Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Catherine Deneuve | ... | Miriam | |
David Bowie | ... | John | |
Susan Sarandon | ... | Sarah Roberts | |
Cliff De Young | ... | Tom Haver | |
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Beth Ehlers | ... | Alice Cavender |
Dan Hedaya | ... | Lieutenant Allegrezza | |
Rufus Collins | ... | Charlie Humphries | |
Suzanne Bertish | ... | Phyllis | |
James Aubrey | ... | Ron | |
Ann Magnuson | ... | Young Woman from Disco | |
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John Stephen Hill | ... | Young Man from Disco |
Shane Rimmer | ... | Arthur Jelinek | |
Bauhaus | ... | Disco Group | |
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Douglas Lambert | ... | TV Host |
Bessie Love | ... | Lillybelle |
The Egyptian vampire lady Miriam subsists upon the blood of her lovers. In return the guys or girls don't age until Miriam has had enough of them. Unfortunately that's currently the case with John, so his life expectancy is less than 24 hours. Desperately he seeks help from, the famous, Dr. Sarah Roberts. She doesn't really believe his story, but becomes curious and contacts Miriam . . . and gets caught in her spell, too. Written by Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
Dream-like horror
Whitley Streiber's highly suspenseful and thematically rich novel is transformed into something entirely different by Tony Scott.
The film is a dream-like arthouse horror pic with diamond-studded production values.
Catherine Deneuve is very, very good as eternal blood drinker Miriam Blaylock. Although it has never been acknowledged (as far as I know), the look and behavior of her screen character is a "re-imagining" of Delphine Seyrig's peerless vampire Countess Bathory from Harry Kummel's 1971 classic DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS.
David Bowie is superb as Deneve's not-so-immortal beloved and convinces us to emphasize with his condition (he is aging rapidly)
This was Tony Scott's first feature and it is a beautiful piece of work that is rich in texture and design and demonstrates adroit control of cinematic craft.
The sound design and rich catalog of music cues are pitch perfect.
Certainly bearing little resemblance to Streiber's novel (just as Michael Wadleigh's WOLFEN also moved away from same author's source), THE HUNGER is, nevertheless, gorgeous art.