#damn Nosferatu looks good | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bl00dline · 6 days ago

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my take on nosferatu (2024) as someone who loves silent movies, 19th century history, and gothic horror-- a highly informal and adhd-fuelled review

i finally got around to watching nosferatu in theatres the other day, and needless to say i was VERY excited. i have many many MANY thoughts on this movie, so here's a bit of verbal vomiting as to what i thought about it! all of my thoughts surrounding major spoilers will be under the cut

so overall, WOWWOWOWOWOW. i think the original movie has ABSOLITELY been done justice. while there is something that bothers me about this adaptation (which i'll get to later), this movie was easily a 5/5 for me.

the main thing that made me love this movie is the AESTHETIC. this movie is absolutely STUNNING. the colours and sets make this movie so immersive and i swear to god i was SALIVATING over the 19th century gothic aesthetic. like if you look inside my brain it probably looks like this

now i am fucking insufferable when it comes to historical accuracy with 19th century costumes, but clearly the people involved with this movie DID THEIR RESEARCH. the silhouettes were right, the hair was perfect, the attention to detail was amazing, and what shocked me the most was the accuracy of the undergarments, especially the corset and split drawers! there were only a couple very minor errors, which i think can be forgiven considering how generally accurate the costumes were.

these genuinely make me want to sew an 1830s outfit :') but anyways yeah the costumes made the movie even more immersive.

i love how ellen was portrayed, too. i'm very likely projecting because i've loved her character for a while now, but i thought that her relationship with count orlok was a great metaphor for mental illness. her recurring visions/trances really reminded me of the recurring nature of illnesses like depression and anxiety and how inescapable it feels. her line about not feeling human was a huge mood too, and yeah as someone who's neurodivergent i could definitely see myself in her. but again, maybe i'm projecting because i think she's a great character and i dressed as her for halloween in 2019 (which, weirdly enough, is exactly when i first started having significant issues with my mental health. is this some sort of omen should i be concerned)

in spite of this, though, my favourite character wasn't even ellen-- it was professor von franz, played by the national treasure that is willem dafoe. i very well could be biased because i knew beforehand that willem loved being on set with the rats, but i thought that von franz was such a sweet character, especially with all of his cats and having cat treats in his pocket <33 (now that i think about it, that in itself is a DAMN GOOD metaphor too)

but here's the major issue i had with the movie-- count orlok himself. yes, i am another moustache hater. while i can appreciate that robert eggers wanted orlok to be more of a folk vampire by being an old romanian count, to me the vampire just wasn't count orlok. maybe i'm too attached to the original movie, but in my eyes nosferatu is a tall, lanky, ratty looking gremlin, and the more monstrous, corpse-like orlok in 2024 just isn’t nosferatu to me. while his grotesque look definitely made the movie more visceral and disturbing, i really wish he had looked more like all of the other nosferatu adaptations. having said that, though, it was definitely interesting to see a folk vampire in a movie rather than the typical byronic vampire!

anyways i have one last thing to talk about which is very spoilery so i'll put my summary here. overall this movie was just as disturbing as i had hoped, and though some parts DEFINITELY grossed me out i think it really did the original justice. this movie is absolutely not for everyone because it's undoubtedly WEIRD, but i think that if you can handle disturbing content and love gothic horror or 19th century history and aesthetics then you'd love this! i think this adaptation would have made f.w. murnau proud.

anyways, thank you to my friend @nefarious-nightjar for going to see it with me!! 🖤🖤🖤

spoiler time spoiler time spoiler time

so yeah aside from being for the gothic horror bitches and the art hoes this movie was VERY MUCH for the monster fuckers. now i love me a good byronic vampire and it would be SUCH A SHAME if one bit me, but as someone who isn't a monster fucker this nosferatu made me VERY UNCOMFORTABLE-- not in a way that made me dislike the movie, but sometimes i was like. ( ͡ಥ ͜ʖ ͡ಥ)

not complaining that i was uncomfortable though because that’s really what you want in horror! but yeah i’d be a liar if i said the movie didn’t gross me out a bit

but the big spoilery thing i wanted to talk about was the FINAL SHOT.

OUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

this is VERY death and the maiden and it reminded me so much of artistic representations i've seen of that trope. i was hoping orlok would do the dramatic ass pose and burn like he did in the original, but this final shot is just 😫😫😫😫🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻

this is what i meant when i said it’s for the art hoes! i definitely think eggers took inspiration from things like this.

but anyways that’s all, i loved this movie and it really needs a rewatch. thank you for putting up with my ramble 🙏🏻

#are there typos in this? yeah probably #not going back and editing it though #nosferatu #nosferatu 2024 #ellen hutter #thomas hutter #soliloquies #long post #don’t queue want me

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aztarion · 3 months ago

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Give me some fun facts about Soledad rn or I’ll do something…dunno what yet…

im sorry i took so long getting to this T_T thank you for asking!!! this went off-road many times with me overthinking it i just couldn't save it but hopefully it's still readable, i tried to do a mix of character and meta while not repeating anything from prev asks and then it kind of morphed into a weird bio lmao

her full name is Solona ‘Sol’ ‘Soledad’ Castillo; born 1/11/77 and raised in soledad, california, until her parents moved to sierra vista, arizona. died embraced 1/11/2000

by the events of Night Road in 2020 her mom and dad have both passed and her older brother is 52; he runs their dad’s mechanical repair workshop there. she absolutely does the sad little drive-by late at night every couple of months if she's in the area on a job (surgical mask on and hood up/cap on of course). i hc that julian, while keeping an occasional spying eye on her during the 10 yr absence, also looks out for her brother and sends business his way unbeknown to her lol

she ended up 3/3 fully blood bonded to julian in the beginning while they worked for the cam, and julian was 2/3 bonded to her. his “wasn't it romantic?” comment -- yeah literally too romantic, get back to work and feed the big underground nosferatu both of you 😤 i like that headcanon personally as another reason why he would cut contact so suddenly with sol when they were in a relationship — to break the bond on both sides; he could obsess strictly over 2100X and her desires would be completely her own again

another headcanon i'm sorry... after the diablerie of aila and the intense guilt that came with the act, plus julian (her sire) abandoning her and essentially straining and forcing their bond to fade, she gains the bulimia derangement. i paired that with the siren predator type lmfao. so very um dramatic all around when shes having a bad night. she restricts to bagged blood for like ten years working as a courier and just resigns herself to being perpetually dour and unsatisfied. i like to write her easygoing and much more lively when she's with julian during their work for the local camarilla, like the reality of her new condition hasn’t really sank in because omg julian's sooo fun and woah this world is crazy but at least julian's here he's gonna change everything or something (she believed in his vision and ideals even if she didn't fully grasp the scope at that time -- like she was on board at least. bless her she had 2 intelligence). she then becomes very muted pre-night road while the bond fades and the uglier, lonelier facets of being a vampire surface; having to pull together an independent undead existence for herself, trying to control her beast while feeding exclusively on bagged blood as job payment, then a little more tearing at the seams upon arriving in tucson during night road (resentment, guilt, anger, desire, longing, hunger for something that won't have a plastic aftertaste, all rushing back and blurring together at once; not so good a grasp on those when she’s been keeping herself numb and isolated and constantly on the move for a decade). behind everything she is desperate for connection

she has a good control on her beast thanks to that (monastic? lmao) decade (and high willpower/composure/resolve), until returning to tucson and stirring aila’s presence; the strange link to lettow, julian showing up, old memories and feelings that aren't even always her own now gathering on this very carefully crafted veneer like plaque. also suddenly having a ghoul and her own assets to worry about kind of freaks her out due to her own existential uncertainty and not really trusting herself. not even really knowing who she is. and she really likes elena right off the bat; she usually puts herself in more danger as to not risk her ghoul in the exact situations one would find themselves needing a damn ghoul in — she is literally the worst kindred ever in terms of priorities and self-preservation

