Vampires on a Plane, in a Trench Coat, and Probably at the DMV

What if vampire movies weren’t just capes and candlelight, but living ecosystems of ideas—about infection, class, desire, grief, and the high that won’t let go? We pulled on that thread and followed it everywhere, from neon-soaked action to art-house melancholy, from airplane sieges to centuries-long love stories. Along the way we map how Blade built a sleek underworld of boardrooms and blood banks, why Underworld kept the biotech arms race humming, and how Daybreakers and Stakeland treat vampirism like a supply-chain crisis with fangs.

We also sit with the softer, stranger places these stories go. Only Lovers Left Alive and All the Moons turn immortality into a quiet ache, where time outlives intimacy. Byzantium and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night flip the bite’s power dynamics, reclaiming agency and reframing the erotic charge. On the addiction axis, Thirst and Bliss merge craving with creation and self-destruction, turning every feed into a relapse and a confession. Global variations—Chinese hopping vampires, Filipino lore, Russian vourdalak—prove “vampire” is a vessel, not a rulebook, shaped by local fears and rituals.

Then the deep cuts: The Wisdom of Crocodiles (aka Immortality) turns love into chemistry and murder into philosophy; Humanist Vampire Seeking Suicidal Person finds empathy as the trigger for hunger; and Romero’s Martin leaves the most haunting question unresolved—monster, myth, or a boy who believes the story too well. If you’re ready for a watchlist that bites outside the lines, this one’s packed with surprises, arguments, and a few guilty pleasures.

Loved the ride? Share the episode, hit follow, and drop your most underrated vampire film in a review—we’ll add it to the coffin of future picks.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Uh just sort of couldn't find a little whole
pair of players, you know whatI'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 (00:06):
Take a item.
Everything's the time.

SPEAKER_00 (00:56):
Well, welcome to the podcast.
Welcome to Dispatch Ajax.
Okay.
Who are the three most famousvampires?
Okay.
I mean, obviously, number one,Dracula's a bullet, right?

(01:16):
Number two?

SPEAKER_01 (01:17):
Not Speratu.

SPEAKER_00 (01:18):
Do you do like a count count Orlock?

SPEAKER_01 (01:20):
So you know, which is just Dracula.
So, I mean.
Which yeah, which is.
But what's your number three?
That's a good question.
This is the one I was strugglingwith.
Well, the fact that nothing'scoming to mind off the top of my
head, it proves that it's a goodthing.
Exactly.
Weird.

SPEAKER_00 (01:35):
Now I've been rolling this around for a while.
So I have the three names thatcould bubble to the surface.
Okay.
I think your options are Blade.

SPEAKER_01 (01:46):
I was almost I was about to say that, which is
ridiculous because he's only ahalf vampire who fights
vampires.
So it is.
Lestat.
Oh, that's actually pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 (01:56):
Yes.
And unfortunately, it's fuckingTwilight Dude.

SPEAKER_01 (02:03):
I think you dated us pretty hard there.
Because you're right.
And oh boy.
Should have thought of that.

SPEAKER_00 (02:11):
But it's so weird.
I mean, there are so manyvampire films, vampire books,
vampire everything.
But it's really just the onemain guy, and then like a
clone-ish of that guy.
And then it's a it's afree-for-all after that.
True.
Because nobody else reallystands out.

SPEAKER_01 (02:29):
It's just odd, you know?
And all of them are kind of likestand-ins for like previous
archetypes.
Until you get into like some ofthe Korean and Japanese stuff.

SPEAKER_00 (02:39):
But even and then, yeah, even then.
Foreign vampire mythology straysso far from the root ideas of
Western vampirism.
Tangentially, they both feed onblood, but after that, it could
be wildly different.
So odd.
Was there really nothing tillAnne Rice?
There has to be something there,right?

(03:00):
I mean, we're talking like we'retalking around a hundred years,
where like, yeah, it's justDracula again and again.
And even a good 80% of yourstandard vampire films almost
always relates to like, well,it's Dracula, you know?
Or it's it's Dracula by anothername, you know?

SPEAKER_01 (03:20):
It's always some sort of Dracula.

SPEAKER_00 (03:21):
No matter what you do, it's always every once in a
while you get lucky, you get aBlack Cula, or you get a lizard
person that's a vampire.
You know what though?
The first Black Cula movie, notthat bad.
I'd say it's one of my mostliked exploitation vampire
films.
I don't know if it'd be numberone, but it's it's up there.

SPEAKER_01 (03:41):
It's in my top 50 vampire black exploitation
films.
Maybe you should start theepisode.

SPEAKER_00 (03:54):
We're talking about vampires.
It's a vampire film becausewe're gearing up for spoopy
times.
October.
We wanna we wanna hit that.
So uh that's what the normiescall it.
October.
I don't I don't buy that.
I live by a different set ofrules, man.

SPEAKER_01 (04:10):
I bought a thing and it said October.
I don't know that that I haven'twatched it yet, but you um I
don't know that.

SPEAKER_00 (04:18):
What does that mean exactly?
You bought a thing.
Was was it a uh a livecylindrical tube?

SPEAKER_01 (04:24):
No, guy a guy sold me a DVD.
A DVD.
Oh, actually, I was like, Youwouldn't steal a car, would you?

SPEAKER_00 (04:34):
Coctober.
Well, speaking of Coctober,yeah, exploitation films.
In my deep sinking of my teethinto vampire films, the amount
of exploitation nudie tits andass exploitation vampire films,
it is beyond the pale, myfriend.
There is so much out there.

(04:56):
I mean, 60s and the 70s werejust it was rife.
It was rife.
It's it's you know, Drack thisdick and and you know uh lesbian
vampire titties and and fuckingdaughters, and yeah.
There's just a lot.
There's a lot out there.

SPEAKER_01 (05:11):
Let's let's just say they brought the hammer down.

SPEAKER_00 (05:14):
The hammer done come.

SPEAKER_01 (05:17):
That doesn't make uh-huh.
Yep.
Alright.
Let's roll with it.

SPEAKER_00 (05:22):
Let's roll with it.
That's what we always do.
So today, I'd like to talk toyou about vampires.
Have you heard the good news?
Of our Dark Lord and Savior?
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (05:34):
Sent to the word of Alucard.
We can get into that mangalater, because I I did read that
actually.
You've read Hell I'm assumingwe're talking about Helsing?
Yes.
I I actually owned the manga.

SPEAKER_00 (05:46):
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
I have I think I have a coupleof the manga, and I had some of
the DVDs.
They've since redone thatseries, I think.
Really?
Just about every big 90s anime,they've done a new version.
It's like, I don't know if youever like try to get back into
Evangelian, but there's like 17different versions of it, and

(06:07):
they all have like differentendings and and they're slight
changes everywhere.
Helsing's another one of thosewhere they did a remake version,
but it's the same thing, butslightly different.
But we can get into Helsing.
I think that'll come up incertain categories, but um, I
mean let me let me roll withthis.
In horror canon, vampires are acore staple of the genre.

(06:29):
We all know, we all love.
They've been widely utilizedover the decades to extend past
their horror trappings orromantic inclinations to both
express more of what a vampirecan be and mean while providing
a vehicle to expand out to othergenres and themes.
Okay.
Something like sinners, I thinksomething that's really uh, you
know, captured the widerimagination and scope, brought

(06:52):
different conceptions of what avampire movie can do and be
while also placing them in asetting of genre that might not
be as usual for the generalaudience to observe them amidst.
But there is so much more thatvampires can be, say, and do on
the big screen.
And that is what I'd like totalk to you all about today.
I'm gonna take you on anexploration of what else and

(07:14):
what more can be done with uhthem bitey buds.
Them fangs.
The fangang.
Now I want to focus on bringingto you things that you haven't
seen and maybe have never heardof.
So there's gonna be a lot of.
I mean, honestly, we're gonnamachine gun through a lot of
vampire stuff.

