#FRANKENSTEIN WILL BE MORE OF A TRAGIC STORY TO ME THAN A HORROR STORY | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

scribble-dee-vee · 3 months

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Writeblr Intro circa 2024

Hi writeblr!! Sooo, I've been around here since about 2014. (Yes, I am ancient.) However, I've been dormant for the past 4-5 years. Blame college and a brief stint on Twitter. Now that I'm active again, I thought I should make an updated writeblr intro so ppl know my Deal. Basically, I want to engage with other folks who write fiction (esp original SF), and that's a little easier if I have a clear post that outlines what I do. Here to make connections and hear about your blorbos :)

About me

Hi, I'm Vee! They/them, 23, 💖 🤍 🧡

I do journalism/comms in western New York

My literary jam is feminist/adult SF and gothic lit (OG or modern) 🥀 ⚔️ 🌙

Enthusiastic about gay people, body horror, and sociopolitical allegories

I cook, run, play tabletop games, and occasionally draw. Other than that, I'm mostly writing (for work and for fun)

If you were on pre-2020 writeblr, you likely know me from my eight billion daily tag games. (I still like tag games and appreciate u for tagging me. I have also gained adult responsibilities and better mental health, so I respond very slowly now. <3)

Always happy to get asks or dms, tho as I've noted: I may reply slowly.

Sometimes open to beta read! I only read one longer project at a time, but it's always super fun :)

I tag very consistently – happy to tag triggers for followers/moots

Fun fact: I love mushroom hunting and worked as a mycology TA. #cottagecoreera 🍄 🧚‍♀️ 🌱

About my creative writing

I write,,,, feminist/adult SF with gothic leanings (surprise!)

Longform and short! Trying to do more short writing this year, and I'll likely share a bit on Tumblr. It's easier to clip a short story than a 150k novel, god bless.

The Aesthetic: moral g(r)ays, Victoriana, androids/cyborgs, Women™, monstrous femininity, incessant Hamlet/Frankenstein motifs, extremely boring socioeconomic worldbuilding, evil queens and/or dilfs, psychosexual witchcraft, probably a cat. Also, an ominous, plot-relevant letter laced with anthrax from your unhinged and brilliant ex-wife. Open if you dare.

Major projects

I'm going to be writing some short work this year, but these are the longer projects that I have going in the background. If I reblog blorbo-related text posts, they probably have something to do with these.

Let me know if you want to be added to any project-specific taglists 😎

Heart of Lead – Series

The big one

Perpetually evolving

Never ceasing

Pls send help I can't stop adding shit

5-book gothic fantasy epic that I'll definitely publish one day but probably no time soon! My bastard child, my wicked firstborn, my greatest love <3

Character-oriented political drama set in a pseudo-Victorian, dystopian oligarchy where everyone's heart is made out of metal. It's about coming of age and discovering queer identity in a world that is absolutely fucked. God is an extraterrestrial lesbian who gives ppl very traumatizing magic powers. There are cyborgs, shapeshifters, and morally gray women in STEM. It's tight as fuck idk what else what to tell u.

Book 1 is about achillean monarchists, and book 2 is about sapphic anarchists. There are only two genders, I guess.

At this point, I've drafted most of the books at least once. Working to refine a lot of raw material atm!

Tag: "heart of lead tag" or "hol tag"

Lost Letters – Book

Aka the current active HoL WIP, and book one in the revised series structure

Length: 80k as of now; around 120-140k when the first draft is finished, I presume.

Genre: adult fantasy, gothic, noir detective drama?? um?? If you want me to frame it in BookTok terms (why?) it's a dark academia villain x villain tragic romantasy. Hrgh.

Summary: Cyborg soldier goes to college, joins a shady socialite frat, and falls in love with the jilted heir-apparent to the throne. Hilarity ensues.

(By "hilarity," I mean a militant revolutionary faction and a tragedy of Greek proportions.)

POV characters: Charles (the cyborg), Dale (the heir), and Cecelia (Charles' sister, a junior detective, the love of my life and potentially the Chosen One???)

This book is twisty and dark and immensely fun to write.

I'm about halfway through the first full draft! Hoping to share snippets and vaguepost about my children here.

Tag: "lost letters tag" (also "hol tag," tho that one's less specific)

The Last of Mortal Tourists – Book

The next longform project on the docket!

Length: a standalone work that will hopefully fall on the shorter novel/novella spectrum.

Genre: literary SF, cyberqueer, psychological space quest

Summary: The consciousness of a dead coding genius, trapped inside a spaceship, seeks a new planet to sustain their sister, the last surviving human, after the destruction of Earth.

If you're here to get wildly philosophical about gender and the myth of essential self, this is the story for you! That's why I'm writing it, lol. 🏳️‍⚧️ 🚀 🤖

This one started out as a short story (100% finished) which I want to expand.

POV: Archer Alto, the coder. Spaceship? Human? Soul?

Supporting Cast: Pandora, the last human, and Abby, a holographic impression of Archer's childhood consciousness

Tag: "the last of mortal tourists tag" or "tlomt tag"

If you read all this way, you get a whole bouquet of flowers that are certainly NOT poisonous: 🌸 🌹 💐 🥀 🌺

#writeblr #writing #writeblr intro #for my mutuals #scribble-dee-vee #project intro #hi writeblr!#original post #hol tag #heart of lead tag #lost letters tag #tlomt tag #pls feel free to tell me abt u in tags/replies!!#would love to expand my active writeblr connections #and yah like I said lmk about those tag lists #I def want to post more snippets/tags this year

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grantaireble · 26 days

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Tortured Poets & "The Bride of Frankenstein"

To a new world of gods and monsters!

Alright this is soo long now and I came about this revelation the weirdest way (while watching world class color guard) but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. All of my ttpd thoughts were rattling around in my brain as we were watching videos and one group put out a Bride of Frankenstein show last year and they used this quote as a V.O:

“What do you expect? Such an audience needs something more than a pretty little love story. So why shouldn’t I write of monsters?"

And, man, something about that got the neurons firing, especially because I had already been thinking a lot about the connections between Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and TTPD. Here are some of those:

Frankenstein visuals in the Fortnight MV

“The 1830s” Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was originally published in 1818, but she made some edits for an 1831 edition

Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley, and Lord Byron were sort of their own little TPD, writing horror stories together one rainy summer.

TTPD and Frankenstein seem to reference many of the same things

Both Taylor on TTPD and Mary Shelley in Frankenstein reference the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and the albatross

“I am going to unexplored regions, to “the land of mist and snow;” but I shall kill no albatross, therefore do not be alarmed for my safety, or if I should come back to you as worn and woeful as the “Ancient Mariner?” – Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Both Taylor and Mary Shelly reference Greek Myth

Frankenstein: “The Modern Prometheus” (often compared to the Christian story of Christ)

Cassandra: gifted the power of prophecy but cursed to never be believed

Does the headpiece above not give Medusa?

