Many of you have been asking where you can watch the short film based on my story A Good Man/Un homme bien.
It is now featured as an extra on the DVD of the documentary Forgotten Scares: An In-Depth Look at Flemish Horror Cinema (they're both by the same director), which is available through Zeno Pictures. The film is also mentioned in the documentary itself.
You can read the screenplay on which the short film was based on Kindle. Two versions exist: English and French.
To celebrate the recent release of my book Strange Blood: 71 Essays on Offbeat and Underrated Vampire Movies, I was given the opportunity to program a film to be screened at Cinema RITCS in Brussels. My choice fell on Mystics in Bali, an Indonesian cult film featuring a new kind of vampire. I'll be giving an introduction to Mystics in Bali on November 5, 2019. The film is so offbeat and crazy it has rarely been screened outside of Indonesia, so don't miss this opportunity.
I'm currently on a book blog tour to celebrate the release of Strange Blood: 71 Essays on Offbeat and Underrated Vampire Movies. Many of these book blogs feature a vampire-themed recipe to accompany the promotion. Here's an overview of the recipes and where you can find them.
Vampire Cookies
These are made with peanut butter cookies and topped with melted chocolate. Easy to make and delicious.
An overview of the most offbeat and unique vampire movies spanning nine decades and 23 countries.
Strange Blood encompasses well-known hits as well as obscurities that differ from your standard fang fare by turning genre conventions on their head. Forget about Dracula and sparkling vampires. Here, they come in the form of cars, pets, aliens, mechanical objects, gorillas, and floating heads. And when they do look like a demonic monster or an aristocratic Count or Countess, they break the mold in terms of imagery, style, or setting.
Leading horror writers, filmmakers, actors, distributors, academics, and festival programmers present their favorite vampire films through in-depth essays, providing background information, analysis, and trivia regarding the various films. Some of these stories are hilarious, some are terrifying, some are touching, and some are just plain weird. Not all of these movies line up with the critical consensus, yet they have one thing in common: they are unlike anything you've ever seen in the world of vampires.
Just when you thought that the children of the night had become a tired trope, it turns out they have quite a diverse inventory after all.
Not just the name of this pizza joint in Archway, London, has been inspired by the 1980s vampire movie The Lost Boys, but also the background music, the look of the pizzas (charcoal black), their names (Kale All Vampires, Fangs for the Memories, etc), and events (vampire yoga and special screenings of The Lost Boys).
Release date: April 28th, 2019 (paperback & eBook)
Blurb
This is an overview of the most offbeat and underrated vampire movies spanning nine decades and 23 countries.
Strange Blood encompasses well-known hits as well as obscurities that differ from your standard fang fare by turning genre conventions on their head. Here, vampires come in the form of cars, pets, aliens, mechanical objects, gorillas, or floating heads. And when they do look like a demonic monster or an aristocratic Count or Countess, they break the mold in terms of imagery, style, or setting.
Leading horror writers, filmmakers, actors, academics, and programmers present their favorite vampire films through in-depth essays, providing background information, analysis, and trivia regarding the various films. Some of these stories are hilarious, some are terrifying, some are touching, and some are just plain weird. Not all of these movies line up with the critical consensus, yet they have one thing in common: they are unlike anything you've ever seen in the world of vampires.
Just when you thought that the children of the night had become a tired trope, it turns out they have quite a diverse inventory after all.
What do you think of the cover of Strange Blood? Let me know in the comments or on social media.
Blurb
This is an overview of the most offbeat and underrated vampire movies spanning nine decades and 23 countries.
Strange Blood encompasses well-known hits as well as obscurities that differ from your standard fang fare by turning genre conventions on their head. Here, vampires come in the form of cars, pets, aliens, mechanical objects, gorillas, or floating heads. And when they do look like a demonic monster or an aristocratic Count or Countess, they break the mold in terms of imagery, style, or setting.
