Vampire Movie Weekend

Bram Stoker's Dracula:

First off, I was a little worried about this movie because it had Keanu Reeves in it and for some reason I always picture him as Ted from the Bill and Ted movies. He was okay in this one because he wasn't in it as much. I never read the book so I was not familiar with the story of Dracula. I enjoyed the story part of the movie way more than the special effects. It had some really cheesy parts in it: Winona Ryder's beating heart and the eyes in the sky. The only actors that I really like in it were Gary Oldman as Dracula and Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing. I was not blown away by this movie and will probably never watch it again, mostly because of the cheese effects.

The Lost Boys:

Even though this movie is older it was my favorite out of the three I watched. It is probably now one of my favorite vampire movies. Kieffer Suttherland played a really good vampire in my opinion. He was cool, calm, vicious and seductive, not to mention he drove a motorcycle. I think by not showing the vampires actually flying was a really good choice because it would have probably just looked fake and cheesy. I love that they just hinted at the attacks and didn't really show them except for that one scene at the bonfire. The frog brothers were entertaining and the fact that the grandpa saved everyone from the vampires is great. The last line in the movie is my favorite: "The one thing I could never get over about living in Santa Carla, is all the damn vampires." (or something like that). Aside from the 80's wardrobe, these vampires were my favorite. This movie is definitely on my "to buy" list. I love most 80's movies in general because I grew up them up.

Interview with the Vampire:

I know this was not on the movie list but since we just read the book and it had been a while since I have saw I decide to watch it again. It does not measure up the book at all but its not a bad movie as long as you are not comparing it to the book. Most movies based on book don't measure up, in my experience. Although I still really enjoy the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies. The casting was off; Bradd Pitt, Tom Cruise and Antonio Banderas do not make ideal vampires in my opinion. Tom Cruise maybe since he is kind of "off" to begin with. The only actor that really fit the character was Kirstin Dunst as Claudia. She was soooo creepy and evil in the book and in the movie. All in all, not my favorite vampire movie, but also not a bad way to kill a couple hours. Read the book though. It is way better.

Why isn't "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" with Luke Perry not on the list? Ha ha. That was one of my all time favorite movies to watch when I was little.

Interview with the Vampire

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this novel by Ann Rice. It had everything a good novel should have: dynamic troubled characters, mystery, suspense, revenge, death, sex. What else is there that matters? The main ideas represented in this novel to me were life and death, mortal and immortal and love and sex. The story begins with death. When Louis loses his brother he starts to lose the meaning the life. He craves death. But once death finally answers, in the form of the vampire Lestat, Louis takes it, not knowing what would be in store for him. Who else knows the pain of an immortal life but another immortal. As a vampire, Louis still clings onto all that is human about him: love, life, beauty. He refuses to take the lives of humans so he feasts on animals instead. In the vampire world this is very strange because feasting on humans is the vampires version of "getting off." So, Loius feasting on animals is very strange.

Being the heartfelt vampire Louis is, he craves for the meaning of their existence. He is convinced that they are Satan's children. As explained later on, they are actually God's children, because without God there would be no Satan. Lots to think about there, but I wont go into that. Im not a real big religion buff so I cant really expand on that, but it does make sense if you think about it. Maybe vampires were made by God as a form of population control? It's possible. Life and death to a vampire has a very different meaning than to humans. A vampire considers becoming a vampire as a new form of life, an immortal life where death and sickness cant touch you. To humans, we live and then we die. Not very complicated. Lestat believes that feasting on humans gives him life and that making a vampire creates life. Louis would never want to give someone the "gift" of immortality because a mortal can never understand the pain he endures.

In fear of losing Louis, Lestat creates Claudia, a little five year old girl Lestat caught Louis feeding on. Claudia in a way gave life to Louis in the form of a daughter for him (a very devilish demonic daughter), someone for him to care for and look after. It gives meaning to his existence. The relationship between Claudia and Louis really creeped me out a little. Claudia is forever stuck in a little girls body, but her mind is that of a woman. When Louis describes her soft lips and skin it really gets weird. They talk of how much they love each other and need each other but not in a way a father and daughter love each other, its a way that lovers love each other. It was just kinda creepy for me. I didn't really care for Claudia so I was kinda relieved when she was killed by the sunlight for trying to murder Lestat.

