365 Days- Day 3

movie: I Am Legend (remake)
starring: Will Smith, Abbey (the Dog)
genre: Sci-fi
year: 2007
format: DVD

plot: A military scientist is left stranded with only the family dog for company for over three years, while the rest of the population of New York has fallen to the virus KV. The human population has all but been wiped out, many of whom became vampires.

Right off, this is a remake of both the 1964 film The Last Man on Earth and the 1971 film The Omega Man, all of which are based on the 1954 novel.

The vampire scenes are few but powerful.   And yes, I gave starring credit to one of the canine actors and not one of the other human actors simply because other then Will Smith, the dog has the most screen time.

There are two versions of this offering, the theatrical one, and the alternative ending.  I have the original theatrical ending.

The themes in this story are about loneliness, isolation and fear. Unlike most vampire films, this one doesn't actually focus on the vampires, nor is there really a vampire hunter.
It sort of deals with the idea that we have pushed the limits too far in our attempts to control everything. The story picks up after a man made plague has turned everything into a wasteland. A science gone wrong situation. 

This is almost a sub-genre in itself when it comes to vampire films.  The man made vampire so to speak.

There is a scene where the lead character makes a statement in his latest reports, about how the infected have lost all sense of reasoning, and declares them de-evolved. Then falls into a trap set by them, proving that their sense of reasoning is still intact.
There is a scene shortly before that, where he starts talking about a store mannequin, as if it was a real woman, and I've never really followed if the mannequins were set up to be decoys, or to keep him from feeling the isolation or if he's actually started to loose hope and therefore his mind?
Might be little of all of it?

what do i think i learned from this film?
Everyone feels alone sometimes. When you get used to the idea of being the only one in a situation, no matter what that might be, you run the risk of not being able to identify when there is help.

365 Days- Day 2

movie: Ring of Darkness
starring: Adrienne Barbeau, Stephen Martines,
genre: Music
year: 2003/2004
format: DVD

plot: A popular boy band looses their lead singer and hold an open audition to replace him. The catch is that once you're in, you're in for all eternity.

This was a made for tv movie

Two seconds into this and I was having a major deja vu.  The opening scene is a guy packing and running for his life, then you see the pack hunt him down on the beach attacking him.   Just like the opening to another vampire/zombie movie  Voodoo (1995 starring Corey Feldman) and another vampire movie  The Brotherhood. (to be honest, it also reminded me of Wolves of Wall Street) Which, I suppose isn't that surprising when I found out this is a David DeCoteau movie. (who did in fact do The Brotherhood series of films and Wolves of Wall Street)
My next thought was, I've heard this music before.

I have to say, this film has it's moments.  Like a scene when the band are walking through the woods as if they were entering a VIP room. The scene is cut with flashes of white as if camera flashbulbs were going off. It was both comical and very stylish. Almost a commentary on the idea that these guys were their own hype.
Though the scene could have been shorter.

The more you get into this movie, the more it feels like a collection of music videos that have been played back to back. Sometimes that wasn't a good thing. 
No matter how decent the actors in DeCoteau movies might be, there are always long segments that make the actors seem like cardboard.  Still, this was one of the better written stories along the lines of this type of plot that I've seen in years. (could be because it's a made for tv movie?)

I like the fact they used being vampires as a metaphor for fame, and boy bands as zombies.

what do i think I learned from this film?
Fame can suck the life out of you

Tuesday Jan 1st 2013

Well, it's a new year and a new project for me.

For some of my regular readers, you might be aware that I put myself through a year of watching one different movie a day in 2012 over on my Coffee and Casseroles blog.
I had fun. I can honestly say that the movie challenge was the highlight of last year for me.

This year, I'm putting myself through my paces with a return to my first love. Vampires.
I decided to tackle it slightly different this year for a number of reasons.   And have already kick started the whole thing with two posts today, the first movie of the year and the first round of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode recaps.

I will do my best to post something every day on this blog, some days more then a few posts. The big thing I learned last year was that there are days when no matter how much you plan, the universe has other ideas for you.

 

What Would Buffy Do?

Season 1 Episode 1 and 2- Welcome to the Hellmouth  and The Harvest

We open Welcome to the Hellmouth with two teenagers breaking into the high school, only to find out that one is a vampire. From there we see Buffy having nightmares and discover she's psychically linked to the Master vampire.

