I really like the vampire as a horror villain. I think part of what makes them so interesting, and has allowed them to be relevant for so long is the versatility vampires have. We’ve seen vampires depicted as anything from blood sucking superhuman to full on demonic monsters. But I think the thing that really draws us to vampire is the concept of immortality. We as humans tend to fear our mortality, but we also fear the mortality of those around us. That is what makes the vampire interesting. It allows us to explore immorality and what it would be like to not have to worry about death, but at what cost?
I really enjoyed Near Dark, Because what is cooler than vampire cowboys. I really like how the vampire's act in this movie. They revel in the killing and violence they get to commit, and see fully aware of how much power they have over everyone else. I also love the setting. Everywhere feels so rundown and dirty.It really fits the outlaw nature of the vampires. I like how weak the vampire are to the sun. The parts that make a vampire vs human fight so interesting are the way the strengths and weaknesses balance out. The humans basically have no strengths, but also no glaring weaknesses. They are a jack of all trade, master of none. On the other hand the vampires are super strong, fast, and immune to most attacks. But they can so quickly be defected or compromised by things such as the sun, or holy symbols. This is what makes the scenes like the shoot out so much fun to watch. Even though the vampires have the upper hand everything balances out once the sun starts to pour in. The movie does a great job with the idea of family. I like how the vampires act as a family not out of blood, but out of a shard situation. I like how Calibe has to earn his respect in place in the group. He starts to care more for them as he starts to believe they are all he has, but turns to protect his real family as soon as they put them in danger.
I enjoyed only lovers left alive. I think it’s interesting how it talks about the toll of being immortal. To me it brings up the question: is internal life worth it, if we will just grow bored with living? I like how the vampires have to balance their urges to consume blood, while still trying to hold them self to a more modern moral standard. There’s a good struggle of them trying to find their place in the world as they are stuck between the world they knew, and the world as it is now.
For the third movie I watched What We Do in The Shadows. It's a really funny movie. I think it does a good job picking apart the known tropes of the vampire genre. It picks apart and makes fun of some of the more romanticized parts of the vampire genre. I also think It came out at the perfect time. It came out two years after the final Twilight movie, so at this point in time where the vampire was more relevant than ever, but also a time when they were not being viewed as really serious.