#carmilla movie screening

[weirdo-and-proud]

Guys! I came back from driving my grandma home after Christmas, and my mom was watching a random Christmas movie on tv. And I look, and ITS LESBIAN!! Right there! Randomly! On my tv! A blessing!

AND then I find out that ELISE BAUMAN is playing the lead role!!!!!!!!!

AND THEN I FIND OUT HER CARMILLA-WEBSHOW-DAD IS ALSO PLAYING HER DAD IN THIS MOVIE!!!!!!

I feel like a Christmas miracle happened here tonight!

[lqveharrington]

Behind the Scenes | V.

summary: Being Vox’s girlfriend requires some patience after twelve hour work days.

pairing: Vox x fem!reader

includes: Vox and Velvette bullying one another, VALENTINO BEING A MENACE, mentions of Angel’s job, drinking, fluff, yelling, Vox being a baby, cursing, implications of being a prostitute, suggestiveness, both of them being teases (that’s it, let me know if i missed any!)

a/n: i think writing hazbin fics is my stress outlet 😭

You were Vox’s. And Vox was yours. Every demon and sinner in Pride Ring knew due to Vox taking time out of his busy work day to shower you with compliments in every press interview or host show when you were brought up. Especially when Vox would be the first one to find you after you finished modeling for Velvette’s show, making sure the paparazzi had photos of him praising you with kisses and soft touches.

Of course, you reciprocated every moment… In the public eye. Behind the cameras and screens, Vox was very much loving. But he did work for almost twelve hours each day, which required patience from you whenever he came home to you in a sour mood.

“Do you need me for anything else, Vel?” You glance back at your phone as you pour red wine into your glass.

“No,” She scribbled down measurement adjustments for another model’s design, looking back up at her screen after hearing an electrical shock from your side of the phone. “But do tell your boy toy that you have a dress rehearsal early tomorrow morning, and that you have to be there on time.”

Vox wrapped his arm around your waist, glaring at the young overlord through your phone. “Fuck off, Velvette.”

You feel him resting his head against your shoulder as he presses soft kisses on your neck, your dead heart fluttering. “I’ll be there on time.”

“Good.” She rolled her eyes at your boyfriend’s actions before ending the call.

“What’s your damage today, handsome?” You ask before sipping on your drink, red lipstick staining the clear glass. You watch as he mutters something incoherent, static emitting from his hat. “Vox, talk to me.”

“That bitch Carmilla won’t meet up, and it’s been several days since our last update on Vox technology.” He sighs as he moves around you, his voice crackling with electricity. “Shareholders have been up my fucking ass all morning about it— Valentino keeps trying to get me to watch his stupid porn feels featuring Angel.”

He removes his suit jacket as he complains, walking toward the large living space including a minibar. Vox pulls at his tie and reaches for the whiskey underneath, “Now Velvette wants to be an ass and complain about me wanting to spend time with you—“

“My love,” You hand him a glass from the cabinets, letting your hand linger on his for a bit. “Vel’s my boss, and I’m her best model. She needs me for these rehearsals.”

“You’re really taking her side?” He tilts back his head and downs the drink in one go, pouring another.

You roll your eyes at his childish behavior, “I’m not taking sides, I’m pointing out a fact.” You sit on the stool by the bar, letting him slot himself between your legs. “If anything, I’m listening to you describing your day.”

“Mm.” He let one hand come down and rest on your hip, rubbing soft circles. “Tell me about your day.”

“Boring, tiring. Pretty much the same every day.” You grab his wrist to ensure he doesn’t go any lower or any higher. “According to your assistant, I do have a lot of things planned tomorrow. So that should be exhausting.”

Vox linked your hands together, “Sounds stressful.”

“Not as bad as yours every day.” You press a kiss on his palm. “I was gonna watch a movie while waiting for you, but now that you’re here—“ You shift your wine glass in your hand as he puts his own glass down, letting him trail his hands to your waist. “Want to join me?”

“Of course.” He presses a chaste kiss to your lips before trailing after you. “What movie are we watching?”

“Whatever the first thing I find.” You let Vox sit on the couch before doing the same, swinging your legs over his lap. “You need a new rotation on Voxflix, I’ve watched almost everything.”

“I’ll get on that.” He mumbled as he ran his hand up and down your leg, occasionally squeezing.

You hum and shift your gaze to the television, scrolling through the different movies. “How do we feel about—“

A ringtone filled the air, both of you freezing at the noise.

“Vox—“

“Give me a second.” He let you pull your legs away and pulled the ringing from his screen to his phone, camera-ready voice leaving his mouth.

You sigh but find a movie worth watching, pulling your knees up. Around halfway through, you decided that the movie was meretricious, heavily judging the poorly made movie more than the other ones you’ve watched. You typed your review on your phone, giving the movie two stars before—

“—THEN GET SOME LOW LIFE SINNER TO DO YOUR FUCKING JOB FOR YOU!” You heard Vox scream from the kitchen, making you wince for the poor soul on the other end. “AND IF YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE SHIT I GIVE YOU, JUST KNOW I HAVE YOUR FUCKING SOUL IN CONTRACT!”

You pause the movie and get up, taking slow steps to your hotheaded boyfriend. He shuffled across the kitchen, walking back and forth as his fans kicked on. His white shirt was unbuttoned and his sleeves were rolled up like he was going to commit a crime.

“YOU LITTLE PIECE OF—“

“Vox,” You come up from behind and wrap your arms around his chest, resting your head on his shoulder. “It’s outside of your work hours.”

“Fucking—“ He rubbed his temple as he heard the sinner go silent on the other line. Vox took one hand and laced it with yours, “You’re lucky my wife is generous you ungrateful fuck.” He ended the call before muttering more curses, turning you in his arms so you were facing his front.

You let your hands move up to his shoulders, massaging the heavy tension in them. “Am I your wife now? Is that what you’ve been telling those sinners?”

“Maybe.” He let out a loud groan from the sensation, fans still running. “The fucking bitch in accounting is—“

“You’re not working right now, stop.” You give him a pointed look. “I need you to relax.”

Vox wrapped his arms around your waist, walking you backward toward the living area once more. “God, I’m in love with you.”

“I love you too.” You chuckle as he peppers kisses on your face. You let out a noise of surprise when he pulls you into his lap, hands gripping his shoulders for support. “Vox!”

“Yes?” He pressed kisses to your exposed collarbone.

You sigh in content but grab the corners of his screen, giving him a cheeky grin. “Tomorrow, my love. Velvette will murder the both of us if I show up late with bruises.”

“I’ll pay her to let you have a day off tomorrow.” He slipped his hand up your shirt, sharp claws bringing chills to your skin.

“So now you’re paying to be with me?” You raise a brow, stifling a laugh when he stops all movements. “Am I some kind of—“

“Of course not! Do not finish that sentence.” He pushed you down on the couch, covering your mouth. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

You laugh at how protective he is over you from himself. “I know you didn’t mean it like that, I was kidding.”

