An Ode to the Undead
iView Author: Ram V (Bangalore, India)
Email: Shrey.dna [at]gmail[dot]com
An Ode to the Undead
The most difficult sound to hear is silence. We hear it only when all the noises of the world cease to exist, and there is absolute peace , Nirudho. Transylvanian peaks, though, had an eerie silence about them, there was no peace, as the prince of Wallachia was always on the prowl. The silence had hidden screams, squeals of hapless individual who fell prey to the unquenchable thirst of the undead.
‘Gentlemen we are dealing with the undead, the Nosferatu’ revealed Van Helsing in the 1931 masterpiece ‘Dracula’.
Silence represented still life, boredom, monotony or melancholy in most dramatic cinema, while it puts on the long robes of fear in thrillers, mysteries and horror cinema. ”Nosferatu’ the silent, FW Murnau opus (Trailer) aptly calls itself ‘Symphony of Horror’. As Bram Stoker’s widow went after Murnau for unofficially copying ‘Dracula’, into Nosferatu, most of the prints were spotted and destroyed. However, hollywood producers never took this chance, and they bought rights to make Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ in 1931 (trailer ).
Bela Lugosi’s Count Dracula, was not only a blood thirsty fiend as he is quoted to be, he was a count, an undead creature with all the chivalry, intelligence and introspection attributed to royalty. He says ‘ To die, to be really dead, that must be glorious. There are far worse things awaiting man than death.’ The pain of his being, rather non-being, is characterized through the shades that engulf him from time to time.
Historically, Dracula is believed to have been based on Prince Vlad Tepes or Vlad Dracul II of Wallachia, Romania. He was the son of Vlad Dracul I ( the king of Wallachia). Prince Tepes was held captive by the Ottoman Turks in early age, and spent years in their captivity. He learnt the cruel torture methods, like impaling, castration from the Turk invaders. The prince was later on rescued and fought against the Turkish Islamist invasion of the Byzantine empire. He was known for his cruel torture techniques applied on enemies and his own countymen alike. Elizabeth Kostova, in her fiction behemoth the Historian (Link) lets imagination fly from there on, and draws parallel how Vlad Tepes , Dracul II , son of Vlad Dracul I , hence called Dracula (Son of Dracul, Romanian for Dragon), is infact the undead whom Bram Stoker made literally immortal. Some other tales speak of Elizabeth Bathory, a countess of Hungary, who bathed in the blood of virgins, to retain her youth, as the real inspiration behind Dracula.
On screen, however, Count Dracula made several appearances in the following years, with primarily Christopher Lee reprising the role time and again in ‘Hammer Horror’ productions. The Hammer Production Company’s best with Lee was ‘Dracula: The Prince of Darkness’ (1965) (Watch a clip). This was a special movie as Christopher Lee never spoke a dialogue, Lees Dracula just emanated a hissing sort of noise, which haunted the audience for years to come. Lee appeared as Dracula for several years, like ‘Brides of Dracula’ , ‘Dracula has risen from the grave’. Christopher Lee ended up as the Staple Dracula for bloodthirsty audience.
The character of Dracula, changed hands to Frank Langella in 1979, in ‘Dracula’. This Dracula movie is strange because, Langella insisted on wearing no fangs make-up to make Dracula look more human than he was. So Frank Langella’s dracula was toothless for most purposes. Thespian Sir Launrence Olivier played his all time nemesis Dr. Van Helsing. At around the same time, the veteran Werner Herzog, revisited ‘Nosferatu the Vampyre’ with the eccentric Klaus Kinski, taking up the role of the undead prince. It was this movie that followed the concept introduced by Murnau in the 1922 version, which meant that ‘Dracula’ would be fatally allergic of sunlight (link). Notwithstanding his spooky talent, the vampire managed to tickle a few laughs in the extremely funny spoof version ‘Love at First Bite’ . The Dracula has to confront, communist government, Americans, fashion models, salsa, airport transfers and psychoanalysts (watch this clip where the predator becomes the prey ).
After a considerable gap of 12 years, the caped quencher, reappeared in his most horrific form till date Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Bram Stoker’ Dracula’. This was one film, that was bore maximum thematic resemblance to the Bram Stoker work, and went beyond Stoker to pick up lost elements of Vlad Tepes life. It was a well researched studio product, that did not fail to impress and remains the best ‘Vampire’ film made till date. Gary Oldman played the wounded, dangerous and charming Vampire prince while Dr.Abraham Van Helsing was played by a poised Anthony Hopkins. The music by Wojcieh Kilar and Cinematography by Michael Balhaus (of the Scorcese camp), was exceptional. The sound of the movie went on to win an oscar as well.
