Strange Famous

All the fuss about Twilight is hard for me to get, because it seems to me there isnt much in it that wasnt covered 8/10 years ago in the Buffy/Angel universe, but for many years the same view of the monster has been played out in popular culture...

The vampire seems to be a enduring romantic icon for us... but I never understood why.

To me, the best portrayal of the vampire I have ever seen is the old silent movie Nosferatu... a disgusting, creeping thing, a vicious and stupid animal clumsily aping a charade of humanity: driven not by cruelty or sex or power, but by nerveless animal need and emotionless brutality.

Which view of the vampire do you prefer or find most affecting? The tortured soul, desperate for but denied redemption, the brooding and sexy anti-hero? Or the animated corpse feeding on external and internal death, the sickly abomination given life by some disgusting curse?

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Jetée

I noticed this resurgence of vampire lore back into popular culture around three years ago, but it's always been present in Western culture, in pockets of time dating back to the 11th century, earliest written accounts if I recall correctly.


My best example and representative is that of yes, the Nosferatu, and delving deeper into the relationships of monstrous myths, entangling the stories with that of the Fenrir, and Ereshkigal, etc. Varying cultures worldwide have a form and embodiment and lore of what creates and constitutes a vampire, and why they have come into existence. To me, just recently I likened vampires and zombies to one another, for they are in essence, of the same kin, yet they both possess differing cultural attributes that sets them apart; but in their unending desire to feed, their relationship to the "undead", and overall, being harbingers of gloom and despair, I loosely associate the two as one.


Of the popular culture and media references to the vampire, of which there are many, some hit the mark quite well and can resonate decades beyond its origins, and some are so ridiculously-laughable that it appeals to only a certain subsect.

I am somewhat tired of hearing about "Twilight" for the same reason I become langished with more news about "Hanna Montana"; both of these products are not marketed to me, the average one-half statistic of a 18-34 or 35-59 year-old male.

Though, as I recently discovered, I am quite interested to follow this vampire feature as it progresses along until its debut: Daybreakers

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Leto

twilight? I thought it was Trueblood. Anyways, which came first? I am watching season one of trueblood now, and it is pretty edgy along the lines of the rest of HBO's great offering of the past (Carnivale, Deadwood etc).

Can't see Twilight being any better than Trueblood, but haven't seen it so I can't really comment appropriately.

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SecretMethod70

Leto: how's the temperature under that rock? I kid. In fact, you're lucky to have missed out on so much Twilight exposure!

Twilight came before True Blood and it's particularly crappy teen emo romance vampire-in-name-only literature. The vampires don't die in sunlight... they sparkle. The whole series is basically the fantasy diary of a lonely mormon lady with unfortunate ideas about relationships. (Edward, the main vampire character in the book, is practically a stalker, and this is romanticized.)

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Le temps détruit tout

Leto

haha... Well, the rock I live under is called work. Oh well, I guess I haven't missed much as I attributed/relegated Twilight to the same category as Hanna Montana, totally not in my age range, and aimed at tweens.

But Trueblood? ya, I was banging on my my neighbour's door for episode 4 just an hour ago. Nice to have something entertaining to look forward to.

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You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr

http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Leto_Atreides_I

LoganSnake

Let The Right One In.

Rent it. Now. It will make your life better.

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There is a core and it's hardcore. All is hardcore when made with love. The love is voice of savage soul. This savage love is understructable.

Given enough time all gods and goddesses die, they are then merely replaced with new mythology.

Reese

I like all kinds of vampires. Be it Nosferatu, Dracula, Anne Rice's Lestat or anything in between. I think all of these vampires are interesting when the rest of the story supports it. I kind of like the Lost Boys vampires best though. Living life on the edge, Doing what they want without fear of retaliation.. Well, Until the Frog brothers come along and fuck their shit up!

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LoganSnake

I like Underworld (movie trilogy) and Vampire: The Masquerade (pen and paper and video game RPGs) interpretation of vampires. I like the idea of high and low class vampiric societies with power struggles within.

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There is a core and it's hardcore. All is hardcore when made with love. The love is voice of savage soul. This savage love is understructable.

