Hollywood has a reputation of going through cycles of repeating genres, for lack of a better term. If a film is an instant success, then that surely means that for the next 5 years or so, audiences are going to want to watch the same type of film over and over. If it isn't 'torture porn' (Saw, Hostel, A Serbian Film, etc), teen High School comedies (10 Things I Hate About You, Never Been Kissed, She's All That, etc) then it's magical fantasies (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Golden Compass) and vampires (Interview with the Vampire, Twilight, Byzantium, Fright Night, etc) I will look at two sub-genres and choose a film to represent the best and the worst of each.
Vampires
The current craze seems to have sparked after the success of the teen franchise Twilight based on the books by Stephanie Meyer. Of course, vampires existed a lot longer than this on screen.
The Best:
Interview With...Buy This at Allposters.com
I'm slightly cheating with this choice as this technically came much before the craze was triggered. However, it is still one of the best films of the vampire canon. Originally based on the popular Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire showed us that Tom Cruise may actually be able to act and introduced us to Kirsten Dunst who was outstanding as the child vampire Claudia (though has not really matched the same intensity since). The film starts with the vampire Louis (Brad Pitt) telling his story to an interviewer, letting the audience see his version through flashbacks. It is a story filled with more heartbreak than joy, as Louis gets used to becoming a vampire, however reluctantly. The issue of turning a child into a vampire (Claudia) is represented well with Kirsten Dunst coming across very believable as Claudia struggles with the identity of being a much older woman trapped forever in an 11-year old girl. It also deals with the complicated relationship that Claudia develops with Louis without coming across as perverted and unnecessary. There are no bright moments in the film, each scene shot as dark as the subject's matter. The pace and mood comes across as sombre and yet intriguing as the audience awaits to see what is in store for each character. There are scenes in the film that almost come across as a dance, with each character choreographed to mirror the movements of how a vampire should appear, according to director's choice. This becomes apparent in the fight scenes which have a faster pace to represent the vampires' invincibility. Every character in this film comes across as believable, making the audience sustain belief that this may be a possibility, at least for the remainder of the film. It is a film that focuses on the story and plot rather than purely the fact that this is a film about mythical creatures.
The Worst:
Twilight
Buy This at Allposters.com
It may be a popular film with the rabid fans, but let's stick to credibility here shall we? For this piece, I will only include the first film out of the franchise considering that is the only one I managed to sit through. I get quite annoyed with films that not only have teenybopper audiences going crazy in ridiculous manners, but also for films that aren't actually any good in the first place. I went to see this film at the cinema and was totally underwhelmed. I heard such rave reviews and everybody was talking about it so had to check it out to see what the fuss was. The result was me sitting in the cinema wondering if it was me refusing to like the film purely because everyone loved it or if everyone else was blinded by certain actors' 'charms'. The acting was stiff and wooden and the plot did not hold my attention. The so-called vampires were not believable, if we were suspending belief that this can actually happen (sparkling, glittery vampires - what is that all about?) The plot was something done time and time again, vampire falling in love with a human girl which was done with a lot more credibility in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series). The action sequences seemed forced and more farcical than a dance, the voice-over was done in a bored, monotonic voice that had me to bored to tears. And yet, the franchise spawned five more films all because of its devoted fanbase. This is the film I blame for generating a lot of copycat films, where the media is now obsessed with using vampires in every chance they get, whether that be in films, TV shows or books, making the audience with any sense avoid any film with a vampire plot attached to it.