Vox dropped his head down to your shoulder, “You’re such a tease.”

“I’m the best.” You squeeze his bicep. “But seriously, Vel will have our heads strung outside the tower.”

“Whatever.” He flipped you both over, letting you rest your head on his chest. “I’ll have you all to myself this weekend.”

You hum, pressing a kiss on the corner of his screen. “I’m sure you do, handsome.”

“My love, I will cancel all your plans this weekend if you tell me I can’t have you.” Vox traces his finger down your spine. “Don’t tell me you have any.”

“I don’t…” You turn your head as he runs his claws through your hair. You feel yourself warm as he wraps a blanket over the both of you, flicking the television to play with a snap of his fingers.

“What do we rate the movie today?” He played with the ends of your hair, face pulling a grimace at the movie’s corny script.

“Two stars.” You mumble as your gaze shifts to the television. As the television fades to black in an awkward transition, you see Vox staring at you rather than the screen. “What are you looking at, weirdo?”

“My beautiful girlfriend.” He squeezed your hip. “Who I love very much.”

You let a small laugh slip through your lips, grinning brightly at his words. “I love you very much too, weirdo.”

©lqveharrington - all rights reserved. do not copy, translate or share my work on other media platforms

[thexfridax]

D.E.B.S. at 20: a Queer Cult Classic

Bessie Yuill Photo: Sundance/WireImage

There is a secret film hidden within the shadowy sapphic corners of Letterboxd. Some call it escapist trash, some call it an underrated cult classic, fools call it a male fantasy. It calls itself D.E.B.S. As other early-2000s chick flicks like Charlie’s Angels and St. Trinian’s have been reevaluated and embraced for their candy-floss aesthetics and campy wit over the years, the lesbian community was quietly reclaiming its own equivalent with 2004’s D.E.B.S.

The precursor to contemporary high-concept lesbian films like Bottoms, the spy flick is filled with something that queer female moviegoers still often yearn for: fun. That includes Jordana Brewster and her era-defying eyebrows as the impeccably named supervillain Lucy Diamond, John Woo–style fight scenes that parody the action genre in the same way as Charlie’s Angels, and a cheerfully cheap aesthetic where spies run around in plaid schoolgirl skirts.

D.E.B.S. was written, directed, and edited by filmmaker Angela Robinson. While “unapologetically queer” might be an overused phrase, it does apply neatly to Robinson. The Chicago-born director’s first project was a short film called Chickula: Teenage Vampire, calling on the long history of vampiric queer women that began with 1872’s Carmilla.

Her love of playing with genre led her to later put a lesbian spin on the movie musical by writing the underappreciated Girltrash: All Night Long and exploring polyamory in a period biopic about the creators of Wonder Woman, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. On the small screen, she also burnished her lesbian credentials by working on several episodes of The L Word.

When D.E.B.S. started life as a short film, Robinson described it as “a story about a trio of superspies who are all chicks. I love all the comic-book characters: Charlie’s Angels, Batman, Josie & the Pussycats … But I always wanted them to be gay and they never were, so I wrote my own.” Success at Sundance led to Sony snatching the short up and deciding that D.E.B.S. should be a full-length feature.

Two decades later, the joy of this movie lies in the details. The tone is immediately set by a gravelly voice-over telling us that there is a secret test hidden within the SAT to recruit young female superspies (and establishing that, like Bottoms, this is a film aware of genre archetypes and willing to push believability). Our main character Amy (Sara Foster) is an academic overachiever — like many lesbians overcompensating for their perceived failure to live up to social norms. Her perfect score on the secret SAT test makes it even more scandalous when she falls for the aforementioned supervillain Lucy Diamond.

Queer friend groups may delight over the nostalgic frosty eye shadow and lip gloss worn by the D.E.B.S. (which stands for “discipline, energy, beauty, strength,” naturally) at all times. Flip phones, CGI holographic screens, and Goldfrapp’s appearance on the soundtrack will also remind you that you’re watching a film made in the early 2000s. And many will squeal when they spot Holland Taylor, over a decade before she came out, as the academy’s head.

Admittedly, the special effects are goofy enough to cross over into comedy, especially when our girls are abseiling into a restaurant or climbing walls with plungers, and the lighting could be charitably described as resembling teen soap operas of that era. But the chemistry between Amy and Lucy is crackling enough that YouTube compilations of their scenes have racked up hundreds of thousands of views online. Their fun enemies-to-lovers plotline begins with the pair pointing guns at each other and quickly progresses to a whirlwind romance (the other D.E.B.S. think Amy’s been kidnapped and launch a national manhunt, just as many friend groups have had to organize rescue missions for lesbians on weeklong first dates).

You could argue that espionage serves as a metaphor for the closet and that Amy is such an effective spy because she’s used to lying to herself about her sexuality. But that almost seems like too much weight to put on this meringue confection of a genre spoof: Its campiness liberates the characters to inhabit a fun, exaggerated universe with no serious homophobia or consequences. Guns are used, but the so-called superspies have such consistently terrible aim that there are no real casualties. And Lucy Diamond’s supposedly nefarious crimes are all reversible — the murders pinned on her are revealed to be misunderstandings, and she returns all of her stolen goods in order to win Amy back.

When this live-action Totally Spies with a lesbian twist debuted, it only made $97,000 and was dismissed by critics. But there were enough moviegoing gays impressed by its snappy dialogue, fun romance, and stunning supporting cast (including Meagan Good, Jimmi Simpson, and Devon Aoki with a French accent) for its reputation to grow online over time. In forums and YouTube comment sections, young girls were asking, “Are there any lesbian films where they just fall in love and have fun and don’t die at the end?” Their answer was D.E.B.S.

[tyrantisterror]

A Dozen Or So Great Vampire Ladies

Ok, so, on a mostly unrelated post the topic of good vampire ladies came up, and @bisexualdaikaiju suggested/challenged me to do a top 10 vampire women list. As a self-professed lover of vampire women, it felt like a challenge I couldn't back down from. But it is kind of challenging, for two kind of contradictory reasons.

First, while there are MANY female vampires in fiction, most of them feel like afterthoughts, getting far less characterization than their male counterparts, who more often than not are the star villains of the show. When these supporting lady vampires do get something to do, it's generally the same role: make their human lovers sad when they rise from the dead as a monster that has to be killed, an emotional beat that is often undercut by a lot of these vampire women not getting much characterization to endear them to us before they died. Everyone wants to have the Lucy Westerna plot beat from Dracula but they don't want to do the work that Bram did to make Lucy lovable. The lady vamps who get to step out of Lucy's shadow are rare - but that just makes them all the more wonderful.

The second problem is that, since this is an obsession of mine that few seem to share (there are lots of vampire fans, but man do the boy vamps get to hog the spotlight among them), I've done a lot of scattered thinking about it and I just know I'm bound to forget at least one excellent lady vampire character that should be here. And whittling it down to ten, and trying to rank them? That's too hard! My thoughts are too mercurial to do that reliably in a way I don't forget!

