The Hunger opens with Peter Murphy and the band Bauhaus in a cage. The music has a driving beat while Murphy’s deep voice and mesmerizing eyes pull you into the cage with him. The scene cuts to the dance club that Bauhaus is performing in. In the shadows, Miriam and John Blaylock look over the crowd of dancing bodies like lions stalking a wildebeest. They wear dark glasses and inhale deeply as cigarette smoke swirls around their heads.
The scene shifts back and forth from the band in the cage to the hunters finding their prey on the dancefloor. The couple who are just expecting to have some hot sex with Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie will get more than they could possibly expect. It will be some horny good times but it will also be the last sex they have. I mean if you are gonna get killed by a vampire might as well be like that!
Ever since Dracula arose from his crypt and visited a pretty young woman in her boudoir, vampires have been all about getting hot and heavy. They use their powers of persuasion and sometimes an offer of everlasting life.
That is what John Blaylock believed had been given to him when he gave himself up to Miriam. But it seems his time on Earth was only lengthened and not made infinite. Miriam is beyond ancient yet never ages, she travels through time, finding someone to love and giving them a gift of long life. As long as they feed. Always driven by hunger; for blood and companionship. Living an eternity alone seems more terrifying than dying of old age surrounded by those who care.
But now John has quickly started to age, his time is running out. Miriam loves John and hopes to find some way to have him around even longer than the years that drinking blood has given him. Maybe there is a cure for aging. Many people have long sought that out, it is easy to understand how vampires would want this, they are after all those that will kill to extend their own time on this planet.
Another reality has sunk in, Miriam will be alone again so the search for a new lover has begun. She seeks out the one who she connects with; a simple hand brushed through the hair hints that there may be a mystical connection between John and a woman that has caught Miriam’s eye. A scientist who is studying aging. But she is a woman whose strength might match that of the most powerful vampire, Miriam.
The Hunger is a stylistically beautiful vampire movie, the use of shadows and sharp edges will seem very 1980s but it works for the story it helps to tell. Another great part of the film is the music, from the goth punk of Bauhaus and Iggy Pop to the classics of Schubert and Delibes. I actually owned the soundtrack on cassette and played it until I needed a pencils eraser’s help so I could keep listening to it. The soundtrack made me want to explore classical music because it is a character in the film as much as the actors and cinematography. I saw the art in all of it.
Video contains spoilers.
The Hunger stars Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, Beth Ehlers, Cliff De Young, and Dan Hedaya. Directed by Tony Scott.
The Hunger is free with ads on Tubi; $3.99 in the usual places.
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The animated short is Summer Blood created by Sarah Djuandy at the Ringling College of Art and Design.
Our next movie night selection is Dracula (1931) available for free on the Internet Archive; with subscription on Peacock; $3.99 in the usual places.
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BONUS TRIVIA:
David Bowie said that, in order to make his voice suitably hoarse for when he aged so drastically in the movie, he stood on the George Washington Bridge every night and screamed all the punk rock songs he knew. Well damn that would have been awesome to see, on my favorite bridge!
But I didn't live next to it till 2009.
So happy to be here as today I had another close call with a car while riding Xena Warrior Scooter.
I was in the crosswalk and she was making a turn. I thought she saw me.
She did not, as she was solely focused on traffic and making her turn. I had to zig out into traffic to avoid her, I yelled "Pay attention!"
And she was absolutely mortified that she had nearly hit me and very apologetic. I told her thank you and kept on moving.
I bet she will always pay attention to the crosswalk from now on!