems and often merely a facade. And that was exactly what the first book in
Anne Rice's series was all about. The story was Louis' point of view, his experiences and his resentments against Lestat,
his hatred and weaknesses. His own story, told by himself, and with that not necessarily the truth. So even though the script
often strays from the story told in the book and many changes have been made, I think the movie captures that quite nicely.
Sadly there’s also a downside to this. From the movie alone you do not
get the feeling there's a more in depth story behind the characters of Lestat and Louis. For the story continues
(or repeats itself, however you like it) in the second book, The Vampire Lestat, in which Lestat himself tells the tale from
his point of view, leaving the reader to decide which story is the more adequate. This, however, is also only known to those who have
read the books.
Having said all this however, lately I can't get the idea out of my head that
they should have reversed the casting and given Brad Pitt the role of Lestat and gotten Tom Cruise to play Louis.
My reasoning for this besides the indesputable fact that Brad Pitt makes for
a better natural blond?
Brad Pitt has shown his evil side in other movies and still came out absolutely
likeable (Fight Club, and, to extend, Troy). Now that's a Lestat trade if I've ever seen one. Add to that the fact that
I didn't very much liked seeing him playing such a brooding, weak and emotional character. It doesn't suit a man of his
calibre actually and seems contradictional.
Another reason I can think of is kind of a shallow one, but I know you've
been waiting for it. It being shallow however doesn't make it less valid.
There's absolutely no straight woman alive these days who wouldn't like to spend
an evening alone with him. He's mesmerising in his own right, making him easily one of the most gorgeous men out there. Even
if you, as a woman (or a man for that matter) don't like him or his acting, there's absolutely no denying this man is
utterly beautiful. Now that's a Lestat trade too.
Brad Pitt and his pretty contacts as Louis de Pointe du Lac
“Vampires are killers,” Lestat said and drained his glass, “Predators. Whose all-seeing eyes
were meant to give them detachment. The ability to see a human life in its entirety, not with any mawkish sorrow, but with
a thrilling satisfaction in being the end of that life, in having a hand in the divine plan.”
Of course the film strays a lot from the book, but movie adaptations hardly
ever follow the written words completely. They can't, that's why they are adaptations.
I'm a bit sad though that WB never pursued the entire story of The Vampire
Chronicles. The books would have made for a wicked trilogy at least if they would have thought it out more deeply and more
detailed and not with just one adaptation in mind. But alas, we have to make do with only Interview with the Vampire as a
genuine Chronicles movie, and with that in mind I guess we should simply enjoy the pretty pictures and leave the deeper thoughts
for the books.
Anne Rice may have taken the traditional vampire and shredded him to bits
with her dramatic vampire characters, there was a show in the late 90-ies that took things even further.
Award winning show Buffy the Vampire Slayer first aired in 1997 and broadcasted
its last episode in 2003. The series took vampires to a new level. Not only were the higher classed vampires able
of human emotions like frustration, passion and humour, they also knew loyalty, fear and love. It even went as far as to have
two vampires with restored souls grace the series; Angel and, on a later stage, Spike.
Buffy Summers, a pretty young girl with a rather funny wit at times, is
the chosen one; The Vampire Slayer. Chosen by fate, Buffy possesses superhuman strength and agility to help her fulfil
her destiny; the slaying of vampires, demons and other dark creatures. She is aided in her quest by her "Watcher", the very English
Rupert Giles, who trains, teaches and guides her.
Against tradition and very much unlike the Slayers before her, who acted solely
on their own, Buffy surrounds herself with a loyal group of friends of which Xander and Willow have been present since
the beginning of the series and who undergo wonderful character development throughout the series.
The first season, like in so many series, just has to be endured. The lovable
cast is more than able to let you see past the ridiculous monsters (praying mantis anyone?), especially when you bear in mind
the series only gets better each season. Budgets were low when this show first started and it shows, but not without leaving
you, as viewer, might intrigued and that's quite an amazing accomplishment.
The show picked up success pretty rapidly and by the time the second season
started it was already maturing in a fast pace. By the end of the fourth season the series had turned into a professional
flick with great storylines, good acting and well thought-out plots, lavishly topped with complicated love stories.
The series has several, in depth vampire characters. Drusilla, a, rather insane,
female vampire introduced in the second season and returning character, provides a convenient link between the two main male
vampire characters; Angel and Spike on whom the series heavily depends. Without these two the show wouldn't have been
half as interesting.
David Boreanaz as Angel
Angel, played by David Boreanaz, is a Buffy veteran from the first hour. He was introduced during the
first season and already appears in the first episode "Welcome to the Hellmouth".
Born as Liam in 1727 in Galway, Ireland, he was turned into a vampire at the age of 27 by Darla, a
female vampire disguised as a noble woman. On the night of his rise Liam kills his own family after been invited into the
house by his younger sister who thought he was an angel retuning to them. Apparently Liam liked that morbid irony enough to
adapt it into his vampiric name; Angelus.
Angelus turned out a particularly vicious and cruel vampire, roaming England
and Europe together with Darla and rapidly earning himself a fearful reputation even amongst the foulest of creatures. He
sired Drusilla, who, in turn, created Spike for her own pleasure. The four of them terrorized Europe for decades.
Angelus' reign of terror ends after he tortured
and visciously killed a gypsy girl and her family and he is cursed by the survivors of her tribe. The curse restores
his soul, leaving him with a conscience and a horrible reinstated recollection of all his victims and the evil he brought
upon them. The reinstatement of his soul brought him to the brink of insanity and he couldn't bring himself to killing anymore,
living of the blood of animals for years before he was introduced to the current vampire slayer, Buffy.
