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sunnyskywalker ) Feminist SF – The Blog posts “I will not die for your amusement” regarding an upcoming dire-looking film “Lesbian Vampire Killers”. That’s killers of lesbian vampires, not vampire killers who are lesbians*, which would be a no doubt superior film.
Hell, check the trailer – you could write a book just on the social issues involved there. Where to start? The heroes are, of course, both men. We get lots of women kissing each other for the titillation factor – but, you know, it’s the result of an evil curse, because as we all know, women exist purely for male entertainment. It’s fine if they make out with each other for our amusement, but you wouldn’t want that to be an actual relationship, now would you?
Fortunately, our heroes are there to decapitate the evilfeminist vampire ringleaders and save the women from the nightmarish fate of not having sex with men. It’s a light-hearted comedy romp, and what’s more comedic that the bloody killing of historically persecuted groups? Nothing!
Hell, ignore those horrific implications – and that’s pretty much all this movie looks like it has to offer – and there’s still not much of value here. The writers no doubt feel that ‘lesbian vampires’ is an outlandish enough idea that it makes for comedy gold on its own. Except… well, Carmilla predates Dracula by quarter of a century. 'Dracula’s Daughter' came out only five years after the Lugosi Dracula film. Lesbian vampires are about as outlandish as vampires that avoid the sign of the cross.
There’s no actual comedic idea here, because the plot’s basically just a replay of an established horror movie trope; the identification of the monstrous others as gay. You could do a parody, exaggerating and mocking the plot and concept of the lesbian vampire sub-genre, but somehow I doubt that’s what’s going on here. Let’s face it, the people who made this film aren’t interested in examining the genre even at the most basic level required for a parody – they just want low-level lesbian titillation presented in a context that’s still completely non-threatening to male power. And then they call it a comedy so they can brush of any criticism by saying “lighten up.”
Christ, at least traditional horror films were at least willing to stand by their – often nauseatingly reactionary – work, not try and have their cake and dismiss it as parody at the same time…
* Movie idea – Vampires live in the Balkans, right? The Greek islands are kinda in the Balkans if you squint, right? So Lesbos logically would have vampires. Or Lamia or striges or whatever, doesn't matter. Alright, so they’re preying on the poet Sappho’s students, and she and the surviving students have to track them down and stop them. It’s Xena crossed with Buffy; can’t fail!
sunnyskywalker ) Feminist SF – The Blog posts “I will not die for your amusement” regarding an upcoming dire-looking film “Lesbian Vampire Killers”. That’s killers of lesbian vampires, not vampire killers who are lesbians*, which would be a no doubt superior film.Hell, check the trailer – you could write a book just on the social issues involved there. Where to start? The heroes are, of course, both men. We get lots of women kissing each other for the titillation factor – but, you know, it’s the result of an evil curse, because as we all know, women exist purely for male entertainment. It’s fine if they make out with each other for our amusement, but you wouldn’t want that to be an actual relationship, now would you?
Fortunately, our heroes are there to decapitate the evil
Hell, ignore those horrific implications – and that’s pretty much all this movie looks like it has to offer – and there’s still not much of value here. The writers no doubt feel that ‘lesbian vampires’ is an outlandish enough idea that it makes for comedy gold on its own. Except… well, Carmilla predates Dracula by quarter of a century. 'Dracula’s Daughter' came out only five years after the Lugosi Dracula film. Lesbian vampires are about as outlandish as vampires that avoid the sign of the cross.
There’s no actual comedic idea here, because the plot’s basically just a replay of an established horror movie trope; the identification of the monstrous others as gay. You could do a parody, exaggerating and mocking the plot and concept of the lesbian vampire sub-genre, but somehow I doubt that’s what’s going on here. Let’s face it, the people who made this film aren’t interested in examining the genre even at the most basic level required for a parody – they just want low-level lesbian titillation presented in a context that’s still completely non-threatening to male power. And then they call it a comedy so they can brush of any criticism by saying “lighten up.”
Christ, at least traditional horror films were at least willing to stand by their – often nauseatingly reactionary – work, not try and have their cake and dismiss it as parody at the same time…
* Movie idea – Vampires live in the Balkans, right? The Greek islands are kinda in the Balkans if you squint, right? So Lesbos logically would have vampires. Or Lamia or striges or whatever, doesn't matter. Alright, so they’re preying on the poet Sappho’s students, and she and the surviving students have to track them down and stop them. It’s Xena crossed with Buffy; can’t fail!