So instead here's a list of, like, a dozen or so lady vampires that I think are just fucking stellar, many of which I think break the mold of what pop culture makes us expect lady vampires to be. It is not ranked - I love all these characters more or less equally, and think it's a lot more interesting to see how they take their archetype in different directions than to figure out which one is "best" of the lot.

Carmilla Karnstein

I'm going to start with the most famous literary female vampire, Mircalla Karnstein from Carmilla. I think she might be the first vampire to have an unhealthy obsession with using anagrams of her real name as aliases, though I'm sure now that I've typed that someone will find an earlier example to school me. She's also the one who popularized the idea of lady vampires being extremely sapphic, with an arguably genuine romantic affection for her female victims. She's got well-deserved clout, basically, and like Dracula has been adapted countless times and reinterpreted in some excellent ways. My favorite screen Carmilla is Ingrid Pitt's take, which captures her fierceness, passion, and tragic nature so well.

2. Amy from Fright Night

Ok, we're having one Lucy Westerna knockoff on this list, but as Lucy knockoffs go, Amy is one of the best. It actually helps that she spends 90% of her movie as a human, because we get to know and love her so much before she turns monstrous. And once she does...

It is pants-shittingly terrifying. I will never stop raving about the vampire designs in this movie - they made their "game faces" so fucking monstrous and I feel like in a better world this would be the standard ever since, especially since they still gave the vampires pathos while making them so ghastly when they've got their feeding faces on.

3. Drusilla

Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a bunch of vampire characters, and to its credit they did a decent job of making the ladies just as distinct as the gents. Harmony and Darla could both have made this list, but my favorite was always Drusilla, who was so traumatized before she became a vampire that it kind of overwhelms the demon spirit inside her. Like, bare minimum thing to make a lady vampire more interesting than 90% of other female vampires in fiction: give her at least one personality trait, preferably an interesting one, outside of being a vampire. Drusilla's fun, and she survives the entire series after dumping her boyfriend to be a single female vampire. Good for her.

4. Ruby from Scary Godmother

Ok look I am a fake Scary Godmother fan but kudos to the artist of the books for making a lady vampire who's very clearly of the nosferatu mold and is also explicitly benign and sweet. A+ vampire lady character design. I hope it doesn't awaken anything in me.

5. Nadja

What We Do in the Shadows is excellent at finding new takes on vampires in general - it even made me actually like Psychic Vampires as a concept, a feat I thought was impossible - but goddamn do I love Nadja specifically. She's got a distinct personality as vampire ladies go, being very confident and self-assured while also being a complete fucking goober (it is a comedy, after all). She's perfectly capable of being terrifying AND hilarious, often at the same time. A vampire girl failure, in the parlance of our site. I love her.

6. Lady Dimitrescu

I know that she's apparently only in a fourth of the game, but it's still pretty great that Resident Evil 8 decided its mascot villain - its equivalent of the Tyrant, G, Nemesis, etc. - would be the hottest woman I've ever seen a milf an 8 foot tall lady vampire. She's not dainty and willowy like most lady vamps in fiction - not an ambush hunter - but rather HUGE and capable of tossing a human around like a rag doll. She's a physical powerhouse and she looks fine feminine while doing it. Despite being an unabashed blood-sucking monster, she still has enough depth and complexity to have important relationships (like a genuine love for her "giant mass of hive mind flies" daughters), and also she gets to have an awesome transformation into a fungal vampire dragon, which is rad as hell. Also goddamn, her fashion sense is immaculate.

7. Hecate from Hellboy

"Hey, she's not a vampire! She's a goddess! That doesn't count!" Fuck you, my list, my rules. Hecate posits herself as the progenitor and mother of vampires, she drinks blood, and her main form in the comic is as a sicknasty lamia version of the iron maiden used by Elizabeth fucking Bathory, if she doesn't count as a vampire, nothing should. She is the concept of a vampire amped up to maximum capacity, a major mythological figure and an awesome villain.

...also I lowkey shipped her and Hellboy when I was a teenager. They could have made it work!

8 - 12. Carmilla and her girl squad from Castlevania

I suppose I could have counted Castlevania's Carmilla as an adaptation of Miss Karnstein - they're both basted out of Styria, both sapphic, and it's clear she's meant to be an adaptation of the former, just as the Dracula of this show is meant to be a take on Bram's famous vampire. But ultimately they're VERY different characters in the grand scheme of things - Castlevania's Carmilla has none of the tenderness and vulnerability of her literary counterpart, instead being full of barely restrained fury. She is an excellent villain, complex enough to be interesting but thoroughly despicable enough to make it VERY satisfying when she bites it.

I also love her girl posse... in concept, at least. They've all got great designs and the groundwork of interesting characters, but of the the three, only Lenore, the waifish redhead, gets to do much of note. The two on the edges kind of just show up for a few scenes and then bail before the plot catches up to them, doing very little of note - though at least the big hunky one gets one of the coolest fight scenes in the whole show.

Back to Lenore though - she gets a really nice character arc, and manages to become one of the few sympathetic vampires in the series (while still doing a lot of monstrous shit - she is not a defanged vampire by any stretch). I think her death scene is one of the most moving moments in the series finale.

13. Seras Victoria

A good female vampire has at least one non-vampire part of her personality, right? Ok, so, Seras is:

the muscle in almost every scene she is, which is to say, the one absolutely beating the shit out of people while her allies run for cover

the perky henchman/morality pet of one of history's greatest monsters

the sole ray of sunshine in cast of edgy, cigar-chomping grizzled mercnaries and antiheroes she's been pressganged into fighting alongside

the victim of some HIDEOUS trauma even before her vampirization

the protege of a wise master who gets a full hero's journey arc, taking up his mantle at the end of the series

Like, I love her. She's the secret protagonist of Hellsing. She's got layers like an onion. The scene where she killed Zora Blitz reminded me why I love anime.

(yeah it's the TFS version fuck you)

14. Youko Shiragami

My Monster Secret is not a horror manga. It is a romantic comedy about a bunch of idiots trying to keep painfully obvious secrets hidden and succeeding only because almost everyone around them is as dumb as they are, just in very different ways. It is a manga where an entire chapter can be summarized as "all the characters race to get the last McRib, using their various supernatural abilities to try and cheat their way to the front of the pack." It is one of the funniest and most heart-warming stories I have ever read, one of my favorite romances of all time, and an excellent piece of long form story-telling.

One of the two main characters is Youko Shiragami, a vampire girl who can't let anyone know she's a vampire or else her dad will pull her out of school. She desperately wants to have a normal life with friends and, like, school shenanigans, but her fear of people uncovering her secret and hating her is so immense that she's been isolating herself from everyone, accidentally torturing herself by being close to what she wants but unable to actually have it.

