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Friday, 16 September 2005
Just a few to start...
Mood:
 not sure
Topic: A Few Reviews
House of Dark Shadows- **A feature version of the 60's and 70's soap opera about a 18th century vampire, Barnabas Collins. In the soap, he's initially after a waitress named Maggie Evans, then switches to a nanny named Victoria Winters. In the movie, he starts with a distantly related cousin and ends with a family friend. It was made in the 70's, so it has a gritty feel to it, but the movie is otherwise pretty close to the soap. If you haven't seen "Dark Shadows," some of the plot points may be lost on you, but it's still good to kill an hour and a half. (Starring Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, and Joan Bennett. Directed by Dan Curtis, 1970, for MGM Studios)
 Andy Warhol's "Dracula"- *** Andy Warhol was known as an artist who churned out interpretations of established icons. So I guess it's not a big surprise that he got hold of the Bram Stoker book and rearranged it to serve his own impressions. He moves the whole thing to Italy, where the Count (Udo Kier) is riding in a car from town to town looking for a virginal bride with his casket on top of his car. Stopping in a village, he is directed to a villa where three sisters stay with their mother in the countryside.
Once there, the Count discovers the estate is in near-ruins and that the girls are looking to marry to improve their station. The mother offers one of the daughters, but Dracula soon discovers that the girl and one of the other sisters has been doing more than weeding the garden with the groundskeeper. (Dracula figures it out when he vomits the "virginal" blood.) Drac's last chance is the youngest daughter, but the groundskeeper is onto him and manages to deflower the final girl just in the nick of time.
It is what it is, a Warhol movie, but it's actually pretty good. Just do yourself a favor and put the Bram Stoker book out of your mind if you wish to enjoy the film. (Starring Udo Kier and Joe Dallesandro. Directed in 1974 by Paul Morrissey and Antonio Margheriti for Compagnia Cinematografica Champion .)
 The Breed- *** If you loved the book "1984" by George Orwell and are a vampire fan, this may be for you.
A two cops(one vampire, one human) are put together on a case in an undefined future that resembles Nazi-era Germany. They are investigating the murders of humans that are apparently committed by a vampiric suspect. What they find is a conspiracy to create a Vampire Master Race.
It's actually good and atmospheric, due to the European locations and the unorthodox casting of the TV "Highlander", Adrian Paul, as the vampire detective opposite Bokeem Woodbine as the human cop. There's also a great love scene (and subsequent romantic subplot) between Woodbine and Bai Ling. (Starring Adrian Paul, Bokeem Woodbine and Bai Ling. Directed by Michael Oblowitz in 2001 for Motion Picture Corporation of America)
Note: the DVD does some strange things on certain Special Features and may have to be removed from your player in order to stop the DVD.
Posted by spankavision
at 8:56 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, 13 March 2006 8:28 PM EST
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