Both Taylor and Mary Shelley reference the Bible

“I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel...” (Frankenstein) / “I got cursed like Eve got bitten,” etc.

Both Taylor and Mary Shelley reference principles of Alchemy!

"The modern masters promise very little; they know that metals cannot be transmuted, and that the elixir of life is a chimera." (Chimera = lion's head, goat's body, and a serpent's tail, more Greek mythology)

Some lyrics from TTPD also feel like direct references to Frankenstein quotes or themes

“I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein / “I was tamed, I was gentle ‘til the circus life made me mean.” – Taylor Swift, Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?

“I am alone and miserable. Only someone as ugly as I am could love me.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein / “Down bad like I lost my twin.” – Taylor Swift, Down Bad

“I am malicious because I am miserable” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein / “Because I’m Miserable!” – Taylor Swift, I Can Do It With A Broken Heart

“One wandering thought pollutes the day” ― Mutability, Percy Blythe Shelley (Quoted in Frankenstein) / “One bad seed kills the garden” – Taylor Swift, The Albatross

“This feels like the time she fell through the ice” – Taylor Swift, The Bolter / In Frankenstein, ice is symbolic of isolation and alienation.

“Wretch” or “Wretched” is a huge word in Frankenstein / “That I’m fearsome and I’m wretched and I’m wrong.” Taylor Swift, Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?

“In the streets there’s a raging riot” / In the story, the Monster gets chased by angry mob of townspeople

The First Two Pages of Frankenstein by The National (The Alcott appears on this album and The National toured it with Patti Smith)

Bonus: Dr. Frankenstein is something of an anti-hero. He, along with his monster, are also sometimes referred to as Tragic Heroes. Greek philosopher Aristotle first laid out the attributes of a Tragic Hero.

So all of this to say, I had originally only been thinking about TTPD only in the context of Mary Shelly’s original Frankenstein, even though that Fortnight imagery was definitely inspired by the films. But then that quote just really felt like it had Taylor written all over it.

So I googled Bride of Frankenstein.

It's basically an "everyone lives" AU sequel to Frankenstein lol. It's the 2nd of a trilogy (...hmmm?) although the third film Son of Frankenstein has a different director. The line I heard in the guard show is said by a fictionalized version of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, who "appears" in the Bride of Frankenstein movie, along with poets Lord Byron and Percy Shelly.

In the scene, Mary Shelley explains that she wanted Frankenstein to show its audience the consequences of mortal man trying to play god. She then reveals that there is more to the story than everyon thinks. This, of course, got me thinking about the term "playing god" and the Mastermind of it all, along with all of the religious/worship imagery Taylor uses on the album. Bride of Frankenstein also uses Christian/crucifixion imagery to convey this theme.

The movie picks up right where the original Frankenstein left off. Both the doctor and the monster somehow make it out of the original story alive. Dr. Frankenstein, despite wanting to step away from his experiments after his horrific first attempt, gets pressured/blackmailed by his mentor to create a mate for the monster. While this is happening, Frankenstein's original monster is sort of bumbling around out in the world trying desperately to make a friend. This never works, as everyone is too afraid of how different he appears on the outside.

This is around where the queer reading of "The Bride of Frankenstein" comes in. I'm getting most of my info from this video, which definitely clicked things into place for me.

youtube

The queer reading is based on a few things:

The relationship between Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Pretorius (two men creating life together)

The monster as a figure that does not fit into the norms of society and the effects of that on his search to find someone "like him"

The director, James Whale, having been one of only a few openly gay men in Hollywood at the time

The character, Dr. Pretorius', "campy" queer coding

The Bride of Frankenstein was subjected to censorship from the Hay's board while in production and by censorship boards once released

"In the decades since its release, modern film scholars have noted the possible gay reading of the film. Director James Whale was openly gay, and some of the actors in the cast, including Ernest Thesiger and, according to rumor, Colin Clive, were respectively gay or bisexual." (Wikipedia)

This reading focuses on Dr. Frankenstein's inability to stay away from his "experiments," despite having a new wife and a potential regular life waiting for him at home. He is rejecting "the natural" in favor of "the unnatural.”

This reading also looks at the monster's deep desire and inability to find belonging in a world that fears otherness. The Monster tries multiple times to make a friend, but is always rejected.

He saves a woman from drowning but she screams in fear at his appearance.

He does befriend a blind hermit and they bond and become friends! But soldiers find the Monster there and they are separated. (At this point in the story the Monster wishes he were dead again.)

Finally, the Monster gets to meet the the Bride, who was literally made for the Monster. Unfortunately, the Bride, horrified at having been brought alive for the sole purpose of being a companion, also rejects him.

Here are some connections that relate to the Frankenstein/ Bride of Frankenstein films:

"Such an audience needs something more than a pretty little love stories" / "Are you not entertained?"

Safety Pins, Bride of Frankenstein / Hairpins, Fortnight video

“Strings tied to levers"? –Taylor Swift, Robin / At the end of Bride of Frankenstein, the Monster pulls the “self-destruct” lever, killing himself, the Bride, and Dr. Pretorious (might be a stretch, but this movie is the origin of the "mad scientist self-destruct lever")

In Son of Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein's grandson is named Peter (definitely a stretch?)

In Bride of Frankenstein a maid character, Minnie, tries to warn the town that the Monster is still alive, but no one believes her and she says "Nobody'd believe me! All right. I wash me hands of it. They can all be murdered in their beds." (It's giving Cassandra)

In Bride of Frankenstein the Monster saves a young shepherdess from drowning / "She almost drowned in frigid water" -Taylor Swift, The Bolter

Frankenstein freaks out and accidentally burns down the hermit's cottage (the only place he found human connection, hidden away from judgmental eyes) when they are found there by two hunters

Anyway this is so so long and and doesn't even include any real analysis (I might save that for a more cohesive post) but once I got started I just kept noticing things.

Right now I think the question I'm currently trying to answer is: Frankenstein Taylor Swift the Monster or the Doctor? The Bride? The drowned girl? The almost drowned girl? The Author??

#unhinged Frankenstein posting #frankenpost?#gaylor #friends of dorothea #this is why employment is secretly good for me #please share thoughts if u have them I feel like i'm missing so much #taylor swiftenstein and taylor swiftenstein's monster #take me 2 florida fr

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salvadorbonaparte · 5 months

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2023 in Films

I watched way too many films this year. Here are my opinions on some of them

January

Las Cosas Del Querer (1989) - Amazing if you love sad hot people and flamenco

Canadian Bacon (1995) - Incredibly silly and Alan Alda plays the US president

Nope (2022) - A highlight of the year

February

Hellraiser (1987) - This film is actually about miscommunication in this essay I will-

Predestination (2014) - Time Travel and Gender Moments

Malignant (2021) - Camp horror masterwork

Late Phases (2014) - Mediocre werewolf film with some really interesting comments on ageism, ableism, suburbia and religion

March

Sterne (1959) - Plays into some problematic stereotypes from today's perspective but revolutionary for its time, first German film to address the Holocaust

Major League (1989) - A film I only watched to confirm that it uses a weird phrase I also found in my thesis project

Carry On Screaming (1966) - Camp. Gay. Horror. Parody.

