October
2002
October is Scary Movie Month at the Library
Join
the not quite dead in three films, including "Interview
with the Vampire"
By
Dan Dodson
October
is the scariest month. It's an in between time as seasons shift
from summer's life to winter's death. This month's movies share
the theme of being stuck in the middle, or more exactly, undead.
The
schedule includes: Interview with the Vampire on October
3, An American Werewolf in London on October 17 and The
Devil's Backbone (Spanish) on October 31. All dates are Thursdays
with show times at 6:30 p.m. Please note you can park your hearse
in the library's side lot, that is, if the giant pit to hell is
covered by then.
Sadistic
Vampires draws life from superstars
Interview
with the Vampire is an under-appreciated addition to the monster
genre. The originality of the story and the strength of the cast
make it the definitive vampire work.
Based
on the popular book by Anne Rice, Interview tells the story
of Louis (Brad Pitt), a young 18th-century Louisiana aristocrat
who is turned into a vampire by Lestat (Tom Cruise). The powerful,
fun-loving and sadistic Lestat forms a strangely symbiotic relationship
with the meek and brooding Louis. Not satisfied to enjoy New Orleans
society alone, Lestat and Louis make the child Claudia (young
Kirsten Dunst) into their vampire daughter. The vampire family
spends the next 50 years doing normal family things like scolding
Claudia for killing her piano teacher; setting fire to the house;
vacationing in the Parisian catacombs and making a new vampire
mommy.
Director
Neil Jordan (Crying Game) does a great job turning Ms.
Rice's screenplay into a mind's eye representation of the book.
The beauty of Rice's books and this movie are their ability to
establish new laws of nature and then tell a story about characters
governed by those laws. Lestat, Louis and the other vampires are
all individuals with different histories and tastes which makes
them sympathetic to the audience. Using the vampires' point of
view forces the audience to consider their own behavior given
the same circumstances.
Interview
has great costumes, set, story and performances (also including
Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater). However, Miss Dunst steals
the show, at age 12, from an A-list cast of leading men.
Teenage
werewolf meets the Blues Brothers
An
American Werewolf in London was written and directed as a
horror/comedy by John Landis of Animal House and Blues
Brothers fame. It is considered a werewolf genre classic because
of its explicit transformation scenes.
Two
young Americans, David and Jack, are backpacking across northern
England when they stumble into a village of suspiciously unfriendly
locals. Finding no hospitality at the inn, they set out into the
night, blissfully tempting fate. The townsfolk find them in time
to kill the werewolf as it's attacking David but after it's killed
Jack. David wakes up in a London hospital and begins to have strange
dreams and feelings. Jack reappears as a rotting ghost corpse
and tells David he is a werewolf and that he must kill himself
to free his victims from limbo. A love story, crisis of conscious
and mayhem ensue.
Movie
buffs will want to see American Werewolf for two reasons.
First, the transformation scenes are detailed and graphic considering
they were done in the pre-digital era. Second, John Landis was
fresh off Animal House and The Blues Brothers when
he made Werewolf. There are Landis signatures such as the appearance
of Frank Oz, a massive car-crash scene and the phrase "See
you next Wednesday" (search it in Google).
Orphan
boy's ghost warns Spain
The
Devil's Backbone is a Spanish tapestry of interlinking political,
sexual and paranormal symbols beautifully filmed and directed
by Guillermo del Toro (Cronos, Mimic).
The
time is 1939, towards the end of Spanish civil war, and young
Carlos is abandoned in an orphanage for sons of fallen leftist
supporters. Carlos faces many struggles in the orphanage, a poor
and barren hacienda with an unexploded bomb in the center of its
courtyard. He must confront the other boys who torment him, Jacinto
the evil caretaker, and "The one who sighs." Carlos
becomes fascinated with the ghost and discovers it is a child
named Santi who supposedly had run away. Santi's not completely
dead as he's trapped in limbo until he can avenge his murderer.
The
orphanage in haunted by the bomb, the principal's lost leg, memories
of lost hope and the ghost. Del Toro's theme that "The living
are more dangerous than the dead" is amplified through these
symbols. The "ghosts" provide warnings to the living
of far more serious terrors. Carlos represents the need for brave
new leadership in Spain by overcoming his fears and leading by
example.
The
audience faces fear with Carlos as facts unravel for us as they
do for him. This is a great device for allowing the story to build.
#
# #
Dan
Dodson reviews new releases at www.livingonthenet.com
