Media Magazine

In the September issue of Media Magazine "Let the right one in" and "Twilight" both feature on a double page. Eli from "Let the right one in" is on the cover of the magazine.

Sight and Sound Review for "Underworld"

underworld’s trailer makes it looks wonderfully slick and dark in the tradition of The Matrix and Blade; but after seeing it, you’ll realize that everything that seemed dazzling was simply stolen and then abused – from its Dark Shadows-meets-Matrix costumes to its Blade weaponry to its Nine Inch Nails video backdrops. Nothing about Underworld is original; it’s a hackneyed, patched-together goth-kid fantasy that I’m convinced was written a 15-year-old boy who wears black eyeliner (think the Saturday Night Live skit “Goth Talk”). Straight out of Marilyn Manson’s wet dreams comes the fantastical storyline: For centuries, vampires have battled werewolves, known here as Lycans. It’s not really clear why they’ve been battling, even after the film sort of reveals the reason; so we’ll leave it there. The Vampires are depicted as aristocratic sophisticates who prefer fine crystal and Porsches, whereas the Lycans are filthy street thugs who morph into ferocious dog-like monsters. Kate Beckinsale plays the beautiful and fierce vampire warrior Selene who, in hunting the Lycans, discovers that a few of them are tracking a human named Michael (Scott Speedman). In her effort to unravel what role Michael plays in the Lycans’ war plans, she finds out that Michael is a werewolf. Then, somehow, they fall in love, and they begin to seek out an end to the ancient feud together. Sound to you like Romeo and Juliet with monsters? You’d be right, if the movie weren’t so short on character development. Instead of chemistry, you’re wondering why they’re even kissing in the first place. Sadly, most of the actors in the film appear to be trying their darnedest just to act. Shane Brolly, who plays the interim head of vampires named Kraven, seems to think wincing, smirking, and gritting teeth constitutes intensity. It’s outright laughable. Unfortunately, it’s hard to distinguish between what’s bad acting and what’s just extremely bad writing. The dialogue is as a mish mash of Interview with a Vampire and Commando, and the bits of real world chatter you get between action sequences are as lame as what you’d hear in a porn film. Adding to my theory that a goth high-schooler penned this atrocity, the writers throw in gimmicks that they probably thought were really cool, like ultraviolet bullets that glow blue. Ultraviolet bullets? How does that work? How do you get sunlight or ultraviolet radiation inside a glass bullet? It’s just pure nonsense. So, you’re thinking, it’s at least stylish, right? Yes, to a degree; but the art direction is so clichéd that it can’t really boost this bust. Even the fight scenes fall flat; instead of the graceful, awe-inspiring martial arts choreography seen in all the films Underworld imitates, we’re treated to the dull, aimless rattle of random machine-gun fire. And, the only special effects worth noting are the werewolves, which do look pretty scary as they crawl along the walls. Regardless of how badly this film is sure to perform with critics, droves of black-clad youngsters alongside the masses of Matrix lovers will seek this film out, drawn by the promise of rubber outfits, supernatural characters, and all those guns. And they’ll get all of that; but they’ll walk out baffled and annoyed by its story and performances. If you’re feeling tempted, just wait for the rental, and stay home with one of many films Underworld seeks to mimic instead. Review by
Annette Cardwell

How the female vampire's "look" has changed

From the Dracula film in 1931 the overall look of the female vampire has changed, and this may be why the role of the female has changed too. From the image below of the tradinonal look of the female vampire, she looks more vaurnrable and in need of saving. So the auidence are going to see her as more of a weak character. Where as in the film "underworld" the female has taken on the role of the male character. She's in the center of the frame with her head down and most importantly she is dressed all in black, not showing any part of her body and holding two guns. This is a difference in character roles aswell as the change in time.

The role of the female vampire in Dracula 1931

From this image, it's clear to see that Dracula's victims are usually females, and that could be because they are more venerable or becuase Dracula draws females in with his charm. And this is a major difference from the male vampire from Nosferatu.

Images

The first vampire film was Nosferatu a silent German film made in 1922. From this image it is clear to see why it's auidences thought of the character as "Rat like" because of his claws and pose in the picture.

Information found about 'Let the right one in'

Eli is a 12 year old girl, and she has been 12 years old for over 200 years because she is a vampire. Out of the three other films i am focusing on this is the only film with a child as the main female vampire. As Twilight uses teenagers.