(07:34):
I think we're gonna stop in afew cul-de-sacks of both genre
and thematic explorations tokind of see what is there.
But a lot of the stuff we'regonna move past because what do
we need to say about BramStoker's Dracula?
We know it, we love it, we'vebeen there, we've done it.
If you are listening to this andand and sinking your teeth into

(07:56):
this particular genre, I assumethat you've already done that.
This isn't Vampires 101, okay?
We're grad level here.
You might be writing a thesis.
Obviously, we're not gonna begetting that deep uh or that
academic into this.
I watched seven vampire films inthe past two weeks.

SPEAKER_02 (08:14):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (08:14):
Slam down on this, not counting a random anime that
I watched about Neo Tokyocyberpunk vampire stuff.
Okay.
Ran all over the place.
Try to get a lot of stuff that Ihadn't seen, but I've always
been interested in.
You know, I wanted to provideyou with things that maybe you
haven't seen.
So that's why I was trying todig down.

(08:35):
But if we happen to pass oversomething that you love and are
really interested in, you're youknow, well, it's like, yeah, you
love it.
Uh I'm sure everybody else lovesit, but I I want to get into
something that maybe you haven'tseen.

SPEAKER_01 (08:48):
I uh when you say you, we mean the audience.
The audience.
All y'all listening.
You always take care of me.

SPEAKER_00 (08:54):
I try.
You don't make it easy, but I dowhat I can.

SPEAKER_01 (08:59):
I know, but you know what?
At least you're there for theaftercare.
That's what really matters.

SPEAKER_00 (09:04):
And folks, let's be honest.
We're gonna say this is Jake'skink hour, where we're just we
come in, we're gonna talk aboutsomething real quick.
Now, if you want to dominate, ifyou want to bring some violence,
maybe some blood yourself, maybeeven some vampirisms, maybe
light vampirism.
Don't go bullhog on this badboy.
But if you're getting a littlerough there, you make sure you

(09:26):
give the pets, give the cuddles,give the warm wishes, you know,
a nice wet rag to clean up anyof that wet wipes, the
bloodstains or whatever.
Yeah.
Well, I think an actualwashcloth that's warm, like a
compress, I think that canreally help.
You know, it's a little morethoughtful.

SPEAKER_01 (09:43):
Like you used to get in airplanes, the wood compress.

SPEAKER_00 (09:46):
I think I've only flown first class once.
It didn't used to be firstclass.
Used to happen all the time.
Oh, back when we could smoke andgrope stewardesses.

SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
Yeah, and also hijack them and take them to
Cuba.

SPEAKER_00 (09:57):
Well, hey, we can keep our shoes on for flights
now.
So you know how many weapons I'mgonna be putting on those bad
boys?

SPEAKER_01 (10:04):
Oh man, is it like in From Russia with Love where
she has the shoes that knivesand then you kick a guy?

SPEAKER_00 (10:12):
Yeah, I thought you were gonna go Blood Red Sky for
the vampire theme.
Oh lost.
Um but you uh give me a littletime.

SPEAKER_01 (10:21):
Give me a second, man.
I mean, like, come on.

SPEAKER_00 (10:23):
Alright, I'm not even I'm not warming him up.
No.

SPEAKER_01 (10:26):
Also, good movie.

SPEAKER_00 (10:27):
It it is, it is well, you know what?
Yeah.
We'll touch on that.

SPEAKER_01 (10:30):
It's it's almost like we're gonna talk about that
because of this great thing youput together.
Well, who knows?

SPEAKER_00 (10:36):
So there are a slew of genre mashups, you know, like
vampires in this situation outthere.
We're gonna get into some ofthose.
Some of those can have a lot ofboth meaning, quality, and
thematic resonance, butsometimes they're just a mashup
for the sake of mashup thatmaybe not as worth discussing,

(10:57):
but we will touch some of thatstuff.
Let's imagine Lee Harvey Oswaldalso killed Sasquatch.
You can't tell me he didn't.
I'm just saying, ask questions,do some research, okay?
Some of these can be fun.
Something like Innocent Bloodthat's essentially just vampires
but with the mob.
But it is one of the onlyexamples of the mob and vampires

(11:18):
interacting.
You have those genre mashups,you know, like vampires and the
mob or like a heist movie andvampires, like the recent
Abigail film, where it's likeit's set up to be one thing,
twist, it's another thing withvampirinos.
I guess it was a twist.
That's another thing about liketrailer culture, you know.
It's like uh don't show meeverything.

(11:39):
If you didn't show me that, ifyou led me to believe there's
something interesting going onwith this little girl, then we
get to the horror element.
That would be an intriguingwatch, but that's not what we
get.
But you also get stuff likeVampire Western, you know, the
classic Billy the Kid versusDracula, long time ago.

SPEAKER_01 (11:58):
But yes, that one everyone knows.

SPEAKER_00 (12:00):
I think people are aware of that.
Well, it I'm just saying it'ssomething, but it's it's not
doing much.
It's it's prettystraightforward.
Bailey the kid meets Draculakind of thing.
But you also get something likea near dark, nomadic biker,
violent neo-western, where ithas those similar elements.
But thing, uh when I was doingresearch on near dark, Catherine

(12:22):
Bigelow originally she justwanted kind of like a western
like biker punk thing.
But the studio is like, hey,what if you uh what if you put
vampires in it?
And she's like, uh I guess.
All right.
But that's you know, sometimesuh What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_01 (12:41):
It's like, do you want to make Citizen Kane?
Yes, but also what if aliensdropped a nuclear bomb?
What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_00 (12:50):
Well, you know, if you're a fabulous director
that's criminally underseen,criminally underknown, and you
know, pushes the whatever genreshe's in to a new level, you
know, you can make somethingsubstantial and last the test of
time.
You know, Near Dark is one ofthose underseen gems.
I think it's maybe a little tooscene for me to put on this

(13:12):
list.
Interesting of the stuff Iwanted to discuss in depth.
But it's it's a totally coolfilm.
It's Catherine Bigelow.
You she's doing like a like Isaid, like a neon noir and
neo-western biker punks kind ofthing.
And you got you know, a bunch ofthe I think this is before she
had married Cameron, but he'dworked on aliens, so like they

(13:33):
got a bunch of people from thatfilm to come over, like Bill
Paxton, Lance Hendrickson, tonsof of awesome vampirism.
Bill Paxton as a a crazymutilated vampire, one of the
classic vampire examples outthere.
Totally check it out.
If you haven't seen it, youtotally should.

SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
Modern American vampire lore.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (13:53):
You know, another stuff like Curse of the Undead
from 1959.
That is another, you know,Western vampire mashup.
You know, but you can also havelike vampires doing all other
different things, you know, likeas we spoke about earlier, Blood
Red Sky.
They didn't have stakes at thetime.
They were already in a differentfilm, so there's like, well,
let's put a vampire on theplane.

(14:13):
Yeah.
Which is essentially what it is.
You know, it's terrorists try totake over a plane, and whoops,
one of those hostages is avampire.
Hilarity ensues.

SPEAKER_01 (14:23):
I think that's a really fun one because with a
lot of these vampire genrethings, there's a lot of
cross-pollination with otherhorror genres, obviously.
But when you get to Blood RedSky, which I honestly I think is
great, you're kind of bleedinginto one of the REC movies where

(14:43):
it's about infection.
Like the the the real horror inthose type of movies isn't the
guy, isn't the villain, it isn'tthe imposing figure, it's the
infection itself.

SPEAKER_00 (14:58):
Infection, in and of itself, is I think one of the
core thematic elements invampire fiction since its
origin.
And especially in films, a lotof the ideas of vampirism in
folklore come from amisidentification of particular
diseases and outbreaks that havehappened, and they're trying to

(15:21):
explain it with the supernaturalbecause they didn't understand
the science.
Now that does transfer over intofilm quite readily.
You have something like TheBlood for Dracula, 1973, where
an account becomes ill becauseof impure blood.
You also something like Vampiresfrom 1989 from John Carpenter
talking about differentbacterias and framing the

(15:43):
vampirism as a contagiousillness that can be spread.
Now you get other things.
I think there are other actionfilms that we're going to get to
in a second that really takepart of that.
But I think the next logicalstep in that, I think, would be
something like Daybreakers from2009.
I didn't count it as one of thefilms I watched so many fucking
vampire films recently.

