The Hunger

Plot synopsis:
The film opens in a New York night club. The gothic rock band Bauhaus is onstage performing the song "Bela Lugosi's Dead". In the crowd are John and Miriam Blaylock (David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve). Stylishly dressed and predatory, they stalk the crowd and connect with a young couple (John Stephen Hill, Ann Magnuson). The couple takes them back to their home, where John and Miriam seduce them before viciously slashing their throats. John and Miriam are vampires, although not in any traditional sense; lacking fangs, they use ancient Egyptian pendants to cut open the jugulars of their victims.The center of their strange existence is Miriam. She is an immortal being, able to pass along her supernatural qualities to selected human beings that she chooses to be her lovers. However, her progeny are not truly immortal as she is, and sooner or later, usually after 300 years or so, they find themselves suddenly and rapidly getting old. However, the progeny are unable to die, but continue to live forever withered, in a fully conscious, vegetative state. Miriam packs their decaying, aging bodies in caskets that she keeps in the attic of her residence. In the 18th century, Miriam offered this gift of immortality to John, who eagerly accepted, as had all her previous lovers through the ages.Suddenly, John develops trouble sleeping, and starts aging at a rapid rate. Miriam is aware of the significance of this happening, and she goes looking for a famous gerontologist, Dr. Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon), desperately seeking her help for a cure for John's fast deterioration. She makes contact with Dr. Roberts, and through her psychic powers, finds out that the doctor is just guessing, and that her research is inconclusive. Therefore, John, as all her lovers before him, is doomed to extinction. John also attempts to meet with Dr. Roberts at her clinic, but she dismisses his claims as delusional and leaves him to sit in the waiting room, hoping that he will grow bored and leave. John ages decades within a few short hours, and when Sarah sees him later, she begs John to stay so she can examine him. But John refuses to speak to her, his hunger for blood nearly overpowering him and forcing him to leave in search of a victim.Driven by his bloodlust and desperation to reverse the aging process, John makes a kill out of young Alice (Beth Ehlers), a music student that he and Miriam are tutoring. Her blood does nothing to help John, and he eventually falls down a flight of stairs at the townhouse, his legs no longer able to support his own weight. Miriam carries John's withering body up to the attic and puts him in a casket, next to several other caskets containing her earlier lovers.Later on, when Dr. Roberts shows up at Miriam's door looking for John, Miriam sees in the doctor a replacement for John in her life; it is love at first sight for Miriam, and she immediately proceeds to seduce Sarah. Sarah is a willing participant in Miriam's seduction, but she doesn't know that Miriam has now transformed her into a vampire, just as she did to John and her other lovers.Lieutenant Allegrezza (Dan Hedaya) shows up at Miriam's house looking for Alice, and is immediately suspicious of Miriam, although he has no real proof of any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Sarah begins to manifest symptoms of vampirism. She is ravenously hungry, but eating normal food makes her vomit. She also starts seeing Miriam everywhere she looks. Finally she confronts Miriam about what happened between them on that day, and Miriam vaguely states that she has given Sarah eternal life, and that they belong to one another now. Sarah rejects what Miriam has told her, but she does understand that something terrible has happened to her. Sarah and her partners at the clinic, including Sarah's boyfriend, Tom Haver (Cliff De Young), cannot find a cure for the change that is occurring in Sarah's blood, and in desperation Sarah returns to Miriam. Miriam arranges for Sarah to make her first kill, bringing back a male prostitute, but Sarah is unwilling to take a human life.Finally, Tom arrives at the townhouse looking for Sarah following her disappearance, and is surprised to find that Sarah is there. Miriam knows that Sarah's hunger is now beyond reason, and when she takes Tom to Sarah, Sarah kills him for his blood. Miriam is now convinced that she has found her new lover, and she tells Sarah that they will now share an eternity together. Sarah, however, is wracked with guilt over taking Tom's life, and she attempts suicide by cutting her own throat with Miriam's ankh as they kiss. Sarah's blood pours into Miriam's throat and then Sarah collapses. Miriam is horrified at what Sarah has done, but she dutifully carries Sarah's limp body into the attic to place her among her other dessicated lovers. This time, however, she finds her crumbling lovers now out of their coffins, waiting for her. The sudden intake of Sarah's blood has caused a change in Miriam. Suddenly released from Miriam's spell, the lovers crumble into dust as Miriam herself begins to wither.The film's conclusion shows Lieutenant Allegrezza returning to question Miriam, only to find that the townhouse is now mysteriously empty and up for sale, all of the luxurious furnishings in the home gone and the money funneled to the sleep clinic where Sarah, presumably missing, used to work. In the final shot, we see Sarah herself living in a high rise luxury apartment surrounded by several lovers, while Miriam, imprisoned in a coffin just as she did to her own lovers, screams for her release.