Eventually, Louis meets up with another vampire, Armand, who is very attracted to Louis because he still retains all of his human qualities. Armand learns that by killing Claudia, Louis has lost all meaning in his existence so he sort of becomes this zombie vampire who just goes through the motions and survives. He becomes a dud sort of. All in all, Louis believes he is being punished by God and doesnt understand why God would create vampires. He never seems like he will be able to come to term with this fact. He pretty much hates his life as a vampire, which mortals just cant seem to understand.

Very good book. My favorite from this class so far. Highly recommend it. The movie does not do it justice so do not rely on that to give you the story. Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise as vampires just didn't work for me. Kirsten Dunst was a very good Claudia though. Creepy. I plan on continuing to read the rest of the series.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I guess I am one of the few that really enjoyed reading the original Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I have been wanting to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies since it came out so I was really excited to read it this semester. Mainly because I like any excuse to re-read a novel I really enjoyed. I was surprised when I first started reading it that the text is exactly the same as the original, which I liked because it keeps the story and most of the characters intact. Because I knew the original text I appreciated the humor involved by the addition of zombies and ninjas. That was my first impression of this book when I first saw it on the shelves. I believed it was written for Jane Austen fans who were in need of a little change in their favorite novel. I am sure that this new take on a old classic has attracted some new Austen fans as well. I think if Jane Austen were alive today, she would really get a kick out of her beloved characters fighting off unmentionables ninja style. The mash-up of the two different texts didn't bother as much as it did some because I went into this looking for a good laugh. I can see it bothering people who have never read Pride and Prejudice and couldn't get the humor from it all. The whole time I was reading this I was picturing Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy fighting zombies Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon style. I really appreciate that most of the characters were kept intact for this version because the characters are what made me love the original (with the exception of a few.) I hope I am not the only one when I was happy that Mr.Collins offed himself. He was such an annoying character in both versions. I love how Mr.Darcy beats Mr.Wickham to a bloody pulp which leaves him crippled and constantly wets and soils himself. These are things that you secretly hope happens in the original.

The only inconsistency in the novel that bothered me was the lack of zombies towards the end of the novel. It was like once Elizabeth realized she loved Mr. Darcy all the zombie fighting took a break for a while and it was all the original text (which is okay with me), I just found it to be obviously inconsistent. I almost forgot I was reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and thought I was just reading Pride and Prejudice. Maybe the new expanded version has more zombies towards the end.

Overall, I really enjoyed the novel. It makes me want to go out and buy the expanded version with more zombies. I guess you could say these books were made to give Austen fans an excuse to read them again without feeling silly that they read the same book over and over again because it is different. It has zombies! Once, my time frees up I plan on buying Sense and Sensibility and Sea-monsters next.

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was the kind of novel that brings up a lot of issues and questions for the reader. The main question that I kept asking myself while reading this book was why did Victor run? Victor knew what he was creating. He knew that it was not human and that it was hideous. After all the work he put in to this experiment, he is successful and brings this creature to life, just to run away from it. So many problems could have been avoided if he stayed and helped the monster. The monster showed later on in the story that he was very capable of knowledge, language and compassion. All he needed was guidance. The monsters only hope, his creator, abandoned him and forced him to live on his own. This is not the only time Victor Frankenstein ran away from his problems. He avoided this monster up until it approached him in the mountains and explained what all he had been through. Yes, the monster killed William but it was because Victor abandoned him. Williams death was because of Victor. Victor had yet another chance to help this monster by creating a companion for it. Victor agreed at first and when he was almost done he changed his mind and destroyed it. The monster threatened Victor that he would visit him on his wedding night. What did Victor do? He ran once again, even with the treat and danger of his loved ones looming over his head, haunting his thoughts. Because of Victor once again abandoning he monster, the monster killed Victors dear and close friend Henry. Victor is yet again responsible for another murder in his close circle.

Victor is also a selfish human being. For some reason he can not see what the monster is really doing. Victor is so concerned with the monster coming after him and killing him he doesn't see what is truly going on. The monster does not want to kill Victor. He wants to kill everyone that is close to him so that Victor will be alone just like him. Victor will know what the monster is going through. On Victor's wedding night he was so worried that the monster would come after him he fails to protect his wife, Elizabeth. The monster murders her. Shortly after Victor's father dies. Victor is now determined to hunt down his creation and kill it. He spends the rest of his life hunting down the monster. All this could have been avoided if he didn't run away from his problems. Victor not only ruined his life, he ruined the lives of his loved ones and the life of his creation.