And Yet Another New Slideshow

[Gerard]

To me, the Depp Barnabas looked the way a vampire should look.  He has all the attributes:  pasty; lanky, and the long fingernails come right out of Stoker.  Vampries aren't the hunks found in blech like Twilight.  They are mobile corpses.  My one complaint would be that he didn't look more atrophied when released from the coffin after 200 years, not having any blood.  He should've looked like an extra from The Walking Dead.  Once he fed, then he would take on a more "filled" appearance.  I would imagine some emaciated ghoul, terrifying in appearance, coming out of that coffin.  That would've been a nice shock.  From stills I've seen of DS04, that's what the originally found Barnabas looked like.

Gerard

[dom]

Didn't he drink a bit of blood before we saw him?

[michael c]

Green says of Angelique's "look" in the film's 'visual companion' that what they were going for was "the American dream"...


perfect, too perfect in fact, perfect makeup. red lips and platinum hair. "glamorous yet sophisticated"...


she also references famous actresses from the 1930s like Bette Davis and Marlene Dietrich(although i'm not seeing it)and describes the clothes as "70s with an 'edge' while the Collins family look more 'old fashioned' ".

I get what she's saying and what all of the supposed "references" were but the end result just looked contemporary. almost nothing about it said "1970s".

but in terms of the "garish" red lipstick and platinum hair it was supposed to symbolize some sort of distorted, overdone, almost grotesque vision of the "perfect American woman". it suggests visually, and of course we later see, that Angelique is just a "façade".

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Thanks for sharing that, michael c.    Believe it or not (although I'm sure everyone will believe it because I'm always behind), I haven't even gotten around to reading most of The Visual Companion. Though in my defense, at least when it comes to that book, last December I let a friend borrow it only a few days after it arrived, and I didn't get it back until months and months later.

And speaking of being behind on things, I was so busy at the end of last month that I forgot to post that I love the expressions on Barnabas' face when he sees Angie has a coffin at the ready -

- and she chains him.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

To me, the Depp Barnabas looked the way a vampire should look.

And apparently his look did nothing to suppress Barnabas' hotness. At least not for the people who compiled their list for ivillage.co.uk of the 17 hottest vampires in Hollywood history. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Didn't he drink a bit of blood before we saw him?

He did. Though as I recall they did flirt with the idea of having Barnabas look desiccated when he's first released from the coffin, but for some reason they decided against it. I forget why - but I'm sure I'll come across the reason again one of these days.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Another thing I love (and another thing I almost forgot to mention) occurs right after today's quote - and that would be the kiss Angie throws Barnabas just before she closes the lid of his coffin:

[dom]

I loved the movie - the slide show makes me love it all the more.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It's no secret that I love the panties sequences in the film. After all, one of them has been part of one of my avatars from almost the first moment we saw it in the trailer:



However, my favorite parts really have little to do with the actual panties - they're both parts of today's installment in the slideshow:

1972 - Barnabas: 'Never mind that.'

First off, Barnabas' quote is one of the quintessential avoidance replies in the DS universe. If someone isn't saying that to avoid explaining something, then they're certainly saying some variation of "I'll explain later." But what a surprise - since they only say those things to avoid answering, they rarely ever do explain later. 

And secondly, I love that small piece of lace left behind at the corner of Barnabas' mouth. Too funny! 

[michael c]

the last couple days of slides really annoys me...


I enjoyed the movie for the most part but from the explosion of the cannery on it completely falls apart. a total mess.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Willie gets some choice humorous moments throughout the film, but I think today's capture/quote is my favorite. After driving up to Collinwood's main entrance in a screech of tires, in response to Elizabeth asking him what on earth is happening, all he can respond is:

1972 - Willie: 'Fire. Murder. Angry mob. Run!'

And then run off is indeed what he does. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It's interesting that Angie's face begins to crack simply from Barnabas' grasp.

One does have to wonder why her spell or whatever it was that preserved her look of youth seemed to be that fragile. Though I suppose that with her standing in town, she never anticipated anyone would ever dare to grasp her in such a manner. 

And is it just me, or did Angie betray herself when she appeared for a bit to be enjoying Barnabas' bite more than she might have ever admitted?

And speaking of the bite, it's interesting that the script makes sure that the crowd of townspeople can't quite tell what went on between Barnabas and Angie by having one lady ask aloud: "What's that man done to Angie?" I suppose that was the film's way of conveying that if there was a sequel, despite bearing witness to the attack, the townspeople didn't realize what was actually going on or that Barnabas was indeed a vampire.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I meant to mention a few days ago that Willie attempting to prevent Angie from entering Collinwood is certainly another one of his funnier moments -

- particularly how Angie sends him flying with a simple wave of her hand.

But the most fascinating thing is the reaction of the sheriff to witnessing it.

And then he sends the crowd away, telling them there's nothing to see (and presumably also leaves himself because there's no hint of his presence outside later on). His reaction is definitely another interesting development that certainly raises more questions as to how what had transpired that night at Collinwood up to that point would have been dealt with in a potential sequel. Would Angie have gotten all the blame? Or might the sheriff have blamed it all on something like mass hysteria rather than believe his own eyes (definitely one of the original series' Roger's favorite excuses)? But I suppose we'll never know...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The current exchange in the slideshow is one of my favorites in the film -

ANGIE:
'You should've loved me, Barnabas. None of this would have happened if you'd just loved me.'

BARNABAS:
'I should have destroyed you. You brought me nothing but misery.'

ANGIE:
'I gave you my heart!'

BARNABAS:
'You have no heart.'

- it's classic DS! And I do wonder if it might be some of the dialogue that Seth Grahame-Smith admitted to lifting word for word from John August's script because Grahame-Smith thought it was so good that there was no way he could improve upon it?

But as good as the exchange is, I honestly think that something about tomorrow's quote is perhaps one of the most insightful remarks in the entire film as well as in DS history...

[michael c]

even after all this time Carolyn's "woof i'm a werewolf" reveal from today's slideshow in infuriates me...

the final ten cacophonous minutes nearly ruined the entire film for me. it's really just an exercise in marketing. not cohesive storytelling.

it's storytelling 101. you do not introduce plot in the final ten minutes of a movie unless your aim is to open the door to a possible sequel. I almost groaned at the "reveal" it was so cynical and so obvious. I don't think we even need to name the character that was being alluded to with this nonsense. and since it would appear no sequel is in the works it only served to muddy and confuse an already jumbled story.

I still can't believe they did it.