Playlist: New Moon

This is technically titled, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and all marketing obnoxiousness aside, it's apt. New Moon isn't so much its own film as it is a segment of the larger story. That doesn't make it bad, but it does make it a bit of an unfulfilling viewing experience. From what I hear, it's also the weakest of the books, so this was not unexpected. Just a necessary step along the way.

As for Twilight on the macro level, I understand a lot of people have written it off as just another soap opera for teenage girls, a supernatural Romeo and Juliet. But--and this is important--that's what it is. And, taking it as such, the series works (at least so far). The first film was, wait for it, good. (Full disclosure: I may also be the only person who actually likes Kristen Stewart, so what do I know.)

But, bigger question: how does Twilight work as a vampire movie? Let's take a look at how it handles some classic vampire "rules":

Do they ignite/explode in the sunlight? No, they, er, sparkle. Ok, that's pretty lame, but it is an interesting twist in that they can't go out in the sun or else they will stand out as inhuman. Plus, really, exploding in sunlight makes no sense whatsoever.

Do they sleep in coffins? They don't sleep at all. Imagine all the movies they could watch.

Can they be killed by a stake through the heart? Decapitation and/or burning works a lot better. Their hearts don't actually work anymore, so we're talking flesh wound and a change of shirts.

Do they have to be invited in? No, again. But in Let the Right One In, they do (psst, read the title again) and they came up with a killer new consequence for trespassing.

There are more, but looking at it like this, most vampire "rules" are pretty dumb, or at least totally oblivious to the laws of physics. Then again, they are freakin vampires.

Playlist: Daybreakers

Ethan Hawke has now made it to another edition of Playlist. First it was Staten Island...and now a fascinating concept of a poorly executed Vampire flick in Daybreakers. I like Ethan Hawke. I feel like he has been the poor mans, B level version of Brad Pitt or something. This guy has more acting talent then most A list actors...is sexy as hell and can really sell a scene with his eyes...in this case his eyes are blood red. But he must have debts, or a crack problem, cause he is always in these crazy kinds of films now. I looked at his filmography and swore that I had seen a lot of his films...guess I was wrong...I came up with Gattaca, Training Day and The Explorers. These are the standouts.

As for the film itself. It suffers from what I said in an earlier post about films with great concepts and poor execution, you know like Highlander, Superman Returns, etc...This film's concept is that Vampires have spread through Earth as a disease and they are harvesting humans for the blood. Our hero is Ethan Hawke, a scientist who refuses to drink pure human blood and we never find out why...the edits in this film leave out all that we want to learn about this world, which is done real well (with the exception of a few scenes when slowed down with blu-ray DVD technology exposes the poor cgi work), the action takes over and we are left with a good plan but no direction.

Our heroes, which include Willhem Defoe (Jesus), take off to find a cure and do find one, which is a pretty cool idea in the history of Vampire legend (I will not spoil it), but the pic above gives you an idea. There are side stories that don't need to be here, and it plays with your emotions and tells us way too much detail, making the film feel like it doesn't trust the audience and needs to flat out tell us everything, down to the car that Dafoe drives...its a Trans-Am, with the words "From the ashes to the fire" or some crap that is supposed to make us connect the cure with the phoenix on the car to his own personnel vampire experience...but it's all too much.

If you like anti-twilight vampire films...like Let the Right One In (which is a far superior film to this..and has much less cgi and does a better job with the story and trusting the audience)...or even the old Near Dark (with Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow as director)...I say watch it and see for yourself...but be warned there is a lot of vampire gorging on human flesh...not so much sucking blood as ravaging in blood lust.

BOOM

Playlist: Thirst

What's that, a Korean vampire movie, you say? Ye.

Famed director and violence maestro Park Chan-Wook turns his camera to the world of the undead with this 2009 erotic horror film. It's the story of a priest who signs up to be an experimental test subject in order to find a cure for the Emmanuel Virus, a deadly worldwide disease. Things don't go according to plan as he is infected and dies...and returns as a vampire.

He soon becomes involved with the family of a childhood friend who come to see the man of God who has become a bit of a celebrity for returning from the dead. He develops an attraction to his friend's neglected wife and the two fall into a pretty sexually explicit relationship. The rest of the film deals with him trying to balance his growing need for human blood (in order to keep the virus in check in his body) and his growing love for this woman. Unfortunately, he discovers that each action he takes has consequences that lead him further from the right path. You know, "With great power comes great responsibility." Or, 강대국으로 중대한 책임은 온다

It's a beautifully shot film and it's easy to see why Park has such a strong reputation. The performances by Song Kang-ho as the priest and, especially, Kim Ok-bin as the object of his desire give the characters needed emotional depth. However, at 133 minutes, it's too long, dragging at times in the middle. It's difficult for horror and comedy films to maintain their tension and edge at that length no matter how well made they are.

But along with Let the Right One In, it proves to be a strong addition to the genre in a good year for vampires.

Playlist: Let the Right One In

What's that, a Swedish vampire movie, you say? Ja.

I watched this a few months back, but since I started writing about the Six Shooter Film Series, I thought I'd finally get around to finishing this post. By now you have probably heard about Tomas Alfredson's 2008 film, based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist. It's the story of a young boy named Oskar, a loner who wants nothing more than to get back at the school bullies tormenting him. One night, he meets Eli, the new girl who moved into his apartment building. She informs him that they cannot be friends--that she's not even "really" a girl--but they go on to develop a bond anyway.

It's a strong story bolstered by the captivating performances of the two leads, Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson, and its quiet, atmospheric vibe that's very much the product of its hauntingly bleak setting. It's an art-horror film, but it's also very definitely a true vampire film, not afraid to embrace and elevate the genre. More on this in an upcoming post.

It was so successful, in fact, that it is scheduled to be honored with an all-American remake by Cloverfield director Matt Reaves. But it will star the boy from The Road and the girl from Kick-Ass, so maybe it won't be terrible. Though there's no helping its pointlessness.