Eli moves in next door to a young boy called Oscar, who is constantly bullied at school, but finally finds a friend in Eli. A similar trate between let the right one in and twilight is that both Eli and Edward say that they cannot be friends with Oscar or Bella because they know that vampires and humans cannot be friends, but in both films this is not the case. One other similarity is that both films begain as books, Let the right one in was a novel first.

Let the right one in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICp4g9p_rgo

This is going to be my fourth film on looking at the role of females in vampire movies, becuase although i already have three main films Let the right one in is also a really good film to look at becuase the little girl is a vampire.

Underworld First scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPH743Zd18Y

From the opening scene you see the first female character (Selene) there is a long shot of the back of the female vampire, you can tell staright away that the character is dark, mystierious and alone, as the shot is dark with low key lighting. The character is sitting on the top of a building in the pouring rain watching human characters walking below her.

As the scene starts the main character narrarates the story and the images are shown.

Video Research - "The Perfect Scary Movie" -2005 Channel 4

The perfect scary movie was a talk show about what makes up the a scary movie, and how things have changed to entertain the viewer. The first thing to be discussed was that the monster or monster's never die. And audiences become afraid of vampires (Dracula) and zombies because they were the 'undead' and that they were to be feared because of the unknown and mystery they possessed. The first movie to use a male vampire character (Dracula) was Nosferatu a silent German film made in 1922. The male character possessed animal like features, such as claws and teeth, and this facial features were rat like. This vampire creature was to be feared for this very look, as he reminded viewers of the Influenza that had occurred years before the film when 400 thousand people had died from the influenza carried by rats and decease. Also the coffins used in the film reminded viewers of the deaths of family and friends. In 1931 the Dracula film changes how the vampire is portrayed, the male vampire is seen to be appealing, and the audience is draw in to the appeal of the vampire which is unsettling, he's seductive and seems to portray sexuality and death as appealing to the viewer. Which is a lot different the the viewers first opinion of the vampire, were they were afraid of his appearance, from this point the change in the vampire films were apparent, and a more appealing and seductive form of the vampire was being introduced to its audiences.

In the late 1950's Hammer studios had something no other film makers had, and this was a breakthrough for the scary movie makers, which was colour films. This meant that for the first time blood could be seen, which made the appeal for the vampire movies even better, although after 20 or so years of blood and vampires on screen audiences started to withdraw from the success of vampire movies, and Hammer studios new it was time to update their films, and so The Vampire Lovers Directed by Roy Ward in 1970 was released, this was the first film of its kind to have lesbian vampires. The women's victims were always other women. And the main plot to the film was that the female victims never realised that they had been bitten until it was too late. This movie was the start of females becoming vampires rather than just males such as Dracula.

Questions for primary research

Topic: The role of females in vampire films

Questions:
1) Why do you think shows such as 'Buffy' were so popular?

2) Do you think vampire movies with female characters as the main role are more appealing than just male characters?

3) Do you think films such as 'Twilight' would be as succesful without the story being a book first?

4) Do you think that female characters ruin the role of the vampire? and if so why?

5) Do you agree with the statement that "female characters in vampire movies are only succesful because of their sex appeal"?

The Lure Of The Vampire...

Gender and Dracula are two of the most important factors for this question, 'what is the role of women in vampire films?' because Dracula is where it all began, and where the storys started to develop. Throughout the twentieth century Dracula (Bram Stokers novel) and many screen adaptations have had critical interpretations of vampires. A quote from The Lure Of The Vampires " Dracula it seems is a man's tale." it suggests that fear of the vampire stems from a mixture of love, hate and guilt.

Blade Trinity

(2004) has a completely different view on vampires and the vampire world. Blade ( Wesley Snipes) hunts and kills any vampire he comes across because he believes they are bad and not meant for this world and time. And the vampires are made out to be the evil which is completely different in Underworld were the vampires are killing ware wolfs and therefore saving man kind. Another main difference between these films are the roles of the female characters, in Blade the main female vampire character is Danica Talos (Parker Posey) and although she is the main female character of the vampires she doesn't take a staring role, Abigail Whistler (Jessica Biel) has a more active role through out the film being that her character is the daughter of 'Whistler' Blades accomplice and a non vampire. She helps Blade kill the vampires. This makes Danica's role more important as the main vampire as her coven rely on her to decide what happens.