speaking of her beast, it's very much that of a scorpion or snake… yes blunt-object-to-the-back-of-the-head-symbolism with some of her tattoos 😭 she stays lowkey, tries not to put herself under circumstances that would provoke or overly strain it, can keep it in check relatively well due to avid practice being a loner control freak, but when it snaps it's like an inland taipan. actually one of my fav moments playing with her in night road: so she chooses to continue feeding on blood bags in tucson, but when she finally had the opportunity to indulge with her predator type and a live target in dallas, she fucking got a critical success and killed them T_T this was after impulsively kissing julian back at the apartment d'espine allows you to stay at while in the area too. real in-character off-the-rails moment rip

i mentioned before but under the composed exterior she tries to present, she intensely seeks connection to something or someone. unfortunately the way she sees it: lettow is drawn to her because of the remnants of aila lingering within her -- also she literally ate his girlfriend, she's still not ok with that even if he forgives her because of course i gave my vampire oc morals and a guilty conscience (meanwhile cobie is eating people whole like twice a day); julian has no issue using her for whatever despite his affections, and elena is literally blood bonded to her, which sol is constantly thinking about elena's feelings and best interests — its a little bit of a sore spot for past reasons...

she gets on well with dove and begrudgingly really likes carlos (they absolutely cuss eachother out in very aggressive spanish one minute but he will pass her the roach the next) and she simped so bad for invidia caul — i think sol’s type is just a combo of super intelligence + willingness to engage in unethical experimentation lmfao. she's like omg noooo i don't understand wtf you're saying and that's sexy to me also your actions make me feel bad and are very ‘end-justifies-the-kind-of-morally-bankrupt-means’ but i cannot deny if they work out the ‘end’ would be really beneficial to kine and kindred... woe… hashtag conflicted and a little turned on. but she's very drawn to people who are idealistic or driven in an inherent ‘i want to help then i'll have purpose’ way. also the thrill. omg im just psychoanalysing her at this point sorry. this bitch would easily be indoctrinated into a cult is what it all boils down to + the extreme loyalty means she'd probably end up the cult leader's right-hand arm man his everything his confidant his best friend his silly rabbit 🤦‍♀️

also a follower in the streets but more of a leader in the sheets who said that

ok random stuff... she has those brown eyes that when she was human would glare almost red-orange when caught in straight sunlight; super deep chestnut, it only comes through under certain fluorescents these nights

very thick long hair; naturally has a kink/wave to it, quickly prone to returning to that state even when straightened, esp in the southwest's heat. usually loose when in tucson or dressing up, or braided ponytail on the road/job which i am so afraid to draw

nails are sharp like mini claws unless she’s specifically clipped them after rousing. they extend obscenely when she pops protean. i need to draw her fangs but they’re feline/kittenish: weirdly long and thin like staple punches, and again when she pops protean they extend like a snakes

her character color scheme runs warm-dark: black, brown, ochre, sienna, umber, burnt orange, deep shades of red, and maybe some random olive. style-wise it’s a mixed bag of practical minimalist and sleek; street and active wear, the occasional gold-ruby-emerald or leopard print dolce & gabbana-esque gaudy accent. very feminine on top; skin tight, low cut, corseted or cropped, paired with something oversized; men’s beaten-soft leather jackets, vintage driving jackets, or blazers. pants go either way: form fitting or baggy and belted depending on whatever silhouette she wants to cut. think of like the swaggiest 70s cuban drug lord/80s gangster restyled on 90s supermodel Naomi Campbell or something. with formal-wear i really like her in off-shoulder stuff. i try to draw her tattoos more in art bc it makes her more fun to look at but as a courier she wears driving gloves and long pants/boots to cover them up, and baseball caps or large sunglasses (yes at night. loser) to keep herself mostly unidentifiable

