Book Review: "Strange Blood: 71 Essays on Offbeat and Underrated Vampire Movies" by Vanessa Morgan
Vampires haven’t always been my bag. I feel like I should go ahead and get that out there, if for no other reason to give an understanding of my motivation for reviewing a book full of essays on vampire movies. Why would you want to read about a sub genre that isn’t really your cup of tea, after all? Good question. My answer is a simple one: I like to expand my horizons (I hope you heard that in the voice of Randal Graves).
Besides, I AM a horror author, blogger, and journalist. I’m not exactly unfamiliar with bloodsuckers; they’ve just never topped my list of favorite monsters. It’s a personal preference, though I am a total mark for everything in Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. The mythology and symbolism of Rice’s sexually charged and frankly homoerotic universe has always appealed to me in the way that these cursed creatures become more (not less) human as the centuries pass. It’s kind of my bag (no, I’m not gay; I just like my vampires a little closer to the rainbow).
And yes- hardcore horror fans will give you a ration of shit for being an Anne Rice fanboy. Fuck ‘em, I say…but that’s a story for another day.
Author Vanessa Morgan (When Animals Attack: The 70 Best Horror Movies with Killer Animals, The Strangers Outside, Drowned Sorrow) has assembled a diverse collection of authors, bloggers, critics, journalists, and general horror scholars. Many offer repeat works, including Vanessa herself. Strange Blood takes a different approach to cinema’s most famous monster and shies away from the biggies like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Interview With the Vampire, or Blade. Instead, Morgan and her bloodstained contributors tackle unsung classics like Near Dark, The Night Flier, and The Lost Boys along with oddball gems like Vampire Circus, The Addiction, and Only Lovers Left Alive. No stone is left unturned when it comes to geographic locale, either- Strange Blood has a deeply international flair that is highly appreciated.
This collection reads like the world’s most eclectic textbook thanks to the diversity of the contributors and their various styles (a couple are even interviews!), but it’s no less a true textbook for all that. I culled an entire list of new films to check out thanks to the ludicrous volume of knowledge contained therein. I fancy myself a pretty serious connoisseur of horror and collector of random trivia, but some of the essays in this excellent collection go deep into the history, production, and backstory of these films. A fine example is the essay on the much maligned 1996 Tales From the Crypt film, Bordello of Blood (a favorite of mine), written by critic/director Steve De Roover.
As a matter of fact, my notes for this review are particularly long as there’s must so much to take in when you read Strange Blood. Podcaster/YouTuber Robin Goodfellow’s essay on The Hunger is deeply personal and moving. Irish writer/film producer Declan Lynch’s essay on Fright Night is masterful and supremely in-depth. Through this book, I’ve already been introduced to the awesomeness of Grave of the Vampire and Vampire Circus. I’ve discovered the dirty joys of Jess Franco. I thought about George A. Romero’s Martin in an entirely new light thanks to prolific critic Sven Soetemans. And, oh dear God, I need to read more of Stuart R. West; I didn’t expect to laugh that damn hard!
The best work comes from Vanessa Morgan’s own hands, though. Her coverage and analysis of Guillermo Del Toro’s Cronos, Dracula: Pages From a Virgin’s Diary, Habit, Karmina, Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (which I would never have considered a vampire film until reading this), Rabid, and Salem’s Lot are nothing short of masterful, educational and entertaining in the same breath.
While not every entry is a home run (they can’t all be winners, right?), Strange Blood is nonetheless an incredibly potent entry in the world of horror literature and analysis. Vanessa Morgan has assembled quite a collection; something that reinforces the dark beauty of the day and age that we in the horror community are privileged to be living in.
Strange Blood also makes me realize how much I’ve neglected the blood-drinking and essence-stealing monsters that dwell in the shadows. I think I’m going to unfuck that and make my apologies to the insatiable undead before I end up one of them.
On second thought, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad…
Vanessa Morgan’s Goodreads profile: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2890032.Vanessa_Morgan
