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| From https://porchpeople.files.wordpress.com/ 2015/01/movie2.jpg |
Director: Tony Scott
Screenplay: Ivan Davis and
Michael Thomas (Based on a novel by Whitley Strieber)
Cast: Catherine Deneuve (as
Miriam Blaylock); David Bowie (as John Blaylock); Susan Sarandon (as Sarah
Roberts); Cliff De Young (as Tom Haver); Dan Hedaya (as Lieutenant Allegrezza)
Synopsis: In New York live two immortal vampires - Miriam (Deneuve) and John Blaylock (Bowie). John however is to end up like
Miriam's many lovers over the millennia and rapidly age, their collected
interest in the science of aging leading a scientist Sarah Roberts (Sarandon) to end up in their radar and
into Miriam's arms in particular.
I entered the viewing of The Hunger with fond memories of it
from many years ago and as a fan of Tony
Scott. The late older brother of Sir
Ridley was incredibly underrated, where even when he was making popcorn
fodder there was a quality a cut above many other filmmakers in how his films
looked and in terms of the content of them. When he transitioned to his later
style, more maniac and heavily edited, he was superior to Michael Bay in every way, less the scrambled images of the later
but what could lead to innovative and inspired moments in material that would
be plain and ordinary made by other people. Even the magnificent gay pride film
Top Gun (1986) looked sumptuous in
its colour and design even if it was military propaganda.
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| From http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz26/pronto57/Stills/hunger1.jpg |
Significantly The Hunger removes a great deal of
vampiric folklore. They can walk in the sunlight and death is possible even if
they are immortal. Deneuve and Bowie seem like the cousins of Tom Hiddleson and Tilda Swinton in Only Lovers
Left Alive (2013), a disconnect that is nonetheless propped up by immense
personalities between both actors, neither putting a bad performance. Deneuve in particular is an inspired
choice, an entire weight of European cinema and its glamour appearing in this
film as a result, Sarandon more than
perfect as her acting match as the individuals with the most screen time. The eighties
sheen of the film nonetheless emphases an otherworldly glamour that still
shines. The "MTV" aesthetic of the film is entirely of its own decade
but The Hunger never descends into
being trite and badly dated. The film is in fact closer to films by Jean Rollin of all things despite being
a Hollywood production, not just for the relationship that develops between Miriam
and Sandra that leads to a landmark LGBT sex scene in Hollywood cinema, but
also because Rollin was far more concerned with mood than plot. The Hunger drifts off and becomes more
of an atmospheric work halfway through, less about a conventional conclusion
but something more abstract.
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| From https://mossfilm.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/ankh-pendants.jpg |
There's a greater, more
discomforting take on death and life than many vampire films in this one. The first
sequence, of Miriam and John seducing two punks to fed off, is intercut with
jarring violence between two monkeys that counteracts the sexuality of their
seduction and Bauhaus' Bela Lugosi's Dead playing in the
score. One of the most startling moments of the film is of the accelerating
aging and death of a monkey as part of Sandra's experiments on a biological
clock done in time-lapse motion, and it isn't long into the film when The Thin White Duke is acting under a
lot of prosthetics emphasising this grim reality. There is only inklings of
these themes and ideas, but even if the main narrative is slight enough is felt
for maximum impact, the emphasis on mood instead to its advantage as a great deal
is expressed in what is merely implied than actually discussed.
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| From https://s.ynet.io/assets/images/movies/the_hunger_1983 /large-screenshot3.jpg |
Technical Detail:
The rapid editing, gels on the
camera lens and excessive use of fog machines could be applied to a pop video
of the time as much as for this film. But as time has passed this style is far
and away more unconventional because of how far Tony Scott pushed the aesthetics. This is not that far away from
the later films in his career in its bombardment of the viewer with images. Chronology
of the narrative and back-story is disrupted which is a significant and
inspired stylistic trope, dialogue between two people from a future interaction
playing just before that time in the plot, and as far as the distant past
intervening with the then-present day in unexpected flashbacks of Miriam and
John's lives.
That it was shot in England but
recreates New York adds an unconventional air to the proceedings, as Stanley Kubrick films did in his refusal
to leave England for any of his work, the likes of Dan Hedaya in a small
role as a grotty police investigator not covering up the unworldly nature of
the production. The lushness of the classical music to the set design, even if it's
of its time, gives the film a greater richness to its look. It also offsets
startling moments, such as a horrible fate to a likable character in the
vampire's music room, for immense impact.
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| From http://onthesetofnewyork.com/locations/thehunger/thehunger04.jpg |
Abstract Spectrum: Expressionist/Psychotronic
Abstract Rating (High/Medium/Low/None): Low
As of the result of the style, I
can say with surprise that The Hunger does
qualify for this list. I came to rewatch it after many, many years having past
forgetting what its tone and look was originally, expecting another stylish Tony Scott film, a horror movie to my
immense interest. Instead I've ended up confounded by the distortion of the
timeline of scenes and an overriding atmosphere, MTV-like or not, that's like
stepping into a nether realm separate from ours. The performances and their
qualities help build the mood with sincerity too, even Bowie's distant mannerisms effecting. Even at its gaudiest with the
eighties lighting The Hunger brings
out a sense of hyper reality to its content.
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Personal Opinion:
My interest in revisiting this
film was spurred on by a list of the most stylish horror films ever made, not
suspecting it would actually get onto the Abstract
Canon. What it shows is that there are mainstream examples of the abstract
in the least expected places, especially with the things being tried out in
eighties pop culture. The Hunger
also proved to be an incredible film for me personally to see again.
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