Night of the Vampire
The latest HFA annual movie marathon offers thoughtful self-reflection for those unnaturally wedded to all-night lifestyles. A stylistically diverse journey through cinematic and historic time, this series of innovative vampire films follows creatures of the night as they emerge sophisticatedly from the campier mists of myth and move cautiously into the modern day, with all of its technological advances, style, alienation and—by the late 80s—deep-seated ennui and postmodern disillusion sucking out some of the glamour and inviting in the more philosophic and mundane aspects of eternal living. Squeamish or scrupled vampires arise, as well as those whose plights may be masking a fear of intimacy. Some things do remain—vampirism always converges either physically or metaphorically with sex—yet by the precarious crack of dawn, Park Chan-Wook’s thirsty vampires wreak inexplicable, gory havoc on Bram Stoker’s rules and on this ancient genre.
PROGRAM
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Dracula’s Daughter
Directed by Lambert Hillyer.
With Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden, Marguerite Churchill.
US, 1936, 35mm, black & white, 72 min.
Print source: UniversalHorror of Dracula
Directed by Terence Fisher.
With Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough.
UK, 1958, 35mm, color, 82 min.
Print source: Warner Bros.The Hunger
Directed by Tony Scott.
With Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon.
US, 1983, 35mm, color, 97 min.
Print source: HFA
Near Dark
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow.
With Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen.
US, 1987, 35mm, color, 95 min.
Print source: HFANadja
Directed by Michael Almereyda.
With Elina Löwensohn, Peter Fonda, Suzy Amis.
US, 1995, 35mm, black & white, 92 min.
Print source: HFA
Trouble Every Day
Directed by Claire Denis.
With Vincent Gallo, Tricia Vessey, Béatrice Dalle.
France/Germany/Japan, 2001, 35mm, color, 101 min.
French & English with English subtitles.
Print source: HFAThirst (Bakjwi)
Directed by Park Chan-Wook.
With Song Kang-Ho, Kim Ok-Bin, Kim Hae-Suk.
South Korea, 2009, 35mm, color, 133 min.
Korean, English & French with English subtitles.
Print source: HFA