(16:04):
I re-watched Daybreakers aswell.
Now, Daybreakers is afascinating dystopian genre, and
let's lay vampirism on top ofthat.
Something I think similar toStakeland is doing a similar
thing.
Now, in Stakeland, it's more ofa post-apocalyptica, but with
vampires, as opposed to nuclearweapons or a world war or

(16:27):
something, it's vampires andvampirism that has taken over,
made the world somewhat towholly unlivable, and they have
to fight against that and learnto live with vampires.
In daybreakers, learn to liveand live.
Well, if they do it right.
In daybreakers, you have hadvampirism take over, where like

(16:48):
95% of the world is nowvampires, and there are only a
few humans left.
They are dwindling the humanresource at this point, their
food source, and they're aboutto run out of humans in the near
future.
Now, there is a ragtag band ofhuman rebels who are trying to
survive, trying to kind of likerestart the human race.

(17:10):
And there is a storyline abouthow some vampires might turn
back into humans, and this mightbe a path forward to take the
world back.
After re-watching Daybreakers,which I wasn't a huge fan of
when Rich came out, afterre-watching it recently, that is
a complete all all-style, nosubstance film.

(17:31):
The first 10 minutes, supercool.
It looks really slick, has kindof like a dark city kind of
vibe.
It's all like really coolsetting of like what is a world
that is ruled by vampires?
What is it like?
That's cool.
It looks cool, it feels cool,it's really interesting.
When they try to actually likeget into a story, oh yeah, that

(17:55):
that one doesn't work out toowell.
It's not it's nothing new.
I mean, some of it's new, butagain, I think the worst of the
genre mashups are essentiallylike let's just put vampires in
blank, whether that's you know,a mob setting, a western
setting, a post-apocalypticsetting, a dystopian setting.
It's not really like sayinganything.

(18:16):
It's just like let's dosomething with vampires.
I think where we get the most ofthis is probably in the action
genre.
Here, again, you get your JohnCopper's vampires, you get a Van
Helsing, you get something likethe most recent Netflix Day
Shift.
And then you get like, I thinkthings that maybe are trying to
push the genre somewhat or havebecome cultural touchstones that

(18:39):
really have helped to define andexpand what vampire and vampire
culture and at least some ideasof what the vampire world would
be like to a greater extent.
I think you get Blade and Blade2 are big examples of that.
This ties back to the vampirismas disease, as infection.

(19:02):
But it also, fortunately andunfortunately, it can't decide
is it all one or is it all theother?
It still feels the need to havethose supernatural elements, and
not supernatural as in likesuperhuman, but like La Magra,
you know, actual demonicflapping soul entities that form
into a vampire god.

(19:23):
I think you get less of that inthe second one.
The second one, I think, is evenmore like let's really dig down
on a quote science of vampiresand vampire infection.

SPEAKER_01 (19:32):
The Blade Franchise honestly does a good job of that
until the last one.

SPEAKER_00 (19:37):
I think with the third one, as we mentioned
earlier, when a vampire film orfranchise or story doesn't have
anything to say, it goes toDracula.
True that.
It always just goes back, ohit's Dracula, Dracula's the big
baddie or whatever.
Yep.
Blade does a few things.
One, it's probably the bestintroduction of really cool and

(19:58):
interesting action put into avampire film.
I think some of that comes fromlike the comic book nature of
it, introduction of someinteresting weaponry that we
haven't seen up until thatpoint, but kind of gets expanded
in the language of vampirefilmmaking after that point,
especially in the next franchiseI'm going to discuss.
And in the breakdown of aprolific vampire culture,

(20:24):
because especially pre-Blade,there is less of an undercurrent
of children of the night associety.
You get a lot of vampire cults,a more folk-inspired idea, or
like a Salem's Lot where a townhas been consumed by vampirism,
you know, something like inMidnight Mass.

(20:45):
It's very cloistered, it's youknow, under the cover.
Yeah, it's it's scattered, it'smore like a small outbreak, or
there is a hunter-killer on theloose.
But in the world of Blade, theyhave corporate interests.
The idea of a wealthy vampiretying vampirism into social
status, that's a theme thatwe're gonna get into a little

(21:08):
bit later, a bit more, butthat's like a prevalent thing.
And that goes way back to BramStoker with Count Dracula and
his wealth.
You know, it's kind of alwaysbeen there in the Western idea
of post-Dracula vampire.
Blade does a good job of let'smake vampire society that lurks
in the shadows, isworld-spanning and impossible to

(21:30):
get rid of.
You're not gonna put a stake inDracula's heart and it's gonna
make them all go away.
You know, there are vampireseverywhere, and there's a
continuous battle that you haveto have with vampires.
And I think Blade does a cooljob of that, showing A, that
there's vampires everywhere,they have a part of the ruling
class, but there's also astratum of vampires.
You know, there's the purebloods and the non-purebloods.

(21:52):
You've got your Donald Logs, andthen you've got your Stephen
Dwarfs, and then you you do,yeah, and then your Udo Kears.
And the second one, you have tohave an even lower class, you
know, and this is where we getthe junky vampire.
And this is where another keytheme that we're definitely
gonna get into later on, theidea of vampirism as addiction.

(22:13):
And that is something that likeget the new version of vampires,
which are again a level below,but these bottom feeders
literally feed on vampires.
So there's a lot of interestinglike social dynamics going on
within the world of Blade withinthe second film.
By the third film, they'vecompletely done away with that.
We're back to the original, andthey've run out of ideas, and

(22:34):
blah blah blah.
We don't really talk about Blade3.

SPEAKER_01 (22:37):
I think it's honestly better than the first.

SPEAKER_00 (22:39):
It's tough.
I would honestly say there's alot of the Batman Begins Dark
Knight conundrum debate.

SPEAKER_01 (22:45):
That is a very good comparison.

SPEAKER_00 (22:47):
I think they're both great.
I think both have some issues.
I think there are strengths andweaknesses with both.

SPEAKER_01 (22:52):
They do their own things.

SPEAKER_00 (22:54):
One is very much an action film that is using
vampirism, but there isn't muchof a horror element with a lot
of Blade, as opposed to, I thinkin Blade 2, it's definitely a
much more visceral and horrificventure into that underworld,
but uh everything's bigger,bolder, and a little bit more of
that comedy.
Blade's doing a lot of things,and I think Blade, I think Blade

(23:17):
does directly lead intoUnderworld, a franchise,
diminishing returns, andpossibly dubious quality,
including in her marriage, I'msure.
Got great.
Yeah.
But I think without Blade, youwouldn't have films like
Underworld, or I'm not gonna getinto an ultraviolet, which is

(23:40):
like that is yeah, that's aNadir, that's like the point we
do not want to get to.
I mean, there's a lot of matrixelements and blade elements, and
you know, uh Resident Evilelements and a lot of stuff
going into that.
It's vampire in name only.
Nah.
We're not really gonna talkabout that.
Uh mostly also because it sucks.

(24:00):
I think if it had something tosay or was good.
Well, the movie sucks,obviously.
It totally sucks.
The movie totally sucks.
I think Underworld, I like thefirst one.
I think it's cool.
Again, it vampire society.
I think the introduction of thevampire versus werewolf.

SPEAKER_01 (24:16):
Oh, oh, I'm sorry, Jake.
Lycan.

SPEAKER_00 (24:18):
Way before.

SPEAKER_01 (24:20):
Lycan.
That's what the wereworlds arecalled.

SPEAKER_00 (24:24):
I'm liking Underworld, I think.
Woof.
Oh, tough audience.

SPEAKER_01 (24:31):
All right.
Wait, wait, no, and hold on.
Well, okay.
All right.
I'll I'll let you get away withthe wolf thing.
That's fine.
Okay, let's let's move on.

SPEAKER_00 (24:42):
Oh, taking a bite out of comedy here.

SPEAKER_01 (24:46):
But I think wearing that goddamn trench coat.
Ugh.
Okay.