Tags: neo noir, gothic, murder, paranormal, cult, atmospheric

Review:
But Sarandon, though initially easy to seduce (in an erotic lesbian scene) proves to have a will stronger than Miriam's, and Miriam's habit of keeping her collection of ex-lovers cadavers close at hand, proves to be a mistake.This is a strange film, almost as cold and dispassionate as one might well imagine a vampire to be.
"The Hunger"(1983)by Tony Scott is a stylish vampire flick filled with some wonderful visuals.The film is excellently acted-a stunningly beautiful Catherine Deneuve is truly memorable as Miriam-an ageless vampire and former Egyptian queen.There is plenty of blood and vampire lesbian sex,so everyone who is into horror films or Goth music should see this cult flick.The opening scene with Bauhaus playing "Bela Lugosi is Dead" is priceless!.
The director shows vision, not only in its visual medium but the editing, the music, the production design, the classical costumes and the chance to work with some talent.David Bowie is very good, almost perfect for his part and Catherine steals the whole film.
Susan Sarandon is also very good, the infamous Lesbian scenes are highly erotic and also very artistic.This film isn't your usual Vamp movie, the film adds depth to these so-called Vampires.The film probably required a bit more plot but nevertheless, this is all about style, this film looks fantastic.Do not watch this in pan and scan, make sure you see it in widescreen because the director and cinematographer make full use of the panavision width..
Dream-like horrorWhitley Streiber's highly suspenseful and thematically rich novel is transformed into something entirely different by Tony Scott.The film is a dream-like arthouse horror pic with diamond-studded production values.Catherine Deneuve is very, very good as eternal blood drinker Miriam Blaylock.
David Bowie is superb as Deneve's not-so-immortal beloved and convinces us to emphasize with his condition (he is aging rapidly)This was Tony Scott's first feature and it is a beautiful piece of work that is rich in texture and design and demonstrates adroit control of cinematic craft.The sound design and rich catalog of music cues are pitch perfect.Certainly bearing little resemblance to Streiber's novel (just as Michael Wadleigh's WOLFEN also moved away from same author's source),  THE HUNGER is, nevertheless, gorgeous art..
The film talks about Catherine Deneuve ,she's a seductive vampire living along centuries with David Bowie.They need fresh blood for the eternal life .But Bowie is about to disintegrate and is substituted by a new lover,an enticing scientific-medic ,Susan Sarandon.The picture is a bizarre bloodsuckers film and for somebody considered with a cult movie's status.It displays luxurious scenarios,arty photography although mostly developed on interior studios.The French actress Catherine Deneuve,as always, is cold and elegant.David Bowie as young and older vampire in an exciting transformation is well.Susan Sarandon as an obstinate scientist is good.Features known secondary actors, Dan Hedaya as a Police Inspector and Cliff DeYoung as Sarandon's lover.
The movie is classified by the MPAA with the rating R for blood,violence,gore and kinky nudism.The motion picture is well realized by Tony Scott though a little slow-moving and quite boring.He's nowadays much success and getting high box-office with hits like : ¨Crimson tide, Enemy of state,Spy game,Man of fire and Deja Vu¨ and founded along with his brother Ridley, ¨Scott-Free Production¨..
Otherwise you might miss some points and end up in a confused state.As for the acting, David Bowie is remarkable in his little part, Catherine Deneuve is all class and beauty, and Susan Sarandon has some good scenes.
Egyptian vampire lady Miriam Blaylock (Catherine Deneuve) is about to rid herself of her present lover John (David Bowie) like so many others before him.