Leading horror writers, filmmakers, actors, academics, and programmers present their favorite vampire films through in-depth essays, providing background information, analysis, and trivia regarding the various films. Some of these stories are hilarious, some are terrifying, some are touching, and some are just plain weird. Not all of these movies line up with the critical consensus, yet they have one thing in common: they are unlike anything you've ever seen in the world of vampires.
Just when you thought that the children of the night had become a tired trope, it turns out they have quite a diverse inventory after all.
Book giveaway
To celebrate the cover reveal of Strange Blood, I'm giving away one digital copy of the book, so you'll have the chance to read it before everyone else will. The giveaway is open worldwide and ends March 12th, 2019. Good luck!
Recently released from a mental hospital, Jessica (Zohra Lampert) moves into an old New England farmhouse in hopes of starting a new life. She discovers a strange girl in the house that doesn't want to leave and doesn't want her to be there. Legend has it that a girl drowned in the nearby lake and is now roaming the countryside as a vampire. Extremely well-done and eerie, Let's Scare Jessica To Death (aka The Secret Beneath The Lake) is the movie that influenced me the most in my work as a writer.
Salem's Lot - population 1319 - and growing eerier by the moment. Since an ominous outsider has moved into this sleepy New England town, the dead walk the streets of Salem's Lot. Vampires have never gotten any creepier than this. In 1987 followed the disappointing sequelA Return To Salem's Lotand in 2004 an intruiging mini-series starring Robe Lowe, Donald Sutherland and Rutger Hauer.
The lovers of the vampire Miriam (Catherine Deneuve) don't age as long as she is in love with them. When her current lover, John (David Bowie), starts to age rapidly, he understands that Miriam has fallen in love with someone else and that he has no more than a couple of days to live. He tries to win back the love of his lover while seeking help from a doctor (Susan Sarandon) who researches premature aging.
A teenager discovers that his next-door neighbour is a vampire. The sequel from 1988 is well-worth it as well. From director Tom Holland (Child's Play, The Stranger Within, The Langoliers).
Stephen Griscz (Jude Law) is searching for the perfect woman, but all his relationships end in tragedy which arouses the suspicions of police officer Healey (Timothy Spall). One day, Stephen meets Anne (Elina Löwensohn), a woman much better than all the others. Anne is intrigued by Stephen's strange airs, but soon it becomes clear that only one of them will survive the relationship.
This post has originally appeared as a guest post for The Horror Hotel as part of the blog tour of A Good Man.
Loved Dexter and American Psycho? Then chances are you will love A Good Man.
Louis Caron is a good man – vegetarian, he feeds the homeless, takes care of animals and is concerned with the ecological future of the planet. But his altruism has a sinister edge – he's a vampire - and local detective Taglioni is becoming increasingly suspicious. Louis' attempt to escape the police will take him on a journey into his own private hell where he is not only forced to confront his worst fears, but also to destroy the lives of those he cares about most.
The movie adaptation of A Good Man is currently in production in will be shot in September 2012.
Head over to Writing My Own Fairytale where I did a guest post on the scariest vampire animals as part of the book blog tour for A Good Man.
The vampire animals I wrote about are:
Vampire animal #1 - Lampreys
Long monster-like fish with neither scales nor jaws latch onto a host with their hook-like teeth and gulp down its blood. Luckily, they spend almost seven years as harmless larvae, but once it reaches adulthood they terrorize their habitats and even attack humans when starved. They have caused the extinction of many other water creatures.
Vampire animal #2 - Mosquitos
Mosquitos are behind more human deaths than any other animal because of the diseases they carry. Male mosquitos are pretty harmless because they eat a vegan, nectar-based diet, but female mosquitos need to drink blood to get their protein, thus carrying over diseases such as malaria.
Vampire animal #3 - Bedbugs
Bedbugs hide in dark, secluded areas during the day - in mattresses, behind walls, under floors - and come out at night to drink blood. An outbreak spreads quickly, since females lay up to 500 eggs in a lifetime. Pesticides nearly wiped out American bedbugs in the 1940s, but they've recently come bouncing back. Kissing bugs are similar to bedbugs as they come out at night and feed upon humans. They are bigger and more aggressive than bedbugs. They also spread disease.