THANK YOU FOR ASKING ABOUT MY BLORBO!!!! :'3

prev info/asks jic: 0 , 1 , 2

#ask #oc: soledad #codex: sol

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colorful-white-ideas · 5 months ago

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I'm really scared cause Nosferatu is getting hates now because of Bill, people say he's not a leading man and his movies are all bombs at the box office. They also say his career is over cause of The Crow and that's why till now we didn't get any update of him being involved in anything cause noone wants to work with him. They say Nosferatu is gonna be the next box office bomb remake cause Bill destroys anything he's in. Some said Bill's filmography is awful and he has to chage his agent and his team, even some people said he's a nepo baby and his dad helps him to get roles.

I want to cry. Pls send help 😭😭😭😭😭

My best answer to that is they all can go to FUCK THEMSELVES.

And I say this not as a Bill fan but as someone who likes good movies , he is a good damn actor. People who hate the new crow movie and criticize Bill are only whining about his look , they don't say anything else besides that so blinded by hate , they dont see how good his body language was , the control of his eyes , the good voice control he had for the emotional scenes... Just for example the scene where he finally puts the make up on . It's so powerful how he transmits the self hate , pain and agony for what he has become.

The box office issue is not because people decided not to go to see it , those die hard crow fans are giving themselves too much credit. Their fandom is minuscule. It was the terrible lack of promotion from Lionsgate that caused this. That company played dirty to BKW and did the bare minimum for The Crow , the amount of comments I've seen of people saying they didn't know the movie was out ... Is frankly upsetting.

It didn't reach all the cinemas either , and as with BKW , they are withdrawing the movie from small cinemas after the first weekend. The marketing around these movies was horrible. Promoting The Crow as a remake was the first nail in the coffin and it took them TOO DAMN LONG RELEASE THE PROMOTIONAL INTERVIEWS.

Lastly what is wrong with all the movies he participated in ? They all look good to me. The best of all ( for me) was The devil all the time and people SLEPT on him , his work there was 10 times better than Pattinson. ( Sorry not sorry)

His career will do more than fine. Locked will be shown in the TiFF in September, Nosferatu in December ( we are like 4 months away, almost nothing)

Haters can suck a dick and shut up for once.

I won't even say sorry for being this aggressive. All the hate The Crow 2024 is getting , out of pocket, got me in my last nerve. Fuck them all.

#bill skarsgård #the crow #boy kills world #the crow 2024

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inquisitornocturn · 1 month ago

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≪─ ᴀ ᴍɪɴᴜᴛᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴍɪᴅɴɪɢʜᴛ: ᴄʜ. 15 - ɢʜᴏꜱᴛ ─≫

⋟ ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: Sebastian LaCroix/f!reader the Ventrue neonate

⋟ ᴛᴀɢꜱ: y/n etc is not used, overall story rating - E, none for this chapter.

⋟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: Needing to pursue the Nosferatu, you travel to Hollywood. You seek out Velvet Velour because of the tip from Bertram, but you find more than just information.

⋟ ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ: 3,240

ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ ɴᴏᴛᴇ: This chapter was intended to deal with more, but it came to a natural end and I decided to leave the rest for a following chapter. It's a little shorter but hopefully not disappointing. Sebastian will return in the next chapter as well. Enjoy~

⋟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ʟɪꜱᴛ: [link] | on AO3 [link]

You slam the door behind you and don’t even look back when the taxi driver wishes you a good night and drives off. Looking in front of you, first you see a convenience store, then when your eyes sweep to both sides of the building you notice other businesses, most of them having dark windows and locked doors. Only makes sense at this hour, especially at Hollywood.

Hollywood. You’ve been here before, many times, just not exactly… here. Your visits consisted of skyscrapers, elaborate mansions that cost millions of dollars, expensive parties where one bottle of champagne or wine cost almost a yearly salary of a middle-class worker and the rest that comes from being rich, powerful and young: sex, drugs and political games.

