As I reread and revisit the films of Issue 16 of Diabolique Magazine before I give it away. I have to kick myself for picking one of the most dense issues they put out. Where I want to watch and review a selection of the films in the issue I will have my work cut out for me. A tribute to Peter Cushing it is jam packed with remembrances of Cushing, a retrospective of his career and features stories on many of the films and characters that made his career.
The first article, not about Cushing is an interview with Director Neil Jordan by Editor Max Weinstein, he had just released Byzantium his new Gothic vampire film starring Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Arterton, and Sam Riley. Directed by Neil Jordan and Written by Moira Buffini the film underwhelmed at the box office only making 860k est. on an 8 million dollar investment. IMDB member rating sits at 6.5 at the time of this writing which isn’t horrible. The actresses were praised for their performances but at the time there was some vampire fatigue, and Jordan the Director of the smash hit Interview with a Vampire so expectations were high. Unfortunately the film was marketed as a moody arthouse film and was not pushed as a wide release doomed it at the box office.
Meditative and moody it is but worth a viewing. Byzantium is a story of a Mother, Clara (Arterton) and Daughter, Eleanor (Ronan) vampires who struggle to feed themselves without drawing attention and having to change cities often because of it. Clara is defined as the unstable of the two and Eleanor the more empathetic of the two. The contrast is a way of showing the monstrous side versus a more humane side to the problems they face. Both women are younger looking both being turned while young women. It is also a way of looking at trauma and different responses to it. Do you attempt to heal it or do you mask it and deal with the chaos of not dealing with the harm? Both women as we learn through flashbacks to their pasts are traumatized, horrible lives for both hundreds of years before we meet them. Clara learned how to lie cheat and steal in her life and falls back to those behaviors again and again. She preys on men, the sex who hurt her so badly in her human life. Eleanor is more contemplative about her need to feed, a writer who feels deeply in her long vampire life only feeds on the elderly ready to die minimizing her chances of discovery.
Complicating their situation is that there is a brotherhood of vampires who do not accept that two women vampires were created and still roam the earth. Behind a mask of a noble cause they their misogyny and the desire to be a boys club only. Clara and her feeding on random dudes who want her body continues to draw the attention of the brotherhood. They have not forgiven her for stealing the map of a secret location where a person ready to die can be transformed into a vampire. In fact the initiating incident of the film is one of the brotherhood catching up to Clara. She is capable and bold and a danger to the patriarchy and it’s a good theme. Eleanor fits into it too but contrasts Clara’s boldness with thoughtful introspection that is equally threatening to the brotherhood. Complicating there lives in this crucial moment is also is Eleanor reluctantly beginning a honest relationship with Darvell (Sam Riley) who once he knows Eleanor’s secrets is a risk Clara won’t tolerate. There is a punch pulled in the third act of this film when the Mother and daughter are finally tracked done by the brotherhood and it seems they are at serious risk, a script choice veers off what the audience wants which is the women overcoming the evil. Instead something happens where their agency is taken away blunting a lot of the character development that came before the moment. When all is said and done I think this a fine film that skews some of its themes in the end. Beautifully filmed and interesting throughout it is definitely worth the watch. This is the first of the watches I will be doing before I give this issue of Diabolique away for free, of course if no one wants it I will probably leave it on the local library magazine rack.
So follow me here to read updates in how my magazine giveaway is going but follow me on Letterboxd if you want to read my movie reviews. I still have a mail connected to my blog soresportmovies.blogspot.com movies@edhovey.com where you can write me or comment on an entry there. Follow me on Letterboxd.com my handle there is Hovey1127, when I am done with the Issue of the magazine I will offer it up and we can work out the details of me getting it to you. I am not really looking for money just someone who also would love to read it.
Chatting with me is difficult, I have stopped my social media account years ago because time… it’s ticking at my age and I would rather spend it doing other things like this for example. Or chatting with my friends at the Zombiegrrlz.com podcasts on their discord. I am a fan of the podcasts they publish The More Deadly Podcast and the Zombiegrrlz podcast and as a Patron for very little $ I get access to the discord. So if you want to good horror content and a great horror community check them out.
