Vampires....who likes vampires?
I love vampires....not the silly Twilight versions mind you, I'm talking about hardcore, gothic, kill em all vamps. Out of all of the vampire films that have arisen since the heydays of Dracula and the Hammer films, there are two series I absolutey love involving vampires...True Blood and Underworld.
Underworld is more of a fantasy series as opposed to horror. I tell you it's something that has come out of comic books and video games. An age old hostiltiy between vampires and werewolves (Likens) goes terribly wrong when it involves the descendant of Alexander Corvinus, the founding father of both races. It kind of reminds me of how Abraham is the father of both Jews and Arabs and how there is hostility there. All you have to do is read the newspapers and you see it there blazing at you in black and white. It's an interesting parallel.
In the first Underworld film, we see our hero, Seline (played by Kate Beckensale)getting too involved in an undercover plot to eliminate the vamps through an unhealthy allegience between Vampire Kraven and Werewolf Lucian. Amazing special effects, amazing dialogue and great cinematography, I give this film five coffee cups.
That's right....I went there.
I tend to give films that I never tire of watching again and again that number because of it's permanency. If it's 5 coffee cups, it's that good.
Underworld Evolution, then Rise of the Lycans followed by Awakening continues the adventure...and I'm very much looking forward to the next film of the series.
Yeah, I grew up on Dracula and the like. I understood the talk of blood, how it gives life, and the vampires need for it. I get it, but it's also become a bit silly in the media world. I ignore those and I get into the good stuff.
Take True Blood for instance. I love that show. It's the story of the intergration of vampire society into regular human life, which does not work out as the series continues. Relationships form, people die, and as a fan my wife and I get really into the series.
One of the earliest horror films about vampires was Nosferatu (1922). It was an earlier depictions of what would become our beloved Dracula played by Bela Lugosi in 1931. This of course brought on all the other beloved monsters of early cinema. The remake of Bram Stoker's classic in 1992 with Gary Oldman was a work of genius. It struck fear and chaos in the hearts of those who watched it, and brought about a caring for the main character none of us really felt before. Dracula became a person of trajedy. Then other vampire films started coming out. Dracula gave way to Louie, to Lestat, to Celine, To Viktor, to Bill Compton and Eric Northman, to David from The Lost Boys...
OMG...remember the Lost Boys???
THAT was good!!! It was scary, action packed, funny and delightful to watch back in 1987. I had just started college at that point so I was really taking in the fun at the movies. Aside from Friday the 13th and Aliens, The Lost Boys was the only other film I saw in the movies that made people scream like it was a concert. That didn't happen again until Paranormal Activity, many years later.
Underworld is more of a fantasy series as opposed to horror. I tell you it's something that has come out of comic books and video games. An age old hostiltiy between vampires and werewolves (Likens) goes terribly wrong when it involves the descendant of Alexander Corvinus, the founding father of both races. It kind of reminds me of how Abraham is the father of both Jews and Arabs and how there is hostility there. All you have to do is read the newspapers and you see it there blazing at you in black and white. It's an interesting parallel.
In the first Underworld film, we see our hero, Seline (played by Kate Beckensale)getting too involved in an undercover plot to eliminate the vamps through an unhealthy allegience between Vampire Kraven and Werewolf Lucian. Amazing special effects, amazing dialogue and great cinematography, I give this film five coffee cups.
That's right....I went there.
I tend to give films that I never tire of watching again and again that number because of it's permanency. If it's 5 coffee cups, it's that good.
Underworld Evolution, then Rise of the Lycans followed by Awakening continues the adventure...and I'm very much looking forward to the next film of the series.
Yeah, I grew up on Dracula and the like. I understood the talk of blood, how it gives life, and the vampires need for it. I get it, but it's also become a bit silly in the media world. I ignore those and I get into the good stuff.
Take True Blood for instance. I love that show. It's the story of the intergration of vampire society into regular human life, which does not work out as the series continues. Relationships form, people die, and as a fan my wife and I get really into the series.
One of the earliest horror films about vampires was Nosferatu (1922). It was an earlier depictions of what would become our beloved Dracula played by Bela Lugosi in 1931. This of course brought on all the other beloved monsters of early cinema. The remake of Bram Stoker's classic in 1992 with Gary Oldman was a work of genius. It struck fear and chaos in the hearts of those who watched it, and brought about a caring for the main character none of us really felt before. Dracula became a person of trajedy. Then other vampire films started coming out. Dracula gave way to Louie, to Lestat, to Celine, To Viktor, to Bill Compton and Eric Northman, to David from The Lost Boys...
OMG...remember the Lost Boys???
THAT was good!!! It was scary, action packed, funny and delightful to watch back in 1987. I had just started college at that point so I was really taking in the fun at the movies. Aside from Friday the 13th and Aliens, The Lost Boys was the only other film I saw in the movies that made people scream like it was a concert. That didn't happen again until Paranormal Activity, many years later.
Vampire nuttiness will not go away. It has become as immortal as the characters which are depicted on the screeen and in literature. Make no mistake, with the rise of vampire films today in all of it's incarnations, including NBC's recently released Dracula, we have just taken only the first bite...
yuk yuk.....
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