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An Alternate History of Horror II: The Vampire Empire
- Thread starter Gary Oswald
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A world where Varney stayed in print and is The Vampire is a fascinating low-level AH. How much of horror changes if one of the lasting models is more lowbrow and more sympathetic by the end? Do we get the sympathetic/nice vampire for decades and nasty murdering ones become the revisionist (Richard Laymon's Interview With A Vampire)? Does Hammer make Varney 1972 AD?
(A comedy film with the central joke and the name being about killing feels very 2009, "it's okay we're all joking and who's bigoted anymore?", though even at the time people went "this is horseshit")
(A comedy film with the central joke and the name being about killing feels very 2009, "it's okay we're all joking and who's bigoted anymore?", though even at the time people went "this is horseshit")
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(A comedy film with the central joke and the name being about killing feels very 2009, "it's okay we're all joking and who's bigoted anymore?", though even at the time people went "this is horseshit")
I was, and remain, really angry that a film called 'Lesbian Vampire Killers' has two hetrosexual men as the leads.
A recent episode of 'um, actually', which is a wonderful geeky internet quiz where the host reads off incorrect statements which the contestants then must correct in a parody of mansplaining, had a question which was about lgbt vampire fiction and was like 'starting with camilla and continuing through the homoerotic vampires of anne rice, and the lesbian vampire hunters in the 2009 film lesbian vampire killers etc' and none of the contestants got it but I was like 'um, actually, un actually' at home.
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A world where Varney stayed in print and is The Vampire is a fascinating low-level AH. How much of horror changes if one of the lasting models is more lowbrow and more sympathetic by the end? Do we get the sympathetic/nice vampire for decades and nasty murdering ones become the revisionist (Richard Laymon's Interview With A Vampire)? Does Hammer make Varney 1972 AD?
There's also the change of the stereotypical vampire being a home grown one rather than a licentious foreign invader. It changes the dynamic of most vampire stories so much that this is not some killer invading our midst but rather one that has been here the whole time. Maybe a work like Romero's Martin happens decades earlier.
Forget Laymon's Interview With A Vampire, I want Max Brooks's Twilight.
(A comedy film with the central joke and the name being about killing feels very 2009, "it's okay we're all joking and who's bigoted anymore?", though even at the time people went "this is horseshit")
I was, and remain, really angry that a film called 'Lesbian Vampire Killers' has two hetrosexual men as the leads.
A recent episode of 'um, actually', which is a wonderful geeky internet quiz where the host reads off incorrect statements which the contestants then must correct in a parody of mansplaining, had a question which was about lgbt vampire fiction and was like 'starting with camilla and continuing through the homoerotic vampires of anne rice, and the lesbian vampire hunters in the 2009 film lesbian vampire killers etc' and none of the contestants got it but I was like 'um, actually, un actually' at home.
I'm convinced that the film we got was so much a confluence of trends at the time you make one little change in its development we get a wholly different version. It had been shopped around for years before finally being picked up. It's very lads lads lads because that's what somebody high up in production thought was the main reason behind the success of Shaun of the Dead. It stars James Corden and Matthew Horne because Gavin & Stacey was a big success at the time.
It was at one point going to become the first "new" Hammer horror film. People might remember that the impending return of Hammer was something that kept stalling when the key was turned during the late 00s and early 10s. I think it could have worked but you really need to give the script a few extra drafts and have the producer, writers and director all committed to avoiding the lads lads lads vibe that made the film we got so unwatchable.
napoleon IV
Sheer Animal Cunning of the Groundhog
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It's worth noting that there's one big vampire trait which comes from cinema rather than from literature: that sunlight kills vampires. Literary vampires like Dracula were able to go out in the sunlight, although Dracula loses most of his powers during the day. Then in 1922 the film Nosferatu was released, which features Count Orlok being destroyed by sunlight. As one of the first vampire films ever made Nosferatu was incredibly influential, and now if you have vampires which can survive in the sunlight you've got to explain it otherwise audiences will balk.
Of course, Nosferatu was an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula, which led Bram Stoker's widow to sue and get all the film prints destroyed. However some prints survived and ended up in private hands, and so Nosferatu was saved from destruction. Had all the copies been destroyed the film would probably have been largely forgotten, the kind of thing historians of cinema and horror know about but has very little pop culture impact. And if that had happened then it's possible vampires would walk in daylight, albeit in a weakened state.
Of course, Nosferatu was an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula, which led Bram Stoker's widow to sue and get all the film prints destroyed. However some prints survived and ended up in private hands, and so Nosferatu was saved from destruction. Had all the copies been destroyed the film would probably have been largely forgotten, the kind of thing historians of cinema and horror know about but has very little pop culture impact. And if that had happened then it's possible vampires would walk in daylight, albeit in a weakened state.
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You after my job m8? Stay tuned for the fourth article in this series due in a fortnight.It's worth noting that there's one big vampire trait which comes from cinema rather than from literature: that sunlight kills vampires. Literary vampires like Dracula were able to go out in the sunlight, although Dracula loses most of his powers during the day. Then in 1922 the film Nosferatu was released, which features Count Orlok being destroyed by sunlight. As one of the first vampire films ever made Nosferatu was incredibly influential, and now if you have vampires which can survive in the sunlight you've got to explain it otherwise audiences will balk.
Of course, Nosferatu was an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula, which led Bram Stoker's widow to sue and get all the film prints destroyed. However some prints survived and ended up in private hands, and so Nosferatu was saved from destruction. Had all the copies been destroyed the film would probably have been largely forgotten, the kind of thing historians of cinema and horror know about but has very little pop culture impact. And if that had happened then it's possible vampires would walk in daylight, albeit in a weakened state.
napoleon IV
Sheer Animal Cunning of the Groundhog
- Location
- Washington, Douglass Commonwealth
- Pronouns
- he/him
If you don't pay me off my next post is going to be about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. And I should warn you: I've never seen that movie and think it's about furniture, so expect some awful takes.You after my job m8? Stay tuned for the fourth article in this series due in a fortnight.
- Location
- NYC (né Falkirk)
- Pronouns
- he/him
If you don't pay me off my next post is going to be about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. And I should warn you: I've never seen that movie and think it's about furniture, so expect some awful takes.
Wait... you mean it isn't?
@Gary Oswald, hold off on the most recent submission in this series. Better park that one on Rear Window too just on the off chance it isn't about double glazing.