Vampiress Review: "10 Minutes to Midnight"

 

The Gist: On her last day before a forced retirement a late night radio DJ is bitten by an animal and struggles to maintain her humanity and sanity. 

Female Vampire Factor:  The main character of the film is Amy Marlowe (Caroline Williams)

She shows up for work with a bite mark on her neck that progressively gets worse. After an argument with the young girl who is to replace her she bites the girl in the hand and from there pretty much loses it the rest of the film.  Not being able to understand what's real and what's a hallucination. 

Throughout the movie one of the main subjects of her hallucinations is Sienna (Nicole Kang), the girl pegged to replace her at the radio station. 

Even though she is the one who bit Sienna.  Amy sees her throughout the film as the monster. Including seeing her fang out and feeding on the station manager and her producer. 

Eventually Amy confronts Sienna and drives a wooden stake through her heart taking her out.

By the latter part of the film without Sienna to project as the monster Amy herself begins to show fangs and she eventually feeds on her producer. 

Final Opinion: It's a decent horror movie but moves way too slow for my taste.   Similar to the films Vampire's Kiss and Lilliths Awakening the main driving force of the film is the idea of manipulating the audience into trying to figure out what during the film is actually happening and what is all in her head with the movie never actually clearing up what was what.  The last scene shows the day manager showing up to the studio the next day and finding all the bodies and being attacked by a bat so you never find out whether there actually were vampires or whether she just went psychotic and imagined the whole thing while killing everyone she worked with.  I give it a Vampire Beauty Rating of 3 out of 5.  Most fangs scenes are very dark and the last act of the film just kind of throws everything that happened before it away but otherwise pretty decent. 

Vampiress Review: "Black as Night"

The Gist: A teenage girl in New Orleans finds herself at war with a vampire leader who plans on turning the cities destitute population into a vampire army after they turn her mother. 

Female Vampire Factor:  Not much to speak of.  Only one that gets any screen time is in the scene where the films protagonist Shawna visits her mother after being attacked herself and her mother turns and attacks her. 

Final Opinion:  Obviously with the above statement I can't give it a Vampire Beauty Rating above 1 out of 5.  With that being said for overall enjoyment this is a great film that I can't say enough great things about.  Genuinely decent vampire horror movies where vampires are a thing to be feared and not the stereotypical "people who live normal but just happened to have a taste for blood who are potential love interests" are hard to find.  

While the head vamps do still follow the "vampires are divided into mob like factions" thing films like to do the film is not told from the vampires point of view but from the victims so it doesn't matter. Vamps in this film are a threat to be feared and if they're on screen (with one exception) they're trying to kill someone so if you're looking for a straight forward horror film I can definitely recommend this. 

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Vampiress Review: "The Hunger"

The Gist:  A doctor who researches genetic disorders that rapidly ages people ends up the victim of the disorder herself when a one night stand with a vampire leads to illness and rapid aging. 

Female Vampire Factor: The main vampire in the film is Miriam (Catherine Deneuve). 

She is a lonely romantic with the gift of eternal life while also being cursed with the reality that anyone she tries to turn will rapidly age but not die leaving them as an immobile aging husk.  By mid movie you find out that she has a collection of old lovers that she keeps once they've aged beyond the ability to function. 

Her love interest in the film is Dr Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon)

Dr. Roberts is a scientific researcher studying genetic disorders that cause rapid aging in children with the hope of extending their lives.  Miriams lover at the time John (David Bowie) who is rapidly aging himself thanks to being turned by her seeks Sarah out with the hope that she can help him. She ends up blowing him off but regrets it when he ages rapidly in just the time he's left in her waiting room. 

She seeks John out after their encounter but is met with Miriam instead as Miriam by that point had already stored John away after his rapid aging.  Miriam takes a liking to Sarah and sleeps with her ending with Sarah being turned and getting very ill. 

 Final Opinion: While I know this film is considered a classic it is one of those artsy type films that moves very slow and replaces plot development with imagery and pretty camera angles while nothing really happens.  The vampires in this film stab people with a sharp object hidden in a necklace to get their blood which is also a downgrade for me.   During it's day my opinion would be very different since this is a very ambitious film for 1983 considering it has nudity and lesbian undertones but otherwise not really that impressed and can't really recommend it.  I give it a Vampire Beauty Rating of 1 out of 5.