Horror Movie A Day : The Hunger

The Hunger stars David Bowie as vampire posing as a Goth punk in New York circa 1983.

This film predates The Lost Boys, Fright Night, Near Dark Anne Rice’s novel The Vampire Lestat by giving us our first look at the modern vampire.

“Check out the opening scene at the Goth Club featuring Bauhaus.”

Prior to this we’ve primarily dealt with elegant and sometimes grotesque looking European gentlemen as our Vampire protagonist. No offense to Saruman The White but I’d rather be killed by Ziggy Stardust.

“David Bowie Vs. Christopher Lee = Great Vampyre Rock Opera”

Vampire Bowie inhabits a rather unique world. He goes clubbing at night He also hangs out in the daylight, though he does cover up somewhat. To sustain his everlasting life, He only needs to feed once a week. When he does feed, he doesn’t use his fangs, it’s never clear if he actually has any, instead he cuts a victim with a blade concealed in an Ankh pendant that he wears around his neck. On Tuesdays and Thursdays he teaches music to a children. Oh and he’s not sleeping very much anymore. Which is when his real troubles begin. He begins to age at a rather exponential rate, but he’s still a vampire so he still needs to feed. He can no longer attack the same victims he once did, so he begins to prey on the weak. He visits a scientist played by Susan Sarandon who’s trying to uncover the mysteries of aging as a way to cure progeria, But the scientist doesn’t believe him and well, David Bowie dies rather quickly..

Then the real movie begins. “Wait? I thought you said this was a David Bowie movie?” I did too. The beginning was all Bowie, and it was pretty clever and interesting to see a Vampire who did NOT feel cursed by immortal life. He wanted to Live damnit! But the real movie revolves around David Bowie’s maker, Miriam played by Catherine Denueve. Now that Bowie’s gone, she is alone. This is not the first time one of her mates has died. While she herself lived for 2000 years, her companions die after a few hundred so she must find constantly find a new companion to face immortality with. And she chooses Susan Sarandon. Which is is no mere coincidence. Not only is she a scientist looking into longevity. But she also looks a lot like Aladdin Sane in most of the movie. Curing Miriam of her HUNGER for David Bowie. See what I did there? Haha.

“Bowie”

“Not David Bowie”

When Bowie dies, so does the movie. It continually has a problem with pacing and there’s virtually little plot. But the movie does hold some surprises. We learn Miriam isn’t just choosing a mere companion when she settles on Sarandon. She’s looking for a lover as well. And one amazing sex scene follows.

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen. Full on Lesbian Vampires in 1983. That must have been groundbreaking. It certainly was hot. I recommend this movie on this scene alone.

When Sarandon finally quenches her Hunger, she stumbles out of the bedroom, half naked covered in Blood. That is probably her finest moment on celluloid to date. We also learn that while his body has decayed into a decrepit form and he has been entombed, Bowie as well as other lovers of Catherine Denueve aren’t exactly dead. The climax of the film has them rise from their graves, and yes we get Vampire Zombies. Gotta love Zombies. We can never stray too far from them.

This film is based on a book by Whitley Strieber, which I’m now dying to check out. In his non fiction book Communion he discovers that his early horror work was just an outlet for the real horror in his life, alien abductions. And many scenes from his book echo the abductions he learned about later through hypnosis. In our movie we learn that Miriam isn’t like the Vampires we know from fairy tales, she probably doesn’t have fangs. Her blood is mentioned as being alien when it attacks Sarandon’s blood, never mixing but acting as a sort of antibody continually repairing keeping her alive. And while sunlight doesn’t damage her in anyways, There is some sensitivity possibly for her not being from this world. And the words Vampire are never mentioned.

The film though is a bit shallow, focuses more on style then substance. It’s almost like the first Highlander movie that way complete with a Rock soundtrack, immortals and quick flashbacks to the past. This is Tony Scott’s first full length film as a director, and it definitely matches his style. All of his films flirt with greatness, you WANT to love them, from Top Gun to the Last Boyscout, to True Romance and Enemy of the State. They are good films that want to be great. Unlike his Brother Ridley Scott, who seems to have peaked in 1982 with Blade Runner Tony is constantly getting better. Man on Fire and Deja Vu are some of the best movies I’ve seen from him. I was completely surprised with both of them. One day we’ll get a masterpiece out of him, unfortunately it’s not in The Hunger.

I liked this film for what it’s brought to vampire mythology and it’s stylish imagery and can recommend it on those merits. So If you’re fan of Cool Looking Vampires, David Bowie, or Lesbians this is one worth checking out.

I give it 2 and a half Ziggy Stardusts.