SPEAKER_00 (24:52):
You know, you have you know a lot of stuff that's
happened in in previous films.
You have uh the the sexiness andthen the society of vampirism,
whatnot, but you are gettinglike the exploration and um the
mix of science and mysticism, uhsomething that Blade also
struggled with, Underworldstruggles with too, because it's

(25:13):
like it's an infection, but it'salso like magic.
It's it's always like thispush-pull that the genre can't
ever.
I mean, in some forms, like youknow, I I like it when they
choose to go one or the other,or they just don't mention it at
all, where it's kind of a bit ofboth, and we'll discuss a couple

(25:33):
examples in recent stuff that Isaw that kind of does that.
But you know, blade expanded insome like weaponry and how to
fight fight vampires, becausebefore that, you know, it's it's
a lot of like crosses and youknow, beheadings, stakes through
the heart.
But with blade, you startedgetting, you know, the the
silver elements and the thespecial specific guns, silver

(25:54):
nitro, things like V-Light.

SPEAKER_01 (25:56):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (25:57):
Yeah, uh, you know, uh garlic uh capsules, you know,
uh with a not uh like a like nota blood thinner, but like an
anticoagulant stuff, you know,some like interesting takes on
how to fight vampires, you know,especially in a modern
infectious disease kind of way.

(26:18):
Underworld does more of that,again with a a sexy slickness.
Uh you know, we're havingeverybody in that post-matrix,
you know, leather cat suit withtrench coats in a dark city um
constantly raining you knowscenario.
But it it it it's fun, you know,it it's blending that action

(26:41):
with some new interpretationsand playing with some genre
elements of the the vampireversus lichen.
Um but I mean like again, thethe action elements and putting
vampires in an action setting,uh you know, isn't new and it it

(27:02):
happens all the time.
One thing that also happens allthe time is putting a vampire in
a in a comedic setting.
Uh you get some of that with alittle bit of quote unquote
action.
It's not like Fearless VampireKillers, a film that I don't
really care for and I don'tthink anybody should really see.
Uh there's a little bit of thedark comedy in a in a Captain
Kronos.
Um it's a little more action-y,uh, a little more uh

(27:27):
folk-inspired, um, you know,Eastern European vibe there.
But you get something that's alittle more uh overtly uh
comedy, something like the JimCarrey Vehicle Once Bitten, um
the crazy Nicholas Cage Kiss ofthe Vampire, the uh post Naked

(27:49):
Gun, Leslie Nielsen, Dracula,Dead and Loving It.

SPEAKER_01 (27:53):
Which it's honestly just I don't know.
That just seems like a I need tofeel relevant again, you know,
because like it's it's weirdthat you you have once bitten
and why do they blink on that?
It's weird that you have thosetwo, and then nothing else for

(28:13):
like forever.
No, go ahead, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 (28:16):
You're good.
I think you have some things.
I mean you you have like thelike post-Twilight, you know,
vampires suck thing.
You have something like bit,which is kind of getting into uh
a bit of like the feministvampire take, but also kind of

(28:39):
uh funny in a way.
Uh I don't think bit is verygood, but it's not the worst
thing.

SPEAKER_01 (28:50):
It's not it's not good.
But yeah, you're right, it's notthe worst thing.

SPEAKER_00 (28:55):
Yeah.
But you also have other, youknow, I mean, in the Western
genre, one thing we didn't talkabout was Sundown, you know,
where like essentially it's ayou know an old West style town
that's full of vampires and likeyou know, David Carradine's
trying to get them to like notbe vampires in a way, but you

(29:15):
know, kind of wackiness ensues.
Uh Bruce Campbell's there.

SPEAKER_01 (29:20):
Not being vampires.
Have you ever thought aboutthat?
Have you ever thought about notbeing vampires?

SPEAKER_00 (29:27):
Why don't you do uh vampire reform?
Alright, that's what we're gonnaput on the ballot this time.
Have you heard have you heardthe good news?
I think you also get something,you know, where it's it's a
there's plenty of things thatthat don't quite fit into an
exact genre.
You know I think Twilightcompletely loses the plot on

(29:50):
what it wants to be, other thanyou know, a like teen romance
you know.
soap opera kind of thing um butit doesn't have an idea of what
it wants to like put vampires asum its thematic resonance is is

(30:12):
is lost like vampire the vampiremetaphor within the world of
twilight is non existent um andit it it loses its way i i think
another film that's that's um alittle bit muddled but i think
has a little clearer tone umsomething like thirty days of
night again based off a comicbook uh another this is more

(30:36):
like a another final girl theykeep coming uh this is like kind
of your final girl with likemass zombie like tendencies a
similar to like a daybreakerswhere it's like an interesting
idea you know daybreakers likeooh a world of vampires you know
uh what do the humans do inthirty days of night it's you

(30:58):
know what if vampires go to a atown that doesn't get light it
will get no sunlight for manymany days so vampires like have
free reign to just kill and andbe out and about all the time
what do the humans do to escapethat it's unfortunately not
great but if you are looking forlike a bit of that action a bit

(31:21):
of that like action with stillthe the horror element that that
you know final girl scenariowith vampires which you don't
get a whole lot unfortunatelyfor good for good and ill I
think vampirism and vampirefilms has like there's been so
much out there it's hard to likeget a good horror vampire and a

(31:46):
a good non-horror vampire Ithink you can you know have both
of those and there's plenty tosay with each but it it's
tougher to get those I thinklike something like with the
last voyage of the Demeter ismore in the more recent like
horror vampires with kind of afinal girl kind of thing where
it's like the vampire isstalking the people on this

(32:09):
particular you know enclosedspace you know very much like a
Jason or Michael Myers would butit just happens to be Dracula
again or of vampire like Draculafor copyright reasons or
something.

(32:29):
But I think there's there'sstill plenty of like stuff out
there that vampire films aretrying to say that can extend
past genres.
I think you have you knowthere's plenty of foreign
interpretations of of vampiresand like most of what we talk
about as of like vampire filmsare from a western tradition.

(32:53):
But you have stuff like thevampire doll or Mr Vampire you
know a lot of these deal withlike you know the Chinese
vampires and some like Japanesefolklore on vampires.
You have something like 1964'sBlood drinkers you would do like
Filipino vampires or somethinglike the most recent 2023 French

(33:17):
made Russian vampire loreinspired the Vordilac where it's
all like these different ideasof what a vampire can be or what
the vampire represents insidetheir culture.
I think something like theVordilac is maybe a little more
metaphorical and thematic thansome of the hopping vampire

(33:41):
stuff which a lot of times islike let's blend like the horror
elements with some kung fuaction and some comedy totally
great time but maybe not havelike the thematic resonance of
something like the Vorderleckwhich is a little bit more you
know about loss and and kind ofterms with with loss and there's
some you know societal elementsthere of you know classism and

(34:06):
you know again we get intoRussian folklore.
I mean it's worth checking outwe really like talking about
ghouls at this point I mean likelike just in general is isn't
that the whole I mean isn't itthe whole like resident thing
that we're we're dealing withghouls right um as in as in like

(34:27):
the the the mindless um yeahlike the resurrection of the
dead the resurrection of thedead the you know because like
yeah Japanese vampires they'rehopping vampires whatever that's
cool we can do that the you'reright the Korean version of that

(34:48):
very interesting I mean yes I Idon't think a a lot of those
vampires have um I don't knowwill isn't the right word but um

(35:14):
I mean is it dissimilar to likethe modern like American
interpretation of like zombieyou know what I mean it it's not
that different no no it's it'sit's not you know it's something
similar to like how vampires arein life force um oh yeah other
than the main female vampire uhyeah again life force is like

(35:37):
let's let's do alien vampire youknow where it's like uh but also
include Patrick Stewart pleasewell always include Patrick
Stewart uh I could say life lifeforce is a lot of fun uh there's
a lot going on there uh I thinkit's like a prime 1980s like B
movie sci fi adventure thingsuper hot main actress oh just

(36:04):
on in my pantheon um but likesome really some some really
cool you know uh space vampirelore there's a lot of space
vampires uh this this is not a anew genre that they created but
I think within the realm ofvampire as almost a space

(36:25):
infection but also invasionelement I think life force
there's a Buck Rogers episodeabout it there's a a choose your
own adventure book about it ohyeah I have that one really so
do I still do that so fuckingcool yeah he's coming through

(36:46):
the hatchway and there's thatone one you get to that one
point when and his neck extendsbecause you got him but his neck
like extends super far and hekills you yeah that's really
good sci-fi vampires bro whatare you gonna do about those
okay and I know you have yourscript but this is also the 60th

(37:07):
and well 59th anniversary ofStar Trek so what do you what is
your opinion about the saltvampire in the first episode of
Star Trek ever aired the mantrap the trekker how do you feel

(37:29):
the vampire and Star Trekcoalesce is it a match made in
Space Heaven That's why I loveyou because you called me a
trekker and I appreciate thatthat's important the idea of
vampirism I think is what I wastrying to get to with that also

(37:52):
trying to be dated I reallyenjoy the idea that there are
creatures that we can get intoparasitic shit or whatever but I
do the idea of vampirism in StarTrek is completely different
than what we consider vampireslike everything you've

(38:13):
presented.

