November 22, 2008

• Vampires

  It's hard to do vampires and do something new.  It's like going to the same horror movie disguised in another cloak: Freddy, Jason, you name it . . . they all start to look the same after a while.

  But, there is some good Vampire material out there: non-emo Vampires that weren't always in the mainstream.

  When I was in junior high and high school, punk was starting to really emerge amongst my peers.  It also gave birth to "Death rock" and the "new wave" era.  We didn't have "emo" or "goth" back then.  You didn't have some of these poser stores like Hot Topic.  If you wanted something cool, you had to order it from the Brit-mags and catalogs, or you had to know how to sew.  We also frequented the second hand stores, the army surplus stores.  You were always looking for something you could alter, could reinvent, could tear up and restitch. 

  But, I'm getting off track.  This is about vampires.

  Before Anne Rice really got a boost, there was Whitley Streiber and his book, The Hunger.  This was made into a movie starring Susan Sarandon, David Bowie and Catherine DeNeuve.  The movie became so popular and coveted that you couldn't rent it from the video store without putting down a $50 deposit.  People were stealing the copies to keep. 

  This is how the evolution of the vampire came about within these subcultures.  It started with Whitley.  I'm wholly convinced of this, though some may argue that Anne Rice deserves the title of "Vampire Sire."  I disagree.  Interview with a Vampire (though written before Streiber's book,) didn't really pick up momentum until some years later. 

  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Anne Rice's Vampire stories (well, most of them.)  I had a difficult time finding a character to connect with as most of her female characters were unreachable in one way or another: super-bitchy, crazy, childlike. 

  We had a string of vampire movies: some actually quite good.  I'll always be a fan of The Lost Boys.  And Near Dark is one of the finest vamp-flicks out there.  There's also Brahm Stoker's Dracula which blew my socks off, despite Winona Ryder.  Then there was the Vampire: The Masquerade, an rpg created by two brothers in the basement of their parents' home.  Their game was an RPG whirlwind and their company became the second largest gaming conglomerate behind Dungeons and Dragons.

  I'm not sure the point of my post, other than to say, "it's all pretty much been done before."  The angst, the love, the longing, the lure of immortality.   I think our recent fascination began with Whitley's story, a rather quiet tale about a vampire named Miriam who is desperate to find love that will last with her through the ages.

  Whitley's vampires are a race unto themselves--born as they are.  They were hunted over the ages until few remained.  Vampires procreating was dangerous.  It often took the life of the mother and child.  The race began to die, slowly, over time.  And here is Miriam, feeding her blood to humans in hopes of finding a lover that will stick.  You see, they stay with her for a while, young and supple, but after a few hundred years they start to deteriorate at an alarming rate.  They age before our eyes, yet they never die.  Horrific.

  In the movie, Susan Sarandon plays a genetic doctor who thinks she has found a cure for mortality.  Naturally Miriam is interested.  Perhaps this woman holds the secret to Miriam's problem. 

  The book reads very quickly. I finished it in a few hours and it was one of the first books in which I can remember that happening.  There is also a sequel, The Last Vampire, about the utter genocide of Miriam's species.  Powerful stuff, and out there for quite a long time.

  Fascinating to trace these cultural shifts.  Give it a shot.  Rent the movie, pick up the book (though it may be difficult to find nowadays.)  Enjoy. 

  • 3:14 pm
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