"If you're suffering from Twilight Fatigue Syndrome (TFS), this gritty, unromantic tale will be a welcome break." I09

Sadly, I dont' think I'm gonna be able to go out and see it this weekend, but it's definetely on my list.  I think this has a bit of cult-movie potential as a contemporary vampire-themed allegory paralleling oil and corporate greed.  I'm intrigued, especially with Hawke and Dafoe standing behind it. It has all the elements of a '00 Vamp thriller: a virtuous emo vamp played by Ethan Hawke (after sunset, eh), a big-bad parable for the current global crisis, and battle-hungry vigilantes with crossbows. Who could resist?

As I've been watching my new Buffy DVD's (Thanks  Santa) I realized that Xander Harris reminds me of Bruce Campbell.  Now, I don't know if that comparison has been made, but, let's study the facts. Both are the handy comic relief in tense supernatural situations, both are quite inventive and clever under fire, and darn it, they kinda look alike.  [I mean, young Bruce of course -- "Ash" Bruce. And, do I see just a little bit of Peter Petrelli in there too?  I digress...]  Not to mention also that both have taken some serious injury for the team. Ash's arm, Xander's eye. Shame really. However, Ash is nothing if not inventive, and the chainsaw arm really allowed him to handle that boomstick.

What I admire most about Bruce Campbell is that he is the epitome of a humble and humorous B-movie actor who knows and embraces the genre. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him, and the man cracks me up. Bruce has the gift of being likeable during some of the most ridiculous scenes ever put onto film. I feel that type of humor is very indicative of Xander's self-depracating character throughout the Buffy series.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a fantastic show because it dabbled in so many genres: horror, comedy, adventure, and all of these were handled beautifully by Joss Whedon, who wrote the quick dialogue and relateable characters to root the supernatural stories in normal adolescence. Xander too, is always likeable, even in the face of danger. All I'm saying is, I'd like one of these guys on my side slaying demons.

Here are just a few great lines from the boys:

Well hello Mister Fancypants. Well, I've got news for you pal, you ain't leadin' but two things, right now: Jack and shit... and Jack left town. 

-- "Ash" Army of Darkness 1992

"I laugh in the face of danger. Then I hide till it goes away."

―Xander, Buffy season 1

There I was. Face-to-face with the mother of all ugly. So I say "Come get some", and BLAM, no more Mr. Nasty Face.

--"Ash" Evil Dead: Fistful of Boomstick 2003

I'm sick of being the guy who eats insects and gets the funny syphilis. As of this moment, it's over. I'm finished being everybody's butt-monkey!"

―Xander, Buffy season 4

http://blog.jinni.com/2009/11/vampire-vs-zombies-the-bloody-showdown/

The Jinni blog give Zombies 8 to 1...  lots of good stuff in there.  And I had to use this pic of Underworld vs. Planet Terror as a shoutout to a few of my personal faves.  :)

Take a look at some of my favorite non-fiction-supporting lit centered around vampires.

I think one of the most entertaining to have crossed my line of vision lately has to be the tongue-in-cheek (or fang-in-jugular, as the case may be) Diana Laurence's How to Catch and Keep a Vampire.  Ms. Laurence also writes a few series of 'tasteful romantic fiction' which frequently star vampires.  I love the 'girl power' attitude from page one--


Another interesting book, not so focused on the current trend, and a ligitimate entry of Lit-Crit would be Our Vampires, Ourselves by Nina Auerbach.  She focuses on the origins of the genre, the Byrons and Draculas, as well as the Lestats and Lost Boys.

"Ms. Auerbach implicitly rejects the Freudian and Jungian interpretations of these figures as either psychosexual metaphors or archetypes, preferring to see them in sociopolitical terms. But such interpretations need not be mutually exclusive. There is, after all, more in vampire metaphors than meets any one mind's eye."


Absolutely!  I'm gonna keep my eyes out for some more vampire related guide books. Stay tuned...

I love College Humor's take on the Vampire takeover of all media.  This one's got appearances by all my fav's.  Too good not to keep on here for posterity. :)

Clicky for awesomeness:Vampire Reunion

Excellent counterpoint --  not only is the Vampire mythology always changing, so is the mythology of those who defend the human race...

Addendum: After posting this I did a little more thinking about how the myths involve both humans and vampires, and plus with all the literary mashup going on, when I stumbled accross MTV's "Adapt This" segment of "Pinocchio the Vampire Slayer" it seemed oddly appropriate.

After being lucky enough to catch the last half of Gremlins this weekend (yes lucky), and soak up the reviews both positive and negative of Where the Wild Things Are it got me thinking about great cinema creatures.  Monster movies and what that reflects about us, how some creatures are endearing (hello Gizmo) and some are just terrifying. (Cloverfield) there's the classics such as The Fly, which remind us about humanity as we watch our hero lose theirs.  To wit -- this summer's apartheid allegory -- District 9.

Monsters are the physical manifestation of our fears and anxieties. Etymologically-speaking 'monster' is derived from the root "monstrare" meaning to show, also "monere" which means to warn.

...Monsters are chaos beasts, lurking beyond the cracks in the world of order. They may predate the creation of the world as we know it, living in dangerous and inaccessible places but still able to remind us of their presence in dreams and nightmares. In short, a monster is out of place, conforming to no class or violating existing classes.
Bearing this in mind, it seems that attempts to kill or sacrifice monsters may symbolize an attempt to stabilize reality, and bring the unknown under our control.  Source

That's the burning desires behind creating movie-studio monsters and then taming or defeating them -- another way to visualize our own inner struggles and find a way to overcome them.