SPEAKER_01 (38:14):
That's why it's interesting because they are not
romantic they're not the saltvampire in the Mantra is sad.
The makeup was built to be sadtragic.

(38:37):
I don't want to do this but Ihave to so I feel like that's
like a theme that I don't thinkis done enough in this genre
though I think it's alwaystragic.

SPEAKER_00 (38:54):
Obviously it's always romantically tragic the
only one that was like this isgross it's gross and it sucks
I'm sorry I have to kill yousorry I do think I think the
elements are there it felt toomuch like a monster of the week

(39:16):
100% they come up on this and itnot that the I think sadness
within the vampire genre I thinkis core especially to a more a
postmodern interpretation ofvampire and the vampire's life
cycle and what they're aboutthat otherness that that sadness

(39:38):
that wrestling with their lackof humanity I think that is a
core tenant to a lot of the bestmodern interpretations of
vampirism and yeah I think it'sreally something I think that
comes out in a lot of the bestvampiff something like the only
lovers left alive I think that'sagain something we're not going

(40:01):
to get super into because it's agreat vampire film and but I
also think that a lot of peoplehave already seen that you know
I don't think a lot of peoplehave really yeah I don't really
think a lot of people have seenthat I have but I don't think a
lot of people have wonderful TomHiddleston and Tilda Swinton
Anton Yelkin rest in peace it'sreally about these vampires who

(40:25):
have lived too long and theyhave seen society pass them by
in a lot of ways and it's a taleof like forlorn love they are
together but it's just being avampire is so lonely and it's
watching everything move pastyou and beyond you.

(40:48):
I think there's something like1983's The Hunger I think that's
another one of those classic sadvampire tales where I actually
rewatched that one as well talkabout another film that is I
it's a classic for some reasonsbut and it's Tony Scott but it's
all style the style is is veryminimal I think it really if

(41:13):
you're looking for something forthat sapphic vampire which
there's a lot out there for youthis was like a rush of blood to
the point where it got overstimulated and overseen but it
had that 80s gothic architecturewithin the storytelling and the
visuals but there just isn't awhole lot there.

(41:37):
You see the sadness of vampireshaving to continuously live past
their expiration deal with beingon their own and losing the ones
that they love and having totake life in that film I don't
think it's as much shown as likewrestling with their humanity of
killing as opposed to some otherfilms but it there it's

(41:59):
definitely there within themythos of the vampire it feels
like Lost Boys a little bityeah.
Lost Boys again I think alongwith the otherness the
loneliness there's also aconsistent theme of coming of
age with within vampire storiesof whether that is people like

(42:20):
the vampirism being related toburgeoning maturity and
sexuality or the stifling ofthat I think you get into a lot
of sexual themes there.
There's a lot about vampiresthat the vampire and sex is has
been intertwined since its veryinception there's a lot of

(42:40):
metaphorical stuff going onthere with this and the coming
of age a lot of that is isplayed into it.
I think there's a lot ofespecially in Lost Boys there's
a lot of ideas about brotherhoodand coming of age but also a
homoeroticism there's definitelythat searching for your identity

(43:03):
and trying to fit in using theit's almost like an inversion of
the otherness of the vampirebeing used as a pathway to like
form community within thevampire which is a fun play on
that.
You're right that isinteresting.

SPEAKER_01 (43:19):
And Dr.

SPEAKER_00 (43:19):
Steppel you could even break it down even further
with the idea of penetrationlike with the teeth the
penetration being yeah and whenyou get into to that another
theme that is is tied in withthat sexuality with that
penetrative nature of the biteand the sucking of the blood the
stealing of the essence orstealing of the innocence

(43:42):
there's a lot of patriarchalmisogynistic vampire elements at
play a lot of the rape ofinnocence through the vampiric
bite and the stealing of whatwas pure and good within that
other especially violenceagainst women you get that yes

(44:03):
way too much in that somethinglike Byzantium from Neil Jordan
a film from a few years backthere's a lot about the sexual
violence nature of vampirism butwithin that story at least you
were like there is a kind ofreclamation some feminist

(44:26):
critiques and illusions thereabout empowerment and like
dealing with the social moresand the social hierarchy where
they were in like in a lot ofvampirism stories women are
subservient this goes way backto Bram Stoker and his vampire
brides oh yeah there's aconsistent element of the

(44:48):
patriarchal dominance and thefangs as phallus penetrating the
women taking not only theirinnocence their life turning
them into them but also turningthem into slaves something we we
see laid out society as a wholeso when you get something like a

(45:10):
Byzantium you get something likea girl walks home alone at
night.
Great fucking movie yeah inthese you can you could get the
a more feminist exploration ofwhat being a vampire can be and
the power that can come backwith being a vampire even in

(45:31):
something like Byzantium whereit's debatable whether one of
the main characters in thereforms a brothel and it could be
debated whether she puts womento work or in a social
collective allows them a placeto to do their sex work.
I think because of thatambiguity the liberator and the

(45:53):
dominator it's really a questionof what's really at play there.
But as a whole the greatertakeaway I think from that film
and something like Who WalksHome Alone at night is the idea
of this vampirism giving themthe power to take what isn't
freely given to them by forceyou get a bit of that monstrous

(46:17):
feminine energy there.
And there's that and somethinglike Daughters of darkness or
black sundae where it's theblending of the witch and the
vampire both as magical outcastsbut the dark harbingers of
feminine energy to take overman.

(46:37):
Now this can be done in a funway with a once bitten or in a
super sexualized version as inthe hunger but all of those are
pathways to feminizing thatpenetrative act that's usually
symbolized as a male aggressionbut it's taking that power away

(47:01):
from just men and utilizing itas a woman to take back the
power they should have sometimesin a more matriarchal way at
least within their social stratawithin the film or story at
stake.
Interesting now we couldobviously go on and on I do want
to hit a few more themes that Ithink are really resonant within

(47:24):
the genre.
I think one again of addictionmany films deal with the
metaphor of vampirism as anaddictive act whether that's
something like Thirst the ParkChanok film that's a lot of sex
and violence and addiction likethe priest there is becomes

(47:47):
addicted to the need to feed theneed to feed I think I think
Cole Trickle is going to have alittle bit more than that.
It's gonna be more like a likeCole flood that was a Days of
Thunder reference.
Yeah look at that one there is athere is an actual well there
used to be an actual NASCARdriver named Dick Trickle so

(48:09):
Dick Trickle I know yeah it'slike how do when I showed my
wife that film for the firsttime it's ridiculous and fun in
a ridiculous way I know you lookshe was like Cole Trickle that's
such a stupid name it's likeit's actually based on Dick
Trickle which is a real dudeit's just too much it's like one
of those things it's too much.
If you were gonna make a newTexas football movie that's like

(48:31):
well we can't name thequarterback Colt McCoy.
That's just that's too on thenose.

SPEAKER_01 (48:36):
Oh no it's even funnier than that we actually
literally had this conversationthe other day it was like
there's a dude named Dick Lazerthat is a coach in the NFL come
on Jim Bob Cooter.

