This month, I am taking a deep dive into the movies that gave us nightmares. I’ve decided to go with a different theme for each entry. This time around, we’re visiting the ancient myth of the cold and undead: the vampire.
When we think of vampires, we think of sucking blood, thick accents, and an aversion to garlic. Interestingly enough, the garlic aversion wasn’t seen in ANY of the films I watched for this category. I visited two classics, and a previously referenced modern meme-ified masterpiece. Let’s start at the beginning… dare I say, go back even further?
Nosferatu (1922)
This German silent film is considered the first cinematic adaptation of Dracula, the Bram Stoker classic. That said, it was not approved for production by the family/estate of Bram Stoker, and despite changing a few key details and names, the company was sued for copyright and later went bankrupt. All copies were demanded to be destroyed, but a few were hidden away and later formally released for all to see.
To summarize the story of Dracula, a lawyer? Real estate agent? Appraisal clerk? However you’d like to slice it, travels far and away to Transylvania (a part of Romania) to assist an isolated count with the purchase of a new home. However, this count, Count Orlok (but really Dracula) is not all that seems. Soon Hutter (Harker) and his bride Ellen (Mina) are pursued by a bloodthirsty creature of the night.
Because of the nature of the film, I found this to be the creepiest film I’ve seen so far in this venture. It’s almost a hundred years old, and the dated music and cinematography make it all so eerie. I was also particularly fascinated/disturbed by the makeup worn by the actors. It made things all the more sinister. I feel like the people who made the film put in the effort to make them all look a bit scary, even the good guys!
Another moment that ups the creepy factor is the boat sequence. Orlok/Dracula goes from Transylvania to his new home amongst the peasantry by ship. I wasn’t aware of the legendary bit of knowledge that vampires must sleep in the earth in which they are buried. As such, Orlok travels in his coffin, amongst other dirty boxes, from which it seems dozens, if not hundreds of rats, come forth and bring “a plague” to the ship and its crew. Ugh. Makes me cringe in discomfort in my seat.
“Nosferatu” is, overall, very creepy, and very useful for some pre-gaming spooks. It shouldn’t be the meat and potatoes of your “watch scary movies all night,” but it can be a good amouz bouche, if you will. Another note about the story in general: IDK why you would move from your creepy castle and isolation to a peasant town where people will DEFINITELY figure out that you’re a vampire and make sure you get a stake through the heart.
Dracula (1931)
Yes, the Bela Lugosi classic made the list. I like older movies from this era. They have gaps where no one talks and you just hear soft white noise in the middle. Anyway, this movie was a bit more my speed. This movie was, I think, more loyal to the book and was less intimidating. I was very surprised, however, to hear the movie open with the theme from Swan Lake of all things (a score wasn’t written for the movie until decades later due to budget constraints). I also didn’t really read Dracula in my English classes, though I pretended I had in lectures. I paid 120,000 dollars for someone to tell me to go read Dracula AND THEN I DIDN’T.
The performances were all legendary, though it’s bittersweet to know now that Bela Lugosi was scared of being typecasted and faced trouble finding roles that were not that of the intimidating villain through the rest of his career. That said, I hope wherever he lies now, he knows that the world will never forget him for it. Personally, I would pop this in during October again, maybe a triple feature with “Frankenstein” and “The Mummy!” I kind of wish the movie theatre on CityWalk property would do that next year, too. The classic horror films are almost entirely under Universal Studios ownership. I think it’d be a lovely night of cinema!
Twilight (2008)
If you thought for one second that I wouldn’t add this to my vampire movie viewing, you were oh-so-sorely mistaken. After reading the return of Bella and Edward in Midnight Sun, I felt it was my destiny to watch this movie for the first time in years. I saw it in theatres the night it came out, and even wrote the name of the movie in Sharpie on my arm in the iconic font. Fourteen year old me was thrilled to see those pale colors on her screen again. Yes, the whole movie is pale, and cold. LIKE A VAMPIRE. HM.
In a sentence: “Twilight” is a love story between Bella Swan, a human, and Edward Cullen, a forever-17-but-actually-hundred-year-old vampire. This movie is not even close to scary, but it’s got enough bloodthirst to satisfy your needs. I had forgotten not only how great the soundtrack is (the song “Decode” by Paramore was lost in the recesses of my mind), but the score is up there too! The main theme (along with other large chunks of the movie) has received the meme treatment of late, but even the music outside of that theme makes the heart race.
I also forgot that half of this movie is just showing us how awkward Bella Swan is. Between her dialogue with her new friends, Edward, her dad, and Edward’s family, you just have to ask:
It’s cool to have read Midnight Sun and be able to fill in some of the gaps (Edward definitely heard Jessica talking about him, he went up to Alaska to escape Bella after their first introduction). I also remembered that I had a crush on Robert Pattinson at the time. His smile got me (BECAUSE YOU RARELY SEE IT). As far as vampires go, the take here makes reference to the stereotypes, but offers a more modern spin. For example, rather than dying in exposure to the sun, the vampires in this movie just… sparkle. Yup. Vampires sparkle like glitter. The Cullen family lives in Washington for this reason, because it’s cold and overcast all the time. They also don’t have an aversion to garlic, they just don’t eat real people food. They sustain themselves on blood, but the Cullen family lives solely off of animal blood (it’s implied that almost all other vampires go for humans). In the other films, vampires sleep during the day and come to life at night. In “Twilight,” they just don’t sleep. Ever.
Overall, much like Midnight Sun, this is not scary but still fun. Well, it was fun for me. And I kind of want to watch the rest of the movies now. And as I said last time: this scene is a CULTURAL. RESET.
I had fun watching these movies! Vampires, in general, are fun. Maybe that’s dangerous for me to say, but here’s a fun fact about me: I put garlic powder on everything.
Not sure what category is next, but until I figure it out… vampire push.