Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Sexy Dead People

I have realized it will soon be Halloween. I know this because there are humungous candy displays in the grocery stores and a glut of really bad horror movies on cable. Yes, I am that clueless about dates. Whenever I talk to my mother, she always asks if I called someone on their birthday, which was last week. I always reply that I did not, as I did not know. I then ask her to remind me before the actual birthday, but so far, no dice.

However, as it is Halloween, I have decided to do a few blogs about monsters and some of the various Halloween traditions. First off, vampires.

Now at some point in the last century, vampires became sexy. Now some of you may not realize this, but historically, vampires were not attractive, brooding loners with a penchant for black clothes who whined about their lot in life (unlife).

Vampires used to actually be scary. People were afraid of them.

No, really. I am not kidding.

Vampires were EVIL. Bad evil, not cool evil. They would actually kill you. And they would do it in a messy, and above all, painful way. And they were ugly. Not in a disheveled, hip, too-cool-to-care-about-my-appearance way, but in a not-human, holy &#@! what-is-that kind of way.

Vampires did not agonize over moral decisions. They did not feel pity or remorse. They did not hang out in coffee shops or Hot Topic. People were takeout food, so to speak.

Now, I am not saying these new, coiffed vampires are a bad thing (pun intended), but I think the pendulum has swung too far to one side. Sure, I loved Underworld and Blade and Buffy, but there should be some love for the misshapen, flesh ripping, soul-eating, malodorous, non-recycling, village-slaughtering monstrosities as well.

But maybe that is just me.

Cheers,
-Jason

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

From what I hear, "30 Days of Night" has just the kind of vampires you're looking for. Here's an excerpt from a review by Gary Mitchel on RevolutionSF (http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.html?id=3764):

"These vampires are human sharks. Their mouths are filled with either triangular or needle teeth that tear flesh open, leaving their jaws and necks covered in blood. Their nails are long raking claws they use to rip and shread (sic). Their eyes are narrow, soulless black pits. They're strong, fast and merciless. No angst-filled members in this bunch."

- Wyvern

Jason Janicki said...

Cool! I know what I'm doing this weekend :)

Thanks for the update.