At least, until Kuromine, the other main character of the story, discovers her secret while trying to ask her out on a date. He ends up promising to keep her secret, and the two of them form a real friendship that blossoms into a very sweet romance, where Youko gets to display all her incongruous personality traits that go against what you'd expect of vampires - namely, that she's kind of a ditz, with an unrefined style of speech and a complete inability to be suave and seductive. She's a sweet, flaky goofball with a big heart, who just happens to drink blood and tan really quickly in the sunlight. There is no other vampire like her, and the world is richer for her being in it.

15. Marceline, the Vampire Queen

This list isn't ranked, but if it was, I'd put Marceline at the top. I think she is not only the most unique and deeply characterized lady vampire in fiction, but ranks right up there with Dracula in how she redefines the idea of what a vampire can be. Like, look at the forms she takes!

There are DOZENS of different monstrous shapes Marceline takes during Adventure Time's 9+ seasons of television, and any one of them would be a superb and memorable vampire on its own. And she's ALL of them. Just on a design standpoint, she is a standout. I think only Dracula himself could compete.

But she also explores what the concept of what a vampire is in ways no other vampire in fiction can, in part because of the unique nature of Adventure Time's setting. In a world where humans are an extreme minority and most people are weird monsters, a vampire isn't that odd, so we get to explore what being a vampire means divorced from the comparison to "normal" human beings. There's the expected tragedy to Marceline, of course - she's a 16 year old who has been stuck in that adolescent state for hundreds of years, and much of her character arc over the show (including the magnificent vampire-centric storyline, "Stakes") focuses on the horror of being stuck in that transitional state, not quite a child but not quite an adult. Marceline struggles to mature, to understand herself and others, and her vampirism both keeps her distant from reaching those goals but also gives her a lot of time to figure out how to approach them when the opportunity arirves. Marceline goes from one of the most immature and selfish characters in the show to perhaps the most emotionally intelligent, blossoming into a sensitive and thoughtful person she could never have been without first becoming a creature that seems so inherently opposed to ever having those traits.

And she did it all in a children's show where she was rarely if ever allowed to actually drink blood - a problem the writers got around by having her suck the red color out of things, which is right up there with the Joker Venom from BTAS in terms of genius ideas spawned by children's show censorship.

Marceline is the GOAT.

[coallise]

Zestial and Carmilla, "All I want" (Ellie Goulding cover) gives great fluff inspiration. Lyrics of: "'Cause you brought out the best of me, A part of me I'd never seen, You took my soul and wiped it clean, Our love was made for movie screens."

I would personally call this bittersweet love song than fluff but I had fun listening to it. You got good taste annon

Memories

Carmilla leaned back in her chair, the radio on and playing a soft song. She had a glass of wine on the table. She was debating whether to drink it or not. The night was almost perfect, but she did not know what it could be missing.

“Thou looks like thee wants a dance,” Zestial offered. Carmilla smiled, she had no clue when he arrived but did not care. She fit easily in his arms as they started a waltz. Carmilla found herself remembering past dances.

Their first one, when she was a fresh overlord at her first ball. She had been mostly standing on the sidelines when Zestial offered her a dance.

“Are you sure your dance card can squeeze in another?” Carmilla had asked, gesturing to the ladies and men who he had danced with previously and those who wanted a dance next.

“Nay, I am sure I have a slot open for thee, after all, an overlord should dance at her first ball,” Zestial swept her on the dance floor. They danced for three songs back to back.

Out of the memory, Zestial twirled her and Carmilla found herself in a different memory. Carmilla was finally secure enough in her position to start bringing her daughters to events. The three of them took turns dancing with Zestial, taking over his entire dance card.

The first night they spent an extermination together was also the first night they spent the night together. It hadn’t been planned, but the meeting they had together went long so they all stayed at her mansion.

“What is on your mind, old friend?” Zestial asked, bringing her out of her memory.

“Just remembering all the dances we had together,” Carmilla let her head fall on his shoulder.

“There have been many. Thou hardly lets me dance with anyone else,” Zestial joked, knowing that he enjoyed dancing with her just as much.

“You’re just such a good dancer, I feel like every dance cleanses my soul from sin and I’m in heaven,” Carmilla did not know where the poetic bit came but it was true.

“Then we must dance more, if I shall get thou into heaven with just dancing,” Zestial kissed her head.

“Fuck heaven, I’m happy right here.”

[saintmachina]

trying to encourage my budding love of gothic well everything so far i’ve seen a few things like the movie rebecca (1940) and i’ve read the phantom of the opera , carmilla, and frankenstein but i’d like to read and watch more (even music if it’s out there?) and so i am shamelessly asking for any and all recommendations you have classic/modern/romance/horror i’ll take it all (i don’t know if much of it is queer but ill take queer recs as well if they exist)

thank you i’m a big fan of your work

I'll take any opportunity at all to yell about UNDER THE PENDULUM SUN by Jeanette Ng! This is a Capital G gothic with all the twists and trappings that still surprises, delights, and unsettles. The book followers a young Victorian woman on her quest to find her missionary brother, who has disappeared into faeryland for his own shadowy reasons, and about the secrets and the fey queen who torment them both. It runs CIRCLES around any other book that has every tried to do theology and faeries at the same time, and the prose is lovely and the suspense is tight. Crimson Peak enjoyers, this is for you in more ways than one. (I will go ahead and say tw: incest here but it's more complicated than you think and hey, it's a Gothic tragedy, what did you expect?)

Other than that, if you want to watch a TRULY WILD but enjoyable film, try Gothic! It's a 1986 film about Mary Shelley and the gang cooking up stories (and drama, and infidelity, and drug-induced hallucinations, and ghosts) during the infamous year without a summer. Also you must, you MUST watch AMC's Interview With The Vampire television series. It is hands down the best vampire story I've ever seen on screen, pitch-perfect down to the writing, acting, staging, and storytelling devises. That adaptation is thoroughly and unapologetically queer.

You've already read some of the ultimate classics, but have you tried Wuthering Heights? It's a bit of a slow start but UGH, what a family saga, what a moody atmosphere, what a brutally eternal love! It's one of my forever favorites.

Enjoy!

[vampiremediareview]

The Vampire Lovers

The Vampire Lovers is a 1970 horror film heavily based on the famous novel Carmilla. It was directed by Roy Ward Baker and starred Ingrid Pitt as Carmilla and Madeline Smith as Emma, our sort of stand in for Laura in this version.

The plot follows the typical storyline of Carmilla. A carriage crashes causes Carmilla to be taken in by Emma's family, whereupon she betwitches her into a love affair and she is quickly swept up with her. Carmilla is moody and seems to swing between emotions at the drop of a hat, meanwhile our gentle sweet Emma is growing fainter and fainter every day.

The main change that I noticed first is that Laura, the protagonist of the original book, dies within the first few minutes of the film and another girl takes her place. Something similar occurs between Laura and Bertha, though I'm not sure why this change was decided upon. Furthermore, their romance is a lot more explicit in this movie than in the book. The two kiss, explore each other's naked bodies and appear to have sex at one point.

