Vampire (2011) Movie Review: An Altruistic Serial Killer?

Shunji Iwai's Humane Take on a Vampire

Written by @halfhindu

At least he didn't leave bite marks. 

From the swoon-inducing Twilight, to the recent humorous Hotel Transylvania, vampires have permeated popular culture in almost every incarnation possible. From teenage heartthrob to supernatural monster, the vampire has been abused by Hollywood incessantly. In this particular instance, there is nothing supernatural whatsoever about the vampire. He is nothing more than a serial killer, who finds
victims in the form of suicidal individuals - contacted through an internet forum for such like-minded individuals.

VAMPIRE is legendary underground Japanese director Shunji Iwai's first feature length English movie (although his English debut was a short in New York I Love You). It would be tagged a horror film, and while it contains such elements, the crux of the film would have it chalked up to drama, instead.

The film stars none other than Kevin Zegers of Gossip Girl fame, transformed from his usual slick, rich pretty boy chic to a quiet, unassuming high school biology teacher. Still attractive though. He is not portrayed as a demonic, sexually deviant serial killer. Rather, he is shown as normal as can be - and shows heart-warming compassion in the course of the film as he prevents one of his students from hanging herself and takes care of his Alzheimer's-stricken mother.

Once with them, the eponymous Vampire would initiate a false suicide pact, or speak about some fake medical research and deceive the unfortunate victims into suicide by drainage of blood. This, he would then, drink.

It isn't clear why he wishes to drink blood. Some parts of the film hint toward it being some sort of fetish, and the fact that he exclusively targets women strengthens this theory. The extraction of the blood into several bell-shaped jars, which are familiar to me as ones used frequently in biology class is not messy, it is done with near-medical precision. The insertion of the needles through the skin of the girls is very intimate, and their willingness to wait out the slow drainage of their blood and their eventual death almost lovingly, patiently creates the illusion of some sort of bond or romantic/emotional attachment between the Vampire and his victims, something that is featured in the original trope defining vampire works.

The film opens up interesting perspectives on death and suicide. The first scenes present suicide as an ethereal, transcendent and romantic event. Peaceful. Quiet. However, the sequence involving the van and carbon monoxide poisoning shocks the viewer back into reality - the horrific explosion of coughs and gasps, the feeble, pathetic attempts of some characters to escape and the slow panning of the camera inside the van afterwards truly captures the macabre actuality of death. The grim rictus, glasses askew, of the character identified only as "Gargoyle" in particular stayed with me. It was one of the "horrifying" moments of this supposedly 'horror' film.

Another 'horrific' moment of this film is the scene with the character Renfield. Note that, in the original Dracula, Renfield is Dracula's thrall. The rape scene lasted for a painful 10 minutes or so. I had to look away during, it was too much for me to handle. I can only liken it to the less odious scene from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Yes, it’s that bad.

The stark contrast between Renfield and the main character is both in method of killing and attitude towards it. The introduction of this character (at a vampire-themed party) left quite an impression on me. It was stylistically accomplished, with sufficiently gothic music and a short discourse on the history of serial killers. He is not mentioned through the rest of the movie. It is love which brings about the Vampire's fall, in the end. His negligence of his pseudo-girlfriend/stalker (played by Rachael Leigh Cook) for his interest in the angelic, understanding "Ladybird" (played by Adelaide Clemens) leads to the discovery of his secret and his downfall.  

The soundtrack (which I am in dire need of) consists of very slow, beautiful piano and violin music. Created by Shunji Iwai himself, the amateurishly simple keyboard playing blends well with the overall aesthetic of the movie. It isn't synced up very well, and sometimes starts before the intended scene and this contributes the dreamlike quality found throughout the film.

The whole film has a surreal quality to it. Towards the end I found myself questioning whether it is all a dream. During the chase scene, the audio and video do not sync up, and the main character's jumping/being pulled back by some invisible force may be an artistic representation of the disorientation he is suffering due to blood loss or shock but it may also point to it all being a dream. 

The beautifully saddening coda featuring the last moments of another suicidal girl, possibly his first victim (played by Kristin Kreuk) subtly hints at this:

"Can you die in your own dream?"

"What if it isn't your dream? 

What if it's mine?"