Yet that past seems so distant to you now, like it happened not months but centuries ago. A life that belonged to someone else. Someone who is not a kindred or a so called Ventrue. Who is not a plaything to a spoiled vampire Prince or a pawn to those sitting in the Ivory Tower. Someone who was somebody before. Is that woman still alive, somewhere? In memories or in wills, in documents that you signed and contracts that you made. In deals that you shook hands over and fucked for, selling if not your soul then your body for more profit, for more power, for more influence. Do you still exist, as you were, or is that all gone? Forgotten, swept away like a pile of dirt by the corporate broom that has neither mercy or empathy for those who fall, disappear, vanish.

Are you any more free now than you were before? You had shackles before, you do have them now, just of a different kind. The shackles of hunger, the Beast, the Camarilla and… the shackles of your own, still very human, desires.

With a sigh you lower your head for a moment, feeling the hunger gnawing at you somewhere deep inside and far away despite the fact that you fed before leaving your apartment at Skylines. That hunger is always lingering, always just a whistle call away, like a monstrous animal ready to pounce upon you the moment you don’t pay enough attention. No, you can’t focus on that now. Neither the blood or the fact that you had an unpleasantly long time to ponder your strange, twisted existence while on the way here. Someone busted the tires of your car, again, and the taxi driver, for some reason, refused to turn on a radio, one thing that would’ve helped you drown out your thoughts.

“Watch it!” A man in semi-expensive sportswear runs his shoulder into yours, forcing you backwards and off the cerb where you almost lose your step. He doesn’t even look back at you while you try to momentarily find your balance and when you find your footing, the middle finger rises on its own.

“Fucker!” You yell, but the stranger doesn’t react even to that. Someone else passing by snickers and you lower your hand, feeling foolish and too emotional once again. Maybe Sebastian is right, maybe you’re not too far from a damned Gangrel with your temper.

Looking around once again, trying not to think what exactly is it that allows you to show your temper like this when before, in your mortal life, you were never so hotheaded or so angry, you try to remember what Tung’s text message said. Something about a strip club, so you pull out your phone and after few clicks on silicone buttons you bring up the singular sentence that the nosferatu deemed you worthy enough of receiving last night:

“Vesuvius, meet VV, she might know something.”

You only heard about VV, the Toreador that found her place here in Hollywood. Some suspect she’s Abrams’ childe, but the truth is that she has been adopted by him, just like you are going to be adopted by Sebastian. You wonder if the news spread here too, in the Anarch territory, but you can worry about that later. Only if you are confronted with such information, but if not, you are not going to be the one presenting the facts to the people who might as well become your enemies at the turn of heart.

Soft clicks of your heels on the concrete begin to give you more confidence the further you walk and thankfully you don’t need to wander the streets of Hollywood forever because the green, neon sign of Vesuvius appears quite quickly before you. The closer you draw to it, the louder music inside appears, yet when you push open the door – it’s not as deafening as you thought it will be.

At your entrance, the woman at the counter just glances at you and says nothing else, returning to read the pop culture magazine that you recognize only by name. Maybe because you’re not a man she sees no reason to accost you, shake you down for anything suspicious, or maybe she’s one of VV’s girls and knows a kindred when she sees one. Whichever the case is, you are glad not be forced into yapping needlessly. You have a suspicion that you will do this plenty while here.

Entering the main floor you see the usual. Countless strip clubs looks the same: scantily dressed young things, swinging their goods for the patrons that either haven’t seen a clean shirt in a week or have so much spare cash they don’t even see these girls as people. You also easily notice how Vesuvius is trying to look more high-class than what it actually is. The paint is peeling in places, the seats look worn from the scrubbing of cleaners and the stages look dull. You don’t feel good here.

Making your way through the club that you don’t expect to be any fuller than what it is on a Wednesday night, you try to find anyone who looks like they stand out. Or rather, you are looking for VV and if you know anything about Toreadors, which is not much, she should be the prettiest flower in this garden.