SPEAKER_00 (48:48):
Yeah these things you know what these things
happen they this means somethingdon't tell me cooter didn't
happen I saw it happen but Ithink addiction is one of those
core themes within a lot ofvampire films just to hit a few

(49:09):
that maybe you have uh seen orhaven't seen there's the
addiction from 1995 it's alittle on the nose but it's
that's almost a little more of avampire by way of a succubus
kind of thing but it's likealcoholism and vampirism like

(49:29):
married some struggling withlike the constant need to feed
that particular demon there'shabit from 1997 one that I
particularly like a lot is Blissfrom 2019.
This is an interesting take onvampirism as like via drug not

(49:50):
exactly someone gets bit butit's more like they're taking
drugs and it's causing thisvampiric reaction and that one
it's very traumatic andpsychedelic and a vampire art
film by way of a Jacobs Ladderkind of experience where you
really don't know it's like avampirism is like drug trip and

(50:11):
addiction and like the it's likea tangible psychosis that you're
dealing with throughout the filmas like the person's like
struggling like utilizing thisvampiric drug to expand and
allow them to do the art thatthey're trying to do but like
the consequences of that arebloody and violent and

(50:35):
self-destructive which I thinkthere needs to be like a
self-destructive element whenyou're dealing with a vampire
film like that.
Something like The Addictionfrom 1996.
Now this is one of the films Ihaven't been able to see yet I
do really want to see it.
It's Abel Ferreira he'sessentially a young philosophy

(51:00):
college student gets bit by avampire and then is dealing with
the philosophical implicationsof that and our addiction to
evil brings up the Holocaust andBosnia and Miley in Vietnam and
then you get Christopher Walkenquoting Naked Lunch and there's
a lot of interesting things thatseem to be at play in this film.

(51:21):
The idea of a layeredinterpretation of vampirism
through a psychological andphilosophical lens and the idea
of humanity's vampire nature indestroying itself really seems
fascinating I need to see it.
I haven't had a chance to see ityet but I do want to check that

(51:44):
out I also wanted to discussthere are a few films that I
don't think you probably willhave seen because I hadn't seen
them before and as I said Ipoured through a ton of films to
bring this episode to life or onlife as it were that kind of hit

(52:06):
multiple core elements of whatvampire films modern vampire
films can be and do.
Yep so stupid get my two fingersin and hit this particular one

(52:28):
here with uh layer of the whiteworm I had never seen this film
before really yeah I'd neverseen it I'm kind of surprised at
that yeah I'd always seen thecover art at the video store
that always was interesting.
It's essentially it's a sexyearly 30s woman emerging from a

(52:50):
Middle Eastern snake God what doyou even call those like they're
gonna like a snake charmer andlike he's gonna blow his
instrument and the snake arisesfrom the wicker basket I guess
but that's all that you putthings in you don't put anything

(53:10):
else other than snakes in those.
Anyway that was the cover it wasalways fascinating and I always
knew it as a Bram Stoker storythat he wrote some years after
Dracula based off Englishfolklore of this worm that
terrorized this English town andthen was defeated but it it

(53:33):
comes back this turned out to bea fun little take in the
folklore genre of vampires butit is a Ken Russell film if
you've ever seen a Ken Russellfilm it's going to be tied in
with sexuality and religion andprobably some blood those three
are going to be quite prominentperhaps probably the most

(53:57):
penetrative and rapey of thevampire films I saw this past
few weeks but it's also it wasthe most campy and fun in a way
but it's taking those hammerelements having a Ken Russell
spin but it's alltongue-in-cheek innuendo it's a

(54:19):
blending of snakes and wormsquote unquote and vampire mythos
all together to tell thisvampire esque tale but with a
young Hugh Grant and a youngPeter Capoldi it's funny.
Picture those two guys in yourhead right now one is only two

(54:42):
years older than the other whichis bizarre.
Good point.
Yeah it was fun I don't know ifI can wholly recommend it but if
you're looking for somethinglike crack a beer to with
friends I think this would beone of the vampire films I might
point to if you're looking forthat campy kind of fun there's
plenty of other vampire campsomething like Vamp not just the

(55:04):
clever name if I remember rightit is a vampire strip club where
these frat guys go to and thehead vampire club owner is do
you ever just like completelyblank she dated Dolph Lundgren?

(55:28):
Chris Jones.
There we go Grace Jones GraceJones yeah Grace Jones Grace
Jones I think there's plenty ofcamp in like bloodsucking
bastards a callback to aprevious episode of Skip's
design.
I didn't do shit you did talkabout bloodsucking bastards in

(55:49):
the corporate horror episodegoes check that out I think
there's plenty of camp as wellin something like a black
exploitation esque film a Deathby Temptation from 1990 or the
later Eddie Murphy vehicle avampire in Brooklyn I don't know
if I'd say go check out eitherof those stories about vampirism

(56:13):
in black culture aren'tprevalent enough.
I think probably the creme de lacreme is Gonja and Hess very
cool film definitely like goodgetting into a lot of themes
about the black culture eatingitself both figuratively and
literally and there's a lot todo with Christianity within

(56:34):
black culture and the role ofAfrican folk themes in there and
how it's utilized.
I think subversive and pushingboundaries especially I think
came out in the 70s well worthyour time if you haven't checked
it out I think that's one ofthose classics within the
underseen vampire genre that youshould check out Lair of the

(56:56):
White Worm probably not but itdoes have that camp fun.
Something else that was also funwas a humanist vampire seeking
suicidal person.
This is from a couple years agoI'd always wanted a it sounded
interesting it's not bad it'sgreat but it has some of the

(57:16):
humorous elements as something Ididn't talk about in the humor
genre probably one of the besthumor comedy vampire films ever
that spawned a terrific seriesWhat We Do in the Shadows where
it's there you go a film crewfollows vampires around a
collection of vampiresspecifically the different genre

(57:38):
of vampires be it like Nosferatuor a Dracula or modern vampire
what a Dracula yeah yes aDracula but all these different
ideas of what vampires be andit's it's a fun critique it's
both cute it's funny it's wittywhen they did the show they

(58:03):
double down on all of that andit's fantastic show super funny.
I thought the show was funnierthan the movie and I love the
movie but I think you have somuch more to work with within
the show I think both are funbut just like great takedowns
and explorations into the genrehitting a lot of the elements
but all done in a tongue incheek or tooth in cheek rather

(58:26):
way very fun.

SPEAKER_01 (58:28):
Well a luminous vampire seeking suicide sleep on
the fact that they legitimatelyat the end well not the end but
like in in one of the episodesthey assemble a vampire council
which includes Wesley Snipes andbasically everyone else we've

(58:49):
talked about yeah they hadeverything so fucking vampire I
laugh by asked it's so good.

SPEAKER_00 (58:56):
Something that's less good similar touch on it in
case you don't know about it.
Living Among Us from 2018.
Essentially it's like what we doin the shadows with a true blood
element it's a found footagelet's follow vampires around
vampires have come out of theshadows quote unquote but it's
like a found footage horror filmwhere it's oh let's follow these

(59:17):
vampires around but the vampiresare bad and they're gonna come
after us I wouldn't bother notgood but if that sounds like
something you'd like to checkout it's out there.
I think it's on Prime right nowyou should see it.
I'd probably suggest watchingHumanist Vampire seeking suicide
a person more this doesn't haveany of the found footage
elements but it is about a youngvampire who's coming of age she

(59:41):
is a family of vampires she'salways been a vampire and she's
trying to like figure out how todo her first kill but violence
is abhorrent to her and taking alife is something she can't like
do like her fangs literallywon't come out.
But she finds a a young suicideSuicidal high school student,

(01:00:02):
where it's her empathy that istriggering her like feeding
mechanism.
A very fun twist on the violentnature of vampire and how taking
a life might actually be whatthis person wants.
And she's like kind of wrestlingwith this.
And it's in the film, eventuallyshe does.

(01:00:24):
Her fangs are able to come out,and there's a reason for that.
It's both it's dark humor, butyou know, in a light way.
It's a fairly fast-moving.
There's a fun, there's like avampire world that they like
they're in, but they don'treally discuss.
They take her to the family GPwho's a vampire for vampire

(01:00:48):
children.
It's fun world exploration, butthey don't really get into any
of those specific details.
But it's trying to it's it's avampire with a heart.
There's tons of vampires withheart stories.
This is a a funny kind of takeon that as is the coming of age
version of that story.