Glen or Glenda (1953) - A product of its time and no longer up to date in its understanding of gender but surprisingly revolutionary in its compassion and earnestness despite the bad reviews

April

Taxi Driver (1976) - Isn't it frustrating when annoying people tell you a film is good and then it's actually good?

June

Mr Deeds Goes To Town (1936) - Mr Deeds has autism swag

El Espíritu de la Colmena (1973) - I really wanted to like this because civil war era Spain and Frankenstein are super up my alley but unfortunately it was so much slower than expected

Das Boot (1981) - Very long and claustrophobic but holds up to the hype

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022) - RIP King

July

Nimona (2023) - His big wet eyes bewitched me

First Blood (1982) - You're telling me the film is about Americans fighting an enemy they view as simultaneously weak and dangerous, escalating the situation, and then sending more and more men into a rainforest to die through guerilla warfare after being warned again and again they can't win this? sounds familiar

Barbie (2023) - Insert a bunch of pink emojis

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) - Made me crave bagels

Jojo Rabbit (2019) - God I love war satires

Sweet Liberty (1986) - Alan Alda having fun and also using his own film as a therapy session

The Majestic (2001) - A rewatch but it's so tragically underrated, Jim Carrey is very good in dramatic roles and McCarthy-era media is like catnip for me

Joker (2019) - This is just Taxi Driver with extra steps

August

Tin & Tina (2023) - Probably one of the worst films I have seen in a while

Battle of the Sexes (2017) - I love women

Four Lions (2010) - The ending really got me, I love when satire gets serious

The Sheriff and the Satellite Kid (1979) - Can we talk about how the theme song is just going "I'm the sheriff" "yes you're the sheriff"

Happiness (1998) - Nauseating but in a "good film but what the fuck" way

They Call Him Bulldozer (1978) - Italian Lagaan

The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) - Sad and Gay

Twister (1996) - So much better than expected

Magnolia (1999) - Cloudy with a chance of frogs, a really long but really good film and I'm not entirely sure I got it

Doubt (2008) - Somehow I watched 5 films with Philip Seymour Hoffman that month because I was haunted by his ghost or something

September

The Terminal (2004) - I assumed this to be more of a classic romcom but the whole concept (based on a true story) is so terrifying and tragic that it made me feel all emotions at once

Apocalypse Now (1979) - I knew a lot of trivia about the film but for some reason I didn't know anything about the cast so every single actor was a surprise and made me go "!!!", Also I kinda wanna write an essay about it

October

Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984) - Some of the gay jokes absolutely killed me

Last Night in Soho (2021) - I'm Not Like the Other Girls to Time Travel Murder Nightmare Pipeline, actually I really enjoyed this one but it's also super silly

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) - How do you say poor little meow meow in gaeilge

The Menu (2022) - I go to the murder restaurant I order the beesechurger, I was super surprised there's no cannibalism but tbh that would have been low hanging fruit

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021) - Explains a lot about religion in the US, I love that she was pro lgbt, also I googled her ex husband and he has a prepper/survivalist thing going on now and scams more people

The Darjeeling Limited (2007) - we can't eat pray love ourselves out of this one boys

Holes (2003) - Hated the book as a teenager for school reasons but gave the film a try and really enjoyed it

Renfield (2023) - I expected werewolves but I enjoyed it nevertheless, My Chemical Romance is on the soundtrack, it's very silly, the effects are great

Interview with the Vampire (1994) - Oh people weren't lying about it being homoerotic

The Big Lebowski (1998) - I've had days that feel like that

November

Pappa ante Portas (1991) - Funnier now that I'm an adult, basically half the jokes my mum makes are from this film

The Meg 2: The Trench (2023) - I watched this while sick and really wanted to see a giant shark fight a giant octopus and boy did it deliver

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) - Very nice animation style

JFK (1991) - I actually fell asleep halfway through because it's so long but can we talk about how this film is just A-listers but has some of the worst wigs and makeup I've seen

Bottoms (2023) - A spiritual sequel to Heathers

December

When Harry Met Sally (1989) - They deserve each other (derogatory) but that one restaurant scene was pretty funny

The Royal Nanny (2022) - one of the many Hallmark films my mum made me watch and this is perhaps the worst one, incredibly sexist even for a Hallmark film and they clearly mean Mi5 but say Mi7 which was a WW2 propaganda service? Also they really want me to believe there is a British prince called Colin and that he doesn't look like his family tree is a circle?

I forgot the title but there was also the one where two people get stuck in a time loop while trying to make a sponsored youtube video about baking and I didn't really pay attention much but man that was bad

#film log #films #2023 in films #this is mostly just my letterboxd review lmao

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pb-dot · 8 months

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Film Friday: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

This Friday we're going to do something a bit different. While I feel that the film is plenty famous enough on its own, I do think that I have a few things I'd like to say about the weird and wonderful little thing, so without further ado

For the uninitiated, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 cult classic horror/sci-fi movie based on the British indie musical darling The Rocky Horror Show. Apart from featuring some great turns from a young Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick and a brief cameo from singer Meatloaf, the movie is probably best known for its outrageous campy nature and Tim Curry delivering a career-defining role as the charismatic showboating alien scientist Dr. Frank-N-Further.

The biggest thing keeping Rocky Horror in the minds of the world is probably the midnight showings, noisy, nerdy, horny affairs where fans dress up like their favorite characters in various states of undress, yell zingers and in-jokes at the screen to fill in the movie's many long pauses, throw and otherwise utilize any number of zany props and on occasion get on stage to act out their favorite moments. It's a raucous good time that allows one to simultaneously make fun of and glorify this outrageous movie, and these nights are often my favorite of the year.

It is, however, not the midnight showings I want to talk about today, at least not directly. For this year's outing, me and my usual crew brought some fresh faces along. One question that popped up was "What is this movie about?" Much to my surprise, that got me thinking. I mostly answer that question with "Sci-Fi throwbacks and fishnet stockings," but if I were to not be pithy and in-jokey and silly about the whole thing, what would I actually say?

The plot, such as it is, follows Brad and Janet, a straight-laced couple who stumble into the clutches of mad scientist and impeccable dresser Dr. Frank-n-Further and spend the rest of the movie being caught up in the machinations and seductions of this unique individual who, it turns out, is actually an alien in exile from his home planet of Transexual in the solar system, or galaxy, Transylvania.

So, not the most elaborate plot there, but the real twists and turns come in the form of relations. Frank is a man, as occasional narrator The Criminologist so aptly put it, of some persuasion and little moral, and so his list of jilted lovers starts long and continue growing as the movie goes on. You could argue acts 2 and 3, to the degree that they exist in this movie is all about Frank expanding the list of people he has fucked over and it coming back to bite him from an unexpected angle. In this interpretation, Brad and Janet are just a window into this and two more notches to Frank's poor bedposts that surely are more notch than post at this point.

