FM-H032-1983

The Hunger

Video

DVD

F&MS

No

Available

As the film credits roll and the film begins, the gothic rock group "Bauhaus" is heard playing their famous song, "Bela Lugosis Dead," a nod to one of the most famous interpreters of Count Dracula in vampire films. The action takes place in present-day New York. The beautiful and elegant Miriam Blaylock (Catherine Deneuve) shares a life of luxury and indolence with her husband John (David Bowie). Miriam, born in Egypt some 4,000 years ago, is an immortal being. Her continued survival depends on a diet of human blood, which she must consume once every seven days. She is also able to pass along, through friendly bites, some of her genetic material to human beings, thereby turning them into creatures like herself, in exchange for their eternal love. Miriam belongs to an ancient race of vampires, but since in life nothing is perfect, her progeny are not truly immortal as she is, and sooner or later, usually after 300 years or so, they find themselves suddenly and rapidly getting old. However, the progeny are unable to die, but continue to live forever withered, in a fully conscious, vegetative state. Miriam packs their decaying, aging bodies in caskets that she keeps in the attic of her residence. In the 18th century, Miriam offered this gift of immortality to John, who eagerly accepted, as had all her previous lovers through the ages. Every seven days, Miriam and John hunt the trendy New York night clubs, searching for victims. These, they escort back to their sumptuous townhouse where they satisfy their hunger for human blood. They carry around their necks matching Egyptian Ankh pendants that conceal the razor-sharp blades with which they cut the jugular of their victims. After, they dispose of their victims bodies in an incinerator located in the basement of their residence. Suddenly, John develops trouble sleeping, and starts aging at a rapid rate. Miriam is aware of the significance of this happening, and she goes looking for a famous gerontologist, Dr. Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon), desperately seeking her help for a cure for Johns fast deterioration. She makes contact with Dr. Roberts, and through her psychic powers, finds out that the doctor is just guessing, and that her research is inconclusive. Therefore, John, as all her lovers before him, is doomed to extinction. John also attempts to meet with Dr. Roberts at her clinic, but she does not take him seriously. Before he leaves, Sarah is witness to the startling transformation he has undergone while sitting in her waiting room, but John refuses to speak to her, his hunger for blood nearly overpowering him and forcing him to leave in search of a victim. Driven by his bloodlust and desperation to reverse the aging process, John makes a kill out of young Alice, a music student that he and Miriam are tutoring. Her blood does nothing to help John, and he eventually falls down a flight of stairs at the townhouse, his legs no longer able to support his own weight. Miriam carries John's withering body up to the attic and puts him in a casket, next to several other caskets containing her earlier lovers. Later on, when Dr. Roberts shows up at Miriam's door looking for John, Miriam sees in the doctor a replacement for John in her life; it is love at first sight for Miriam, and she immediately proceeds to seduce Sarah. Sarah is a willing participant in Miriam's seduction, but she doesn't know that Miriam has now transformed her into a vampire, just as she did to John and her other lovers. Lieutenant Allegrezza (Dan Hedaya) shows up at Miriam's house looking for Alice, and is immediately suspicious of Miriam, although he has no real proof of any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Sarah begins to manifest symptoms of vampirism. She is ravenously hungry, but eating normal food makes her vomit. She also starts seeing Miriam everywhere she looks. Finally she confronts Miriam about what happened between them on that day, and Miriam vaguely states that she has given Sarah eternal life, and that they belong to one another now. Sarah rejects what Miriam has told her, but she does understand that something terrible has happened to her. Sarah and her partners at the clinic, including Sarah's boyfriend, Tom (John Heard), cannot find a cure for the change that is occurring in Sarah's blood, and in desperation Sarah returns to Miriam. Miriam arranges for Sarah to make her first kill, bringing back a male prostitute, but Sarah is unwilling to take a human life. Finally, Tom arrives at the townhouse looking for Sarah following her disappearance, and is surprised to find that Sarah is there. Miriam knows that Sarah's hunger is now beyond reason, and when she takes Tom to Sarah, Sarah kills him for his blood. Miriam is now convinced that she has found her new lover, and she tells Sarah that they will now share an eternity together. Sarah, however, is wracked with guilt over taking Tom's life, and she attempts suicide by cutting her own throat with Miriam's ankh as they kiss. Sarah's blood pours into Miriam's throat and then Sarah collapses. Miriam is horrified at what Sarah has done, but she dutifully carries Sarah's limp body into the attic to place her among her other dessicated lovers. This time, however, she finds her crumbling lovers now out of their coffins, waiting for her. The sudden intake of Sarah's blood has caused a change in Miriam. Suddenly released from Miriam's spell, the lovers crumble into dust as Miriam herself begins to wither. The film's conclusion shows Lieutenant Allegrezza returning to question Miriam, only to find that the townhouse is now mysteriously empty and up for sale, all of the luxurious furnishings in the home gone and the money funneled to the sleep clinic where Sarah, presumably missing, used to work. In the final shot, we see Sarah herself living in a high rise luxury apartment surrounded by several lovers, while Miriam, imprisoned in a coffin just as she did to her own lovers, screams for her release.