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THE HUNGER

A NEWLY WIDOWED VAMPIRE IS ALREADY LOOKING FOR HER NEXT SPOUSE



★★★★☆ (Worth the Watch)

Director: Tony Scott

1983



Miriam and John have been living it up for the last few centuries. After she “turned” him, they have been giving music lessons in their New York City mansion by day, and teaming up to have sex with, and eat, the local riff-raff by night. “Forever,” Miriam whispers in John’s ear as they wash the blood off their naked bodies. They mean to be together forever, but they’ve had it too good for too long. Something is wrong with John (David Bowie). He’s not sleeping, he’s losing his hair. In the mirror, he can tell that after all these decades, he’s started to grow old at an alarming rate. When he confronts Miriam (Catherine Deneuve), she confesses that he is not completely turned, and like her former husbands and wives, he is doomed to live eternity as a shriveled husk inside a coffin. This is when we realize who the real villain is, and she’s found her next lover in Sarah (Susan Sarandon), a married scientist on the verge of discovering the secrets of aging.



The Hunger might be one of the sexiest horror movies ever made; it’s this close to softcore pornography. Bauhaus plays at the club, Miriam and John lord over the night, Bowie slinks around like a sexual viper. You can tell a brother of Ridley Scott directed this movie because it’s gritty, smoky….looks like rain falling on a planet bathed in dark blue light. But if Ridley Scott had been the director, we would have been able to follow the plot. We have to figure out backstories using quick shots—blink and you might miss the one that informs you Miriam has been around since ancient Egypt. Blink and you might miss that Miriam and John met when they played the cello and piano together during an era of powdered wigs. The Hunger is cooler than most Anne Rice adaptations, but lacks the discipline of her work. If only we could tell what was going on.


Like the spell wearing off of John, the movie wears down as well. A huge lost opportunity was our doctor, Sarah, not figuring out how to save the day using science—a result of lazy screenwriting. That’s not to say this movie isn’t enjoyable. Miriam’s seduction of Sarah is a slow burn, and I completely understood why each character wanted the other. Miriam is like many friends I’ve had over the years (she can’t be on her own for one damn minute) and a bored Sarah is confused by her attraction to a woman. The Hunger also gives us a beautiful monster in Miriam. What she does to those she supposedly loves is horrifying, torturous. She’s already setting up her next relationship as John is dying at their home. She avoids the place because she doesn’t want to watch him fade away, she’s like those psychopaths who dump their sick pet at the vet to be put down instead of staying and comforting it during its last moments. Miriam consoles John, but she doesn’t believe a single kind thing she is saying. You realize when Miriam cries at their fate, she is only crying for herself.


The Hunger is a flawed but mesmerizing vampire tale that is torpedoed by the high bar it set for itself. The film didn’t know whether it wanted to go full art house or not—it’s Merchant Ivory meets The Cure. Visuals stun, the mood is electric and sad. John watches cartoons on a TV in the corner of an opulent room filled with centuries-old furniture, hoping his great love will help him. Little does he know, the party’s over. The Hunger is cool, sexy, heartless, and leads with the genitals.






GENRES: Atmospheric, Diverse Characters, Feminist-Friendly, LGBTQ+, Monster/Creature


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