The Standouts

Ingrid Pitt puts on a truly amazing performance as Carmilla. She's alluring and captivating to watch on screen. Everyone is fascinated by her- even the men in one of the opening scenes all crowd around her, amazed. She's often in these brightly colored blue and red dresses. It almost puts one in the mind of a poison dart frog in a way.

My Personal Take

As far as adaptations go, this one was quite lovely. The set design of Karnstein Castle is appropriately gothic and lux... The scenes that are meant to be scary do come across as such. They didn't spread themselves too thin or try to be too much at once like some other movies. They build an atmosphere of suspense, mystique, and horror interspersed between moments of eroticism between Carmilla and Emma.

It was difficult for me not to notice certain running themes, though they were minor. Obviously, there's the factor that this evil, bloodsucking creature bears a name that ends in -Stein, which is commonly used as a suffix of Jewish last names. Her hair also goes from light to dark when she becomes evil, something that is not my personal favorite trope in the world. Furthermore, Emma is weak and helpless to save herself, and has to be saved by a group of men from this...

A lot of these complaints are rather small in the long run, and not entirely the fault of the movie's creators as they were present in the book as well. It's just something that I like to consider when I'm thinking about a movie... "What do the vampires represent in this movie?" and Carmilla as a dark haired, foreign jewish demon isn't the best thing in the world.

Overall

Despite what I mentioned in the last section, I do highly recommend this movie. Even moreso than the previous one I covered. Though you may want to avoid watching it in public due to the aspects of nudity and sexuality. Let's face it, if you're on this blog, you're probably looking for problematic, evil vampires... If you like problematic, evil lesbian vampires then this is the movie for you. Definitely watch away!

[that-ari-blogger]

Ascension (Whatever It Takes)

Let’s talk about active and reactive characters, and what that tells us about a given story.

Whatever It Takes sets up Vaggie and Carmilla as… foils? Parallels? Opposites? The series is open ended in this field, it gives us archetypes, and invites us to draw our own conclusions.

As such, these two are protectors, but the way they go about it is both similar and wildly different. It’s complicated.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD (Hazbin Hotel, Castaway)

The difference between an active and a reactive character is in the name. An active character takes actions and pushes the plot forward to further their own goals, while a reactive character responds to others and acts in accordance with that.

For example, Zestial is a fundamentally reactive character. He responds to the floor shifting underneath him in the previous song with damage control.

He watched the person who is ostensibly closest to him get undermined, so he tries to pick her up. In that way, he’s a pretty decent friend. He offers aid when she’s feeling low, and whatever he gets out of it, the man’s primary goal here is to help.

“What weighs on your soul, old friend? I explore you to share the load.”

At this point, I feel the need to explain my bias towards this character. Zestial is one of my favourite individuals presented in Hazbin Hotel, and it’s not because he’s benevolent, or powerful, or composed. It’s not because of his design, or his writing. It’s because I am weak, and his voice is smoother than the ocean at night. I don’t have to explain myself further.

Zestial is also reacting to the power dynamic being presented by the Vees. They didn’t do any damage, but Velvette felt comfortable making threats, and was utterly unintimidated by Carmilla, so Zestial feels like he needs to start moving his pieces to counteract that.

“If it was thou who slew the angel, why not let your fear be known?”

Essentially, Zestial needs to get himself and his friend back on top, and back to being untouchable. He wants to go back to not having to act at all.

But a side note here, notice how the rhyming scheme in this section is slanted, that’s because rhyming wasn’t always a thing in English poetry. It was ported over from other languages as previous poetry conventions were focused on the musicality and other elements of the words.

It doesn’t map out exactly, rhyming grew to popularity during the medieval times, and judging by Zestial’s dialect, that’s where I’d put him historically. But it does convey a sense of age to his words that adds gravitas to what he is saying.

When Carmilla starts singing, the music itself backs off to a quet guitar. She’s being vulnerable, rather than all powerful, and that contrasts with Zestial to exacerbate their differences. Zestial’s oomph makes Carmilla seem smaller, and Carmilla’s pensiveness amplifies Zestial in return.

As an example of an active character, Charlie and Velvette are fundamentally active characters whose actions make up the majority of the plot. Charlie pursues her dream, makes bargains, offers forgiveness, and Velvette… well she has one song, but Carmilla and Zestial’s actions are in direct response to that song’s ambition.

However, here’s the kicker. In my opinion, there is no such thing as active and passive characters. It’s a gradient.

The classification exists for a reason, it helps audiences understand, but in practice, nobody exists only on one side of the equation. Being reactive is a biproduct of existing in relation to other stuff. Chuck Noland, from Castaway, despite being the only character on screen for most of the movie, reacts to his environment and to his situation like a human being. Even if a character chooses to ignore their surroundings, that’s still a reaction to something. The decision to do nothing is still a decision

On the other end of the spectrum, all characters are active, because otherwise they aren’t characters. Being active is simply the practice of doing things. In the first Ranger’s Apprentice book, Baron Arald and Sir Rodney are generally pretty reactive characters, but their choice to challenge the Kalkara is an active decision.

In that sense, Zestial is a character who leans towards reactivity, but is still motivated to take action when threatened.

For the sake of visualisation. I have a graph.

We can start by putting Zestial and Charlie on opposite ends and filling in from there. I would say Husk is pretty reactive as a character, usually acting in response to Angel or Alastor, while Velvette is active in terms of antagonism, but she reacts to the death of the angel. Vox responds to Alastor by taking action, Adam responds to the death of the angel with violence, etc. Eventually, our graph looks a bit like this:

Now, you may notice that there is a gap in the middle. Despite all appearances, I am analysing Whatever it Takes, so guess which two characters go there.

This was actually a pretty difficult choice, and it comes down to my grievances with this episode, and my critique of the show as a whole.

I laid this out in more detail in the previous post but suffice to say that Hazbin Hotel is too short, and that hinders episode three because the series doesn’t have enough time to capitalize on anything that is set up here.

Carmilla suffers enormously because of this, because the dynamic with Vaggie doesn’t go anywhere (other than Out For Love, but we will get there when we get there), and she doesn’t have much screen time beyond this, so we don’t really know where she sits on the scale.

The song that I have been dancing around sets up a place in the centre of the graph and makes them parallels because they fit in the same slot here, but then Carmilla isn’t in the rest of the series much, so she ends up falling further towards the reactive end of the scale.

The reactiveness itself isn't what I have an issue with, its the inconsistency.

Once again, I blame this on management not understanding their own product, but it’s important to understand how that has affected the end result.

So, the key metaphor established in this song is that of the keeper and armour. The protector and the guardian, and that is what sets up their place on the scale.

Armour isn’t a character, and even in terms of what it does, it’s not a particularly proactive item. You can’t hit someone with a helmet unless you really want to, and even then, it's going to be less effective than most of your other options. But what armour does do, is get in the way.

Armour interposes itself between you and danger, sacrificing its own wellbeing for yours. It’s a guardian, a protector.

Vaggie is positioning herself as a someone who will do whatever it takes to save those she cares about. She is the knight who will stand in the darkness and ward it off to protect the light. She is not a disgrace. She is vengeance. She is the night. She is... Batman!

