settima

vampires

สัตว์วิกาล [Sud Vikal / Vampire] (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2008)

Mar

2

Dr. Seuss' birthday

สัตว์วิกาล (2008)

Applying blood to attract the Nok Phii. It's cold. DP: Chaisiri Jiwarangsan.

Imaginary animals or food for Theodor “Dr.” Seuss Geisel's birthday (1904).

“I like the settings where the lights and desire cross path. The desire to communicate with the invisibles in the darkness, or in memory, or in the future. It's always related to cinema and we as insects that are drawn to lights.”

– Apichatpong Weerasethakul, via

Villagers in the north of Thailand reported a rare sighting of a male and female Nok Phii, an elusive species of bird that feeds on animals' blood. It is unknown if the sighting was reliable, and if this vampire does, or ever did, exist.

Night of the Cobra Woman [Movini's Venom] (Andrew Meyer, 1972)

Sep

7

cereal

Night of the Cobra Woman (1972)

A blonde, mud-covered, boyish woman with shoulder-length dead hair (Joy Bang) in a grey kitchen eats Cheerios straight from the box. One of her shoes is on the kitchen counter. DP: Nonong Rasca.

Vampyr, ou l'étrange aventure de David Gray (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1932)

Sep

25

World Dream Day

Vampyr, ou l'étrange aventure de David Gray (1932)

Allan Grey (Julian West) sees himself in a coffin in a dream. DPs: Rudolph Maté & Louis Née.

“This is the tale of the strange adventures of the young Allan Gray, who immersed himself in the study of devil worship and vampires. Preoccupied with superstitions of centuries past, he became a dreamer for whom the line between the real and the supernatural became blurred. His aimless wanderings led him late one evening to a secluded inn by the river in a village called Courtempierre.”

– title card

Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (Richard Blackburn, 1973)

Jun

4

meat

Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1973)

A fancy looking silver plate with what appears to be raw meat. DP: Robert Caramico.

“Wouldn't you rather I did it out of love, than have one of those wood things do it out of their own animal hungers?”

– Lemora

Cuadecuc, vampir (Pere Portabella, 1971)

May

26

World Dracula Day

Cuadecuc, vampir (1971)

Lucy (Soledad Miranda) in bloody embrace with Dracula (Christopher Lee). DP: Manel Esteban.

A black forest. A man walks through, holding a smoke machine. Then a carriage with a familiar coachman. Dracula! Where are we? No, not 19th century #Transylvania. The film stock reveals bullet holes in ancient walls, and beyond these walls a ladder, maybe scaffolding. A pneumatic drill, more crew members, lights, a clapperboard. Are the characters aware of that? Them seem to interact with the disturbance yet oblige to the interruptions of the movie set. In a state of hypnopompia, guided by kuroko, maybe?

“cut”

Pere Portabella created a hyper-reality with his Cuadecuc, vampir. A director dismantles the man-behind-the-curtain, Franco, the other #Franco while setting up scaffolding for the next Spain. Everything's a reality, or an illusion, then nothing is.