Vampire animal #4 - Ticks
Because ticks can drink up to 600 times their body weight in blood, they are considered one of the scariest vampire animals on earth. They also spread illnesses like Lyme disease.
Vampire animal #5 - Vampire bats
Of the roughly 1000 bat species, only three drink blood. They feed mainly on horses, cattle and other livestock, but they sometimes attack humans as well. One bite alone is enough to spread rabies.
Vampire animal #6 - Candirú
Let's finish with one of the scariest of all vampire animals: the candirú. These parasitic catfish live in the Amazon and Orinoco rivers and are known to enter the victim's private parts where they feed upon the blood and tissue. When this happens, it is very difficult to remove the candirú. They are the main reason why it is forbidden to swim naked in those area's.
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Loved Dexter and American Psycho? Then you will love A Good Man.
Louis Caron is a good man – vegetarian, he feeds the homeless, takes care of animals and is concerned with the ecological future of the planet. But his altruism has a sinister edge – he's a vampire - and local detective Taglioni is becoming increasingly suspicious. Louis' attempt to escape the police will take him on a journey into his own private hell where he is not only forced to confront his worst fears, but also to destroy the lives of those he cares about most.
To celebrate the release of the vampire thriller, A GOOD MAN, we asked the main character, Louis Caron, to stop by today. Louis Caron is a good man - he's a vegetarian, feeds the homeless, takes care of animals, and is concerned with the ecological future of the planet. But his altruism has a sinister edge - he's a vampire! If you've already read A GOOD MAN, this interview should be amusing and insightful. If you haven't read it, hopefully, the character interview will pique your interest.
What do you think it takes to become a good man?
Louis Caron: Let me quote Jonathan Safran Foer to answer your question: "Cruelty depends on an understanding of cruelty, and the ability to choose against it. Or to choose to ignore it." It's impossible to be a good man 100% of the time. Imagine you are in a relationship that is not working out for you anymore and you are very unhappy because of it. If you leave the woman who is still madly in love with you, the woman's friends and family will probably tell you how cruel you are, even if you are a good person in all other areas of your life. But is there a better option? In my opinion, a good man is someone who chooses to be good whenever he can, but it doesn't necessarily mean sacrificing your own health and happiness.
My latest book A Good Man (also available in French as Un homme bien), now in preproduction with Radowski Films, has been released earlier this month. In celebration, I have some fun facts about vampires to share with you!
- Stakes, garlic, sunlight and holy water are not the only ways to kill vampires. Other cultures recommend boiling a vampire in vinegar, pounding a nail through his navel, beheading it, burying it at a crossroads or scattering birdseed on its tomb. Hawthorn branches, rowan trees, fire, peppermint, salt, iron, and running water are also considered dangerous for vampires.
- Almost every country has its own vampire legend. Some even date back thousands of years. One of the best known vampires is Vlad Dracul, also known as Vlad the Impaler (1431-1476). He allegedly killed up to 30,000 people and liked to dip bread into the blood of his victims. Although he was reported dead in 1476, his tomb has remained empty. Some historians believe that Prince Charles is a direct descendant from Vlad Tepes.
- A rare disease called porphyria causes vampire-like symptoms such as extreme sensitivity to sunlight, hairiness, strange behavior and reddish brown coloring of the teeth. It's also known as the vampire disease or the Dracula disease.
- In ancient times, anaemia was often mistaken for a symptom of a vampire attack.
- One of the most popular vampires in children's fiction in recent years is called Bunnicula - a cute little rabbit that lives a happy existence as a vegetarian vampire.
- The romantic and sensual Hollywood vampires differ drastically from folklore vampires. The Ghanan Asasabonsam vampire, for example, has iron teeth and hooks for feet, which they drop from treetops onto unsuspecting victims. Certain regions in the Balkans believe that pumpkins and watermelons would turn into vampires if they were left out longer than 10 days or not consumed by Christmas. A drop of blood on a fruit's skin is a sign that it is about to become a vampire.
