Tags
1980's, Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Erotic Horror, Horror, Susan Sarandon, The Hunger, Tony Scott
Film Title
The Hunger
Director
Tony Scott
Starring
- Catherine Deneuve as Miriam Blaylock
- David Bowie as John Blaylock
- Susan Sarandon as Dr. Sarah Roberts
A stylish vampire horror with lots of 80’s excess and blood, The Hunger is also a very mixed film in terms of quality and watch ability. For all its visual panache and atmosphere, with the added bonus of a good cast, The Hunger in the end left me wanting something more from it and I felt that there was something missing from it.
Miriam Blaylock is a centuries old vampire who has the ability to bestow immortality on people she takes as consorts to ease her loneliness. Her current companion is John Blaylock, who has been with her for two hundred years travelling from domain to domain. The two are now in New York in a high-rise apartment, which they use to lure back unsuspecting victims to feed on their blood at least once a week. John believes that his youthful appearance will last forever but soon learns that it doesn’t. He will in fact live forever, but Miriam has not told him that his physical appearance will drastically wither away. Soon enough, John’s appearance begins to age at an alarming rate. Wanting help, he seeks out Dr. Sarah Roberts, a determined scientist who studies cases of advanced aging. At first she dismisses him, but after witnessing him age in just over two hours, she is shocked and wants to help. Unlucky for John, the aging continues and Miriam buries him in a coffin, alongside her other lovers over the years who are cursed to live forever but age horribly. Sarah is soon drawn into Miriam’s life and becomes bewitched by the alluring woman. And Miriam is now looking for a new lover and sees the perfect partner in Sarah. So on one of the their meetings, the seductive Miriam seduces Sarah and binds her to her by feeding on her blood. Sarah, who was unaware of this act, begins to develop worrying symptoms and begins to crave blood, leading to a gruesome, blood-soaked showdown with the imperious Miriam.
I’ll begin by going through the things that I took issue with and could have been improved on first. While The Hunger does have some thematic value, I always felt that the story and themes could have been pushed a little further than the finished results. The theme of immortality and the search for youth is an interesting one, but it gets swallowed up by the visuals and doesn’t really stand a chance. The pace of this movie can be really slow as a snail and meandering when it should have been a bit quicker. I understand going for a slow burn, but this really takes it a bit too far. The ending of the film also feels more than a little forced and undoes some of the intrigue that the film has built up but can’t sustain. In conclusion to the negatives, The Hunger just has that feeling of being hollow and not really reaching much of a worthy conclusion.
It must be said on the positives that The Hunger heralded the rise of Tony Scott as a stylish director with a keen eye. Everything in The Hunger is photographed with a certain gloss, that ties in with the setting of 80’s glamour and decadence. He masterfully inter cuts scenes to create visual symmetry and atmosphere. From rippling curtains, misty lenses and quick cutting, The Hunger is in the category of films that have a stunning impact on the eyes. I must day that the effects still stand up today, particularly when John begins to rapidly age. Scott does manage to tap into some of the themes in the story and certainly brings a darkly perverse and erotic core to it. I was similarly impressed by the way he updated vampire lore, instead of having the same old types of vampires we have seen a thousand times. The vampires here mingle into society, don’t seem to have an aversion to sunlight, have no fangs that we see and instead of biting the necks of victims they use a small knife to slit the throat and then proceed to feed. A perfect example of this is the striking opening scenes in which Miriam and John cruise around a dark nightclub and take home two unwitting victims to seduce and then feed their need. The style, music and visuals all fit together to give this opening scene a hell of an impact. Also worth mentioning is the seduction scene between Miriam and Sarah, as slow motion sensuality and a more sinister undertone perfectly mix to exotic effect, accompanied by the strains of opera. The unusual music score has a ghostly but strangely romantic twist to it and it makes for a chilling listen.
Catherine Deneuve is at the height of her icy and aloof powers here portraying the eternally beautiful Miriam, who is fond of company due to living for so long. There are glimmers of sadness that Deneuve brings out in subtle ways, but she’s most impressive when being alluring and poised, a vampire femme fatale whose kiss and appearance alone brings a hypnotic impact to those around her, in particular Sarah. David Bowie elicits a whole lot of sympathy as the aging John, who comes to see that he’s been spun a lie about how long he will remain youthful. The scene when he ages alarmingly fast is all the more sad for Bowie’s moving delivery of this betrayed man. Susan Sarandon is full of sensuality and curiosity as she becomes the latest victim of Miriam’s affections. Sarandon is also adept at displaying the fear that Sarah goes through as her body changes due to her sexual encounter with the icy Miriam.