I’m humanising an inanimate object here, because Vaggie is doing the complete opposite. For Vaggie, love is putting her partner above herself, to the point of self-sacrifice. It means that she is willing to let go of her will to live to get in the way of any danger coming towards Charlie. She is dehumanising herself and saying that her desires are forfeit for Charlie’s dream.

“I’ll be your armour, Do whatever it takes, I’ll make the mistakes I’ll spend my life being your partner”.

Now, Charlie has done absolutely nothing to persuade Vaggie of this. She has been supportive, if a little headstrong. Vaggie has reacted to Charlie putting herself in danger and decided that was how she was needed.

There is one scene that I’ve seen pointed to as Charlie re-enforcing Vaggie’s attempt at self-sacrifice, that being the training scene. But that’s just asking for help, that’s not manipulation, that’s shared responsibilities on a task. That’s teamwork.

Yes, Charlie is oblivious to this side of Vaggie’s motivation, but that’s because Vaggie hasn’t told her about it. Vaggie vents on an abandoned boat, alone, singing to herself. Charlie doesn't know that because Vaggie is convinced that if she is vulnerable, she won't be useful.

So, if it isn’t Charlie who told Vaggie that her individuality is worth sacrificing, I wonder who did. Maybe a military leader of some kind who values subservience above all else. Maybe someone who surrounds themselves with masks so that they don’t have to realise that people are individuals. I wonder who that points to.

Carmilla, meanwhile, positions herself as a keeper of secrets, a profession and a type of action she can take. She sets herself up as responding to news and stamping it out, taking action to hide things.

“I always thought that I would keep blood off my face, But when that thing attacked, I had to act To cross that line and keep them safe.”

I want to restate that Carmilla is a hypocrite. She makes weapons and is convinced that her wealth will protect her from the consequences. Or rather, she was a hypocrite.

It took an angel rocking up out of the blue and nearly killing one of Carmilla’s children to jumpstart her character development. Just like Zestial, she was bulletproof, except that she had people she cared about.

The angel made Carmilla think. Her wealth didn’t protect her, the weapons did nothing to stop the assailant, and the violent response to a violent problem only brought about more issues. There might be a war on the horizon within hell, and both sides will have weaponry given to them by Carmilla. If the war starts, both she and her daughter will be killed, and it doesn't matter which side by, they will die at the hands of weapons she made.

As a response, Carmilla takes action, trying to recover her safety by keeping the secret of her vulnerability. She’s still not a good character, but she’s had her security compromised, and that’s a start.

Which brings me to the parallel between Carmilla and Vaggie, and I think that it is limited, but important to note. Both are protector characters; both respond to danger and take action. But that serves to show their differences even more. Vaggie is self-sacrificial and openly vulnerable so that her ward doesn’t have to be, and Carmilla is closed off and defensive all the time.

This is reflected in their music. One of my favourite parts of Hazbin Hotel is the fact that whenever they sing duets or even chorus pieces, its never everyone singing the same set of notes in their own register. In this case Vaggie’s music is more floaty, and according to Musescore, in a different key to Carmilla, who is dynamic, but grounded.

Zestial's design strength comes back here. He has too many eyes and a mouth that's a weird shape. What expression is this? What emotion? Is he confused? Disappointed? What's going on? Having a manipulator character have a mask is good, but making their entire face an unreadable blank slate is even better.

But the difference is also conveyed by their actions. Carmilla is static while she explains herself to Zestial. She is focused on the people she is protecting and the person whom asking for help from.

Vaggie’s section doesn’t really show Charlie at all, except through the geography. Vaggie is constantly climbing when she sings, constantly rising, as if her love lifts her and brings her up from rock bottom. Even though she’s not dancing, the choreography is telling a story.

When the camera shows her face, she is always looking upwards. Charlie has given her hope.

Final Thoughts

Episode three’s problems aren’t its own fault. The episode is setting up elements that never arrived, and that causes it to feel bloated.

I actually like this song, although for a while I couldn’t articulate why. I like to listen to it, but as far as analysis went, I was at a loss. This post has taken me the longest that any has in a while. But I ended up with something, so I’m happy.

But, from the series’ weakest episode, to its strongest. Next week we start episode four, talking about Poison, and… oh boy that one’s going to be a lot.

Previous - Next

[mask131]

Cinematic bloodlines (1)

The novel "Dracula" gave birth to many, MANY different adaptations, with several of them forming a very particular chain of works that I will call "bloodlines". And the first one actually begins with... a theater play.

In June of 1924, twelve years after the death of Bram Stoker, Dracula was adapted to the stage in Derby, by Hamilton Deane. This play was a huge success - in June of 1927 it was moved to London, and there made so much noise that by September of the same year it crossed the Atlantic and became a Broadway fame. It is from this specific play that the iconic "Dracula outfit" comes from, this evening wear, these soirée clothes with a black cape. It is also at Broadway that one particular actor would start playing Dracula, forever changing the fate of the character: the Hungarian-descendng Bela "Lugosi" Blasko, destined to become the first "face" of Dracula.

We move on to the core of this bloodline: the 1931 "Dracula" movie by Tod Browning. The first "actual" Dracula adaptation on screen, or at least the first talking movie about Dracula, and the one that immortalized Belga Lugosi in the role of the vampire count.

This movie was a huge and lasting success, and erected Dracula as a cultural icon in the American landscape. Jean Marigny wrote that one of the reasons this Dracula worked so well at the time was due to the historical context - the mix of the Great Depression's miserable effects and the inherent xenophobia of the USA, which found themselves "embodied" somehow by Dracula, this sickly and cruel "foreigner", this diseased and malevolent "other" which brought evil into the world. From 1931 to the end of World War II, roughly, American cheap literature and pulp fiction saw a boom of Dracula copies and imitations, so many vampires with Germanic or Slavic names that all were more-or-less subtle personifications of the political threats the USA had to deal with - Bolshevism or Nazism.

Though, again by Marigny's word, this "xenophobic" and "political" reading of Dracula does echo wonderfully one of the elements that made the original novel a success - as beyong a "good versus evil" and "vice versus virtue" battle, the Dracula novel also presented the vampire as a threat coming from a far-away country on the backwards, peasant, superstitious and ancient Eastern depths of Europe, coming into the harmonious and civilized order of Britain to cause trouble and disrupt peace... Perfect to please the inherent xenophobia of Victorian England. Though, it also should be pointed out that the novel, while adhering seemingly to this inherent bias, still was quite subversive - for example by having the Count be clearly more powerful and more prepared than the protagonists, who are all somehow weak or mediocre embodiments of the Victorian society, outmatched and unarmed for quite a long time against this clearly far superior being that is the vampire...

Also, this movie solidified the idea of a younger Dracula - as unlike in the novel, Lugosi's vampire doesn't start as an old man with a long white mustache...