Yes, it does seem unavoidable that RHPS becomes a story about Frank. He is simply too much of a gravity well of charisma and madness, and it's not just that Frank is known to murder anyone who dares upstage him. Frank is, if I may speak frankly, too much fun to not pay attention to. He's witty, he's outrageous, he wears his oversized all-eyes-on-me ego with pride and boy howdy does he wear it well.

And yet, there's no denying Frank is kind of a shit. He's not receptive to the needs of others, he has a somewhat limited understanding of consent, he's a jerk to his employees, there's the whole murder business, he seems unable to comprehend that other people do not live to fulfill his needs. Despite all of this, though, it's hard to not be swept up in his charisma, and, at least for as long as "I'm Going Home" plays, see him as some sort of tragically beautiful intergalactic diva.

All of this, mind you, is even without getting into the Universal Movie Monsters comparison, where Frank occupies this strange space between Victor Frankenstein and Dracula. The Frankenstein comparison comes easy, his castel-like abode is referred to as "The Frankenstein Place," as well as how he creates a living being who he all but abandons afterwards. In presentation, though, Frank seems more Dracula-esque, his initial appearence especially serving some kind of sexed-up Lugosi Dracula. There is also how Frank's greatest power arguably is his sex appeal, and how he's surrounded by hotties who he for some reason has decided he's done with. In death, Frank arguably becomes something more of a Fay Wray in King Kong, but honestly tracking what sort of silver screen icon Frank is emulating in any giving scene sounds like too big of a project for this already kind of bulky film post, so that'll go on the "to write later"-pile.

#film friday #rocky horror picture show #peebs thinks

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aviculor · 9 months

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I'm watching Birth/Rebirth, the new release I mentioned. Because it just came out recently, I'm going to spoiler tag my thoughts.

Oh my god, Celie IS played by the same actress as Carla from Scrubs! Judy Reyes! I knew it!

Rose is like a female Herbert West but even more clinical and asocial. I love when a piece of media has a woman who is a mad scientist and an offputting freak. I'd let her masturbate me in the bathroom.

Celie and Lila's story is so incredibly sad and compelling. The way the last time Celie saw Lila was when she was dropping her off with Pauline so she could go to work, and Pauline couldn't contact Celie when Lila got sick, and when Celie's phone was working again she heard all the voicemails including a message from Lila...it tugs at your heartstrings. It's tragic.

I know how blatantly obvious it is that Rose stole Lila's body because that's literally the premise of the film, but her behavior is just comically incriminating. What, you didn't think far enough ahead to have an alibi for when someone asks you where the body went? Also, how dumb would Celie have looked chasing Rose down and waiting outside her apartment and forcing her way inside if Rose's behavior wasn't related to Lila's whereabouts?

"Your daughter's genetic profile made her a perfect candidate for an experimental treatment I've been working on." "For meningitis?" "For death."

Crossing all kinds of ethical lines, I love it.

"Dignity and motherhood don't always line up". Another great quote.

The symbolism that Rose ended up sacrificing her reproductive system to bring Lila back into this world is not lost on me. Lila was figuratively birthed again. Rebirthed, you might say. Coupled with how Lila seemed to stop recognizing Celie as her mother and Rose became uncharacteristically warm and nurturing towards Lila. Which is especially jarring considering how the aforementioned sacrifice was due to her repeatedly...umm, "homebrewing"...stem cell serum.

Basically, motherhood is the overarching theme of the whole film. It's interesting how Writer/Director Laura Moss took inspiration from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, as many people would interpret Victor and his creation as being father and son. This predicates that acts of "creating life" are all equal, be it birthing a baby or resuscitating a corpse. Which circles back around to what I just said about Rose effectively being Lila's second mother.

...Which segues into how Rose and Celie's situation has undertones of a same-sex relationship. Celie moves into Rose's apartment when she learns about Lila, the two begin caring for one another, they're both Lila's mothers in literal and figurative senses, and Rose (involuntarily) stops going to bars to give men handjobs and getting herself pregnant after the "relationship" starts. Rose does not come off as being attracted to men, being completely emotionless about collecting sperm samples as well as other small details that code her as a lesbian. But most egregiously, when Rose was hospitalized, Celie got the staff to break confidentiality by saying they lived together and that was met with "Oh. Oh."

The whole "What would a parent do to save their child?" Psychological Horror aspect that Pet Sematary had, this film is all that. Distilled, in spades, turned up to 11. I really liked it. I can't even spoil anything about the last act. Go watch it yourself. It wowed me a lot more than the last Shudder exclusive film I saw.

#horror #birth/rebirth

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spacecasehobbit · 7 months

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The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster is such a good adaptation of Frankenstein and a really well done horror movie, too.

The movie did a really good job leaning on audience knowledge of Frankenstein's monster (that he's not really a monster, just scared and confused and reacting to other peoples' fear and violence) to build tragedy and empathy into Vicaria's 'monster' from the start, without needing to spend a bunch of time on retelling the part of the story that most of the audience would already be familiar with. And I appreciated how that allowed the movie to focus more time on telling Vicaria's story, as her story is the one that diverges in an interesting and new way from the original Frankenstein.

And props to the movie for the subtle hint that Vicaria's last name is Frankenstein during the parent-teacher meeting at her school. Almost missed that detail when I first watched it, which seemed fairly intentional on the writer's part and makes me wonder what other little easter eggs I might be able to catch on a rewatch.

I really enjoyed the way the movie played with the trope of the frightening little girl in a horror movie. The little kid wasn't scary because she was a supernatural entity or possessed or anything. She was just a little girl who wasn't old enough to understand why other people might find certain things scary, which gave her a far more terrifying nonchalance in certain scenes than the movie would have achieved if she'd been actively trying to be frightening.

Before I watched it, I read a few reviews online suggesting that the movie falls flatter in the last act. I didn't find that to be the case at all, though. I thought the twists towards the end were well done, fit with the tone and themes of the rest of the movie, and made for a pretty perfect frightening, tragic, and then very creepy final act.

#the angry black girl and her monster #tabgahm #horror movies #my thoughts #this movie does a great job telling a very human story #that centered generational trauma and systemic harm against a marginalized community as the backdrop for a horror story #in which this very bright teen girl was driven into some very horrifying choices

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bitchfitch · 2 years

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Programing Notes:

This is a firmly 18+ blog due to semi frequent depictions and discussions of sex

I'm a gothic romance artist/writer who focuses on horror and tragic themes which means a not insignificant portion of my content involves things some folk might find disturbing. such as physical and sexual violence, unhealthy or abusive relationships, and occasionally gore and body horror. Please be wary if those topics are difficult for you as I'm not great at always remembering to tag things.

this blog is more of a diary than anything else with the actually finished and polished stuff going up on Finale and Omnibus

A lot of what get posted here is unfinished, and due to my attention span issues, may never be finished or will not be finished for a while.

