Welcome back to our “What’s So Funny?” series. And you know what’s funny? The blood-sucking undead. Oh, my sides! Yes, the 70’s brought a resurgence of Dracula movies (not that he ever really went away) and 1979 brought us one! Two! Three! Four! Five! Five Dracula movies! Ah ah ah! {sound of thunder}. And of all of them, “Love at First Bite” was certainly one of them. A rare attempt (if not the first attempt) to make Dracula funny (because what’s wackier than a humanoid apex predator who rips open peoples’ jugular veins and turns them into thralls? Forget Oscar Wilde, forget the Marx Brothers, we’ve got a guy with an unquenchable thirst for human blood! Oh, my sides! We do have Tanmaster Supreme, George Hamilton as Dracula, Arte Johnson giving us a hilarious Renfield, and Susan St. James doing a creditable job impersonating a blonde woman. Sadly, we also have . . . disco. Disco. We must never forget the horror that came before us . . . Give a listen and see if the humor holds up! Join us, master! I mean, mister!
Poll question: what is your favorite vampire movie of any era?
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Back then I had a tuxedo jacket, two sets of tails and a lovely mortician’s coat with a silk collar and it was perfectly normal! Great for bowling.
I am sort of an aficionado of vampire lore and while i can’t think of many films that follow the actual lore i do love the original Nosferatu but i also love the updating of vampire lore in The Hunger in both the book and the movie. The book fell short of what it could be but the movie was just fantastic with Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie as lesbian vampire lovers… well close enough. Penguins are often mistaken for vampires because of the little tuxedos they wear, but you were well aware of that!
I think your bowling garb sounds perfectly appropriate! I favor a velour jumpsuit and clown shoes when I bowl, but to each their own.
‘The Hunger” is one of those movies I’ve never seen but keep meaning to watch; thanks for bringing it back into my consciousness! I mistake penguins for vampires not because of their formalwear but because of their tendency to latch onto my major arteries and draw my very life essence out of me. Or am I thinking of mosquitoes…..?
Penguins will do that; like mosquitos, they are the state bird of Alaska!
I’ve always loved “What We Do In The Shadows.” Underneath the humor, there’s a shockingly poignant narrative about change and coming to grips with who we are and how we relate to the world, much like last week’s episode on “At World’s End.” “Blade” is also fun, even if it’s silly.
However, I’d like to make an unorthodox suggestion, which is that “Fight Club” is actually a vampire movie. Spoilers abound in the following arguments: Tyler Durden shows up almost exclusively at night, has an obsession with violence barely disguised by a hypnotically suave, seductive exterior, and literally feeds on the protagonist’s energy, matching him almost note-for-note to the typical depictions of a vampire. What’s more, Tyler Durden *doesn’t have a reflection* (https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieDetails/comments/8ym0gg/in_fight_club_tyler_walks_right_past_a_convex/), a typical vampiric giveaway. The movie talks a lot about immortality (“His name was Robert Paulson”), and one of the most memorable scenes in the movie, when Tyler scars the narrator’s hand with a chemical burn, involves a kiss, which is again a calling card of vampires .
Now, is Tyler Durden meant to literally be a vampire? No, of course not. But I think it’s interesting to look at Fight Club as a modern vampire story and to ask how our lust for excess, both internal and external, can lead to parasitic relationships with ourselves.
As always, feel free to edit for time–I know this is an extended comment!
I recently hot the urge to watch “ what we do in the shadows” again. For something i thought was going to be a throwaway it really stuck with me. I have not seen the tv series but i hear its very good.