- The oldest known vampire legend comes from Sumerian and Babylonian mythology and is about the ekimmu, a spirit or demon who was not buried properly and has returned as a vengeful spirit to suck the life out of the living.
Want to read more about vampire facts and myths? Then head over to my vampire guest posts at Holly's Horror Land and Sweeping Me.
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Do you like Dexter and American Psycho? Then chances are you will love A Good Man.
Louis Caron is a good man – he's a vegetarian, feeds the homeless, takes care of animals, and is concerned with the ecological future of the planet. But his altruism has a sinister edge – he's a vampire - and local detective Taglioni is becoming increasingly suspicious. Louis' attempt to escape the police will take him on a journey into his own private hell where he is not only forced to confront his worst fears, but also to destroy the lives of those he cares about most.
The 1990s were a pretty dry period for the vampire genre. With a few exceptions, major vampire movies were far and few between, and those that did make the multiplexes were fairly bloodless affairs. Although the vampire movies from the 90s didn't have a real identity of their own, we can see new trends emerging: they marked a clear break from the fun vampire movies from the 1980s and paved the way for the stylish vampire action flicks that are common ground in the new millennium.
The now overly popular vampire series Buffy The Vampire Slayer started as this cheesy little teen flick with 80s influences. The basis of the story is the same: a teenage girl learns that she is her generation's destined battler of vampires. The cast contained many big names, including Kirsty Swanson, Luke Perry, Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hauer, David Arquette and Hillary Swank.
Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula is still one of the best vampire movies ever made thanks to its breathtaking photography, intriguing storyline, beguiling music and excellent performances from Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves, Anthony Hopkins, Winona Ryder, Tom Waits, Sadie Frost and Richard E. Grant.
Author Anne Rice not only made vampires popular in literature, but also in the movies thanks to the immensely popular adaptation of her novel Interview With The Vampire. It's one of the best vampire movies ever made and hasn't lost any of its beauty and power. With Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst and Neil Jordan.
Philosophical tale in black and white about a grad student turned vampire who tries to come to terms with her frequent craving for human blood. Director Abel Ferrara links the need for blood with the need for drugs, turning The Addiction into a well-made film that was so depressing that it marked the end for the serious and dark vampire stories. With Lily Taylor, Christopher Walken and Annabella Sciorra.
After several years of overly serious vampire movies, the world needed to laugh again with the undead and introduced several rather silly vampires movies such as Vampire In Brooklyn, Bordello Of Blood and Dracula, Dead And Loving It. The latter was a vampire spoof from the mind of Mel Brooks that made one big joke out of the genre.
Many people hated Wes Craven's politically correct vampire comedy about a black vampire (Eddie Murphy) who's looking for a female mate, but it was a big box office hit nevertheless.
Two criminals and their hostages unknowingly seek temporary reguge in an establishment populated by vampires. The vampire twist half-way through the story was so unexpected and well-done, that From Dusk Till Dawn was on everyone's lips (although it did help that Quentin Tarantino directed the movie). From Dusk Till Dawn was also the movie that introduced George Clooney to an audience of cinema goers.
With Blade, released in 1998, a new era in vampire movie cinema began. Vampires now combined action with super-hero powers and big-budget special effects. This story about a half-vampire, half-mortal that became the protector of the mortal race while slaying evil vampires, not only had several sequels, but also several big-budget clones such as Underworld and Daybreakers.
Loved Dexter and American Psycho? Then chances are you will love A Good Man.
Louis Caron is a good man – vegetarian, he feeds the homeless, takes care of animals and is concerned with the ecological future of the planet. But his altruism has a sinister edge – he's a vampire - and local detective Taglioni is becoming increasingly suspicious. Louis' attempt to escape the police will take him on a journey into his own private hell where he is not only forced to confront his worst fears, but also to destroy the lives of those he cares about most.