Links

Where else to find me: Twitter/Pillowfort/Bluesky/Dreamwidth

special link for Zach Fitch

Portfolio Blog: @bitchfitch-finale

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FAQ

What program and equipment do you use for art?

A galaxy note 20, and the app is Infinite Painter.

Gender?

gay.

are you FBCA?

no, FBCA is my monster a la Frankenstein and his son.

Can I tag you in things?

please

Secret to life, the universe, and everything?

Man Tits.

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angeltannis · 6 months

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Pros of Bride of Frankenstein (1935):

-The Bride looked really fucking cool. I loved her snappy, almost animalistic head movements.

-I liked learning more about the first monster, though he continues to be so tragic :c I loved the idea of him befriending a blind man who couldn’t see him to be afraid of him. And when the monster sympathetic cries with the guy!! 😭

-I guess this movie is considered by some “the earliest queer horror film”? Because of Frankenstein and Pretorius’ weird thing going on, with them creating life together. Also apparently the director of both Frankenstein and BoF was an openly gay man, so both the queer interpretations of BoF and the whole ordeal of the monster in general makes a lot more sense through that lens.

With Frankenstein being my favorite of the classic horror movies I’ve watched so far, it got me a little emotional to think about a gay person nearly a hundred years ago making a story that connected with a modern gay viewer (me) without me even knowing that tidbit. The pain radiates.

-not necessarily a pro or a con, but I thought it was wild how they caught audiences up by having actors portraying Mary and Percy Shelley and Lord Byron sitting around talking about the first movie, lmao. What a weird choice. I guess it worked, though.

Cons:

-why was The Bride in the movie for less than five minutes?!? The way these old movies culminate in the last 10-15 minutes and then just abruptly end drives me nuts!!

-Hays code censorship could be very clearly felt in this movie. The weird ass “happy ending” of the monster killing himself and the bride in the name of saving the doctor (who was never anything but cruel to him) was strange as hell.

If they wanted to have a happy ending, why not have the monsters establish a friendship and leave somewhere together 😭 Guessing this had something to do with it, though:

-I thought there’d be some explanation as to why her hair is Like That. There is not.

Overall rating: 7/10

Note: I was in a pretty bad mood when I watched this, so I may not have been in a space to fully appreciate it. I may revisit this film at some point.

#horror #the great horror movie watchathon #also the version I watched was ‘’colorized’’ which I assumed was professionally done until I started the movie #and it was fucking colored by AI #so it kept shifting colors constantly in that uncanny AI way #there was a significant audio delay too 😑

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thosearentcrimes · 1 year

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Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a lot better than Dracula. The flow of the text is better, it's more fun to read, the themes are more subtle and interesting. Perhaps a better work to compare to would be The Vampyre, a work which arose from the same impromptu writing circle as Frankenstein, and which apparently introduced the vampire into anglophone literature in a form recognizably similar to that which appears many decades later in Dracula. However, I have read Dracula, and so have many others, and I have not read The Vampyre.

By way of example of the superiority of Frankenstein, consider the use of the epistolary device. Dracula retains it throughout the narrative, in which it interferes constantly, to no appreciable benefit. The rapid shift from narrator to narrator is not accompanied by significant insight into their character and internal world, as the characters are in fact precisely who everyone else takes them to be. By contrast, Frankenstein also begins with an epistolary introduction, but then transitions reasonably cleanly into narrative. The epistolary device is not used to much greater effect, but less of a bad thing is still an improvement.

The writing of these letters is remarkably bad. I understand that tastes change, but the letters (including those cited in the non-epistolary section) consist largely of people telling each other things they clearly already know, for the benefit of the reader. Surely there is no point in writing letters into the story if they're not going to make sense within the narrative? Additionally, both letters and dialogue are all rendered in the same voice.

On this note, while Shelley has gone to great lengths to justify the eloquence of the monster, and this eloquence does in fact serve a worthwhile thematic purpose, the effect of it is reduced somewhat by every other character being bizarrely eloquent as well. Additionally the mechanism by which the monster is rendered eloquent is quite frankly a long series of plot holes. As appropriate as it is for the monster to reference Paradise Lost, it is quite inexplicable for a French-speaking monster in 18th century Germany to have found a copy of it (and some other books) in the first place, let alone been able to read it, for starters.

Some of the character introductions, especially but not exclusively those done by way of letters, are a bit too obviously utilitarian. I rather prefer it when the author either sets up all the characters and plot points in such a way that the reader cannot tell that they serve a specific narrative purpose later, or that they simply introduce them when they come up. A character brought up with no immediate motivation a chapter or two before they become narratively relevant is like a recognizable big-name actor in a police procedural, it gives the game away. I wonder what happens in a couple chapters with this tragic innocent in this gothic horror novel!

Despite all my criticism, I quite liked Frankenstein and I think it is not only worth reading but additionally a good book. The story has relevant themes, ably explored, without letting them get too far in the way of a gripping narrative. The philosophical points it sets out are still valid and relevant today, and not in a facile way. Merely substitute "life" for "intelligence", which in any case is really a substitution of synonyms as far as the general form of the argument goes, and make other minor adjustments as necessary, and you get a more intelligent analysis of AI than almost any I have read in the press or in blogs, though that speaks more to the miserable state of that discourse than anything else.

Easily the most affecting part of the book is the narration by the monster himself, and really the book improves as it approaches this point, and deteriorates as it departs. Some decontextualized quotes that particularly stuck with me: "I, too, can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him", "My vices are the children of a forced solitude that I abhor", and best of all "I intended to reason. This passion is detrimental to me; for you do not reflect that you are the cause of its excess."

#book report #Frankenstein #Mary Shelley #I should come up with a tag for books I liked

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eyesaremosaics · 2 years

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Favorite books?

Hmmm… that’s tough, I love a lot of books. I’m an old lady, I prefer classic literature, or historical fiction… horror fiction…. I guess if I had to narrow it down I would say:

--“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley. Probably my all time favorite. I really resonated with the “savage” in this novel. Now more than ever…

--“Interview with the Vampire” by Anne Rice, actually pretty much all the vampire chronicles. The vampire Lestat, queen of the damned, blood and gold, the vampire Armand, pandora… tale of the body thief…

—“Frankenstein: the modern Prometheus” by Mary Shelley, I just think it’s a powerful piece of literature. Beautifully written.

—“Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë, the darkest love story of all time.

—“A Spy in the house of love” by Anais Nin, I love most of Anais’ work, her diaries… delta Venus…

—“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, i know it seems pretentious and cliché—but I love virtually everything he writes. Always wished my birthday was the 24th instead of the 23rd so I could share it with him and Jim Henson😭. “The beautiful and the damned” “flappers and philosophers”… “this side of paradise”… all good.

—“Save me the Waltz” by Zelda Fitzgerald. I always thought her life was very tragic, and since she inspired so much of Scott’s work—naturally I found her a source of fascination as well.

—“the turn of the screw” by Henry James

— “the stranger” by Albert Camus

—“the bell jar” by Sylvia Plath with always hold a special place in my teenage heart.

