My favorite holiday… ALL HALLOW’S EVE… is upon us once again. I do enjoy October 31st so. It’s when I get to release my inner Vampire Girl out to play. Every Halloween I typically start my day mid-afternoon with a choice flick from my vampire film archives. It really gets me in the right mindset for the rest of the evening. Then two of my best girlfriends (both Wiccans) usually come over for a seance or two. I don’t believe in these rituals so much as they do, but I must admit it’s very calming and brings me a lot of peace. After the ceremonies and a light meal, we wait for it to get dark and then it’s time to frolic into the evening.
Now of course this night is all about dressing to impress and stepping out of your usual comfort zone. I love admiring what characters individuals adopt for the night. Sometimes it’s very telling of the person’s hidden desires. At the same time, I’m not quite sure when Halloween became an excuse for women to dress as scandalously as possible to the point where it becomes painful to look at. It’s possible for ladies to look sexy and classy – and most importantly… seductive for the evening. I’m a firm believer in that. I think Halloween is not to be an evening of naughty mayhem. It’s more an opportunity for people to explore their darker sensibilities in a coy, playful manner. And be comfortable. (Since that sort of thing usually makes people very uncomfortable.)
Usually I think the best dress ensembles for the evening come from variations of things you would be able to wear normally. I really despise costume material. They look so contrived and cartoon-ish. In the rare case where the picture on the bag is correct and the costume does flatter your figure, somehow it always looks somewhat cheap to me. My recommended solution is to go to your local used clothing or vintage store to sift through the racks and see what you can pull together. Lucky for me, Halloween gives me the perfect opportunity to rummage in the back of my closet and bring out all the pieces I used to wear back in my darker days.
Do not look like Elvira this year. For the life of me I don’t understand who would ever find these outfits alluring. PARTICULARLY if you’re looking to adopt a vampire persona. I have yet to see a good vampire look come from a costume bag:
… I cry a little inside when I see outfits like these running about on Halloween.
Word of advice, to achieve the vampire look and persona… it’s all about the face, eyes and attitude. A vampire girl in a burlap sack is still going to look seductive if she believes it and plays it coy. Maybe that’s what’s been missing from the Halloween aura recently. People are more interested in partying hard than immersing themselves in a different doppelganger persona for the evening. Pity.
Anyways, vampire girls everywhere should look to the following dark beauties for inspiration this Halloween… they’re truly breath-taking:
Cheers to a haunting and lovely evening for All Hallow’s Eve!
For female vampires wondering how to pull off a strong look, the following video tutorial is highly recommended:
The story: Monami (aka. Vampire Girl) gives a boy, Mizushima, a Valentine’s Day chocolate filled with her own blood so that when he eats it he transforms into an immortal like her. (Lucky him.) There’s a love triangle twist to this story as this transformation makes Mizushima’s current overbearing girlfriend Keiko very upset since she wants him to herself. Keiko attacks Monami and in the process falls off a roof and dies… but not for long as she is brought back to life by her mad scientist father as Frankenstein girl. The rest of the film is the gory epic battle between Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl as they each try to claim Mizushima for their own.
Needless to say this Japanese gore fest of a film is off-the-wall. I’m sure the plot could play out without vampires or Frankenstein monsters involved since carnage and violence seem to be the main themes. But the vampire storyline adds a nice touch and since the title character shares the same moniker as me, I feel compelled to discuss it.
Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl is pure mayhem and bloodbath by director Yoshihiro Nishimura. There’s no social commentary aspect in this one. And if there’s supposed to be then I missed it somewhere in between watching a High School girl’s skin being torn from her skull and the 10+ minutes of blood spurting out of the neck slow-mo action. This film is a messy, uber-violent, entrails-filled chaos picture that will make you drop your jaw at the absurdity of it all and perhaps slightly avert your eyes at the excess blood and carnage.
This is an ultra-tame scene from the film.
I like bloody pics. I really do. Excessive Japanese-style bloodshed (think Tarantino’s “Kill Bill”) amuses me and gives me the giggles. Yet perhaps because I’m not quite into the Japanese sub-culture movement or maybe because this film is so deranged that I felt slightly queasy during some especially graphic moments. Nothing to do with vampire allusions I assure you, it’s really the brazen and maniacal violence that’s hard to stomach. And this film is definitely not for the casual observer. The offensiveness will be a turn-off and the low-budget “look” of the film (which looks like it was all shot on a standard camcorder) is sure to make people mistake it for cheap trash. The fight choreography is truly terrible.