The 1931 Dracula led to the development of what we know today as the "Universal Horror", a series of horror movies developed by Universal Pictures and which formed the first big "cinematic family" of the horror world. In this setting, "Dracula" got a sequel: "Dracula's Daughter" in 1936, very very loosely inspired by both "Dracula's Guest" and "Carmilla" (the two most prominent depictons of a female vampire at the time). The movie is about, as you can guess, Dracula's daughter who is trying to use all the methods she can, both supernatural and scientific, to break the vampirism curse she inherite from her father... The movie is also well-known for playing with the lesbian subtext of Carmilla, reusing it on screen in a Dracula context.

The third part of the unofficial trilogy came in 1943: "Son of Dracula". This is not actually about the literal son of Dracula, unlike "Dracula's Daughter". Rather it is about count Dracula moving not into London but into New-Orleans to spread his vampirism (was it the first time Dracula was depicted arriving in America? I think it might be...). In fact the other working titles for this movies were "The Modern Dracula" and "The Return of Dracula", all much more faithful to what the movie is actually about. This picture is also notorious for being the first time the "Alucard" trick was used in vampire fiction (note that Dracula is not played here by Bela Lugosi, but rather by the other giant of horror Lon Chaney Junior)

After this initial trilogy forming a very loose story (continuity was not the main concern of Universal movie-makers), the Universal Horror entered the era any big franchise enters at one point - crossover times! With "House of Frankenstein" in 1944, and "House of Dracula" in 1945, both about events gathering under one same roof Dracula, the creature of Frankenstein and the Wolf Man, the three iconics of the Universal Horror.

Then we entered the era of parodies, and the Universal Dracula ended up with the 1948 parody "Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein".

This is the end for the old "classic" Universal line. There is actually more down it, Universal didn't stop its vampire movies there, but I'll keep it for another post, because I want to conclue this post with three other movies.

Bela Lugosi is quite famously THE Dracula - and many believe that he was the only actor for Dracula in the Universal movies. Yet, as said above, he wasn't present in all of them - Son of Dracula, for example, was without him. Rather, this idea comes from the fact that, after playing Dracula on stage and on screen, Lugosi ended trapped in the role and type-casted as a vampire. He notoriously played in an unofficial trio of vampire movies which solidifed his reputation as "the vampire actor".

The first was another Tod Browning production made not so long after the original Dracula: 1935's Mark of the Vampire (or Vampires of Prague), which was strongly inspired by a silent horror movie currently lost, "London after Midnight". There, Lugosi played a "count Mora" who causes mysterious deaths in Prague with his daughter Irena. (And in this angle you could consider this movie a sort of unofficial rival to Universal's "Dracula's Daughter").

Followed in 1943 "The Return of the Vampire" by Lew Landers, which was basically trying to be an unofficial, unlicensed sequel to the Universal 1931's Dracula, even having Lugosi play the main vampire haunting London (Armand Tesla). This picture also contains a copy of Universal's Wolf Man in the person of Andréas the werewolf.

The last one is another parody in the line of the Abbott and Costello movie (in fact it was heavily inspired by it): the 1953 John Gilling's movie "Mother Riley Meets the Vampire", where the vampire is titled Van Houssen and plans to dominate the world by... building a robot army. Well... it was the 50s.

All of these lead to the treatment of Lugosi' vampire typecasting as both his legacy and his curse - to the point that when he was buried, he demanded it was in his Dracula costume...

[nigesakis]

top 5 pieces of menzies media that are a must watch?

1. this way up (its sooo funny and wholesome and just fun. hes in every except episodes, so watch the entire thing. you wont regret it.)

2. rome hbo (he plays brutus and ciaran hinds plays caesar).

3. you hurt my feelings (you dont expect this movie to be that good. gives you a milf AND dilf refill lasting for days)

4. carmilla (many disliked it bc it was more. inspired by than an adaption of the book so people were pissed about the changes. i really liked it though cause i didnt read the book and don't really care about correctness of adaptions)

5. outlander (this show is NOT good. but tobias literally outacted everyone in that show like he was so good. they absolutely wasted the potential of that show. but if youre only looking for tobias content, they got the goods. you can drop it once his characters stop showing up because thats when the rest of the show gets even worse too)

i also liked:

the duel (2010)

eternal law (VERY bad but very entertaining)

the crown season 3&4

casino royale (he doesnt have much screen time but its a good movie)

[zorawitch]

No one ever talks about Dracula's Daughter and that's a total mistake. With all the love for Dracula and its queerness that this website has, we shouldn't dismiss it, and we should actually be talking about it more.

The Hays Code became a thing in 1934. It banned suggestive nudity, sexuality, and any romantic orientation other than heterosexuality from being present on screen. Dracula's Daughter was released in 1936. It contains all three of these things to a certain extent. It was rejected by the British Board of Film Censors in the original drafts. Production Code officials even stated to Universal (who produced the film, as yes, the protagonist is technically a Universal monster) that they needed to edit a certain scene to erase any and all indication or reference to a "perverse sexual desire on the part of [Dracula's Daughter] or of an attempted sexual attack by her upon [a female victim]."

And yet.

Onto the silver screen in 1936 CE walked Countess Marya Zaleska, daughter of Dracula, heavily inspired by Carmilla and the Bram Stoker scrapped chapter Dracula's Guest. Her bisexuality extended far beyond merely subtext. She does enthrall many of her male victims by explicitly seducing them, and at one point requests that a woman she asks to pose for a painting strip down to her undergarments before being overcome by (blood)lust and going in for the kill. It's rumored that in earlier drafts, she would have been given a heavily implied interest in BDSM, but there's no confirmation of that. She does have a scene with another woman that has been referred to as "the longest kiss never filmed." She is the earliest sympathetic vampire on screen.

Is the story hokey? Campy? Not particularly scary? Yes. But I think this movie deserves to be equal in renown to its source material. It inspired the vampiric works of Anne Rice. It is theorized to have inspired the films Sunset Blvd. and Nadja.

Watch the film and put some respect on Marya Zaleska's name.

[dross-the-fish]

What do you think the Monetly crew and team Dracula be in the 1920's vs the 1930's? Would there be things they'd like these eras?

Hyde will be in America so he is going to be bootlegging and going to speakeasies during the prohibition. I also see him getting very into cars, in 1925 he'll be the proud owner of a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. Selma will stick with him, she can't be a monster hunter anymore but she still craves excitement, danger and adventure and those things seem to follow Edward around.

Quincey and Larry will have settled down together, Quincey will have opened his own practice and I see both of them being very into movies and the rise of jazz.

As musical hall style entertainment dies out Theo will transition to perusing a career in criminal law in the hopes that she can make a difference for the lower class by offering her services as a pro-bono lawyer. I see her really enjoying how accessible the rise home radio systems makes music through out the late 20s and 30s.

Watson and Holmes are living out their retirement in relative peace and quiet, both quite old in the 20s and 30s. I see them also enjoying the advent of commercial radio programming.