Given enough time all gods and goddesses die, they are then merely replaced with new mythology.

thirdsun

Let the Right One In



A completely new twist for the vampire genre. The main vampire anti-hero is a young (but not so young) girl played by Lina Leandersson. Her character, Eli, is somewhat of a misfit, as vampires go, but nonetheless fully capable of all things vampire. I've rarely seen such an old soul in such a young actor.

This film was made in Sweden and the cinematography and ambient music are quite mesmerizing. Definitely worth renting. If you rent it, watch it with the Swedish soundtrack and English subtitles. The poorly done English dubbing will distract you from the film's true beauty.

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DaniGirl

Interview with the Vampire is the best vampire movie ever. I also like Underworld.

Daniel_

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The Echo of a distant time
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Willravel

The better vampire portrayals are where the former human self come into conflict with the new soulless predator, but the problem is the issue of emo. There's a serious difference between conflicted and mopey and all too often the vampire goes from fascinating and frightening to boring and gloomy. No one wants to see a man that cries a lot because his teeth are sharp and he's suddenly an immortal. I suspect most people would think the worst of the gloomy vampires is of course Louis de Pointe du Lac from Interview with the Vampire. 123 minutes of Brad Pitt moping and being ordered about by either an egotistical Lestat or a bratty Claudia. And occasionally eating a peasant or something.

If you go back to the first archetype, it's about sexuality and domination/submission, it's about the traditional and the modern colliding, and it's about the nature of "evil". He wasn't the greatest literary character of all time, but he certainly wasn't the ever-weepy Louis, Angel, Edward or Bill (or even the Dracula from the 1992 movie). Dracula was a beast under the guise of aristocracy. Dracula was evil, enjoying feasting on the innocent and even lusting for world domination. Dracula was an archetypal villain and I think you'd be hard pressed to find a modern (last 20 years) incarnation that bears any resemblance to him. You either have the purely monstrous, the mopey, or the "twist" vampire, like Let the Right One In.

I've never seen or read a vampire that I found to be truly engaging and interesting, other than the original.

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noodle

I liked Daywatch and Nightwatch.
I can't remember the third in the trilogy or if it is out yet.
The cinematography keeps me engaged and the actors are awesome.

If I could forbed Suckie frum tekkin' awwf her clothes, and Vampyre Beeyul frum speekin', I'd lahke True Blud bettah.

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docbungle

The most interesting take on vampires, for me, is Vampire's Kiss, an older Nicolas Cage movie (you know; the one where he is rumored to have actually eaten that cockroach). Many people cringe at the mention of Cage, but this was way back in his early days when he was whacky and interesting as an actor. It's a character study more than anything.

The movie stands alone. There really isn't anything else like it. Quite bizarre, with a fearless performance by cage.

Also, as many have mentioned above, Let The Right One In is very good.

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Cathleen

Vampire film which i like a lot is Interview with the vampire. I ve read some books written by Anne Rice, the film is very good 'illustration' to the first one, the characters are incarnated very well, i thibk Claudia is the best role of Dunst) but Armand... he is 17 years old according to the novel. I d prefer vampires to be like in this film.
'Queen of the Damned' - also is rather good product, especially sountrack)
'The reflecting skin' - this movie teachs us not to think about smth just in one way, because it can be wrong, and lead to irreparable consequences.

FuglyStick

yes

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ZombieSquirrel

I will admit that I like Buffy and Angel. I do tend to like a more demonic (scary) version of a vampire. Nosferatu is my favorite classic horror film.

It seems like the romantic/erotic vampire stories started with Dracula. That character seems to have been romanticized over the years.

I really liked The Lost Boys. Maybe it was because of the Coreys.

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Charlatan

If you want a novel approach to the Vampire myth see if you can find a copy of George A Romero's Martin.

I would also recommend the film Near Dark.


The Vampire, as cultural icon may seem like it is back, but I would suggest it never left. It's been used in pop culture, in one form or another, almost constantly since Bram Stoker's book hit the shelves. There have been many takes on the vampire from feral beast to fancy pants aristocrat and all points in between.

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filtherton

Being the story of someone who not only triumphed over a crippling, soul sucking addiction but also turned to object of that addiction into a positive force for breakfast, I'd have to say that Count Chocula is the greatest vampire of all time.

That, and Let the Right One In was pretty good, if only for the scene at the pool and the fact that Spoiler: "She's a man, baby".