So while the atmosphere and gloss of The Hunger is intoxicating, this doesn’t add up to the most riveting movie out there and it emerges as one that needed some other spark to ignite some form of interest.
filmfunkel said:
I love this one, faults and all. They used Scott for his music video directing skills, but gave him a vile derangement of a fascinating novel for a script. 😦
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vinnieh said:
Thanks for commenting, always appreciate it. I can definitely see an influence of music videos.
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beetleypete said:
Your observations are very interesting, V, as this is one of my favourite films. It stars Deneuve, and I simply adore her, and Bowie, of whom I am a huge fan, of both his music and acting. Sarandon gives a good performance too, and the whole thing rolls along slowly, as if in a dream. The famous lesbian encounter between the female leads, sensually acted out to the music from ‘Lakme’, by Delibes, is one my best-ever cinema moments, even though I am fully aware how contrived and seductive it is.
Scott began his career as a noted director of commercials, and that background shows in many of the sumptuously filmed set pieces.
It might well be a case of style over substance, taken too far. But it’s so stylish, I don’t care.
Best wishes, Pete.
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vinnieh said:
Thanks for contributing your thoughts Pete. I loved the visual style and the acting, I just felt there was something missing. And as you say that encounter between Deneuve and Sarandon is very sexy.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Such a Great classic.Awesome pick Vinnie!
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vinnieh said:
It does have a striking look to it and I may not find it to be a classic, it has some things to recommend it.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
When I say classic, I think I mean more in the sense of Lost Boys, The Craft, the original Fright Night, etc. Does that make sense?
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vinnieh said:
I understand you and I love The Craft myself.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
And they play the themes song from Charmed through part of it!
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vinnieh said:
I love that it features the Charmed theme.
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michael9murray said:
A stand-out film. The part that creeped me out – for years – was that first night in the coffin sequence. Unsleeping, undying, but trapped in that nowhere place. Forever.
I can sort of imagine it, that’s the trouble.
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vinnieh said:
That is a creepy thought, having to live forever but slowly get weaker.
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fragglerocking said:
blimey haven’t seen this either! BTW the picture of the man in the hat, is it really D.Bowie as it looks exactly like Gary Oldman.?
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vinnieh said:
It is Bowie with heavy make up to make him look older.
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meganmilesauthor said:
Loved this movie. Saw it in the theatre. Slick and erotic, Bowie was all the rage at this moment in time.
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vinnieh said:
IT certainly has a whole lot of visual style and great cast.
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ninvoid99 said:
Truly one of the finest vampire films ever and it has one of the best opening music by the legendary Goth band Bauhaus.
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vinnieh said:
I do love that opening, really is a killer start to the movie.
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ninvoid99 said:
I was fortunate to see Bauhaus live in 2006 on a tour they did with TV on the Radio and Nine Inch Nails. Still the best show I ever went to.
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vinnieh said:
It sounds like you had a fantastic time.
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ninvoid99 said:
Oh most definitely. If you Bauhaus live during that time. They took a lot of performers to school.
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Jay said:
Erotic horror – is that a real thing or is it just your wishful thinking?
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vinnieh said:
It’s s genuine thing.
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Chris said:
I wish movies were getting made today with the mystery and atmosphere of The Hunger, but it doesn’t happen very often anymore.It’s definitely style over substance. I see it as the prototype for Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), which took the eternal life idea a bit further.
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vinnieh said:
A lot of movies could benefit from the atmosphere of most of this movie.
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table9mutant said:
Nice review, Vinnie. Sorry you didn’t like this one a little more. I like this film a lot. But I do have a big Bowie fascination… 🙂
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vinnieh said:
I do like Bowie a lot too, his music and image continues to fascinate.
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table9mutant said:
And new album out in January! 🙂
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vinnieh said:
Thanks for that information.
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SLIP/THROUGH - Dan said:
Really compelling analysis! Great review, Vinnie. I’ve always heard of this one, but never got around to it. Thanks for shining a spotlight and reminding me. It sounds like my cup of tea. The way you romanticize the atmospheric photography is really enticing. I love visual filmmakers, even if they do lose focus of story or theme 😉
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vinnieh said:
It is a highly visual film, though the story underneath can’t really match it.
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emmakwall said:
Another film I MUST watch!!!!!!
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vinnieh said:
I think you’d like it, wasn’t the best but it had style.
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The Vern said:
The characters of John and Miriam remind me a lot of the same ones that Lady Gaga and I forget his name played in season 5 of American Horror Story. Especially the scene in the first episode where they both seduce a couple to feed on them. Even if it’s lack of style is a bit off Im still curious to check this out
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vinnieh said:
Hotel definitely pays homage to this movie. This movie was very sensual and the visuals were very sexy, I just wanted a bit more story. Though while the narrative was lacking, the cast were very good.
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