In case I forget again...

Sheesh. Good thing I ran across Abel Ferrara's name. Of course, as a globe connected to the internet, we all labour under a certain amount of short attention span and short term memory. Because I don't get to these reviews as quickly as I should, I put them off. But a friend of mine did TiVo Abel Ferrara's 1995 vampire pic The Addiction. How bad could it be? For me, rather bad. I know Ferrara's one of those directors that film critics kinda have to like. I'm no longer living by myself in a mancave of an apartment, so I missed my chance to see Bad Lieutenant 1 with Harvey Keitel. That's the one he'll be remembered for, of course. For me, probably Driller Killer; gotta love that title. I'm not even gonna post a pic of The Addiction. Phooey.
But I will give it some storyline props. It was ahead of Twilight by 13 years. Here's the story. SPOILER ALERT. A young, naive Lili Taylor gets bitten by vampire chick Annabella Sciorra, and you know what happens? She becomes COOL, that's what happens! She rocks the academic world, that's what happens! She wears sunglasses at night, talks like Kerouac on speed, and is COOL COOL COOL. That's basically what happens. Lili converts her close friends, Lili runs afoul of a vampire alpha male, stages a vampire coup of sorts of the literati at her Ph.D. ceremony, and generally climbs the vampire and scholar social ladder, spouting pseudo-Ayn Rand philosophy along the way. Or maybe I'm not giving it the credit it deserves. Maybe if Ed Wood wrote slightly hipper scripts, like Diablo Cody does. But, don't worry, folks. Good triumphs in the end, if you consider the Catholic Church good. Close enough for this movie. Christopher Walken has a short scene as the alpha male that Lili runs afoul of. Walken was a busy boy in 1995, what with The Prophecy and all, but he owed Ferrara a favor, I guess. Ferrara owes all of us, I think. Especially for Dangerous Game. Hmm! Is screenwriter Nicholas St. John some sort of pseudonym for Ferrara himself? He seems to get work ONLY WITH Ferrara... kinda like John Brownjohn only seems to work with Roman Polanski. Another mystery for the ages.
One last thought. Most modern movies are in black and white in order to make a bold statement about cinema, or for the unique visual opportunities it offers. I think Ferrara chose black and white because it's cheaper, and because you can use Hershey's chocolate sauce for blood.

**
-so sayeth The Movie Hooligan