In desperation, he seeks the help of famous Dr. Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon) and her boyfriend Tom (Cliff De Young) who are researching rapid aging in primates.This movie is filled with good moody atmosphere and interesting style.
I believe this is the 3rd time, or so, that I read this good book.Since I watched this back in 1983, I couldn't even remember who were the other actors besides Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie.
A film that is around 70% flashy style and 30% narrative substance, "The Hunger" (1983) demonstrates that no love affair lasts forever...even those between eternal vampires.
Thus, here, Catherine Deneuve, playing what must be the most beautiful bloodsucker in screen history (at least, since Ingrid Pitt last bared her fangs), is in a quandary when her current lover, centuries-old David Bowie, suddenly starts to age rapidly.
The picture is certainly interesting, featuring as it does very unconventional vampires (e.g., they can be seen in mirrors and walk about in daylight), and Bowie is excellent in his too-brief role (the film kind of falls apart figuratively after he does literally), but not enough info was supplied to satisfy this viewer.
Catherine Deneuve, lovely as always as Mrs. Blaylock, his companion and mysterious neighbors in an upscale NY brownstone.Susan Sarandon is very good here as research doctor attempting to discern the cause of the disease "pro geria", wherein people age at a rapid rate.
He does quite a good job here among two great actress like Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon.And so, we got here the efficient soundtrack of Bauhauss, which falls as a glove to the movie.
Combining the luridness of an MTV rock video with the ultrachic posturing of a cosmetic commercial and the cool, alienated indifference of a European art film, all embellished with flashes violence and simmering erotica, THE HUNGER is a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD as conceived by a high fashion photographer.While this might not add up to a genuine style as such, the film does achieve a certain bastardized beauty that is fascinating and difficult to forget in its clash of the gorgeous and the garish, the grandiose and the grotesque.
Title: The Hunger (1983) Director: Tony Scott Cast: David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, Catheryn Deneuve Review: This was director Tony Scotts first film.
But the one horror film that he did make was excellent and I will go on now explaining why I liked it so much.First off, the story develops around a very old vampire called Myriam Blaylock.
These guys are simply vampires because they feed on blood and can live forever if they take good care of themselves.Susan Sarandon, David Bowie and Catheryn Deneuve all deliver great performances.
The only things I liked in this film were the very beginning (i love the band Bauhaus, so seeing them featured in the club at the beginning was very cool & sinister/dramatic--too bad that feeling ends so quickly, it had me psyched for a good movie!), and the make-up work done on Bowie to make him appear to age.
It's frustrating because if a lot had been stripped out and the film focused on Deneuve's attempts to replace lovers and Sarandon's battle with her vampirism, it could have been a good gothic horror film but instead, we get a commercial..
A beautiful vampiress(Catherine Deneuve) tries to find new life sustaining blood for her dying vampire(David Bowie)lover.
French icon Catherine Deneuve and singer David Bowie play this fiendish couple to great effect, in this movie that marks the theatrical directing debut for Tony Scott, who of course went on to great fame directing things like "Top Gun" and "True Romance".
In turns beautiful, boring, original, provocative, and confusing, Tony Scott's (brother of Ridley) neo-Gothic vampire film will likely leave audiences with mixed reactions, though the visual poetry, engaging leads (Bowie, Deneuve, Sarandon), and evocative--though so very 80s-- soundtrack will be enough to satisfy the appetites of some horror fans..
With the passing of the legendary David Bowie, I can't help but ponder this phenomenal foray into 'Vampire eroticism 80's style.' Time has shown 80's films often don't hold up but Tony Scott's atmospheric feast is the exception for sure.
"The Hunger" Tells the Story of John Blaylock (Played by David Bowie) and Miriam Blaylock (Played by Catherine Deneuve), a vampire couple who hunt the blood of the young and reckless every other night.
Miriam Blaylock (Catherine Deneuve) and her lover John (David Bowie) are actually Vampires living in New York City.
David Bowie has been kept alive for a long time while serving as the lunch cum lover of the Vampire Miriam ( Catherine Deneuve) But he has just about reached the point where she can not keep him alive any more, so she now seeks a replacement.
