February 22, 2012

The Chosen One’s right to choose

“Into each generation, a Slayer is born. One girl in all the world, a chosen one.”
Giles, Welcome to the Hellmouth, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season One, Episode One.

Spoiler Alert: Buffy Season Seven, Buffy Season Nine comics

From the beginning Buffy has been a “chosen one”. Now, while Buffy’s story continues in comic form the Chosen One is exercising her right to choose an abortion.

Having been chosen as a slayer rather than making a choice about it is one of the few ways in which Buffy might be considered a weak or passive character. The title of the final episode of the TV show, Chosen, which aired in 2003 reinforced the nature of her calling. But Buffy created a chance to escape the burden of being the only chosen slayer of her generation.[1] Continue reading →

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February 7, 2012

Can Being Human survive without Mitchell, Nina and George?

Warning: Spoilers

It’s always risky killing off a major character, but sometimes taking that risk is what a show needs. Joss Whedon was not afraid to take the character kill off risk, and his shows and films benefited no end from the power of such bold steps.

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October 21, 2011

Do vampires and laughs mix?

Watching Roman Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers on a Saturday night that I will never get back, I would be tempted to say no. Considering Polanski’s reputation for dark classics like The Knife in the Water, Rosemary’s Baby and Repulsion I was hoping for better.

A shocker of a movie

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October 8, 2011

True Blood is the Life

What makes the True Blood TV series, and the novels by Charlaine Harris it is based on, stand out from the current crop of run of the mill vampire fictions? For those of you currently enjoying Seasons 3 or 4 this article looks back at some of the fundamental starting points of the early episodes. And  for those of you not yet hooked maybe it will inspire you to have a watch.

Charlaine Harris

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August 19, 2011

1979: Outspoken women take centre stage in the Dracula narrative

There are many films based on Dracula by Bram Stoker. Few of them closely follow the novel. Instead they are adaptions that reflect the times they were made in. One of the most noteworthy is Dracula directed by John Badham in 1979. Kate Nelligan’s Lucy is portrayed as an outspoken woman who is in control. She is no longer a passive victim. The men who are the traditional heroes of the narrative are portrayed as corrupt, incompetent and oppressive.

Kate Nelligan takes the lead as Lucy

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August 11, 2011

The Vampires’ Journey Part VII. Girl meets vampire boy

SPOILER ALERT: Twilight saga, books and movies

While some current horror films like 30 Days of Night show vampires as monsters who will rip your throat out and massacre entire towns, “ensouled” or other “good” vampires have taken to hanging round with high school girls and sulkily seducing them.

In the early 1990s The Vampire Diaries appeared. These novels by L J Smith featured an American teenager, Elena, who falls for the new boy at school, Stefan. He turns out to be a 162 Continue reading →

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August 4, 2011

The Vampires’ Journey Part VI. Vlad the Romancer and women in love

SPOILER ALERT: Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Dir: Dan Curtis, 1973, Dracula, Dir: John Badham, 1979, Bram Stoker’s Dracula Dir: Francis Ford Coppola, 1992

Impaling. Just nasty

Everyone knows that Dracula was really Vlad the Impaler right? Well no, probably not. Stoker may have used the title Dracula, which also applied to Vlad Tepes or Vlad III or Vlad the Impaler) but “Dracula” was a title rather than the specific name of that historic figure. “Dracula” means “child of the dragon” or “devil”. Stoker had made notes that “Dracula in WALLACHIAN language means DEVIL”. But he may not have known much of the legends of Vlad the Impaler.

In 1972 Raymond McNally and Radu Florescu wrote In Search of Dracula, claiming that Stoker’s Count Dracula and Vlad the Impaler were one and the same, lending historical weight Continue reading →

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July 28, 2011

From Buffy to Bella – has vampire fiction lost its teeth?

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer life is hell and there is no escape. In Twilight the maxim could be, “Life is dull: let’s buy things”…

This article was first published in Socialist Review, January 2011. I post it here to expand on some points made in my last post.  Continue reading →

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July 28, 2011

The Vampires’ Journey V. Hammer Horror brings sexual liberation?

The post-war years saw a shift in vampire fiction – with women beginning to take more active roles than previously. The emerging women’s movement and the sexual liberation the pill brought had something to do with this. Though vampire fiction was still a long way from the point when Joss Whedon would decide to have the blonde girl in the alley fight back, it wasn’t really enough for women to be waiting around to get bitten anymore. One of the earliest examples of can be seen in the first Hammer Horror film about Dracula, directed by Terence Fisher in 1958.

In Horror of Dracula Christopher Lee’s performance as Dracula brings glamour to the role. The Count is well spoken, well dressed and his home is luxurious. Continue reading →

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July 25, 2011

Daybreakers – Capitalist Vampire Oppressors

I thought I would take a short break from The Vampires’ Journey series of articles to bring you a short film review. The Vampires’ Journey will be back soon with some Hammer Horror.

But now for something completely different… At the weekend I watched Daybreakers, a movie from 2010 about pretty much vampocalypse. I am always at least a year behind current releases, but here’s some thoughts… Continue reading →

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