76 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good art film that's entertaining, October 17, 2004
I saw 'The Hunger' when it was in the movie theatre in 1983. I didn't know what to expect but David Bowie's presence in the film made me go into the theatre.
Esthetics! Esthetics! Esthetics! Beautiful people, beautiful set, beautiful music wrapped into the warm womb of blood sucking and immortality and escapism. The storyline doesn't move me, though every performance is stellar. I never develop any empathy for the characters, though I would like to sit down and have lunch with them (on the condition I'm not on the desert menu.)
This is the kind of film one might call a guilty pleasure. No social or intellectual message or value, but imprints itself upon the emotional psyche. It provides a window into another side of one's usual self. Do I believe in vampires and the creature feature scifi world, no. But it can be fun.
The dvd quality is excellent. Much better transfer than the video we've had all these years. Really glad it's available and in our film library. Enjoy this world where beauty and pointlessness meet for no other reason than to entertain you.
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35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sexy and sinful, June 22, 2000
Horror movies are not usually lush, well-photographed or erotic. Yet this one is! David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, and the immortal Catherine Deneuve all sport trendy clothes and buckets of blood in this vampiric love triangle. It is well-produced, and though it has been criticized for its "languid" pace -- I think it moves at just the right tempo for what the movie is...one long slow seduction. Much is made of the lesbian sex scene, but it's actually pretty tastefully done and tame by today's standards. It's a nice reversal of the Dracula myth -- Catherine Deneuve as a bi-sexual immortal who choses her mates alternating sexes through the centuries. It's a fun idea! And who would say no to her anyway? It's got more style than substance, but oh what a joy to see a movie that captures a sense of elegance and beauty and wrap it around a horror story! And the music is divine -- from the underground gothic stylings of Bauhaus (Peter Murphy actually lip-synchs "Bela Lugosi's Dead" over the opening credits) to the beautiful duet from Delibes (the selection from LAKME it seems everyone used after this movie). It's an excellent movie, and one worth buying since it seems to be disappearing from rental shelves. And the price is the lowest you will find here at AMAZON as opposed to retail outlets!
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Softly, brilliantly crafted, but certainly not for everyone, October 11, 2000
This cult art film classic is the quintessential vampire film of the 1980s and is one of my favorite vampire fliks of all time.
THE HUNGER is a very good film, even though, at times, it moves rather slowly. Deneuve plays Miriam, a stone-faced centuries-old vampire who has had a string of lovers of the many years of her life. As the film opens, she and her longtime bloodsucking paramour, John (played by Bowie), are coping with their own mortality. That's right, I said mortality. In THE HUNGER, vampires can die of old age.
Bowie's appearence in the film is somewhat brief, but he makes the most of the time he has with a well-developed character. The makeup used to age him into a shriveled old man is complemented by Bowie's ability to play age well, both physically and emotionally. There is a quiet poignancy to the romance of between Miriam and John, but when scientist Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon) visits the Blaylock mansion one day, Miriam's real romance begins.
As I mentioned, the movie can sometimes feel slow, but it's well worth sitting through as the film is not so much horror and gore (although when it's bloody, it's nicely bloody), but erotic and intellectual. Sarandon and Denueve are both excellently cast and create some rather arousing scenes together. Although there is little action, there are many themes and ideas to be explored in this story. As such, I would say THE HUNGER is definitely for fans of art films, rather than those who are attracted to Hollywood productions.
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