(01:01:09):
It's pretty good.
A similar like coming of agefilm that I watched was All the
Moons.
This was here was All the Moons.
I should know that.
2020, very recent.
And it's about a young girl.
It's set during like Spanishwars.

(01:01:31):
I want to say the early 1900s.
There are like some civil warsgoing on.
This young girl dies or is aboutto die as her convent that
orphanage that she is in is hitwith artillery and collapses.
She's about to die.
She is saved by a vampire andturned into a vampire by this

(01:01:52):
woman who's looking for adaughter to be with someone for
the rest of eternity.
She is then separated from hermother figure.
She has to live for anotherhundred years, mostly in
solitude.
She finds another figure, afather figure this time who had
lost his daughter, is notrepulsed by her need to feed.

(01:02:19):
But it's her vampirism and theviolence and bloody nature of
vampirism is less at theforefront.
It's more about her othernessand her solitude and loneliness
as a vampire, and watching herfather figure age and die.
She eventually like searches outfor her mother.

(01:02:41):
Her mother ends up giving her away to become human again.
And in doing so, it's a littleon the notes, but she has her
first menses.
She gets her period as shebecomes human, the coming of age
tale, told in totality, as likea vampire.
She is no longer stuck being achild, but passes beyond that

(01:03:06):
point.
It's also bookended by thevampiric nature of war.
She is essentially killed duringone war and is brought back to
life as a human in the SpanishCivil War that's going on.
A really interesting like taleof motherhood and the violent

(01:03:27):
nature of becoming a woman andpassing from childhood into
adulthood.
And when you're stunted as avampire, you have to deal with
not being able to take that nextstep, and you're haunted by all

(01:03:48):
the actions you have to do, andthat the people you have to
watch die.
It was a solemn little kind ofSpanish art film about
vampirism.
It's pretty good, interesting totake.
Something similar was Valerieand her Week of Wonders.
This is a 1970 film that Iwatched.

(01:04:11):
It's a Czech film.
This is again anothercoming-of-age story, but a
psychedelic and surreal.
Sorry, I learned I've beentalking about a lot of vampires
for a while.
How dare you! Kind of animpressionist view of entering

(01:04:34):
adulthood and vampirism is itshows up here as there's a lot
about the vampire as a motherlyfigure, like taking from the
daughter.
There's a lot of vampiricimagery as like men lusting

(01:04:56):
after this 13-year-old, likebecoming a woman.
One of the first scenes is shewalks through a field and drops
of her period blood fall on aflower petal, and she picks it
up and examined it's like thisis pretty on the nose stuff.
But it's an interesting use ofvampire as metaphor through like

(01:05:22):
her dream pass-through, herbecoming a woman.
Very beautiful art film.
I would definitely recommendchecking out.

(01:05:43):
I think it's on the Criterionchannel.
Worth checking out.
If that's your vibe, it's mykind of thing, might not be
yours.
Maybe if you're looking forsomething a little more
down-to-earth, there is TheWisdom of Crocodiles.
Now, this is a 1998 film, Ithink, starring Jude Law as a

(01:06:08):
serial killer vampire set in themodern world.
The twist on this is that hemust feed on blood, but it has
to be the blood of someone thatloves him.
So he has to find a victim, makethem fall in love with him, and

(01:06:30):
then take their life at thatpoint.
What a needy bitch.
Indeed.
You get a lot of elements of thesexy nature of vampire.
It's a young Jude Law.
This is someone who Spielberg,as we mentioned before, put him
as the ultimate sex symbol tomake him a sex robot for all the

(01:06:50):
women on Earth.
In AI, if you're notunderstanding my reference
there, but he's a good-lookingguy here, and he has the pathway
to a woman's heart down toessentially a science.
It's only when his emotions,there's like a push-pull between
what we'd call human emotionsand his more reptilian brain at

(01:07:14):
work here.
It's only when there's thatpush-pull that he's is my life
worth living?
Do I need to keep taking livesof these women that I have loved
over what we assume hundreds ofyears?
There's an interesting tweakingthe vampire mythos here.
There is somepseudo-supernatural elements,

(01:07:36):
but it's pretty bare bones, andit's very human.
He doesn't have fangs, but hedoes bite the neck to suck blood
out.
He has some almost supernaturalpowers, but he doesn't turn into
mist or bats or anything.
He's just like a vampire who hasto live in the modern world and

(01:07:59):
find people to kill, but theneeding of love to be part of
the mixture here of to make theblood suitable, essentially he
needs feed on emotion.
But as opposed to virtual or anemotional vampire, things that

(01:08:20):
have become a little morepopular within the past 20-30
years, it's still the bloodthat's at work here.
So retaining those elements, butin a more modern setting, less
supernatural.
It's like this is more of amovie that is a mix of a
romantic vampire tale and aserial killer crushing into each

(01:08:43):
other.
It was interesting.
My partner who watched it didn'tlove it.
I thought it was an interestingexploration of the sexy nature
of vampire, the neat romance andcapture the heart of the victim,

(01:09:03):
but yet the terror of thiskiller's nature and the
cold-bloodedness of the killer.
So it was a nice push-pull forme.
It has some issues, but it doessome interesting things.
And it's something maybe youhaven't heard of before.
It also goes by the name ofimmortality.
So you could find it either way.

(01:09:24):
I think immortality is the ifyou're looking for it in
America, I think it'simmortality, but the rest of the
world, like I had to find aRussian stream of it, and it
went by the wisdom of crocodilesthere.
But an interesting modernvampire lore take.
But it is not as good as thelast one I really want to touch

(01:09:47):
on here, which is a film calledMartin.
This is a 1977 film from theclassic horror director George
A.
Romero.
But instead of delving intozombies, this is his lone take
on vampires.

(01:10:07):
Martin was one of his firstfilms that he did, and it is a
unique blend of modern vampirewith some touches of the old
vampire lore.
This is a a killer who uses aneedle to knock out his victim.

(01:10:31):
He utilizes their sleep to havea sexual conquest that also
involves using a razor to slitopen their veins and consume
their blood.
But it's left ambiguous whetherthis is a supernatural being,

(01:10:53):
whether this is a cold-bloodedserial killer, whether this is a
young man that has psychologicalissues that he's trying to deal
with, and utilizing the rapingand killing of these women as
some type of a sexual need.

(01:11:14):
It's always ambiguous.
He goes to live with his greatuncle who believes he's
nosferatu, as he keeps saying.
He's from the old country, andthat in this film the uncle
character believes that he is astain on the family's lineage,

(01:11:36):
that they've had differentNosferatu throughout the history
of their bloodline, and he isjust the latest, and he has to
try to exorcise the demon fromMartin's body.
But as Martin says continuously,as he takes a bite of garlic, as

(01:11:57):
he wears a cross around hisneck, there is no magic.
He is not a supernatural being.
But we do get these flashbacksthat may mean that he's been a
alive for 100, 200 years.
But also it's filmed in a waythat maybe this is just a

(01:12:20):
psychological episode that he'shaving.
It's hard to say it's ambiguousthroughout the entirety of the
film, but the thing that isthere is his need to possibly
feed.
We don't really know whetherlike he needs the blood.
He does consume the blood, butit's a lot about uh this

(01:12:42):
peculiar nature of stalking anduh taking away the power of
these female victims he has, uhmost of the time female victims.
There is at least one man thatuh happens to uh be killed and
consumed by Martin, using liketheir acquiescence through and
consciousness to sexuallydominate and perform with these

(01:13:07):
women.
An interesting thing is like inthe film he calls into this uh
late-night radio show as thecount, and he's recounting how a
vampire isn't like it is in themovies, the stories, he has to
do this, that he's tooembarrassed to perform sexually

(01:13:28):
with a woman that isn't underhis unconscious sway, and that
there does seem to be like aconnection between the blood
drinking and his sexualgratification, but it's not done
in a sexy way, at least in theway that it's filmed, there is
very little sexy about hisraping and killing of these

(01:13:52):
women, but there is a connectionthere.
He does end up having aconsensual relationship with a
woman, but whether like he droveher to take her own life, or
whether he needed her depressionto feed on, that is an
underlying undertone withintheir relationship.

