The ideal vampire movie
A soundtrack for an 80s erotic thriller that almost existed but tragically does not
You know when you hear about a movie that sounds incredible and you think “why is no one talking about this??” and then you watch the movie and it turns out the reason no one is talking about it is that it just isn’t very good? This just happened to me with The Hunger (1983).
The trailer, poster, promotional photos, etc. make it look like a gothy erotic thriller about vampire couple David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve seducing ingénue Susan Sarandon. What is less clear until you’re watching is that very early on, David Bowie ages rapidly over the course of a few days and then essentially disappears from the story. Catherine Deneuve does seduce Susan Sarandon, but the film’s ideology is too homophobic for this to be satisfyingly erotic, and what at first seems to be a major and kind of interesting plot thread about the science of sleep and aging goes nowhere.
All in all, The Hunger had all the right components to become an instant favorite, and it blew it. In the week since I saw it, I’ve become a little obsessed with contemplating what I would do differently. (For one thing, I wouldn’t write David Bowie out in the first act.) What follows is a sonic (and textual) moodboard sketching out my ideal 80s vampire movie.
The visuals I’m picturing are a cross between the aesthetics of The Hunger, Diva (1981), and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014). I’ve included some stills so you can get a sense of what I’m talking about if you haven’t seen all three. Components include lurking in seedy alleyways, tense chase montages, aimless nighttime drives, grim post-industrial cityscapes, etc. The vibes are undeniably similar to my first fake movie playlist, but this time I don’t have any specific plot beats in mind.
Also, my girlfriend
deserves collaborator credit, because she suggested about a third of these songs.“Bela Lugosi’s Dead” by Bauhaus (single, 1979)
The first 10 or so minutes of The Hunger are what I want the whole movie to be. In a montage stitched together with disorienting, exhilarating rapid cuts, David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve go to a goth club where Bauhaus is playing this song, pick up another couple, take them home, and drink their blood. It’s sexy, it’s aesthetically coherent, it’s tastefully violent. I have no notes.
“10:15 Saturday Night” by The Cure (Three Imaginary Boys, 1979)
“Into the Groovey” by Sonic Youth (The Whitey Album, 1988)
“Ultraviolence” by New Order (Power Corruption and Lies, 1983)
“Station to Station” by David Bowie (Station to Station, 1976)
I think part of my disappointment with The Hunger came from going thinking about The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), a film which is totally unapologetic about being in large part a David Bowie vehicle. I wanted this movie to feel more like Bowie’s music from the late 70s: dark and creepy but also sensual and alluring and kind of timeless, as much as music by an artist with such distinct periodization can be considered timeless.
The Hunger is concerned with bodily aging, but I’m interested in the temporal implications of vampirism. What happens to your mind when you outlive everyone and everything you ever knew as a mortal human? At what point does all that time needing to be filled become a burden? The tension in this song between atemporal aloofness and urgent emotion seems relevant to such questions.
“Persephone” by Cocteau Twins (Treasure, 1984)
“Dressing Up” by The Cure (The Top, 1984)
It’s really funny to me how in the original vampire myths, and even for the most part Bram Stoker’s vision of vampires, they were evil and ugly and definitely not hot. But then somewhere along the line English literature collectively agreed that actually vampires are incredibly hot and vampire stories should be primarily love stories.
I’m equally interested in two major tropes: the human getting drawn in and ultimately turned by the vampire, and the immortal lovers staying together and/or having relationship drama through the ages. (Yes, I obsessively devoured the new season of Interview with the Vampire earlier this summer, why do you ask?) The ideal, therefore, is a vampire couple combining forces to seduce a human third. Again, this is sadly not what The Hunger is actually about.
“Strangelove” by Depeche Mode (Music for the Masses, 1987)
“The Grey King and the Silver Flame Attunement” by The Mountain Goats (Goths, 2017)
“Devastation” by Suicide (A Way of Life, 1988)
“Always Crashing in the Same Car” by David Bowie (Low, 1977)
Maybe it’s just my inherent fear of change, especially given the technological “advances” of the current era, but I find immortality deeply unappealing. Even if it came with cool powers, I think I’d just become suicidally depressed after a hundred years or so.
This song is a perfect depiction of the sort of apathetic thrill-seeking I’d put in my vampire story. Trying to find something to break the boredom, and also having a pretty strong death drive, but knowing there’s no real escape and you’re cursed to keep repeating yourself eternally…
“What’s Tonight to Eternity” by Cindy Lee (What’s Tonight to Eternity, 2020)
“Last Night” by Arooj Aftab (Vulture Prince, 2021)
I’m drawn to stories about two characters stuck in a mutually destructive relationship, who go through a bunch of shit trying to either make it healthier or break free of each other once and for all, only to accept in the end that they’re bound for life. I’m imagining this playing over the end credits, right after the central couple accepts that they’re never going to truly part, so they might as well try to remember what attracted them to each other in the first place.
Despite having such strong opinions on it, I’m not actually all that well-versed in vampire media, so if you know of something that meets my criteria, please recommend it. Or just come talk about how great IWTV is.
well not for another 9 years.... until Nadja (1994)! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110620/
Peter Fonda's best gig ever (he plays both Dr von Helsing and Dracula). David Lynch has a gem of a cameo as the desk clerk at the morgue. Filmed partly in Pixelvision to great effect; I recall there is theme music that goes with the Pixelvision scenes but I'm scared to rewatch the movie in case it doesn't measure up to my glorious memory of it. Heh. Soundtrack by Simon Fisher-Turner with tracks from My Bloody Valentine, Space Hog, and Portishead; and oddly The Verve (this was 3 years before they got big with 'Bittersweet Symphony' so why not something from Stone Roses, The Ride, or even Blur? I don't know)
I might make a retroactive soundtrack for this movie that DID exist but fell short of its potential....
https://www.allmusic.com/album/nadja-mw0000180967#trackListing
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110620/soundtrack/