Blog Archive

Friday 4 September 2015

Evolution of a Horror Sub-Genre: Vampires 2000-2014

2003à Underworld


Summary
For hundreds of year the vampire and werewolves have been at war and Selene, a vampire warrior discovers the Lycan’s interest in a human named Michael and plans to stop them.  However she falls in love with Michael and he becomes infected with the Lycan disease… Can she save him from his fate and save the vampires from being erased from existence when secrets come to light?

Unique
A forbidden love between a vampire and a Lycan (Werewolf) is the main plot sequence, subverting previous assumptions about the feud between vampires and werewolves; however this is also represented among the plot.

Time
The love between a werewolf and a vampire might be to celebrate the legalisation of gay marriages in Belgium in 2003.  However the war between the Werewolves and the Vampires could symbolise the start of the Iraq war and the suicide bombings that occurred worldwide.

2007à 30 Days of Night


Summary
When a town is plunged into darkness for a month, most of the civilians move away… but some remain.  When the husband and wife Sheriff team get calls about mass killings of animals and people going missing, they realise that their town is being attacked by vampires.  Can they save their town?

Unique
Plays on the fear of the dark and the unknown and it is also the first time a prolonged period of time has been dedicated to vampire violence.  This is the first time animals are slaughtered by vampires as some kind of warning.

Time
This could be linked to the Tornado in Kansas that caused people to leave their homes due to a natural phenomenon and this is central to the storyline of the film.  Also the mass murders of many Americans by a South Korean Student may have also contributed to the storyline.

2008à Twilight


Summary
Bella swan goes back to Forks to live with her father after her mother remarried and there at the high school she meets the mysterious Edward Cullen who she begins to fall for.  Bella is his soul mate and he has waited 90 years of his immortal life to meet her but will their relationship survive a visit from vampires more traditional than the Cullens?

Unique
It’s a Romeo and Juliet story using vampires and the small mention of werewolves who have a treaty with the vampires.  It’s all the first time vampires sparkle in the sunlight and have different colour eyes depending on the type of blood they feed from.  Also most of the vampires have powers that are very specific to them such as telepathy and can blend it better with the human population as they hold down normal jobs.

Time
It’s the era of the Rom Coms so films were being constantly made with a romantic feel to them.  Most films targeted at teens were romanticised and supernatural powers in films were a huge phenomenon as this led to new sci fi films and action films.

2009à Daybreakers


Summary
In 2019, the population of vampires is the majority and the humans are hunted down by vampires and drained for their blood.  If the vampires change when they don’t have enough blood into a creature who attacks anyone in order to survive.  Dr Edward is a vampire but hates his way of life.  He tries to find a way for vampires and humans to live in harmony but when he is recruited by the humans to help them as they have supposedly found a cure, can he save the vampires and the humans?

Unique
The humans are the minority and the vampires are the majority and the ruling body.  It’s a survival of the fittest and it has the balance of the human race at the heart of the storyline and whether or not we will become extinct.  Also the idea of rationing the blood out in order to survive makes the film unique too.

Time
The fear of a super virus being created to wipe out humans was a huge scientific scare that caused many nations to go into panic mode due to recent scientific discoveries.  This film played on the fear of the virus turning humans into monsters but offered a way of redemption.

2010à Let Me In


Summary
In New Mexico, a young boy named Owen is bullied at school and dreams of being able to defend himself.  Abby and her ‘father’ move in next door and Abby and Owen becomes friends.  Abby tells Owen that he must defend himself from the bullies but she holds the dark secret.  As her ‘father’ commits murders to help with her secret, can it remain hidden and can she still be with Owen?

Unique
It’s based on a younger couple of kids even though one is a vampire and it focuses on friendship rather than relationships.  It’s representative of everyday Middle School life but uses the Renfield to do most the murdering instead of the vampire.

Time
The Vampire romance films have carried on from Twilight.  However this film suggests that it has a subliminal message of how dangerous people can be if they are strangers and how they can present themselves as one thing but be something else entirelyà start of the world wide Online Safety campaign for predators who take on false identities to target children.

2011à Fright Night


Summary
Charley lives in Las Vegas and gets a new neighbour Jerry who renovates the house next door and blacks out all the windows.  People start going missing at Charley’s school including his friends so he enlists the help of the self-proclaimed vampire hunter Peter to save him and his family when he accidentally gets them involved resulting in many consequences for all of them.

Unique
It’s a comedic interpretation of a vampire in the fact that it doesn’t take the presence of vampires seriously and it focuses on amateur vampire hunters defeating the vampires.

Time
A series of violent events sparked by religious and political reasons were carried out across the world such as the Norwegian summer camps for teens having 68 people killed by a serial killer and bombs going off and the London Riots.  This could have been reflected in the film by the boy changing after he has survived a vampire attack on himself and his girlfriend and shows how the nations grew and rose up again stronger after these events.

2014à Dracula untold


Summary
In 1442, Vlad is Prince of Transylvania and will stop at nothing to protect his wife, Mirena, and son, Ingeras, and his country from the Turkish and their oppressive, military regime.  He then seeks out the master vampire in a cave and asks for his help to protect his lands, which the vampire does by giving him the powers of a vampire for three days unless he drinks the blood of a human. When the Turks try to take Vlad’s son from him and 1,000 other boys to fight as part of the Turkish army like he did before, Vlad kills all the soldiers but his son is taken and his wife dies trying to stop it.  Vlad must become a monster by drinking the blood of his wife to have his revenge.  Can he deal with the consequences?

Unique
It’s based on a historical figure of Vlad the Impaler and it has only one master vampire in it.  It is about one man protecting his family and his town from the oppressive ruler and is essentially based around historic events.

Time
This was the year where conflict between the European Union and Britain began due to the oppressive nature of the EU who forced laws and ideals on Britain, similar to the Turkish and Transylvanian conflict over the laws and ideals.  The idea of a leader doing the right things for the country is meant to be a symbolic representation of Obama to highlight the faults in the British government, especially David Cameron. 

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