THe “Real” Ariane just provided another cool footnote for her side of the story. According to her, she provides the ride so Brian can’t escape. Looks like Brian has his work cut out for him.
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I originally thought of this week’s selection of arthouse vampire movies. However, maybe it’s my personal tastes, but while these films were certainly much more dramas than horror, I didn’t find them that artsy. So because of this, I had to find another thing these two films had in common. (Other than the vampires, of course) So I went for the next best thing, films about pairs of Vampires.
My first film, Only Lovers Left Alive, Tells, directed by Jim Jarmusch, tells the story of Adam and Eve (Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton) a married couple of immortal vampires currently living separately with Adam in Detroit and Eve in Tangiers.
Adam has been suffering from a bad case of suicidal despair and has been planning to kill himself. Eve travels back to Detroit to talk him down.
This is a slow quiet film that is more a study of how two immortals will interact over the centuries, taking in the beauty of art and culture. Vampirism seems to be only an issue since in pop culture it’s the form immortality most people know about.
Hiddleston and Swinton have fairly good chemistry with Swinton’s otherworldly appearance being perfect for the role.
On a side note, I found myself drawn back to thinking of Vampire The Masquerade again. If Near Dark was a film about the Sabbat, this was very much a movie about the Toreador.
My next film Byzantium tells the story of Clara and her daughter Eleanor. (Played by Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan) Two vampires who have been on the run from other vampires for centuries. They finally find sanctuary in a beachfront hotel called the Byzantium. Things go well at first though Eleanor has tired of her existence on the run and, having been sheltered by Clara, is oblivious to the real dangers of her existence. From here she becomes attracted to a sickly and mortal young man (Caleb Landry Jones)…. Things kind of go downhill from there.
This film was fairly well done with good performances from the principals and with a very nontraditional take on vampirism (the can go out in the daylight and have retractable thumb spikes instead of fangs, etc) with an interesting backstory. Though I couldn’t quite get into it in the long run.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TbxI_oRSKI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zu2cW7AhO8
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I’ve been unsure about the 18th prompt, “Crypt Creeps”, since day three of this challenge, “Tombsday“. The reason being I realized after the fact that I probably got the words “tomb” and “crypt” mixed up. I realized after the fact that my image of for Tombsday was probably more appropriate for Crypt Creeps. Pedantic of me, I know but since one of the challenges in these things is being true to the instructions you’re given… no matter how vague they are.
So this one, featuring a vampire, is probably more Tombsday than Crypt Creeps. One because of the aforementioned pedantry, and two there’s only one of her… more pedantry.
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As you know, Ariane just showed up in Brian’s office without any warning, surprising him so much he actually remembered her name!
Well once the “Real” Ariane heard about this, she wanted to make sure we got her side of the story as well. Apparently, she hired Rodrigo and Antoine to make sure she wasn’t interrupted… I’ll definitely have to see where there that goes… though considering where Brian and Ariane are going, I doubt they’ll make much of a difference.
Anyway here’s the beginning of her side of the story. You can tell her what you think of it here.
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I had really mixed feelings about today’s prompt, “Toadsday”. Even before I did the giant frog in “Swamp Citizens‘ all my options seemed silly. It took me forever to get jokes about the Hypnotoad out of my system. The best I could think of was something vaguely Lovecraftian.
I reluctantly ran with it.
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Well, I just hit the halfway point and am feeling good. Today’s prompt, Carnival Carnage was a bit of a puzzler for me. All I could think of was thinking about it was Mr. Dark from Ray Bradbury’s “Something Wicked This Way Comes”. Beyond that, I didn’t have any idea how to make the carnival scary…. Beyond giving it a creepy vibe.
Mr. Dark is a bit of a challenge for me too. While Jonathan Price was great in the film, it was a little hard to be afraid of him since he looked way too much like my favorite high school teacher, Mr. DeCecco. But since none of you knew him, I’m going to go with it.
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