(01:14:16):
It's an interesting pseudo artfilm, it's definitely has like
an early young director feel toit, but there's a lot of really
cool and interesting shots.
It's an interesting story beingtold.
It's probably the best of thesefilms that I saw, and it's like
this underseen vampire classicthat I think deserves to be

(01:14:37):
seen.
It has this kind of shock endingthat leaves things a little
ambiguous as to the nature ofhis existence throughout the
film.
But it was a like an interestingtake, especially on the modern
vampirism and the role of thesupernatural and the

(01:15:03):
juxtaposition of vampire andserial killer, especially for
the early 1970s.
Yeah, it was just a reallyinteresting film and a good
film.
I think it has some earlydirector flaws and has some
pacing issues, but you can seethat there's a really

(01:15:24):
interesting film maker at workhere, and an interesting story
being told, and a really coolvampire story that gets into
some elements of what makesvampirism both alluring and
disgusting, and has a lot of allof the themes that we talked

(01:15:47):
about before with the maleviolence, the sexual connection,
the preeminent loneliness andotherness, the trying the coming
of age nature of a lot of thevampire stories, and trying to
find both self and communitywithin the vampire nature.

(01:16:11):
It really hits on almost all ofthese.
There's a level of addiction andhabitual nature of this, and a
little bit of the folk horrorelements at well, while also
putting it in a modern setting.
Within the best vampire films,both in blockbuster mainstay

(01:16:40):
cinema, and in the indie artscene as well.
Does everything that you mightwant, except for having like
your standard Dracula story,which I think is one of the
reasons that if you're intovampire films, a lot of vampire
films you might not have seen,maybe this is one you should

(01:17:01):
definitely check out, along withthese other ones I spoke of that
kind of hit different elements,and a very few of them are the
stock standard vampire huntinghuman story that we've gotten so
often and you've seen a billiontimes.
But if you're looking to take astep outside of that and explore

(01:17:24):
all of what the vampire genrecan be, I think you know, all
the moons, Martin, wisdom ofcrocodiles, humanist vampire
seeking suicidal person, maybevalery in a week of wonders,
maybe Lair of the White Worm,along with these other ones that
that I had talked that maybeyou've already seen or heard of,
or maybe you haven't.
Again, we'll just run throughsome quick ones.

(01:17:45):
Bliss, the addiction, thirst,gun hess, life force, maybe
Daybreakers, Byzantium, A GirlWalks Home Alone at Night, The
Vorlex, Let the Right One In.
Again, it's one we didn't talkabout, Only Lovers Left Alive.
I think it's like a must-see, apillar of especially modern

(01:18:10):
vampire storytelling.

SPEAKER_01 (01:18:13):
I was waiting for us to get to that because I wanted
to talk about the differencebetween Let Me In and Let the
Right One In, and how good bothof those movies are.
Like that they shouldn't haveany right to be that good, but
they're very good.
Maybe we can get to that in adifferent episode.

SPEAKER_00 (01:18:29):
Yeah.
Maybe in a remakereinterpretations and the
benefits and drawbacks of those,and which few have actually done
it well or right.
That was just a remake of anAkira Kuasura film by Spike Lee
that just came out.
Maybe that can tie into that.
Who knows?
You never know what you're gonnaget on Dispatch Ajax.

SPEAKER_01 (01:18:49):
You never know what you're gonna get.

SPEAKER_00 (01:18:52):
Especially when it's spoop season.
The October Times bring out thescaries.
We hope we haven't scared youoff too much.
I didn't even get into Morbius,so there's that.
Well, at least you didn't getinto Morbius.
At least I didn't do it.

SPEAKER_01 (01:19:10):
Thank the gods.
Thank the blood god that youdidn't get into Morbius.

SPEAKER_00 (01:19:14):
Yes, praise the magra that Morbius, the living
vampire.

SPEAKER_01 (01:19:19):
That's why we do the show because you and I both know
exactly what that means.
Yeah, we can just put it off thedome.

SPEAKER_00 (01:19:27):
There's tons of vampire films, vampire Jason
films that we didn't get into.
There's plenty of like I wastalking with Skip earlier, I
watched like three episodes of a90s anime Cyber City odio that
had a vampire in it as part ofthis.
We didn't get into Night Watchand Daywatch or Nukdoy Dojoy, if
you are of Russian persuasion.

(01:19:49):
There's tons out there, but Ithink these are Timor.
Yeah.
I don't know if he's doinganything anymore.

SPEAKER_01 (01:19:59):
He directed Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, I'm
pretty sure.

SPEAKER_00 (01:20:03):
Again, I don't know if he's doing anything worth a
damn.
Yes.
But again, there's so much ofthe vampire genre, and we're
just talking films.
I we didn't even get into books.
I don't even think we mentionedInterview with the Vampire, a
seminal classic of the genre.
But this episode wasn't aboutseminal classics of the genre.
That's not what we're here todo.

(01:20:24):
I wanted to drill down, getunder those covers, and take a
bite from a part of the bodythat you might not normally draw
blood from.
A savory treat that hasn'tpassed your lips to give you the
immortal flow of vampire energythat you so desperately desire.
And maybe with a few of thetitles that I got into, you can

(01:20:47):
try something a little differentbecause there's so much out
there, and there's plenty.
Let's scare Jessica to death.
Haven't seen that.
I've always wanted to.
Or recent The Boys from CuntCounty Hell.
Sounded interesting.
Sounded cool.

SPEAKER_01 (01:21:07):
I haven't seen that one yet.

SPEAKER_00 (01:21:08):
I haven't seen that one yet.
Um there's always some obscurevampire film.
There's a lot of nudie vampiresout there that that need to be
seen, I think.
So uh get your get your fangsnice and hard and dive right in.

SPEAKER_01 (01:21:24):
Take a bite.
Come on, you you can put up withbetter metaphors than that.
Come on.
I could, but I've been sink yourteeth right in or take a chunk
out.
Come on, dude.

SPEAKER_00 (01:21:33):
I've already said those so many times this episode
that you can.

SPEAKER_01 (01:21:36):
I know it's gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 (01:21:38):
Honestly, I'm a little drained.
So this is what you've gotten.

SPEAKER_01 (01:21:42):
Oh, you managed to come back around.
Good job.
Good job.
Well done.
Well done.
Kudos, sir.
Kudos.

SPEAKER_00 (01:21:49):
We hope that that this long drain of an episode
has quenched your thirst.

SPEAKER_01 (01:21:55):
A little sloggy, but that's okay.
We can get through it.

SPEAKER_00 (01:21:58):
Until the next bite, we hope that you come back with
us for our next spooky andspoopy October-themed episode,
as we always like to bring everyyear for you guys.
If you've enjoyed this, pleasedo share and subscribe.
Spread out to all your vampirebrethren.
If you have a coven of blooddrinkers, maybe pass this along.

(01:22:20):
Maybe they might like to hearit.
If you wouldn't mind giving usfive fang bangs from the podcast
app of your choice, ideallyApple Podcasts.
It's the best way for our VampPod to be heard and seen, and
the best way for our blood to bedrained through this audio

(01:22:40):
format into your supple vampiricears.
But Skip, until they mustventure the night with children
of the devil to quench theirundying bloodthirst, what should
they do?

SPEAKER_01 (01:23:00):
That was a lot.
We collectively would like tosay thank you for listening,
Jake said.
Please make sure you've paidyour tabs.
Make sure you've cleaned upafter yourselves to some sort of
reasonable degree.
Make sure you have tipped yourKGs, your bartenders, your
weight staff, your Uber drivers,whomever is in your debt.

(01:23:24):
And from Dispatch Ajax, we wouldlike to say Godspeed, fair
wizard.

SPEAKER_00 (01:23:29):
Well, well, fellow vamp I don't know.
No, it's not half.

SPEAKER_01 (01:23:32):
Yeah, you gotta you nailed it.

SPEAKER_03 (01:23:33):
Please go away.