In addition to the relationship triangle story, there are random character development narratives from the two separate groups in the school. One group of girls compete in wrist-cutting competitions and another group of girls practice a strange version of African-American culture where they paint themselves in black faces, wear discount Chaka Khan costumes and worship Obama. These narratives were so bizarre – I think this is where social commentary may have come into play. Like it was supposed to parody sub-cultures in Japan. Perhaps.
A friend of mine (non-vampire) sent me the following clip because he said it reminded him of me.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I clicked the link. (Well, other than the fact that it would surely feature blood-sucking creatures that is.) I never expected this:
You just had the pleasure of witnessing Jason Segal’s rendition of “Dracula’s Lament.” I watched this clip having no background information about the film, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” in which it was featured. Understandably then I had no clue what went on to lead up to this spectacular number.
At first I was completely boggled and couldn’t understand what he saying with his pseudo-Transylvanian accent. Maybe I was just in awe of the accent… maybe it was sheer horror… I don’t really know.
During the following verses, I really started feeling Dracula’s plight:
“And if I see Van Helsing, I swear to the Lord I will slay him! A-ha-ha-haa!
Take it from me I swear I will let it be so! A-ha-ha-haa!!
Blood will run down his face when he is decapitated…aah!
His head on my mantle is how I will let this world know:
How much I love you…”
His girl seemed to like it. That’s all that matters.
I believe “Dracula’s Lament“ needs to fall along the lines of this more:
There’s an overwhelming amount of films about Dracula out there. As I’m reflecting on all the films I’ve seen thus far, most of them are pretty mediocre. I know when most people consider a Dracula film, the first title that usually pops in their head is Francis Ford Coppola’s interpretation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Remember it? Dracula is played by Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder features as his eternal love, Mina Harker.
They're a handsome couple, but this is not the best Dracula re-telling.
Maybe I set my expectations too high when I first saw this film, but I didn’t feel anything while watching it or after it was over. Many people loved it. I suspect their opinions were swayed after seeing Francis Ford Coppola highlight as the director. (He was responsible for the Godfather’s after all.)
To be fair, the overall cinematography of this film was beautifully done – it LOOKED great. It also faithfully follows Bram Stoker’s original Dracula story. What didn’t I like about it? I felt more than a few scenes were extremely slow-moving and over-dramatized. Also, it was just such a faithful rendition of the Dracula story… nothing new or intriguing to spark my imagination. This kills me since I’m a very story-driven person.
Hence, I was so thoroughly amazed the first time I watched Dracula 2000. I immediately fell in love with the Dracula myth presented in this film and it still reigns in my heart as THE explanation of how Dracula came into being and why vampires exist. Plus, Gerard Butler lends his dark good looks for the role of Dracula. (He’s the same actor who played the Phantom in the musical film version of Phantom of the Opera, representing yet another dark tortured soul who steals my heart.)
Gerard Butler as Dracula
Though this is not Dracula's leading lady, it's still a nice shot.
**PROCEED WITH CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD**
If you saw the trailer for this film you’re probably casting distrustful eyes in my direction. I whole-heartedly agree that the trailer for this film was horrendous – to be nice. It was so bad that even though I found a clip of it on YouTube, I cannot bear to include it here. And yes overall, the film itself was nothing spectacular. It was predictable, contained some pretty cheesy dialogue at times and didn’t do justice to Butler’s acting skills. The characters (vampires and non-vampires) were pretty flat and I basically went along with the film’s superficial ride to get my vampire+blood media fix for the week. That is – until the final 20 mins or so of the film when Dracula discloses his mysterious origins… then I was hooked.
I'm addicted to vampires and blood. This is where I'll share my musings on vampiric film and TV, as well as other thoughts on vampire culture. Read my ramblings - I could think endlessly about vampires and other divine creatures of the night.
The story: Monami (aka. Vampire Girl) gives a boy, Mizushima, a Valentine’s Day chocolate filled with her own blood so that when he eats it he transforms into an immortal like her. (Lucky him.) There’s a love triangle twist to this story as this transformation makes Mizushima’s current overbearing girlfriend Keiko very upset since she wants him to herself. Keiko attacks Monami and in the process falls off a roof and dies… but not for long as she is brought back to life by her mad scientist father as Frankenstein girl. The rest of the film is the gory epic battle between Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl as they each try to claim Mizushima for their own.