Approaching the main bar, you ignore couple patrons who are trying to cheese the bartender out of cheaper drinks and then stop in your tracks. Out of the doorway to the right of the bar a figure emerges. Voluptuous and alluring like a sin wrapped in silken ribbons. Woman’s hair is bright red and her lips match the color. The lingerie she’s wearing leaves almost nothing to the imagination, the top pushing her breasts up like two pale mounds that countless people, you are sure, wish to climb. Her thong strings are hiked up high over her hip bones and stockings only add to the sensuality of her visage, all topped off with tasteful heels and a choker.

This must be VV.

You walk towards her and the woman does not seem surprised to see you. In fact, she smiles with the most welcoming yet seductive smile you’ve seen, and you’ve seen some high-class escorts in your previous life.

“Ah, you must be the famous fledgling, are you not? I knew you will find your way to my club.” VV begins and you smile to her in return.

“VV, I presume? Yes, it is me. Mind if we speak somewhere private?” Your eyes involuntarily turn to the closest patron, a man in black shirt on a bar stool. He doesn’t look like he’s paying attention, but you don’t want to take any chances. Any risk of breaking the Masquerade makes your muscles tense.

“So eager to have me all to yourself, sweet thing?” With a chuckle VV draws your attention back to her and you can clearly envision just how many mortals she enchants exactly like this. “Very well, I have been meaning to talk to you as well. Follow me.”

Turning on her silver heel, the Toreador walks back through where she emerged and you are having a hard time trying not to stare at her pale, round ass, swinging seductively right in front of your face, as if VV is climbing the stairs as slow as possible on purpose. You clear your throat, your cheeks begin to burn if not with a real blush then at least with the memory of being so flustered, and you try to keep your eyes to the ground, but it’s almost impossible.

Where Velvet leads you appear to be her private ‘dancing’ room. There’s a small tub, a pole, comfortable couch that looks much better than the ones downstairs. She gestures for you to sit, but you just shake your head.

“I’ll pass.”

“If you prefer to do it standing, I can fulfill that wish. And… many others.” She smiles and puts hands on her hips, pushing her chest out. “So, little Camarilla snack, what can I do for you?” VV gives your figure a long, slow one-over and you swallow dryly.

“I heard that you might have information where nosferatu have tucked themselves away?” You fight yourself to keep your eyes on VV’s, but her breasts keep enticing you like a siren call. VV herself seems not to mind your staring one bit. Instead she chuckles and steps a little closer, her slender finger adorned with crimson painted nail, pushes your chin up and forces you to meet her heavy-lidded gaze.

“Did you now? And who exactly told you this, hm?” She speaks in a voice as rich and smooth as velour. How fitting. You wonder if she truly is trying to seduce you or is it just how she is.

“Doesn’t matter.” You politely push her hand away and VV pretends to pout for a little bit, then she chuckles.

“Unfair. How about this, honey buns, you give me information, I give you information.”

“Does that mean you do actually know where nosferatu are?”

“Maybe. But…” She sighs and for a moment the act drops, Velvet’s smile disappears and she crosses arms under her heavy chest, pushing her breasts up even more. You swallow again. “Seems you have come here knowing who I am and knowing what I might know. If you do me a favor, I will share with you what I know.”

“A favor.” You echo and frown, seductive charms dissipating like cigarette smoke in the night air. “You want me to do some dirty job for you and I don’t even know if you are not bluffing.” You mirror VV subconsciously, folding your arms as well and she smirks at you.

“Let’s speak plainly then.” Velvet begins and you see the apex predator in her at last. Beneath the charms, the undress, the words, there she is – the vampire, huntress of the night and much more experienced than you are. “I don’t know where nosferatu are, but Isaac does. Help him, he will help you.” The woman pauses and taps one perfectly lacquered finger against her painted lips. “It is most curious that you didn’t go to him first though, I’m sure those have been your orders?”