So how about that? As if emotional, remorseful and emo-dramatic vampires weren't enough, we were
now confronted with a vampire with a soul. Josh Whedon topped Anne Rice's creatures by eliminating yet another
feature that makes them evil; their relentlessness and evil nature, leaving us with a thoroughly handsome, immortal, super-strength
processing, stealthy ninja with fangs and hardly any downsides.
Too good to be true don't you think?
Yeah, I guess Whedon realised that too so he added a little drama to make our vampire hero even more irresistible.
Angel can't experience true happiness, for that will once more remove his soul, successively turning him back into Angelus.
And apparently; that is something he doesn't want to happen. Angel is therefore doomed to forever live in torment over
his victims, as punishment for his evil ways.
Angel leaves the Buffy cast at the end of season 3, exchanging Sunnydale for Los Angeles where
he meets up with fellow Buffy Veteran Cordelia Chase to follow the path The Powers That Be had intended for him
all along. Together with half-demon seer Doyle they start the vigilante Angel Investigations. To help the helpless and
clean the streets of evil.
Besides Angel, the world of Buffy knew another remarkable vampire; Spike.
Portrayed by American actor and singer James Marsters, this platinum
blond, English vampire with a wicked sense of humor, was born as William Pratt in 19th century London and sired by Drusilla
in 1880.
Spike shows some similarities with Anne Rice's vampire Lestat as they
are both capable of great loyalty and both sired their mothers to prevent them from dying of tuberculoses.
Now, gorgeous Spike is a stand alone piece of work as far as curious
vampires go if I've ever seen one. Not only is he quite loyal, but he can experience human emotions like jealousy and
is able to love without his soul. He's also capable of withstanding sunlight as much as Angel can, which
is quite an achievement, to say the least.
Like Angel, Spike ends up as a vampire with a soul, but unlike Angel he
had his soul restored by choice. Driven by his rather "unvampiristic" love for Buffy, Spike undergoes a series of gruesome
tests and trials to have his soul returned to him.
Introduced as "the new big bad" in season 2 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer
he was originally scheduled to die after a few episodes. However, Spike became so popular amongst the Buffy fans
that they decided to let him live instead, this strengthened by the fact that Whedon himself liked the character of Spike
too much to write him off completely. Spike became a regular member of the cast from season 4 on and, besides acting
as a powerful ally to the Scooby Gang, was often used as comic relief throughout the series.
After his heroic death during the series final episode, Spike was later
on resurrected to appear in the fifth and final season of the Angel TV series. After both series ended Spike
had become so popular Whedon even toyed with the idea of giving him his own spin-off series.
James Marsters as Spike (yes, that sexy scar in his brow is quite real)
So how can we possibly not fall in love with the vampires Whedon and his
team created. They are, despite their violent nature, loveable creatures after all. Evil isn't supposed to have such a wonderful and
wicked sense of humour. Nor is it supposed to have reason, be affectionate or display deep friendship and loyalty. Evil
needs to be just that; evil. Not something in between because then it crosses the clear boundaries we so carefully set
for the evil within and around us. Our ethics tells us we should not tolerate it, but at the same time we all crave to
let it out at times.
And that's exactly why we like these creatures so much (apart from the
obvious reasons). They are free to be evil when they need to be and can hide behind the fact that it is in their nature,
but at the same time they are still human enough to be considered part of the good guys and to be seen as heroes.
Now if that isn't a win-win situation I don't know what is.
Of course, this plethora of sexy vampires with a variety of human
emotions kind of has a downside. I'm absolutely convinced that the overall appeal of these characters of both Whedon
and Rice triggered the creation (and succes) of a whole new genre of pathetic but ever so romantic monsters; The Fangirl Creatures.
Teens and angst go hand in hand, that we've known for years, and
I guess nothing would seem more romantic for a young girl than being able to tame the monster.
It's pretty much as old as the beauty and the beast.
But back then the beast at least had some fangs.
Lestat, Angel and Spike basically stood at the cradle of laughable
creatures like Edward Cullen and, to somewhat lesser extend, the Salvatore brothers of The Vampire Diaries. Even though the
Vampire Diaries was written in 1991, around the same time Buffy The Vampire Slayer made it's debut, it's success didn't
come until after Buffy became a major hit and has only just recently been made into a television series (evil tongues even
go as far as to say it has Twilight to thank for it's success, if I were Smith I'd want to burn Meyer's house to the ground).
Too bad though Spike and Angel didn't stake and eat baby Edward while
they stood at that crib. They would have saved us a lot of annoyance. Seriously; I don't know what sparkling, fangless Edward
Cullen and his family are supposed to be but basically they are a joke, even Sesame Street's Dracula is more genuine
than those clowns.
Therefore I refuse to dedicate any more words than I already have to those
My-Little-Pony-Vampires on this page. Period.
….I can add a little picture though.
Overall disclaimer:
Please people, I KNOW vampires aren't real (frickin' duh!), don't send me hate
mail telling me I'm out of touch with reality, thank you very much.
This page is meant to make people think about why they like these fictional
creatures so much. What it is that makes us go nuts and buy vampire related stuff, whether it be books, DVDs or vampire
undies. Fact is; the fascination has been there for years, centuries even, and NOT only limited to screaming 14-year old girlies
with a crush, so why not brainstorm a little. The vampire craze has been going strong for years. It can never hurt to have a little
fun.
