The Hunger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Hunger | |
|---|---|
 Film poster for The Hunger. |
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| Directed by | Tony Scott |
| Produced by | Richard Shepherd |
| Written by | Ivan Davis Michael Thomas |
| Starring | Catherine Deneuve Susan Sarandon David Bowie |
| Cinematography | Stephen Goldblatt |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | 1983 |
| Running time | 100 min. |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Hunger is a 1983 English language horror film. It is the story of a bizarre love triangle between a doctor (Susan Sarandon) who specializes in sleep and aging research, and a stylish vampire couple (Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie).
The film is based on the 1981 novel The Hunger by Whitley Strieber, with a screenplay by Ivan Davis and Michael Thomas. The Hunger was director Tony Scott's first feature film. The cinematography was by Stephen Goldblatt.
The Hunger was not particularly well received on its release, and was attacked by many critics for being heavy on atmosphere and visuals but slow on pace and plot. However, the film soon found a cult following that responded to its dark, glamorous atmosphere. The long Bauhaus song Bela Lugosi's Dead plays over the introductory credits and beginning. The film is popular with some segments of the goth subculture, and spawned the short-lived TV anthology series of the same name.
[edit] Plot
The Hunger presents a modernized take on the vampire mythos, with many of the supernatural trappings stripped away. There are no fangs in this film, the blood-drinking immortals do not fear sunlight or garlic, and the word "vampire" is never spoken.
The Hunger hints at a scientific explanation for vampirism, a form of genetic material similar to a virus or prion that can infect humans if they drink the blood of a vampire. Catherine Deneuve's character, Miriam Blaylock, is a beautiful and modern vampire who chooses human lovers and promises them eternal life. As the film begins, her current companion is John (Bowie), a man she married in 18th century France. They live together in an elegant New York townhouse.
Yet as John learns, humans can never become true vampires. Miriam herself is truly ageless, with flashbacks indicating that she has been alive since at least the time of Ancient Egypt. Her human lovers, however, only experienced prolonged youth for a century or two. Then they begin to age rapidly, eventually deteriorating into withered, corpse-like figures. The true horror of this situation is that these vampire/human hybrids age but cannot die. Miriam and John both hope that Dr. Sarah Richards (Sarandon) will be able to help restore his health.
When John visits Sarah's clinic, she dismisses his claims of rapid aging as delusional. She leaves him to sit in the waiting room, where he ages decades in just a few hours. Sarah is appalled when she sees what has happened to John, but it is too late to help him. The now-ancient man returns home and begs Miriam to kill him. She tells him that she cannot, and tenderly places him in a coffin in the attic alongside her other former lovers.
Sarah, guilty over her failure to treat John, comes looking for him at home. Miriam decides to take Sarah as her new companion. She seduces the doctor and, while they are having sex, cuts herself and has Sarah drink her blood.
Sarah returns home to her boyfriend Tom (Cliff DeYoung), not realizing what Miriam has done to her. She begins to feel increasingly distracted, and experiences a hunger that cannot be sated even with raw steak. Sarah returns to Miriam's house and demands an explanation.
Miriam attempts to initiate Sarah in the necessities of life as a vampire, but Sarah is repulsed by the thought of subsisting on human blood. Still reeling from the effects of her vampiric transformation, Sarah allows Miriam to put her to bed in a guestroom. When Tom comes looking for Sarah, Miriam sends him up to find her. Sarah, crazed with hunger, attacks Tom and drinks his blood.
Once she has finished feeding, Sarah goes downstairs to find Miriam. Miriam is pleased that Sarah seems to have finally come around. Yet Sarah, overcome with grief at murdering Tom, has decided that she will not continue on be a vampire. She cuts her own throat. She cannot die, but the loss of blood apparently renders her comatose.
Miriam carries Sarah upstairs to the attic. Miriam's other former lovers, including John, muster their strength and rise from their coffins. The shrivelled beings attack Miriam and manage to push her down the stairs. Miriam screams and, when she hits the floor, turns into an ancient, shrivelled body herself. Her former lovers collapse.
As the film draws to a close, it seems that Miriam, Sarah, and all the other vampiric characters must have been destroyed. A real estate agent is showing the deserted townhouse to prospective buyers.
The final scene provides a twist-ending. Sarah is seen standing on a balcony in another city, in the company of an attractive young man and woman. And in a coffin in the attic, Miriam screams Sarah's name.
The meaning of the film's ambiguous ending has been a subject of some debate. It differs from that of Streiber's novel, which has Miriam move on to a new city and take up with a new lover. The studio insisted upon the change, feeling that audiences would want to see Deneuve's character punished. In the film's DVD commentary, both Scott and Sarandon express some dissatisfaction with the ending.
Susan Sarandon talks candidly about the lesbian seduction scene in the documentary The Celluloid Closet.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Hunger at the Internet Movie Database
- Michel Rubini - Profile and photographs of the co-composer of the music for "The Hunger"]
- The Hunger: analyzed by Richard Scheib, 1990
