Vhat Music They Make

A new flick hits theaters tonight, 30 Days of Night. There was a time when I would have been first in line to see it. I used to eat up anything having to do with those pointy-toothed melanin-deprived fiends. Now... not so much.

Yes, it's a horror flick. Yes, it's getting middling-to-decent reviews. But honestly? No matter how good it could be, I doubt I'd be impressed. I can't remember the last time a vampire flick came out where the bloodsuckers had more than one thing on their minds.

Dracula. Now there's a vampire story. More than just a hungry animal; the character represented human corruption on a deep level. "Lock up your daughters, folks, or they'll end up soulless monsters with unholy appetites." Despite being sorely tempted, the chaste and true Mina survives to the book's end. Lucy, her close friend (and woman of a somewhat looser virtue), is not only victimized but slaughtered in a grisly fashion: staked and beheaded. Not fun.

Catch Frank Langella's performance on DVD if you can. It's terrific. Hell, check out Fright Night. (Sorry, Frank.) They both illustrate the monster's best skill-- turning a person into someone else. Someone they shouldn't be. Renfield becomes a toadying servant. With persuasion, Mina becomes a willing partner to Dracula, if only for a while. And like an addict, she doesn't want to 'go clean' while she's under his influence; any more than she ever wants to see him again once she quits cold turkey.

Vampires from the last several years may have a few extra tricks up their sleeve, but at the end of they day they do little more than suck. Hopefully that'll change.