Speaking of Radio, I see Erik trying to find a way to work in the industry using the latest technology to run a radio station that records and broadcasts opera productions. The transmission of his Don Juan Triumphant was met with scandal and calls for censorship.

Adam will continue to live on the margins, keeping largely to himself, though when they become a thing he will frequent late night showings of movies and films. He'll be very intrigued when 1931 hits and he sees "Frankenstein" on the silver screen.

Team Dracula

Carmilla and Laura have settled down somewhere in the English countryside where they manage to live in relative peace. Laura is the more trendy of the two and is very into fashion and keeping up with the latest styles. She often asks Carmilla if she can try new hairstyles on her and Carmilla agrees because she's not going to say no to having her hair played with.

Griffin He's still invisible for this scenario so he lives by hiding out in people's houses and stealing from them, prefers wealthy houses to poor ones and if people get too suspicious he pretends he's a ghost and he's haunting the place. He can go for months living like that before he has to move on. His invisibility keeps him from being able to actually live a fully realized life and pursue hobbies so he's just kind of watching the world evolve.

Dracula in torpor where he belongs. If he were awake he wouldn't enjoy the advancement of the world, just regard it wearily as more things to research so he can at least pretend he fits in.

Dr Moreau taking an interest in the developments of cosmetic surgery as medicine becomes more advanced. Reluctantly considering that maybe he should use anesthetic when he does his experiments.

Dorian Gray has become a movie star, obsessed with making and staring in films some of which are surprisingly decent for being vanity projects.

Imhotep. Kind of like Dracula he's watching the world advance with weariness and a fear that it's moving to fast for him to keep up. Though he grows more and more compassionate to the displaced minorities and the outcasts who struggle through their continued oppression even as the world claims to become more enlightened.

Mephistopheles back in hell taking a time out through the 20s and 30s. Wouldn't appreciate those decades anyway.

[lostbutterflyutau]

2, 4, 5, 6, 23, and 24 for Velvette and Camilla please? I don't have emojis so just picture the devil emoji cuz hell

YAAAAS. Let's GO!!!

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Velvette: Her attitude and looks. Seriously, girl is serving. Even though it is immature at times, I just love her overall aura and aesthetic. Plus, I love how observant we see her being in the bit of time she gets on screen and the fact that her looks change so frequently, which speaks to her position as a trendsetter and fashion designer.

Carmilla: Like Velvette, I like her attitude, but for different reasons. She's clearly been in position for awhile and that reflects in the way she conducts herself. I also love how she will literally murder for her family. I have a thing for protective characters who are also secretly soft with certain people (in this case, her daughters).

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Velvette: Oh, geez. I guess I never thought about it much. Maybe something akin to Project Runway/Rainbow where I could see her being a great judge.

Carmilla: This is super obvious, but considering Striker is mentioned as having a Carmine-crafted rifle, it would be cool to see her in Helluva Boss. I know it will never happen, but the idea intrigues me.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Other than their respective songs from the show:

Velvette: Shameless by Camilla Cabello, but that's because I ship her with an OC of mine and it reflects that.

Carmilla: Sexy Bitch by David Guetta ft. Akon, for... reasons. I'm simping respectfully.

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

Velvette: Hmmm... Fashion, I suppose. Not in that we dress the same, but enjoy creating it (even if I just do sketches).

Carmilla: Not much, actually. The only thing I got is that we're protective of and will go to bat for those we care about.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

(This is my favourite Velvette look (Planning to cosplay it eventually!). And I just love the attitude you can see in her everything here).

(Carmilla with her hair down is EVERYTHING. DAMN GIRL. YOU A SEXY BITCH. (And I will cosplay you as well one day)).

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

Velvette: We haven't seen many side of her, but in some ways, Velvette reminds me of early Carla Delgado. Like, season one through mid season two where she was more ornery and disrespectful before Ash happened and she chilled out.

Carmilla: No one, honestly. Like, she has traits in common with other fandom characters, but I can't peg just one character from a fandom I've been in as being similar. Or I'm just blanking right now.

[raisinchallah]

(carmilla anon) i watched it reading along with the official twitter/tumblr accounts (there were bits i was like "oh this must've been so cool live!"). s1 specially feels so much like *theater* with all the long takes/fixed camera. a lot happens off screen sure but they tried to include so much of the action using only the actors' physicality. i was impressed! (i was also amused by the different ways they tried to fit that one tall TALL actress in the frame).

it was fascinating to peek at (what's left) of its fan culture as an outsider but i am sure it could feel deeply personal in uncomfortable ways to revisit if you were *there* so i feel you.

yeah i recall it being like a very fun live experience with lots of material outside the videos themselves which i think is something interesting about that era of web productions that there was like more of the veil coming down there wasnt as much of the distance between say online personas and actual life or anonymity of internet media of the 2000s but also kind of being tongue in cheek about like well the idea of "real" internet personas and showing ur face because of course this was material in character for the most part tho the actors were also giving interviews and kind of blurring that boundary more naturally i guess than normal actors and i think utilizing the space of the internet to craft a story and the fact it was like riffing on the vlog format popular on youtube at the time and such idk interesting slice of time they perhaps handled the collapse of like the lines between fiction and reality more naturally than regular actors in major tv shows but it was also still quite small and niche so probably less weird idk miniature micro fame or whatever wow u know i never saw the film they made i see they leveled up to getting canadian actors niche known for playing gay characters on genre shows after or right around being in that film (cara gee as camina drummer in the expanse and dominique provost chalkley as waverly earp from wynonna earp lol)

i believe the actors who played laura and carmilla made another webseries or movie or something together capitalizing on their extremely niche internet gay popularity for a minute which i found fascinating but idk whats really happened seems most of the people involved have really only continued to make webseries but i guess the bottoms kinda fallen out of the world of internet media despite the world being so online.. sad

[slettlune]

i went to a pride week screening of THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970), a lurid hammer adaptation of carmilla, and i had such wonderful time. a lady next to me started spontaneously applauding when ingrid pitt took her dress off. and kate o'mara breasting boobily around as the willing victim of a lesbian vampire?? i don't even know if the movie was good but a+++ best movie ever

[buffysgotfaith]

I've seen you post about Carmilla and I have to ask, you didn't actually think that was good right?

I mean was it good for a low budget webseries? Sort of. Was it actually good? No. Did I enjoy it for what it was? Yeah. At the time it was a bit of a laugh and I was much younger.

I look back at Carmilla and I don't really remember anything except for Hollstein and while so much about that webseries and movie was low quality, that's still some of the best on screen chemistry and I will always believe that. Because there's no tricks to aid that chemistry. Music is used like once in the whole series (and that was a mistake to have it in). There's no cutting together different takes. There's no close ups and slow mo to try and enhance a mood. They really just had like this super believable magnetic pull and that is why we all watched and ate that shit up.

As much as I don't look back at Carmilla and think it was good, I don't ever regret supporting it because so many people involved in that project were part of the LGBT+ community and they wanted to make art that supported that community. Given the time it came out, that was very rare still and super important