—“the catcher in the Rye” by J.D Salinger. I love most of his stuff as well, I really feel Holden Caulfield. He knows what’s up.

—“Madame Bovary” by Gustave Flaubert

—“the Venus in Furs” by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

—“I Capture The Castle” by Dodie Smith (1948)

—“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte (1847)

—“Dracula” by Bram Stoker (1897) classic! Read it so many times.

Harry Potter and lord of the rings I’ve read countless times.

-Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1860), I gotta admit… I love me some Charles Dickens. This one is particularly special.

—Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961)

I always loved treasure island, and the Swiss family Robinson when I was a kid.

Lord of the flies has always stuck with me.

—“Slaughterhouse 5” by Kurt Vonnegut

I liked the lovely bones… flowers in the attic… I enjoyed chuck palahniuk back in the day.

Oh! I love “The Giver” by Lois Lowry.

A clockwork orange…

I love Stephen King. Pet Semetary is my favorite though.

I love “tuck everlasting” and “bridge to teribithia”.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938) is an all time fav. Love the Alfred Hitchcock movie as well.

Silence of the lambs…American psycho…. Hell House by Richard Matheson (1971),

Coraline by Neil Gaiman (2002), can I just say—Neil Gaiman must be the most prolific writer of modern times. I love so much of his stuff. I met him once in person, he’s a sweet man.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde—one of the best pieces of fiction ever written. I also love how cheeky Oscar Wilde was in general. Also a libra (my team!).

“The Yellow Wallpaper”, Short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Brilliant feminist piece of literature/social commentary on feminine “hysteria”.

“Go Ask Alice” by Beatrice Sparks.

“I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” by Joanne Greenberg

“Girl interrupted” Susanna Kaysen

“Fear and loathing in Las Vegas”, Hunter S. Thompson. I love reading his stuff, he cracks me up.

Too many to name, but there ya go!

#asks #favorite books

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namelessexistence · 2 years

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Someone send me an ask about my top 10 favorite books. For reasons that I do not want to explain right now (Tumblr being a bitch, in short) the ask got deletes, so I'm posting as a normal post

10 - Rebel of The Sands, by Alwyn Hamilton

It could be in a highter position, but it’s been a while I read and I don’t remeber it very well, but I remember really liking it.

9 - Deadly Sins of Evil: The Tailor of Enbizaka, by Akuno-P

Is it my favorite arc in Evillious? No. Is she my favorite character, or even my favorite sinner? Also no. But it gives a feeling that’s diferente from the rest of Evillious. Killing four people may feel very tame in comparasion with the other sinners, but it is kinda what makes me like it. It feels quiet, in comparasion with the rest of the universe in wich it takes place. It’s not na evil in the same scale as the rest, but it is an evil that slowly build itself. Also, Kayo always feels more deliberated than the other six, if that makes any sense.

8 - Auto Da Compadecida (A Dog’s Will), by Ariano Suassuna

A stage play that also got a movie adaptation. When I was younger, I casually said I never watched a play and I would like to. My father bought us tickets to that. I don’t have a lot of exemples of my father doing something for me, so it was pretty meaningful. Later, he bought me the “book”, that’s just the script of the play, but I love it anyway.

7 - The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

I really liked the narrator’s voice. Also, When I read, I was not having a good week and had no acess to internet or to my other books, so this book was my blanket, my confort.

6 - Daughter of Evil books (Clôture of Yellow, Wiegenlied of Green, Praeludium of Red and Praefacio of Blue), by Akuno-P

Riliane may not be my favorite sinner, but this is without a doubt my favorite arc in the Evillious Chronicles.

5 - Percy Jackson, by Rick Riordan

I mostly like Percy hilself.

4 - Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao

I love the relationship between the three main characters

3 - Scum Villain Self Saving System, Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Itmay not be rational to put a book that flawed in such high position in my personal list, but love is not rational. Is bingqiu na exemple of healthy relationships? No, but it is one of my favorite fictional couples, I love them, I love Luo Binghe, as fucked up as he is, I love to compare him to his original self and think about the future Shen Yuan (acidentally) saved him from. I love how tragic Heterosexual Male Power Fantasy Original Luo Binghe actually is. I could go on, but I’ll move foward.

2 -Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

I like it as a tragedy rather than an horror story. The Creature was a monster, but he wasn’t born a monster. Victor is worst than his creations and doesn’t even realize. It is tragic, and, being a classic, it feels inevitable to me, someone who read it When it was already wildly known, and “inevitable” is the best kind of tragedy. Also, there’s some aspects that are really funny to me, like ehen we reach the point in the story where we’re reading about that family inside the Creature’s narrative inside Victor’s narrative inside the letter Waton is writing to his sister, I can’t tell what she felt reading that.

1 - Mo Dao Zu Shi, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

My favorite story of all times, with a protagonista that is my favorite character from all times

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oddygaul · 3 months

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Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

Boy that’s not where I expected this movie to go.

I wasn’t necessarily floored by Pinocchio overall, but I appreciated what a wild take on a staid story it was; the movie’s tone is a big departure, and there are plenty of weird additions / alterations that gave it its own unique flavor. Right from the beginning, Pinocchio’s creation and initial moments are painted with the brush of a horror film: Geppetto carving Pinocchio in a drunken frenzy in the midst of a lightning storm is more Frankenstein than fairy tale, and this is driven home when we get our first look at Pinocchio moving around like an eldritch nightmare, all right angles and reversed joints.

I didn’t care much for the songs, excepting Ciao Papa, which was beautiful.

It was also surprisingly gorgeous. I think one of the reasons I put off watching it so long is that I had the impression it was pretty dreary visually, when in fact there’s a lot of gorgeous shot composition and vibrant environments, like Death’s domain.

While I thought the story eventually evoked the emotions it was going for, I didn’t feel especially connected to the characters throughout. Pinocchio’s initial wonder was endearing at times (his ‘Wow, I love it! …what is it?’ every time he’s presented with something new), but he’s such a dope for much of the movie it can be frustrating (despite knowing that’s the point, literally born yesterday and all). Sebastian has a strong intro, recounting his illustrious past and scholarly aspirations, but then doesn’t have a whole lot to do for the rest of the movie. Geppetto’s descent into grief and disarray is very clearly established, but he’s still so callous to Pinocchio in the first half that it’s hard to be sympathetic at times.

Still, the emotional beats land in the finale, largely through the movie not being afraid to make the proceedings grim as fuck to do so. Pinocchio giving up his immortality to go save Geppetto was a story beat I expected; the execution of seeing a maimed Pinocchio frantically kicking all his limbs and stumps in a desperate bid to get Geppetto to shore, I was not ready for. Then, Pinocchio’s ultimate tragic fate, even though he was brought back to life by a magic wish, is that he has to then go on living while slowly watching everyone he cares about die around him until he’s fully alone, old-school vampire style? Damn, son.

