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Wednesday, 21 September 2005
What would you do?
Mood:
 irritated
Now Playing: The Last Man on Earth (1964)
 Vincent Price is a scientist who is working on a cure for a mysterious illness in this sci-fi vampire flick. Price makes like Van Helsing after his research with the virus renders him immune to the disease, even as his wife and daughter both die and are reborn as vampires. Eventually, the whole world is seemingly taken over by the disease, except Price.
The movie opens with him waking up and wondering if it could have really been three years since "I inherited the Earth." You can see that he's already been through a calendar and has taken to marking the time on the walls of his house. There is no dialogue in the first third of the film, all internal monologue of him reminding himself of the chores he must do, from picking up more garlic and mirrors to filling up his gas tank. The nights are filled with vampires beating on his door and trying to call him out, baying for his blood. Eventually, he pulls out a film of his daughter's last birthday party, when he is confronted about the virus by a friend and fellow scientist. Price dismisses the friend's worries about the virus, then his family begins to die around him. The flashback ends with his wife approaching to attack him. He breaks down into hysterical tears.
A puppy offers him frail hope, until you see him with a microscope. You know when Price begins laughing, it isn't going to be pretty: the next scene is of Price burying a puppy-sized bundle with a stake in its middle.
Later, he approaches a woman, whom he immediately suspects is a vampire or soon will be. He gives her a vaccine made from his immune blood, just in time for the now-mutated community of half-breed human/vampires to chase him to a church for his killings of their kind.
The chilling conclusion? A woman holding a crying toddler, who we now know to be a half-breed. "Don't cry, darling," she tells him. The bad man is gone now...right? Scary thought...
Posted by spankavision
at 4:41 PM EDT
Updated: Monday, 13 March 2006 8:26 PM EST
Tuesday, 20 September 2005
I really watched it for Triple H...
Mood:
 cool
Now Playing: Blade: Trinity
Last night, my fiance did something unusual: he RECOMMENDED we watch what he called a "monster movie". As he usually finds my fascination with these flicks "obsessive," I was a little suspicious. However, when I suggested "Blade: Trinity," he was right on board.
I know why: it's an ass-kicking action flick. It has Wesley Snipes, who but for a brief foray into drag in "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar" is about as macho an action hero as you can ask for. The very definition of bad-mother-shut-your-mouth since "Shaft". It's a guy thing.
I have my own reasons for watching it: Ryan Reynolds and Triple H.
Ryan Reynolds is the funniest smart-ass I've seen in a while. His "bon mots" lit up the screen when we went to the theater to see it for my fiance's birthday last December. Every blog I have seen lit up when I entered "cock-juggling thunder cunt" into Yahoo!, but who could forget him telling Blade that his group, the Dark Stalkers, had considered being called the "Care Bears"? Or how he was Parker Posey's "blood-sucking cabana boy" while he was a vampire? Or how Posey's fangs are in her vagina?
Triple H was a dubious choice, but it paid off. Sure, he's only a bit of muscle for the vampire heavies (*and a damn sight better than the lunkhead they have playing Dracula), but he's funny. Observe him reacting to Reynolds telling him he has a little dick, or kissing on the Pomeranian. You just can't turn on Monday Night Raw and see this.
The flick was a bit of a commercial, with iPods and Count Chocula prominently featured; and Jessica Biel needing a playlist to slay to was a bit contrived. But thanks to a couple of smart-asses, it was saved.
Posted by spankavision
at 9:15 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, 13 March 2006 8:27 PM EST
Monday, 19 September 2005
Is it the worst? Are you sure?
Mood:
 don't ask
Now Playing: Dracula 2000
 Okay, okay, you might as well know: I have called this movie the worst vampire movie ever. I was in a forum for a UK vampire fansite and the question was raised as to which flick was the worst. Lo and behold, I couldn't control myself. I put "Dracula 2000" and "Vampirella". "Vampirella" deserved it. Though I thought that "D2K" deserved it at the time, I was recently given a copy of the DVD for my birthday. I was bored today and settled down with my Psychology notes, with the commentary on.
Now, the commentary being on is an old habit. Once I have digested the movie, I like to hear about what happened behind the scenes, the things they had to take out, the goofs and the blunders. Upon listening to "D2K's" commentary, I realized that they were actually trying for a grander movie than they could have made on their rush-rush schedule and lower-than-desired budget.
For instance, they wanted a time-elapse montage (something "Queen of the Damned" also aspired to) for their opening sequence, to explain what happened with Van Helsing and Dracula and how he ended up in the silver coffin. (Sorry if you didn't see the movie yet, but it's been nearly six years and if you didn't hear it from me...)The producers also wanted to include more of the "Dracula-is-Judas-Iscariot" backstory, as well as fattening up character development in the script. It seemed as though they knew it wasn't all the movie it could have been, too.
In the end, it is what it's become: late night fodder for the SuperStation and TNT. I'm not going to ever say that you shouldn't watch it, because there are some genuine scares in it (DON'T LOOK UNDER THE BED!!!!) and some sexy scenes with Gerald Butler. But if this is your first exposure to the vampire genre, all I can say is, dig deeper. There's definitely more than this and more where this came from.
Posted by spankavision
at 4:49 PM EDT
Updated: Monday, 13 March 2006 8:27 PM EST
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
Wednesday, 14 September 2005
First entry: Where to begin?
Mood:
 caffeinated
Now Playing: Def Leppard- "Hysteria" (just music today, thanks...)
Topic: Introduction
This is my movie blog, which will list my impressions and ratings of favorite and not-so-favorite vampire movies and other shows. I might not be watching them at the time, or even recently. I'll just add them when I happen to remember them. Don't take my word for it, though; go to the video store, AMC (American Movie Classics), Bravo, HBO, the movies, etc. and check it out for yourself.
Posted by spankavision
at 8:57 AM EDT
Tuesday, 1 January 2002
In search in daylight with a flashlight...
Now Playing: ISO: SciFi Channel's
null
Posted by spankavision
at 1:00 AM EST
Updated: Tuesday, 15 August 2006 11:31 AM EDT
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