The late Tony Scott's theatrical debut feature, a UK production assembles three household names from three different countries, THE HUNGER is a Gothic horror taps into Whitley Strieber's novel about vampirism but only vaguely specifies its origin. It takes place in New York (although the shooting was done almost entirely in London), Miriam and John Blaylock (Deneuve and Bowie) are blood-seeking immortals (the word "vampire" has never been disclosed through the entire film), living in a grandiose mansion, but "immortal" turns out not to be the case for John, since he is originally human and the eternal life which is bestowed by Miriam has a life expectancy (several hundreds years supposedly), so he seeks help from Doctor Sarah Roberts (Sarandon), whose research team is working on the relation between sleep and ageing, but his doom seems inevitable, and it also directly introduces Miriam a new disciple as John's successor, only this time, a shallowly characterised succession will alter their fate forever.
As a first-timer, Scott competently captures the ethos of the time to embellish the vampire subculture with the sonic alternation of synth-pop (Bauhaus' opening performance of BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD) and classic pieces (Schubert's PIANO TRIO NO.2 and Léo Delibes' LAKMÉ: THE FLOWER DUET) to underline the dual facets of vampire's lifestyle: their innate dependence on gore and their noble superiority of eternity; also his visual stratagem is exemplary to cast a sensational vibe during the utterly male-skewing erotic lesbian sex scenes and the pigeons and ghastly cadavers galore finale. But as a whole, the film is wantonly garbled without a through- line to sustain the coherence of the plot (e.g. why Sarah's scientific background doesn't elicit any interest in Miriam's undying mystery? also, what on earth happens to the frenzied monkey which kills its partner and ages drastically?).
The icy but ever-so-glamorous Deneuve is stunningly camera-genic, Bowie endures a terrifyingly rapid progeria downturn with the zombie-alike make-up efforts, and Sarandon is so earthly banal compared to the alien but dazzling Deneuve. But none of them can outstrip the ill-defined story. The hunger for eternal youth and the fear of ageing play out as one can expect, but mostly it is an enticing piece of kitsch drawing on blatant erotism and gimcrack horror. Nevertheless it does spawn many tributes for latecomers, off the top of my head, John Woo's trademark fascination of pigeons in the action set pieces and the latest American HORROR STORY: HOTEL, the entrance sequence of Lady Gaga and Matt Bomer is surely an updated representation of Denueve and Bowie here.
As a first-timer, Scott competently captures the ethos of the time to embellish the vampire subculture with the sonic alternation of synth-pop (Bauhaus' opening performance of BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD) and classic pieces (Schubert's PIANO TRIO NO.2 and Léo Delibes' LAKMÉ: THE FLOWER DUET) to underline the dual facets of vampire's lifestyle: their innate dependence on gore and their noble superiority of eternity; also his visual stratagem is exemplary to cast a sensational vibe during the utterly male-skewing erotic lesbian sex scenes and the pigeons and ghastly cadavers galore finale. But as a whole, the film is wantonly garbled without a through- line to sustain the coherence of the plot (e.g. why Sarah's scientific background doesn't elicit any interest in Miriam's undying mystery? also, what on earth happens to the frenzied monkey which kills its partner and ages drastically?).
The icy but ever-so-glamorous Deneuve is stunningly camera-genic, Bowie endures a terrifyingly rapid progeria downturn with the zombie-alike make-up efforts, and Sarandon is so earthly banal compared to the alien but dazzling Deneuve. But none of them can outstrip the ill-defined story. The hunger for eternal youth and the fear of ageing play out as one can expect, but mostly it is an enticing piece of kitsch drawing on blatant erotism and gimcrack horror. Nevertheless it does spawn many tributes for latecomers, off the top of my head, John Woo's trademark fascination of pigeons in the action set pieces and the latest American HORROR STORY: HOTEL, the entrance sequence of Lady Gaga and Matt Bomer is surely an updated representation of Denueve and Bowie here.