Anne Rice. Why are ‘true’ horror fans dismissive of her work?
Posted by Ms Harker | Filed under Horror Films, Horror Genres, Horror Reading
I picked up a DVD copy of ‘Queen of the Damned’ during the week at Borders for $7.95. A couple of months ago I picked up a copy of ‘Interview with the Vampire’ on DVD. I have watched both films, one has held its age well, one not so well. One stays true to the story created by Anne Rice the other not so well.
I watched ‘Queen of the Damned’, maybe I was wearing goth coloured glasses the first time I saw it? Or I allowed my fond adolescent memories of reading Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles to taint my recollection of the film. Holy flaming corpses was it bad! Especially in comparison to Interview, despite the Tom Cruise factor. So lets compare shall we? Which will help lead us to the posed question, why do ‘true’ horror fans give Anne Rice such a staking?
Interview with the Vampire stars Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, with Christian Slater making an appearance also. All big stars at the time, all not too hard on the eyes. The film true to the book follows the story of Lestat (Cruise) and Louis (Pitt) through mainly the eyes of Louis, who is ‘made’ by Lestat post the death of his wife and child. They journey together through Louis’ rejection of having to feed on human blood, Lestat’s debaucherous behaviour and Louis creating a child vampire Claudia (young Kirsten Dunst), which is against vampire lore. Claudia rebels as she is tired of being treated like a child by Lestat and believes he is dominating herself and Louis. She takes matters into her own hands , poisoning Lestat then slashing his throat, out pours enough blood to fill a small swimming pool and they dump him in the swamp outside of New Orleans.
Louis and Claudia travel to Paris in search of their own kind, where they find a kiss of vampires led by Armand (Antonio Banderas, very easy on the eyes).The kiss feel that Louis should be punished for making Claudia, Armand wants Louis for himself and the undead merde` hits the fan from there, with some thrills and chills in between.
The reason I feel this film has held its age so well is two fold. Firstly it sticks to the story and myth created by Rice and secondly the ability of the film to move through different periods in history keeps the viewer interested and again this potrays Rice’s story telling ability to emphaise the “reality” of a vampire’s life eternal.
On the other hand ‘Queen of the Damned’… as a film committed one of the cardinal sins of casting… let’s toss in a popular starlet with no acting experience, put her in as little clothing as possible to get some of the kids in ie: Aalyiah. Second sin, cast the central character differently to the first film, Lestat is played by Stuart Townsend, not Cruise (and who could blame him for saying no!) in this film. Third sin, portray badly or mock the sub-culture ie: Goth’s who are most likely to watch your film.
The film did not follow the story of Queen of the Damned, it combined plot lines from The Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned, Tale of the Body Thief, Merrick and Blood and Gold, oh and a couple of characters from The Mayfair Witch trilogy. The acting was really bad, the effects were terrible and by combining elements of the above novels you lost any semblance of the intricate world of the vampire, of which Rice created.
Now granted her books are more on the romance side , however the attention to detail of the mythology and history of her vampires is what made these novels so interesting. There may not always be a huge scare, however throughout some of the later novels there is some thrills to be had, and the interplay between the various kisses that form can be both vicious and predatory. I think they are on the lighter side of the horror, however I do think they hold their place in the continuum of literature within the genre.
For me I think Rice’s work is within the ‘romance gothic’ area of horror, a more classic approach to the subject matter, not high end literature such as Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley, however attempts to lean that way.
This brings us to the conundrum stated at the begining of the post; why do ‘true’ horror fans dismiss the work of Anne Rice? Is it because her work went mainstream? Is it because its not ‘hardcore’ enough, not enough torture and people having their ‘parts pieces’ preserved in bottles? I am interested to hear your thoughts…
Ms Harker
Interview with the Vampire
Queen of the Damned
Tags: Horror, Horror Flms, Horror Novels, Vampire
9: Post-apocalyptic ragdolls, eloquent yet epic.
Posted by Ms Harker | Filed under Creepy Pictures, Horror Animation, Horror Films, Horror Genres
9 and his peeps.
The first trailer for the Tim Burton produced ‘9′ appeared around December last year. Written and directed by Shane Acker it is described by the guys and gals at First Showing as:
“9 takes place in a world parallel to our own, in which our very humanity is threatened. A group of rag dolls living a post-apocalyptic existence find one of their own, 9, who may be the key to their survival.”
I adore this style of animation especially the mixture of the rag doll and clockwork aesthetic. Combined with horror like beasties to give us some squeals, makes this film an exciting development in the animation/horror genre. The score for the trailer is by Coheed and Cambria lending it an unequivocally epic feel. View the website for more info, check the first trailer below (courtesy of YouTube) and check the latest trailer on First Showing.
Ms Harker
9 Movie Poster
Tags: Horror, Horror Animation, Horror Flms
Hisss… goodnesss… can I be turned?
Posted by Ms Harker | Filed under Creepy Pictures, Horror Films, Horror Genres
Ssssexy Snake Lady
I’m going to come out of the coffin, no closet, no I’m just going to say it… I am not a fan of creature features. I have been getting regular RSS feeds regarding the film Hisss directed by Jennifer Chambers Lynch and starring Indian starlet Mallika Sherawat (pow!). So I have been deleting numerous feeds, thinking yawn, snake lady blah blah. However, the snob in my nature noticed that it is showing at Cannes and Bloody Disgusting finally got my attention with a hot, steamy yet creepy trailer. So I may be converted, this film seems to have a sexy edge, yet plays on an ancient mythology within an exotic setting, creature feature and all.
Ms Harker
Tags: Creepy Creatures, Horror, Horror Films
