The exquisitely beautiful Catherine Deneuve plays Miriam, a centuries-old vampire capable of bestowing the gift of immortality on her lovers -- namely her current partner John (David Bowie). To sustain their sanguinary requirements, the pair cruises New York nightclubs in search of victims (as illustrated in a stunning opening sequence to the accompaniment of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" performed by seminal Goth band Bauhaus). When John awakens one morning to discover telltale signs of aging, it is
revealed that his own sustained youth is not permanent, and his physical decrepitude begins to increase at an incredible rate. In a panic, John visits the clinic of scientist Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon), who has recently published a book on reversing the aging process, but she initially dismisses him as a crank, leaving him to sit in the lobby for several hours... during which his body ages several decades. After learning of his condition, Sarah traces John to his uptown flat. John is nowhere to be found, having been consigned by Miriam to a box in the attic with her legions of undead loves, leaving Miriam to deal with Sarah -- which she does quite effectively, seducing her into a steamy lesbian tryst. Their passion is consummated by a mingling of Miriam's blood with Sarah's, which later manifests itself as a psychic link between the two women and leaves Sarah with a rapidly-increasing appetite for blood. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
In his feature debut, director Tony Scott, brother of Ridley, exhibits the same penchant for eleborate art direction, minimal, humorless dialog and shooting in smoky rooms.
The Hunger is an agonizingly bad vampire movie, circling around an exquisitely effective sex scene. Sorry, but that's the way it is, and your reporter has to be honest.
The obsessive conjunction of lesbian sex and flowing blood suggests a deep-seated misogyny, but neither this nor any other theme is registered with enough clarity to offend.
The focus of Hunger is emphatically the death of Bobby Sands, specifically, what happens to his body, viewed from a tragic outside and, to an imaginative extent, a determined inside.
In The Hunger, like in that ludicrous advertisement for Britney Spears's Curious perfume, sexual desire simply provokes postmodern psychotropic episodes.
1983, u ninnies! i watched this in honor of bowie's 65th b-day :D don't know how i missed it back in the day but in 2012 it's actually quite fun. it's very stylish and dark and kinda sleazy. denueve and bowie are a stunning couple; too bad he disappears halfway through, but then we get a denueve-sarandon makeout
scene so it's all good. or at least way better than twilight. sure, it doesn't make a lot of sense and it's shot like an mtv video but the cast is great and highly watchable: bowie is always impressive imo and deneuve is an ice goddess. plus the aging effects here are magnificent. happy b-day david! u still look pretty damn good!
December 12, 2007
Stella Dallas
Super Reviewer
British vampire thriller from Tony Scott that really really does look like one of those old Cadbury's Flake adverts from the 80's. The constant swirling sweeping silky curtains fluttering in the breeze for no apparent reason, pale females with too much makeup, birds flapping n swooping romantically about the set in
slow motion and lots of sexual slobbering haha.Aside from that its not a bad vamp flick, extremely glossy and highly stylised but admittedly not much else. The plot and concept for the vampires is annoyingly confusing bringing up so many questions, why does only the lover/secondary vamp seem to age? why do they age when they are vamps? why do they age so quick? why does 'Miss Blaylock' age at the end? why does feeding on blood not save them etc...I could on.Really this feels like an experiment in film making and imagery, its very glamorous and classy looking with a cast to match...Bowie, Sarandon and Deneuve, one could almost say its one long perfume advert or music video seeing as the plot ideas are so unexplained. I also find it rather odd that this sultry female vampire is somehow able to store loads of coffins with rotting mummies in her attic without them being noticed (the smell?), and why she also seems to have a pigeon infestation up there too lol!, she sure does like long flowing silky drapes though.Definitely a cult and certainly worth seeing if you like vampire films, horror/thrillers or unusual one offs as films like this don't come along very often. Strongly advise seeing if you also have a Sarandon fetish hehe ;)
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