In fact, it begins very well, as Miriam and her lover John (David Bowie, not bad surprisingly)enter a nightclub and seduce some disposable prey to take back to their doom.Everything, from the editing to the superb use of music, shifting from 80's Gothic rock to classical, oozes atmosphere and danger.
I also love vampire films and I love David Bowie, so for me, movies don't really get much better.
The opening sequence which features Bauhaus performing 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' is pretty entertaining in a kitschy way, and Bowie is actually quite good (his sequences are easily the best parts of the movie), but Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon are required to do very little but some rolling around on a bed, and it isn't even sexy.
Movie Review: "The Hunger" (1983)Director Tony Scott (1944-2012) feature debut, based on a minor-succcessful novel of 1981 by author Whitley Strieber, had been showing off "out-of-competition" at Cannes Film Festival 1983 in its 36th edition, when acting triangle surrounding Catherine Deneuve, at superbly-seductive age of 39, Susan Surandon continuity-introduction as exceptional actress with scene-stealing feature skills, while musician David Bowie (1947-2016) calmly as ultra-cool tempt to amaze as vampires always on the hunt for young blood in night club lounge atmosphères and business people of class at day in London, England of the 1980s, when steamy, film-noir, color-shadowed cinematography by Stephen Goldblatt rescue this nevertheless out-standing motion picture of just being an overlong life-style commercial of high society, when erotic as sexual moments are well observed by T.
i had to take a shower after i watched it to clear my mind and wash away the melancholy Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon are great, as are their boobs; i've never particularly cared for David Bowie, but fans might enjoy watching him sulk through the first half of the film.
Essentially a vampire movie with little horror, The Hunger is Scott at his most subdued, portraying the tragic end of one long-term companionship and the beginnings of a new one.Miriam (Catherine Deneuve) and John (David Bowie) are vampires living a life of solitude, emerging occasionally to feed and giving weekly violin lessons to a young girl named Alice (Beth Ehlers).
Remorseful, Sarah seeks John out but instead finds Miriam, who instantly strikes up an attraction with the beautiful doctor.Although he was criticised throughout his career for favouring style over substance with sickly action movies like Spy Game (2001) and Domino (2005), this approach works well for The Hunger.
The dichotomy of filmmaking brothers Ridley and Tony Scott always fascinates me because where Ridley lacks in craft and detail, Tony always seems to excel, even in his later action pictures like Unstoppable, which have now become grounds for "vulgar auteurism." Tony gets the details of The Hunger down to a tee, be them in an aesthetic perspective that allows the bright color of red to pulsate through the screen at various points in the film, or in a narrative perspective, which has Sarandon's Sarah the main subject of serious commentary on sexual awakening, particularly lesbianism and whether or not her story is a parable of coming to terms with one's own sexuality.The Hunger is less a film defined by the strength of its acting, but by the sheer presences and personalities its performers exist as, particularly Catherine Deneuve, who radiates enigma throughout the entire film.
A beautiful soul in the film, yet undeniably troubled and weighed down by circumstance, Deneuve's Miriam manages to be one of the film's most fascinating characters, despite most of the crucial events of the film happening to David Bowie's John, largely because of her ominous presence throughout the course of the film.The Hunger's most prominent shortcoming comes in the regard of its editing, which juxtaposes the story of Dr. Roberts with Miriam and John's, causing a rather tumultuous and unpolished editing scheme that has Scott at a quandary in terms of maintaining narrative cohesion.
Scott and company have, in turn, crafted a vampire film not guaranteed to live forever, but one that will not die quickly thanks to all it lays out on the table.Starring: Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, and Cliff De Young.
It takes place in New York (although the shooting was done almost entirely in London), Miriam and John Blaylock (Deneuve and Bowie) are blood-seeking immortals (the word "vampire" has never been disclosed through the entire film), living in a grandiose mansion, but "immortal" turns out not to be the case for John, since he is originally human and the eternal life which is bestowed by Miriam has a life expectancy (several hundreds years supposedly), so he seeks help from Doctor Sarah Roberts (Sarandon), whose research team is working on the relation between sleep and ageing, but his doom seems inevitable, and it also directly introduces Miriam a new disciple as John's successor, only this time, a shallowly characterised succession will alter their fate forever.As a first-timer, Scott competently captures the ethos of the time to embellish the vampire subculture with the sonic alternation of synth-pop (Bauhaus' opening performance of BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD) and classic pieces (Schubert's PIANO TRIO NO.2 and Léo Delibes' LAKMÉ: THE FLOWER DUET) to underline the dual facets of vampire's lifestyle: their innate dependence on gore and their noble superiority of eternity; also his visual stratagem is exemplary to cast a sensational vibe during the utterly male-skewing erotic lesbian sex scenes and the pigeons and ghastly cadavers galore finale.