Are there other vampires in the world, apart from Dracula who walk the nights? This question, was in the mind of Louis (Brad Pitt) who in ‘Interview with the Vampire’ exposes us to a world where Vampires live amongst us and prowl on unsuspecting preys in the night. A chilling tale based on Anne Rice’s novel of the same name. It sound and music was also nominated for the Oscar’s. The shadowy dark introspective backdrop of the movie, set the tone for all future vampire movies to come. This was a vampire movie, which entirely dealt with the emotions and existential angst of the undead creatures. Their helplessness and their ferocity. Their pain and their viciousness. A tale about vampires, rather than a tale of them. It pit vampire and man against each other and one another at the same time.
Blade, entered the scene later on with his silver toolkit to kill the ones of his own kind. We welcomed him when he came first, then we put up with him again, but when he decided that he wants a third helping, one had to show him the door. The Blade series fortunately, ended with the badly made third part , Trinity, which had iPod swinging vampire slayers and excellent gadgetry but no content. Anne Rice’s ‘Queen of the Damned’ was made into a film starring Aaliyah, and explored other travails of the vampire queen, again without much success.
Dracula returned briefly to the screen with, Van Helsing starring the hunk Hugh Jackman as Dracula’s nemesis, was a special effects bonanza. It pitted the theory of Werewolf as the only possible opponent to the Count Dracula, who is reproducing in thousands. So we have CG effects transforming Jackman to a werewolf and thousands of small vampire bats who burst like balloons in thin air, when their father is destroyed. This theme had nothing to do with either Bram Stoker, Vlad Tepes or the audience. The same theme is explored in a better and larger scale, ‘ a bunch of dynastic vampires fighting against a dynasty of werewolves’ in ‘Underworld’ series, which like blade released on installment too many. Underworld and Underworld Evolution were comparatively well made as against Blade or Van Helsing. But all said, it was a Hollywood CG extravaganza. I am yet to see the third installment, the reviews are mixed, though.
But, last year one film that swept me off my feet was a Swedish Vampire movie ‘Let the Right One In’ which was based on a novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, of the same name ( Låt den rätte komma in). An exceptional work, which instigated this post. The movie is essentially about the questions that are raised by Louis in ‘Interview with the Vampire’ and touches the shades of the events that lead Vlad Tepes to what he becomes ( in the ‘Historian). It traces the story of a boy Oskar, who ’squeals like a pig’ when bullied by his classmates. When a father and daughter move in to the next apartment, Oskar befriends the mysterious girl. One day the father, or whoever he is, walks down with a can, funnel and choloform. In one of the most chilling scenes in recent years, we see him kill a young man, hang him upside down, and collect blood, all for his girl Eli, aged 12, but is a 200 year old vampire. When Oskar asks her if she is a vampire, Eli replies ‘I live of blood’.
If you thought, the story is chilling enough, the goodies don’t end there. The best part of the movie is the sound and photography. The background score, mixing and voice received accolades world over, and is one chilling experience,especially if you own a home theatre system. The sound of snowy breeze, the sneering anger of Eli, and immovable camera shots make ‘Let the Right One In’ an exceptional movie experience. Watch out for the climax, where several murders take place, but you never get to see them happen, you just feel them. The magic of cinema at its best.
What to expect in future? Let the right one In is being remade into English by some Hollywood studio, I sincerely hope it doesn’t get made. One movie, I am awaiting is the adaptation of the ‘Historian’ which is planned for release in 2010.
In case you are yet to be baptized into the world of the undead. You have got a welcome note..
‘Good evening, I am Count Dracula. I bid you welcome.’
Reference:-
http://books.rediff.com/book/Skal-David-J/hollywood-gothic:-the-tangled-web-of-dracula-from-novel-to-stage-to-screen/ISBN:0571211585/80571774
Historian, A Novel by Elizabeth Kostova.
Wikipedia and IMDB
for cast, production team and release details
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
@Ram V
Interesting Sunday morning read, very informative,indeed !! LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is on its way of becoming a cult vampire film,highly recommended for vampire movie lovers !!!!