Then, high school starts and we are introduced to the rest of the cast, and learn that the story sort of picks up after the original movie. (I say sort of because it's a brief nod to the fact in the original 1992 film Buffy burns down her old high school to get rid of a nest of vampires)

Buffy has a moment when she talks to Giles about loosing her friends, being kicked out of school for what they considered bad behavouir and suddenly Giles becomes aware that life as it's been known can't ever be replaced.

Cordelia has the best line in this first episode  "Gym was cancelled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker"   It sets the tone for the whole series, drawing the dark humour out of the depression.

 In The Harvest,  we start to see the baseline of what the talents are each member of the group brings. Willow has the knowledge, Giles the quiet authority, Xander the strength to fall back on.  While Cordelia and Angel at this point are sort of just along for the ride. Both representing bookends of the situation, Cordelia is "reality as we know it"  and Angel is "the real reality".  You could almost say they also represent the gang's past and future.

This was a two part opening episode.  


What do I think the main themes in these two episodes are... transitions from who you thought you were to who you are meant to be. The setting of high school is the metaphor itself more then anything else right off the bat. Buffy knows she's has no choice but to face what is in store for her, but isn't excited about it at all.
Cordelia is the familiar safe iconic side of Buffy (past) and Angel is the unknown scary side (future)

365 Days- Day 1

movie: The Dark Crystal
starring: Jim Henson, Frank Oz
genre: Family
year: 1982
format: DVD

plot: Jen is the last of his kind after his village is destroyed. Raised by the Mystics, a tribe of healers, he is told that he alone holds the key to repairing the worlds, which he must do with the missing piece of the crystal. Along the way, he meets Kira, a female who was also told she was the last of their kind. Together, they face the Skeksis, the current keepers of the crystal.

Right off, you're thinking what the hell?

The Dark Crystal is indeed a vampire movie.  The Skeksis live by draining and drinking the lifeforce of other creatures.  Just because there are no fangs or coffins does not mean it doesn't come into the category of vampire. And I thought it was the perfect way to kick this whole thing off.
Showing that vampires are truly everywhere.  Even when you don't think they are.

I've actually mentioned this theme before on other blogs in the past, but still, The Dark Crystal is such a classic that it gets lost in the shuffle of "kids movies that are creepy".
There is also the factor that the character of Kira is brought back from death by the now whole creatures.

The entire story deals with duel natures. Negative and positive, male and female, light and dark etc. Focusing on the idea that you can't have one without the other.  You can not have life without death, as it will start to loose it's focus.  Immortality is the main goal for the characters of the Skeksis, to cheat death at all costs throwing the balance of life off. Meanwhile, the Mystics have the knowledge that in order to truly live, you need to know both sides of the situation.  And once they understand and accept this, when they become "one" with their darker sides, then they actually get the immortality that they are looking for. 

what do i think i learned from this film?
Death is not a permanent thing. Energy flows from one form to the other and keeps on regenerating itself. There is no real need to be greedy with the life you are given, or to throw things off balance.

2013 will be...

The year of the vampire.  At lest it will for me and this blog.

December 3rd 2011, I was sitting at home, watching the movie Julie/Julia and had this brilliant idea to do a self induced year long challenge to watch one different movie a day and blog about it.  Which I have been doing on my movie blog Coffee and Casseroles.
That challenge is over in a few days.

I've decided to do another self induced challenge in 2013.  A vampire theme challenged. Here on this blog -The Talamasca Files.

I decided to add one of these countdowns to the post cause I think they are cool.  This one is from the Twilight Guide website.


New-Moon

Random vampire stuff Dec 5th 2012

As I sit here this morning, staring at a stack of vampire movies that need to be sorted through, having been on a fan site for something and having had a chat about Vampire Diaries and why so many love the stories;  a thought came to mind.

Are there too many good guy vampires right now?

Somewhere in the last two decades, vampires all seemed to become just misunderstood brooding characters that everyone holds to heart.  Is it time the big screen vampire took a bite back out of things?

Don't get me wrong, I like anything that has people wanting to watch vampire movies and shows, but I think that's what made the vampire movies of the 1930s-1980s work best, they had their vampires squarely on point zero as the big bad.

Just something I thought I would throw out there this morning over coffee. Something I'm sure I'll be touching on again over the course of 2013.