The vampirism is implied as being scientific in nature (associated with blood transfusions, a gerontology lab).The most supernatural the film ever gets is the seeming subconscious telepathy that Miriam and Sarah share.David Bowie , Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon make a great trio.
It's gorgeous and seductive at the same time.All three leads, Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon looks fantastic in this movie.
Directed by Tony Scott and starring Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie The Hunger is a vampire film you'll either love or hate.
If you like a slow paced film that is very far removed from the usual vampire predicable story, The Hunger is one to watch..
OK so it's shot like a bad, early 80's movie video but it has David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve as vampire lovers.
The Hunger starts off as a bad '80s music video for post-punk band Bauhaus, who perform their song Bela Lugosi's Dead in a nightclub amidst lots of blue light and smoke, after which director Tony Scott settles for a soporific avant garde/art-house style to tell his dreary story of a vampire, Miriam Blaylock (Catherine Deneuve), whose lovers eventually succumb to rapid ageing and death, despite her promise of eternal youth.
David Bowie plays John, the latest of Miriam's partners to grow old and die before her eyes, and Susan Sarandon is doctor Sarah Roberts, who finds herself with a hunger for blood after a lesbian fling with the vampire.Repetitive intercutting of scenes, lots of billowing curtains, people smoking cigarettes, more fluttering pigeons/doves than a John Woo film, and classical music: chic and stylish is what Scott is clearly aiming for; boring and pretentious is what he delivers.A pitiful 1/10, despite Deneuve and Sarandon's sexy scene, and some excellent old-age make-up by industry legend Dick Smith..
The Hunger (1983)** (out of 4) When vampire Miriam Blaylock (Catherine Deneuve) bites a new lover, they don't age, which is a great benefit but that changes when she's done with you and wants someone else.
John (David Bowie) finds himself aging at a rapid pace so he goes to a doctor (Susan Sarandon) for help but soon the doctor finds herself under the spell of Miriam.THE HUNGER features some truly great stuff but sadly it's all pretty much lost in this rather bland movie that's certainly a strange take on the vampire story but in the end there's just way too much style and not a lot of substance.
In New York City, the lovers Miriam Blaylock (Catherine Deneuve) and John (David Bowie) are vampires that survive through time under the Egyptian symbol of Ankh.
However, he does not survive, and Miriam selects Sarah to be her next lover."The Hunger" is one of the best vampire movies ever made.
Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie and Susan Sarandon have overwhelming performances in this unforgettable movie.
Miriam's past is only vaguely hinted at in fleeting images, most notably her memory of an ages-old lover making a first killing out of an Egyptian slave.However, the film's biggest weakness is not the Playboy-style lesbian scene between Sarandon and Deneuve, but rather the confusing ending.
There was no way Sarah could have become what Miriam was, so the movie seems to be suggesting something else was going on here.On the positive side, there are a number of great actors in this cast, even other than Deneuve, Sarandon, and Bowie.
D)Why is it that the other aged lovers appear to disintegrate in death before our eyes, but Susan Sarandon shows up in the final scene, apparently the new eternal vampire replacing Miriam.
Cue the famous love scene between Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon, followed by an ending that makes very little sense, even by comparison with what has gone before." 'The Hunger' is a mood, a look, an ambience created by Tony Scott.
A terrible film.Oh, the synopsis, or lack there of..a vampire femme,Miriam(the lovely Catherine Deneuve who brings little depth to this character..perhaps the script provided little chance to do so) from Egypt with her pendant always hanging from the neck, watches as her chosen lover John(David Bowie)is beginning to rapidly age with no stop in sight.
Miriam (Catherine Deneuve) a vampire and her current partner John (David Bowie) live in Manhattan and exist off the blood of punks (it seems).