Session: It's Not Just One of Those -- Very Unusual Vampires, Week 2
Movie: The Vampire (1957)
Directed by Paul Landres
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.
Plot:
Kindly Doctor Beecher accidentally takes the wrong pills. Instead of relieving his migraine they turn him into a Jeckyl and Hyde type creature who roams at night searching for blood. Hilarity ensues.
Reaction:
The thing that struck me about this is that it felt like I was watching a TV show. Keith noted that a lot of the people involved in the production were usually involved in TV. I'm not really expert, so for the most part I really can't put my finger on why it felt like TV. That said, some of the conversational asides just sounded like TV dialogue -- even as some of them served to illustrate important points about the characters.
For example in one early scene, Dr. Beecher's daughter, Betsy, is practicing the piano. In her conversation with her father, she says that she's always practicing something and she only wishes he would get patients who pay cash. In an earlier scene, there's a bit of a gag with an elderly patient who has bad hearing. Both of these little vignettes serve to show that Beecher is a beloved part of the community, and they do it without really requiring a lot of extra time.
The makeup was superb. Beecher, in full makeup, looks like one of the creatures from 1932's Island of Lost Souls. Though, despite the film's title, it's not really vampire-like.
There's a very strong anti-drug message, which I guess makes sense given the era in which the film was made. Also, the era affected the overall plot. The sensibilities of the day were to make monster movies with scientific (as opposed to supernatural) explanations. It did work.
The only thing that puzzles me is the branding. Among the monsters, they chose to brand this as a vampire movie. I think they should have presented it as a modern Jeckyl and Hyde movie.
Ratings
Me: 8
Bob: 9
Christina: 8
Ethan: 7.5
No comments:
Post a Comment