In 2005, Little, Brown published a vampire book that rocketed to the top of the bestseller charts and became a record breaker. Actually, there were two, one of which was The Historian, a doorstopper of a novel (240 000 words!) that had people devouring the adventures of three generations of academics, as they try to solve the mystery of where … Read More
Episode 13: Now With Actual Satanism
When we picked a book entitled “Hotel Transylvania”, we expected three things: a hotel, Transylvania, and vampires. Unfortunately, we learned the hard way that, while a real place, the titular location is neither a hotel nor in Transylvania. Thankfully there is a vampire, and watch us as we try and figure if this is a vampire book or a book … Read More
Episode 12: As Slain On TV
We’re all about the vampire pop culture here at The Bloodsucking Feminists and so no movie is more fitting for us to discuss than one about using pop culture as your reference point when fighting bloodsuckers. So what could make it better? A remake with a more female-friendly eye – not to mention David Tennant in leather trousers. So gear … Read More
Episode 11: 500 Shades of Grey
It’s iconic, to blame for a number of major vampire tropes, and widely considered one of the greatest horror movies ever made. And yet if a copy had not escaped destruction after a suit by Bram Stoker’s estate, what would vampire fiction be like today? In this episode of Bloodsucking Feminists, we tackle the original Nosferatu, its 1979 remake and … Read More
Episode 10: There's Male All Up In This Gaze
Break out the Bowie and the Bauhaus because this month we are looking at The Hunger by Whitley Strieber and its movie adaptation. In this episode we’ll be discussing sexual violence, white Egyptians, and the male gaze (and how an adaptation can correct this). So in honour of the late great David Bowie, put on your best black for what … Read More
Episode 09: Shut Up, Louis
Every so often a text comes along that is a game-changer for a genre or topic. Carmilla. Dracula. Nosferatu. Buffy. Twilight (sigh). In 1976 another vampire game-changer was released: Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire. A tale of immortality, violence, grief and abuse – not to mention homoeroticism – Interview With The Vampire was released to a mixed reception but … Read More
Episode 08: Boarding School Suck
Vampires are metaphors for many things, and in no place is this more true than in Rachel Klein’s 2002 novel The Moth Diaries. In the pages of a journal written by a girl in the 1960s, the claustrophobia of a boarding school fuels the obssessions of teenage girls to gothic horror heights. Whether you believe this is a story about … Read More
Episode 07: Really Small Countries Like New Zealand
Yes, Virginia, meat raffles are actually a thing. Why? “Because,” our resident New Zealander Catherine explains, “you can win meat”. While more well-known for sweeping epic movies with loving panoramic shots of its beautiful landscape, New Zealand’s film industry also has quite the history of horror – not to mention horror comedy. Its second major vampire film, What We Do … Read More
Episode 06: Vampire Musicals Suck
Hallowe’en episode, everyone! Take a trip with us to Austria, birthplace of Mircalla Karnstein and resurrection place of… a German-language musical adaptation of a Roman Polanski film with music by Jim Steinman? Really, there’s no way to describe Tanz der Vampire in a way that does it justice. So be prepared, starchild, for discussions of women, Drew Sarich, a terrible … Read More
Episode 05: Pretentious Dishevelment
On the morning of June 02, 2013, a young mother woke up from a dream and began to write. Just over two years later, that book was published and soon became a phenomenon. It’s been ten years since Twilight was published, so take a trip back in time to 2005 and see what we remember, what do we have to … Read More