The Hunger
From Bram Stoker to Anne Rice to Stephenie Meyer, various writers have written various books about the mythos of being a vampire, an immortal being which feeds on human blood to survive. Most of these writers seem to feel that to be such a creature can almost be a fantastic adventure, never growing old or ever dying all while witnessing the advances in human and world culture. While some (like Rice) give some lip service to the tortured soul aspect of the characters so as not to make readers think that such an existence is a fully fledged rose garden, another alternative to the lonely lifestyle of a vampire is to have them find “companions” with which they can spend eternity with and always have someone to confide in if need be. But at the end of the day, it must be said that vampires (if they really existed) are just the ultimate form of parasites, sucking life usually from innocent humans and ending their lives in order to extend their own while contributing next to nothing for the greater good of mankind since that is a ship that they had abandoned long ago. In 1981, Whitley Strieber (a writer who years later wrote a book about himself claiming to be abducted by aliens that was made into a movie) came out with The Hunger, a vampire novel that told its tale with an exquisite touch of sadness since any vampire who has ever run into Van Helsing or one of his kin will tell you that there is no true eternal life to be found in the lifestyle before sunlight or wooden stakes or any number of other causes will bring you down sooner or later even if you’ve lasted for centuries in this incarnation. The book was quickly adapted into a movie in 1983, an offbeat, strange effort with a gothic vibe that instantly made it into an everlasting classic of the so called goth subculture. Directed by Tony Scott (Ridley’s younger brother who had a surprisingly underrated career directing classics like Top Gun, True Romance, Last Boy Scout and many others), the story not only uses the aforementioned “companions” angle, but also goes further into the idea of vampires as being parasites, namely what if the (more powerful) vampire of the two not only was a parasite to society but also at the end of the day to their own companions as well? The film stars Catherine Deneuve (the legendary French actress whom every American has heard of but still cannot name one movie of hers which makes this film by default her best known American film) as a Queen Vampire of sorts, one whose existence goes back to Egyptian times (or more) now living in modern New York City with her current companion for merely the last three hundred years (David Bowie, who despite his deserved reputation as a legendary musician, when called upon to act in movie roles that didn’t require him to sing too, always managed to step up and prove that he could actually ACT). Apparently, she had found and seduced him into her web while promising him the gift of eternal life, knowing the whole time that she was lying to him and that he would suffer the same fate as her past lovers, aging rapidly almost to the point that he would become a weakened moldy old corpse, with the punchline being that he would still never die or even lose consciousness, but since she can’t parade him out in public anymore, she seals him in a casket instead and places him amongst the other (presumably still living) rotting ex lovers in their own cases. The contrast between the two characters (and performances) is fascinating to say the least: Deneuve is cold and monotone and for much of the time is so distant and aloof in her mannerisms that it almost feels like she’s barely in the movie, whereas Bowie when he starts to realize the implications of what’s happening to him and that nothing can be done to help him (plus the fact that his beloved Deneuve could seem to care less and is just waiting for him to finish up) actually brings great empathy to the movie as we as viewers almost hope that some kind of a cure could be found for him even as we witness him killing a couple of more victims in the faint hope that fulfilling his bloodlust will somehow reverse the process. The film begins with a glimpse into their modern lifestyle as Deneuve and Bowie go to a 80s techno punk nightclub and pick up two stupid, probably drugged out young people as director Scott shoots and edits the sequence with all the finesse of an ultra trippy acid binge before the two young people meet their screaming doom. It isn’t long before Bowie’s hair starts falling out and (knowing that something is seriously wrong) he quickly starts following the research exploits of a medical scientist (Susan Sarandon) studying the effects of progeria (premature aging) hoping to find a cure for a disease that literally kills kids in their teens from symptoms of old age. Bowie approaches Sarandon directly for help, only to get blown off and made to sit for hours in her waiting room where (in maybe the film’s scariest scene due to its subtlety) he ages several decades over the course of several hours. Meanwhile, Deneuve (who has already long since written off Bowie to his fate with hardly a care in the world) is already seeking a new companion and feels that she may very well have found it in Sarandon (who was only a few years removed from her Rocky Horror days and still in her physical prime), making an artificial connection with her at their initial meeting and then finally getting her into the bedroom for the film’s piece de resistance, an explicit lesbian sex scene (even by today’s standards) between two of the most famous actresses in the world that is obviously supposed to represent Sarandon’s character being seduced into the “dark side” but is really more of a legitimate excuse for the future Oscar winner to show off her naked body (while Deneuve for the most part remains clothed and covered) as her newfound female lover kisses and enjoys every inch of her. That the film became remembered more for this scene rather than for the actual themes that it represented (including the then growing metaphor for the blood addicted vampire as being like a heroin junkie) was a testament to just how well lit and shot this sequence (as well as most of the rest of the film) was done, with a transcending luminescent glow that seemed to (rightly or wrongly) portray the vampires in an almost heavenly light (complete with lots of white doves), as if Deneuve was “rescuing” or “liberating” Sarandon from the shackles of her mundane human life. But again, it’s all still a lie as Deneuve tells Sarandon (who is under the false belief that Bowie has headed off to Switzerland) that she will now have eternal life and that the two of them will be together forever as Sarandon (like Bowie before her) has no knowledge of the stack of caskets in the attic containing the putrid, rotting (yet still living) remains of the other lovers in the past who had heard and believed the same line from Deneuve. The film is unique in the genre in that even though Sarandon and her fellow researchers specialize in isolating blood diseases as part of their work (in an attempt to give a pseudo scientific explanation for what Deneuve really is), at no point is she ever identified as being a vampire nor does the actual word “vampire” ever get spoken by any character in the movie, with Sarandon believing that she has had some kind of venereal disease passed on to her from Deneuve during their lesbian sex act and Bowie when he comes to Sarandon begging for help claims to actually be 30 years old before he came down with the rapid aging syndrome which she studies. Instead, the use of (very long ago) flashbacks showing how Bowie and Deneuve met and the even more obvious depiction of showing them killing people for their blood is more than enough to convey exactly what they are without us ever needing to hear the word “vampire” spoken aloud (and thus helps keep at least some aspects of the story plausible). Combine that with a near brilliant double twist ending (the kind that can redeem the movie before it for many of its faults) along with the lesbian angle (which while not hardcore, the scene certainly qualifies as something to be shown and enjoyed on Cinemax) and the fact that Sarandon in real life was actually carrying on a sexual relationship with BOWIE during the filming makes this a one of a kind creation, an erotic horror movie that succeeds in not getting bogged down by its own erotic elements while successfully putting across the idea that all vampirism really amounts to being is just another scam or hustle…
8/10