In the end, I have to respect it for taking a story as worn as Pinocchio and making it feel fresh. At one point, I was fully convinced that Pinocchio was about to Inglorious Basterds Benito Mussolini & use his powers as Italy’s immortal ubermensch to fully fork the timeline… how could I not give it some credit for making me type out a sentence like that?

Sebastian J. Cricket, homeowner.

#will's media thoughts / virtual brain repository #movies #guillermo del toro's pinocchio

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qu-film-history-to-1968 · 7 months

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Jacques Tourneur & Val Lewton’s Horror Spree (Ronnie Dinnel)

Cat People and Isle of the Dead are two completely different films despite both being created by director Jacques Tourneur and producer Val Lewton. Their partnership bloomed in the 30s and 40s when they created multiple psychological horrors such as Cat People and Isle of the Dead which were both largely successful. Val Lewton was known for creating films with a relatively low budget, with the exclusion of Isle of the Dead (Lewton’s most expensive horror film to date), and Tourneur had the creative vision to make these films come to life. Therefore, their partnership was a filmmaking match made in heaven in the eyes of studios. Once one of their films became successful, studios such as Universal and RKO did not hesitate to give them the opportunity to work together again.

Both films, Cat People and Isle of the Dead focus more on the psychological horror value rather than special effects and violence to inflict fear in their audience. This can be seen especially in Isle of the Dead which, for most of the runtime, is about the fear of a plague infecting people due to the war. This paranoia of getting a deathly illness can be felt throughout the entire cast, especially in Boris Karloff’s character, General Pherides who does not allow anyone to leave the Greek island until they are cleared by the doctor. “’We tossed away the horror formula right from the beginning,’ Lewton said. ‘No grisly stuff for us. No masklike faces, hardly human, with gnashing teeth and hair standing on end. No creaking physical manifestations. No horror piled upon horror.’ (Siegel, 31) What he counted on to frighten his audiences was something more elemental than the fear of a walking mummy” (Vieira, 3). It is clear that Lewton and Tourneur were more focused on creating horror out of potentially true events rather than the supernatural horror which dominated the genre at that time. While studios were pumping out fantasy horror films like Dracula, Frankenstein, Night of the Living Dead, etc., Lewton and Tourneur were focused on creating horror out of realistic scenarios. I believe this style of filmmaking appealed more towards adults since as kids we imagine monsters to be scary, but as we grow up, it becomes other humans we’re afraid of and their unpredictability. This paranoia and fear are what Lewton and Tourneur strive to achieve and inflict into their audience.

While Cat People has a small leading cast of around 3-5 characters, Isle of the Dead has a much larger cast which made the story a little more difficult to follow. I found the plague issue somewhat drawn out to the point whereby the end, I was siding with those who wanted to leave the island rather than General Pherides. I thought Cat People’s smaller cast helped to keep the story concise and scary since there were only a few characters which I really cared about, mostly Irena. I thought Isle of the Dead suffered from a lack of interesting characters to keep the story engaging, especially since Boris Karloff stole the show with his performance. Because of this, I only really cared about his character, General Pherides, while I could care less about the rest of the characters. This is a tragic issue for a horror film since unless those less engaging characters all end up dying in the end, their survival is pointless in the eyes of the viewers. I also think that because of the lack of engaging characters, a lot of tension was lost in the third act. While I was distraught when General Pherides died, I honestly couldn’t care less for the rest of the cast.

Looking at both of these films has given me a greater insight as to how horror can be made in different ways, and what makes a low-budget horror successful. Lewton and Tourneur have undoubtedly defined the early horror genre, and Boris Karloff helped bring life to the monsters and horrors of the 30s and 40s.

#submission

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introvert-celeste · 5 years

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My Topics in British Literature class is so much more interesting than I thought it would be, like we’re doing a discussion this week on the polar ice debates and climate change and this connects to the message in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The whole class is dedicated to “wild romanticism”: how nature is portrayed in the British imagination in the Romantic period. It’s such a big deal as far as British literature is concerned, but it seems like such a niche topic.

Anyways, I’m writing about how Frankenstein represents humanity and his monster is the dangerous environmental imbalance we have caused through our own actions, but are currently helpless to stop it. It’s a message that far more applicable now than it was in 1818.

#college talk #god I remember trying to read frankenstein in high school for fun and just hating it #I was on a classic horror story kick and I thoroughly enjoyed dracula by frankenstein's character pissed me off so much that I couldn't #finish even half the book #dumbass can't take responsibility for his fucking actions #also the MONOLOGUING #that's one of my biggest problem with gothic literature #the characters have to go on pages long tirades about #how tragic their situations are #both frankenstein and his monster do it and it's so exhausting #hell the entirety of the novel is just frankenstein monologuing while some guy writes it down #the entire novel is just some guy monolguing to his sister via letter about how terrible frankenstein's life is #but it's far more interesting now than it was then #clearly I finished the book this time

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maxwell-grant · 3 years

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Having asked your thoughts on designing Frankenstein's daemon, might I now ask your thoughts on bringing Count Dracula from the written word into illustration? (I'm definitely in favour of the 'Hairy Old Mountain Man of Horror pretending he's people' look from the original novel; one of the small tests too many Draculas fail to pass is an absolutely tragic lack of the Evil Beard and/or Wicked Moustache explicitly described by Mr Stoker).

Unlike with Frankenstein, where I think the design needs to be painstakingly thought out in order to achieve the best balance of the creature's traits for horror and tragedy alike, I think with Dracula you can actually just take an approach of "whatever works". Because as I mentioned before, I think much of the appeal and longevity of Dracula is how the character's both a layered villain as well as a shapeshifting narrative force that can be tailored to whatever you want to do with. Granted, there are bad or dissappointing Dracula designs, of course there are, but in regards to the leeway you get for reinterpretation, you get a lot more of it with Dracula than with other literary icons.

Like with Frankenstein, I'm gonna bring up how I'd tackle a less grim, more comedy-centric Dracula first, one that's less a force of horror and more of a charismatic villain, and I think to that end I definitely agree that people are sleeping a lot on the hairy old man barely-passing-off-as-humanoid of the original story. Despite very much loving these performers, I'm actually not a fan of takes that mold Dracula too closely to people who've portrayed him, like Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, partially because I think it's a waste of an opportunity to create your own Dracula design. Since I can't draw (yet), I'll do what I usually do and make a board of images to try and convey some of my thoughts on one way I'd design Dracula.

(Pictured: Kiwi's design for Dracula, Hotel Transylvania concept art, Nandor, Castlevania Dracula, Charles Dance in Dracula Untold, Vladislav, a Transylvanian rug)

I used the images in my other Dracula post and I’ll post it here again because I absolutely adore @kiwibyrd's designs for Dracula and it's main heroes, in particular I love the way it strikes a good balance at making sure Dracula looks distinctly separate from the humans, but not too much that he couldn't conceivably operate in society as just a harmless old man. I also adore the mustache and bushy eyebrows and pointy ears and I think these three are wonderful features to keep on any Dracula design. I'm also very partial to the Hotel Transylvania concept art, even if it makes me incredibly depressed to look at all the great designs they had for Dracula that they threw in the trash because they somehow decided making him look like Adam Sandler was the idea to go with.

