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I went to the movies in an actual theater. I think this is the first time since 2019? Feels weird to say because I kept assuming that this movie or that movie would draw me back in and nope, kept not happening. Also, True Haunting still hasn't been released? That was supposed to come out in 2023.
There are three current movies I want to see: Queer, Heretic and Nosferatu. I am fine waiting on Heretic. Queer was such a limited release I may have missed it? It was in an independent theater near me for a day and I can't find any other showings. Well, gives me a chance to read the book first. For Nosferatu, it was showing in a theater with reserved seating which is why I decided, yeah, sure.
It was fun, by the end.
You know how in horror there should be tension and release and maybe a reason to care about about the characters? This movie doesn't really do that and the first half is very tedious because it's all dark, no light. We never get a reason to care about the female lead or even see who she is without this shadowing weighing on her, and also her face is often shadowed in scenes with other characters so we aren't really meant to connect with her. Most of the characters don't really have arcs.
The female lead's fits are very sexual and involve moaning and writhing. She's... not quite a faceless sex doll for near enough for a lot of the film.
Then Willem Dafoe shows and and his character has a lot of fun. Suddenly, after an hour of same-same-same, there's Willem Dafoe. His character also has more of an arc than any other. The male lead who we are supposed to slowly start caring about? He's over wanting to live about 3/4s in and has no future.
Willem's character goes from disgraced academic, isolated and miserable, to glorying in being right and also able to help the city. He also re-connects with an old friend. He has an arc and a future. Other characters just fall to their fates.
Visually, it's gorgeous. Individual scenes are amazing, even at the start. It's when you put together all the dark, depressing, off kilter shots into a whole that it's a slog.
At the end the movie's internal logic falls apart and I have no idea why that worked? Shouldn't that have gone the opposite way? I haven't see the OG film and maybe if I had this would make sense, but I doubt it.
There are three current movies I want to see: Queer, Heretic and Nosferatu. I am fine waiting on Heretic. Queer was such a limited release I may have missed it? It was in an independent theater near me for a day and I can't find any other showings. Well, gives me a chance to read the book first. For Nosferatu, it was showing in a theater with reserved seating which is why I decided, yeah, sure.
It was fun, by the end.
You know how in horror there should be tension and release and maybe a reason to care about about the characters? This movie doesn't really do that and the first half is very tedious because it's all dark, no light. We never get a reason to care about the female lead or even see who she is without this shadowing weighing on her, and also her face is often shadowed in scenes with other characters so we aren't really meant to connect with her. Most of the characters don't really have arcs.
The female lead's fits are very sexual and involve moaning and writhing. She's... not quite a faceless sex doll for near enough for a lot of the film.
Then Willem Dafoe shows and and his character has a lot of fun. Suddenly, after an hour of same-same-same, there's Willem Dafoe. His character also has more of an arc than any other. The male lead who we are supposed to slowly start caring about? He's over wanting to live about 3/4s in and has no future.
Willem's character goes from disgraced academic, isolated and miserable, to glorying in being right and also able to help the city. He also re-connects with an old friend. He has an arc and a future. Other characters just fall to their fates.
Visually, it's gorgeous. Individual scenes are amazing, even at the start. It's when you put together all the dark, depressing, off kilter shots into a whole that it's a slog.
At the end the movie's internal logic falls apart and I have no idea why that worked? Shouldn't that have gone the opposite way? I haven't see the OG film and maybe if I had this would make sense, but I doubt it.
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Date: 2024-12-29 06:24 am (UTC)From:At the time I watched it (for a film class) I did not realize to what extent it *really is* just Dracula. Like, I knew it was "controversial" for being an unauthorized adaptation, and lost a lawsuit about that if I recall, but I feel like even when we talked about it in class, I came away with the impression that it was like "heavily inspired by" not just... "uh, we changed the names and the setting, and nixed a few characters, but otherwise it's just exactly the same."
But I wonder if some of the aspects it cut out from the novel were the parts that made the story a bit more cohesive, though I'll see if that's what I come away with after I see it!
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Date: 2024-12-29 09:31 pm (UTC)From:I'll be interested in your take on it!
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Date: 2024-12-31 01:49 am (UTC)From:Apparently all of the copies of the original were supposed to be destroyed after they lost that lawsuit, but now it's considered very fortunate that they weren't, because it's such an impactful bit of film history. It really IS an obvious infringement, though, lol.
(Honestly, most of what I remember about the original is the hyena standing in for a supernatural wolf, and the inexplicable presence of armadillos. [Not inexplicable; the filmmakers thought they were such a weird creature, it would definitely come across to a German audience that wasn't familiar with them that there was something unsettling about the setting.])
I'm looking forward to seeing it! We were hoping to go tomorrow, but Alex got sick, so it'll probably have to wait until next week at the soonest.
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Date: 2025-01-01 12:40 am (UTC)From:I hope Alex feels better soon!
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Date: 2024-12-30 10:50 pm (UTC)From:Yes! This! I went to see this movie with my niece (her pick), and I left with the same feels you seem to have. Like, Willem Dafoe's character was the only interesting character there. He was a friggin ray of sunshine in that movie.
I felt like the general plot was a long slog of the main characters just...totally losing the entire time to the Big Bad. Like, they never had a chance. And I also am like "how does giving the Big Bad what he want...mean you win?"
I felt complicated about "is it a good movie?" Because in the end, I felt like they wanted a sexually-charged gory horror story, and they definitely nailed that, so I guess they succeeded in their aims. I didn't feel like it was a particularly complex or interesting STORY, but the actors sure did a great job of being the wet, miserable, utterly outclassed out of the gate characters they were written as.
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Date: 2025-01-01 01:16 am (UTC)From:I hope Willem Dafoe goes on to have a very happy occult life
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Date: 2025-01-01 04:56 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2025-01-01 08:43 pm (UTC)From: