I have a soft spot in my heart for the legend of the vampire. I don't remember when I first heard tales of them, but I do know that for several years as a child I would sleep with my covers up over my neck so I wouldn't get bitten. In Florida. In August. With no air conditioning. I was so sweaty that any vampire that happened upon me would probably have given up from the ick factor.
I guess my first exposure was probably through our local campy Creature Feature television show with Dr. Paul Bearer. At parades he would throw beads with tombstones or something on them. I think I had a few at one time. They played all the old horror flicks. Nothing really gory - at least, in black and white it never seems gory. The vampires always seemed so graceful to me. (I have a tendency to walk into walls, it doesn't take much to impress me on the grace factor.)
And then there was Lost Boys. I loved that movie. I took the movie poster to college with me. *coughgeekcough* Floating vamps, tapping on your window. Amazing soundtrack. Red sunglasses. (back when it was really, really hard to obtain them - and yes, I did)
Of course, it's practically obligatory to read Anne Rice. Give me a good weekend and I can totally plow through one of her books. I loved them all. Then again, I am a fan of B grade sci-fi movies. You have to be to get through all her books. I mean, how many times can one use the word preternatural in one book? How many times can one *read* the word preternatural and still continue to turn the pages? Oooh, Lestat has preternatural strength. Good, no wimpy vamps in this book. Oh, okay - preternatural vision too. Well sure, the better to see you with my dear. Mmmm hmmm. His preternatural hearing allows him to hear heartbeats. Sure. I get it. Too bad he didn't use it to realize those boys Claudia drugged were already dead. Yeah... dead blood does a body bad. Now he needs to take a preternatural dump, probably. And speaking of preternatural dumps (I've used the term seven times so far - amateur) could they have miscast the movie Interview with a Vampire any worse? Tom Cruise? As Lestat? It pains me to even think about it.
A really good vampire novel is 'A Delicate Dependency' by Michael Talbot. Go read it now. I won't use my clumsy words to try and describe it. It's your first reading assignment. Get to it, people.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
I love your blog entries. Thanks for writing.
Hey, my brother in law is honest to God related to Vlad von Tepe, the Count Dracula vampire. Yeah, my sister is a Tepe. A vampiress. Good Times.
Ah Nosferatu, thou preternatural black-and-white film infringing on Bram Stoker's copyright - how I love thee!
For all you Netflix fans (I miss Netflix!), they have the original film.
Oh man, now I have this urge to write a short story about a vampire. hmm, lets see....
"It was a dark and stormy night..."
=========================
ps - I also love your blog
the rain fell in torrents - except at occasional intervals...
...when it was checked by a violent gust of wind, each eventually fading as it gravitated again and again to the voice in the message
...so long and thanks for all the fish.
Would you two get a freakin room, already?
The vampire is an excellent metaphor that applies well in some surprising ways. Think of your own.
Post a Comment