I deeply adore What We Do In The Shadows, both the movie and the show, and Jemaine Clement's Vladislav is one of my favorite (maybe even my actual favorite) on-screen Draculas. But I also enjoy Nandor just as much, and I think it's really great that as a character he's completely different from Vlad while also being ostensibly a take on Dracula, and in particular I bring up his Jersey look because "Dracula in common clothing" is a criminally underrated concept for a joke.

As a character, I'm very partial to comedy takes on Dracula that play him up as a decadent aristocratic supervillain, the kind that can get away with talking in third person. I also have this idea for a version of Dracula who dresses ostentatiously in finely-broidered Romanian or Transylvanian patterns, maybe even wearing a rug as a cape, claiming that he's carrying the legacy of his people on his back. And of course he's lying, he's not Vlad Tepes and he's not even Romanian, he is just a parasite pretending to have a history to be proud of, but good luck getting him to admit that. And finally, I'd like this version to be played by Charles Dance, and I consider it a tremendous crime against humanity that he has yet to play Dracula proper even despite being in a film with the character's name on the title.

So that's kinda how I would design a take on Dracula for something more comedic or more based around him as this guest character and personality on-set. Now, if we're talking a more serious version, I think the possibilities increase, and I won't be getting into all of them because I may prefer to keep them to myself, but I'll elaborate a few ideas.

For example, the edition of Dracula I personally own comes with these really scratchy, really creepy B&W illustrations related to the story, that I can't find scanned online so I'm uploading them here so you can look at. They don't necessarily depict the scenes but rather some of the story's moments, like Van Helsing staking Lucy, Renfield in a straightjacket, Dracula as a coachman, and they are more focused on conveying the horror of the concepts at play.

Dracula never looks the same way in any of the illustrations, in fact you kinda have to piece him out of them by trying to find teeth or capes or eyes or bat-features to see where he's hiding this time. In the first, it's the half-man half-bat, in the 2nd, he's the shrieking bat silhouette next to Renfield, and in the latter, he's the gaping jaws and eerily humanoid eyes in the wolf. The effect to me almost feels like if you were to look at a bunch of tv static and then see a humanoid shape form for a split second before everything went back to normal, something like you'd get from Slender Man or other modern creepypastas, and I’ve argued before that Dracula’s form of horror is a very modern one.

In terms of illustrations of Dracula that keep up the original traits while still pulling off horror, I definitely have to hand it to the one at the left of the image above, drawn by regourso on Deviantart (account deleted at present). Going back to Castlevania’s many takes on Dracula, two in particular that stick out to me would be Castlevania: Judgment’s armored dress Dracula, who’s got this great twisted heart/rose motif going on in his outfit, and Dracula’s final form in SOTN where he just sits in his throne and his cape twists into all these monsters, particularly how it’s depicted by witnesstheabsurd’s depiction.

I’m not particularly a fan of how Dracula’s “final form” in these games is usually just some big demon, and part of what I like about his final form in SOTN instead is that, while it’s not a particularly challenging final boss, I do find it interesting the idea of us never actually getting to see what Dracula’s true final form looks like, only an ever-shifting pitch-black torrent of teeth and claws and bloody veins pouring out because that’s ultimately what Dracula is and brings to the world.

On the flip-side of the rotten old monster, we have the charming seductor Dracula, and while I’m really not a fan of how various adaptations have convinced people that “the point” of Dracula is that he’s a seductive force and an allegory for Victorian xenophobia and I’m reeeally even less of a fan of adaptations that make Dracula some misunderstood tragic hero (and I think I’ve made rather violently clear my feelings on interpretations that play up a romance between him and Mina), that the seductive force part exists is impossible to deny, so conversely, while on one hand we can have Dracula as the gargantuan whirlwind of predatory violence, we can also go for Dracula as the tantalizing lover.

I’ve seen a lot of opinions proclaiming Frank Langella as the best Dracula because he was the best at actually being seductive while still playing Dracula, although I haven’t yet seen his performances. If I had to point at one picture I look at and do buy for a second the idea of Dracula as a romantic character, it would be that particular still of Raul Julia in the left of the above image. And it’s strange for me to think of Raul Julia as attractive because I mainly associate him with his brilliant comedy performance of M.Bison (I know it’s far from the highlight of his career but, look, I grew up with Street Fighter, I can’t help it) but those eyes are definitely looking pretty convincing to me, if nothing else.

And I’ve included this still of Sebastian Stan in the right because, during a conversation between me, @krinsbez and @jcogginsa about who could be a good fit for Dracula, jcog suggested Sebastian Stan, partially because he’s Romanian, and I’ve learned recently that Stan was actually interested in playing the character in Blumhouse’s upcoming remake. And you’d think I’d hate this idea considering how much I don’t care for tragic anti-hero Draculas, but who says that’s what he’d have to play?

Do you have any idea how much actors, who are traditionally known for heroic or supporting roles, usually LOVE it when you give them a chance to cut loose as the main villain?

I’d want Sebastian Stan to put all of his charm, all of his talent, all of his good looks and etc, into playing the absolute most vicious, bloodthirsty and irredeemable Dracula put on screen. Someone who is exceedingly, eerily good at being a lovable protagonist, who’s all smiles and charming eyes and politeness mannerisms and maybe even a funny accent, and then it isn't as funny when he's flying through your window intent on kidnapping babies to feed to his brides, except he may take a moment or two to do so because he's feeling pretty hungry himself right now.

Now, admittedly this is kind of a lot to juggle in regards to a single character, which is why my answer for questions like these inevitably has to be “depends on what I’m going for”. That being said, if I was going to try and cast someone who I think could both look the part of Dracula, as well as respectively, play “cartoon aristocrat” Dracula, “mercurial embodiment of evil” Dracula, as well as realistically be an attractive, even seductive performer who can charm viewers even as the character descends into horrible villainy, and juggle these performances even?

I think I’d have to go with Mads Mikkelsen. Not specifically because of Hannibal (I actually haven’t watched it yet), although it’s definitely a factor, the thing that actually made me pick him specifically is, other than his looks, his voice, his reputation for playing sinister characters, the fact that he loves the role and wants to play it, or how many people are deeply in love with this man, or that people already joke that he looks like a vampire, was watching him in Another Round, and specifically that glorious final scene where he’s just dancing to his heart’s content and just, moving with such spring in his step and such joyful vitality even though he’s past his mid-fifties, and that was the moment where, in regards to how much you all love this man, I went

And now I am going to add “casting Mads Mikkelsen as a dancing Dracula” to The List of Reasons Why I Became a Filmmaker.

#replies tag #dracula #horror tag #bram stoker #charles dance #sebastian stan #mads mikkelsen #castlevania #raul julia #wwdits #what we do in the shadows #vladislav #nandor

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