Time to kill the undead
Nick Young DESIGN EDITOR
Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Opinion
Vampire movies. We all watch them at one point or another. There's something sexy about a character that does nothing but feed and mate for all eternity. It makes most of us lust for a life so simple and (mostly) care free.
It seems that as long as people have told stories there have been vampire stories, and as long as there have been movies, some form of a vampire character on the screen.
Today's Hollywood, however, seems to have gone a bit overboard on the whole vampire genre. It seems that since the release of the first "Underworld" movie, every producer, director, studio and network has been on the prowl to find the next big vampire hit, like the music producers in the '90s trying to find the next Nirvana when grunge hit the music scene.
They put out movie after movie, show after show of mediocre vampire stories hoping that one will take hold and be the next big hit and unfortunately, one has.
"Twilight" has taken today's culture by storm. The original novel, however, was kind of slow to press, being rejected by 14 agents before it was ever printed, but unfortunately for us, there was a fifteenth who decided the book made the grade and … well, then they made a movie and now we're bombarded with "Twilight" everywhere. It doesn't help that now the second installment of the movie series is on the way and teenage to above middle-age women will be lining up around the block to get into the theater the day it premieres.
But "Twilight" is not alone.
Gracing the screens of HBO subscribers is a similar story called "True Blood," from a novel series entitled "The Southern Vampire Mysteries" by Charlaine Harris. The books the series draws from for its stories were printed four years previous to the "Twilight" series. It is uncanny, though, just how similar the two stories are.
In both stories the female character's blood smells unbelievably sweet to the lead vampire character, in "True Blood" it's because the main character (Sookie Stackhouse) is a virgin and supposedly they have what vampires consider the sweetest blood.
It seems that as long as people have told stories there have been vampire stories, and as long as there have been movies, some form of a vampire character on the screen.
Today's Hollywood, however, seems to have gone a bit overboard on the whole vampire genre. It seems that since the release of the first "Underworld" movie, every producer, director, studio and network has been on the prowl to find the next big vampire hit, like the music producers in the '90s trying to find the next Nirvana when grunge hit the music scene.
They put out movie after movie, show after show of mediocre vampire stories hoping that one will take hold and be the next big hit and unfortunately, one has.
"Twilight" has taken today's culture by storm. The original novel, however, was kind of slow to press, being rejected by 14 agents before it was ever printed, but unfortunately for us, there was a fifteenth who decided the book made the grade and … well, then they made a movie and now we're bombarded with "Twilight" everywhere. It doesn't help that now the second installment of the movie series is on the way and teenage to above middle-age women will be lining up around the block to get into the theater the day it premieres.
But "Twilight" is not alone.
Gracing the screens of HBO subscribers is a similar story called "True Blood," from a novel series entitled "The Southern Vampire Mysteries" by Charlaine Harris. The books the series draws from for its stories were printed four years previous to the "Twilight" series. It is uncanny, though, just how similar the two stories are.
In both stories the female character's blood smells unbelievably sweet to the lead vampire character, in "True Blood" it's because the main character (Sookie Stackhouse) is a virgin and supposedly they have what vampires consider the sweetest blood.
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