Tony Scott made some very good films in his career, but for the most part he was seen as Ridley’s less talented and successful brother. Such reputation was created by his feature debut, 1983 horror film The Hunger, an ambitious attempt to reinvent vampire mythology for modern age.
The plot is based on the eponymous novel by Whitley Streiber. It begins in “hip” New York night club where Miriam Blaylock (played by Catherine Deneuve) and her lover John (played by David Bowie) pick another couple which they bring home for what is supposed to be sex. There they slash their throats and drink their blood. Miriam is actually 6000 year old vampire, while John is her companion, turned into vampire two centuries ago. John was promised eternal life, but suddenly he begins to rapidly age. In desperation, he contacts Dr. Sarah Roberts (played by Susan Sarandon), gerontologist specialised in research of rapid aging. Her efforts to help increasingly declining John fail, but during the process Miriam becomes romantically interested in her and ultimately seduce her and turn her into vampire. Sarah now must to deal with increasingly strange condition and decide whether the eternal life is worthy of many sacrifices.
Just like his brother, Tony Scott began his career by directing commercial and that becomes quite evident in the opening scenes, which feature rapid editing, bright colours and lot of style, under huge influence of emerging MTV aesthetics. The Hunger features excellent cinematography by Stephen Goldblatt and music by Howard Blake to create atmosphere which discards old Gothic iconography of vampire films and instead presents that creatures as modern, “hip” and delightfully decadent. However, just like with many future films made by Scott brothers, style here takes precedence over substance and it does so in quite disappointing manner.
While Streiber’s novel tried to give some provide variation to vampire mythology (they aren’t harmed by sunlight and they don’t have fangs) and even some kind of pseudo-scientific explanation for the phenomena, the actual plot is rather weak. The characters, although played by iconic actors like grand lady of French cinema Catherine Deneueve and David Bowie, are underdeveloped. Susan Sarandon is also good actress, but her mousy scientist character looks too plain compared with deity-like Blaylocks and there isn’t sufficient chemistry between her and Deneueve in the latter stages of film. The most disappointing is the finale, which, although spectacular to a way, looks too melodramatic. The actual finale, even more disappointingly, contradicts the unofficial “rules” of Streiber’s fictional world and it is obviously brought in (the ultimately failed) attempt to bring new sequels. Tony Scott had to wait few years before finally leaving his older brother’s shadow.
RATING: 4/10 (++)
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