GK
extremely nice read
One more recco for Let the Right one in. Surely catching it in Ebertfest now!
@GK Desai…Thanks..I love watching these movies, some of them are really bad ones :-)I attribute my know-how on this subject to David Skal whose book ‘…from novel to stage to screen’ is a dream read, a treasury of knowledge and the lovely novel by Elizabeth Kostova, Historian, which is equivalent to an historical dissertation…read them to know more.
I agree, LTROI is definitely the best non-dracula vampire movie ever….rather it is one of exceptionl movies (of any genre) I have seen in recent times…
@Indraneel…thanks
@Tanul Thakur…yes, no one who has seen it once can resist reccomending it…Not only for the thematic content and screenplay but for the exceptional technical achievements…a treat..dont miss it..
From the title I thought it’ll be about zombies but it is about Vampires. Good article though. Blade was basically a comic book movie so sequel was kinda mandatory. Recently I watched 30 Days of Night which was pretty decent. John Carpenter’s Vampires was good too. From Dusk Till Dawn by Robert Rodriguez, co-written by Tarantino is also considered a good watch but I didn’t like it. It’s a pulp Vampire flick . Joel Schumacher’s The Lost Boys is also worth mentioning.
@Ram V,
Good read !
Reality, attachment with real life, no fantasy, no false emotions, no hollowness, no shallowness, no narrowness, no nonsense, ……….
Vampire ? ;)
@Rk…I realize you love me…ha ha…I love you too…and Vampires yes…we never know what is real…strange things happen in this world…there have been instances reported of plague of vampirism has been reported as affecting several parts of Romania…read a bit…it will be good for someone :-)…If one can believe in God , Ishwar, then we can believe in the devil, in the vampire as well…
@Jahanpanah….Zombie movies are less of a preference to me..some people do go ga ga…over ‘Dawn of the Dead’, ‘Night of the Living Dead’ , 28 Days Later, Resident evil…I did not find them interesting because..the zombies have only one emotion, an unending hunger for cannibalism, thats it..they seem dumb..but whereas in Dracula and Vampire movies, the characters have different shades…Like in LTROI, Eli implies she is forced to live like that, and does not intend to hurt anyone but has no other choice…that is what is interesting..the human element which we cannot imagine…
Moreover, movies like Coppola’s ‘Dracula’, Interview with the Vampire and LTROI are not only good vampire movies, but also good examples of cinema as an art…
@Ramji
I also prefer vampire movies over zombie movies for obvious reasons you mentioned. I haven’t watched 28 Days Later and Dawn of the Dead for the very reasons but I’ll still watch them someday only because they are directed by Danny Boyle and Zack Snyder respectively.
@Jahanpanah…I did watch all those…LOL…I have no other job…but yeah 28 days and Dawn are the best in that genre…even ‘Shaun of the Dead’ was a good passtime… :-) all these have very little content to speak of other than pace and thrills..maybe thats what makes them special..
Once I watched a horrible zombie movie house of the Dead 2 and since then they are my aversion. Have watched Resident Evil series particularly because they are based on a popular video game. I started watching Shaun of the Dead but gave up in the middle of it. It is a tongue in cheek movie so it was basically a comedy spoof and all the tension was missing. May be, I would have liked it had I watched it completely but i couldn’t stand with Simon Pegg bludgeoning the zombies.
@Jahanpanah…yes SOTD was a spoof on the zombie genre…I felt one almost zombie, film with cannibalism replaced by suicidal tendency was MNS’s ‘Happening’..only zombies could have enjoyed it. :-)
Vampire movies, not all of them, on the other hand are sometimes introspective, in the sense that they show what price a human is ready to pay for immortality, once the price is paid…he realizes its too costly…
Yeah, have watched The Happening. Interesting thing you told.
For me IWTV is the best in Vampire genre. Would like to watch LTROI. Apart from Vampires I’m also fond of werewolf movies but I’ve only watched Dog Soldiers and Underworld series which was amalgamation of vampires and werewolves, would watch An American werewolf in London and of course I like our desi versions of supernatural beings like Nagin, Nagina, Nigaheyein.
I have not seen Dog Soldiers..is it Good? Anyways, I would take a look..IWTV was definitely a very introspective film, which gave Vampires more respect than they got till then..he he…Nagin, Nagina, Nigahen..were good in their own right…could have been better though.. :-)
Dog Soldiers was good movie IMO.