I once heard of a medieval case of an old woman who was suspected of being a witch dying. The villagers quite unceremoniously tossed her dead body into a ditch. Well, at. Night, she allegedly ran up and down the village streets screaming and pounding on doors. So the townsfolk got together and gathered up the remains. They staked her with a crude stick of wood, and tossed her again into the offensive ditch. This time she rose up, tore the stake out, and used it as a weapon to hit the villagers over the head. After a while the old woman’s ghoulish presence became too much for the villagers, who broke down and gave her a Christian burial. This seems to have done the trick, since her reanimated corpse was never seen again.
One of rock music’s most influential superstars, David Bowie, passed away in January 2016. Bowie was a clear influence on such rock genres such as glam rock, new wave, punk, and a host of others. He was a genius who shape-shifted from one striking character to another. So I will take this time to recommend one of Bowie’s films: The Hunger. Visually striking and erotic, The Hunger was an unusual horror film. The film starts out with two immortals (Bowie and Catherine Deneuve) who hang out at punk rock clubs looking for potential victims. Soon John (Bowie) begins to age rapidly and seeks help from a scientist (Susan Sarandon), whose work deals with the aging process. We soon find out that all of Deneuve’s past lovers also began to age and whither away. Unable to die, she places their mummified remains in boxes in her attic where they lie whispering to themselves. In need of a new partner, Deneuve sets her sights on Sarandon in a very tasteful love scene. Well filmed by the late Tony Scott, The Hunger can be seen as the Miami Vice of vampire films. Glitteringly beautiful and stylish, a cult following is assured. RIP David.