You can’t mistake the taunting in the Toreador’s voice and try to keep yourself cool, relaxed, at ease. Being honest with yourself, you didn’t expect her to taunt you, try to provoke you, but you probably should have.

“Yes, those have been my orders. However, I would prefer not to deal with him.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“I don’t believe he would be very much willing to share what he knows without, just like you, sending me on million errands first.” Your smile is bitter and VV’s eyes narrow at that, but she keeps the smirk on her lips.

“So you’re trying to cut corners with me. Clever, little morsel, very clever.” At last Velour seems to relax a little bit and waves her hand as if trying to make a point. “Unfortunately, you will still have to talk to Isaac. But I have other information that could serve you and your dear, dear Camarilla. Only if you do that one, little, teensy, tiny thing I asked of you.” The seductress returns and you slowly exhale, your shoulders slump and you accept defeat. It’s always like that. Anyone with one rung on the ladder above you feel like they can send you around doing their dirty work.

“Just tell me.”

You only half-listen to VV detailing and lamenting some sort of amateur script writer and how he is most likely working with a kindred to write his latest horror flick or something. You nod and agree to help her, if not for Velvet’s own benefit, then for one of the Camarilla. You’re about to turn away and head out, when something snaps you out of your thoughts that already drifted to how you are going to deal with Abrams.

“You know, I went through adoption myself.” She says and you stop, then turn halfway to her, your eyes fixating on VV’s and you see mischievous sparks in them. “Very much like yourself, don’t you think?”

“And what exactly do you mean?” You’re aware that your voice sounds harsher than you intend, but that doesn’t appear to perturb VV in the slightest. She just chuckles and taps her bottom lip just like she did earlier.

“Oh the entanglements with Sires, or would-be-Sires.” Leaning slightly in your direction, Velvet narrows her eyes in an expression that is full of smugness. “Do you think Prince really wants you?”

You try your best to school your emotions, not to show that her question caught you off-guard and poked a sensitive spot, but you know that she noticed. You know that she’s aware just how much this little probe rattled you. Clearing your throat, you turn to her fully once again and rise an eyebrow, tapping into your defiant nature like it’s your sword and armor.

“Why would he suggest adopting me if he didn’t.”

“Maybe he just likes putting reigns on the fiery ones. Or shutting them up. In more ways than one.”

Good Lord, you wish you could wipe that smug smirk off her face, but you just momentarily clench your jaw and offer a smirk in return.

“Just like you have been by Abrams?” You think this will hit the sensitive spot in VV as well, but you clearly are wrong because she just laughs.

“Yes, exactly like that. Don’t be ashamed, sugar plum, we all want power. If we don’t have our own, we borrow it from others, by any means necessary. But-“ She straightens her back and looks away, to the stripping poll, then back at you. “I do not judge you, just so you know. Let’s stay good, good friends, okay?” Biting her bottom lip, VV appears like she’s undressing you with her eyes alone and you can’t help but chuckle.

“Take care, VV. I will come back with that script you wish for.” When your back is turned to her, you hear her parting words, but don’t look at the Toreador again.

“Your adoption is big news, you know. Be careful out there, you don’t know on who’s toes you might be stepping, my love.”

You walk out.

With your thoughts reeling like a hamster’s wheel, you barely notice how you make it down the stairs, across the club and outside, into the not-so-fresh Hollywood’s night air. Paranoia gnaws at you for a moment, VV’s words haunting you like shadows of the past and you quickly look around, almost expecting to see a glow of vampiric eyes or a barrel of a gun aimed at you. Maybe even a stake launched in your direction. But there’s nothing. Some late night strollers and hookers is all you see around.

You need a break, you know it.

Letting out a tired sigh, you rub the bridge of your nose, trying to regain your composure. Trying to regain the sense of self. Focus on your tasks, you remind yourself, focus on your goals. But then, a familiar voice calls your name and your head snaps up in attention. You glance around and immediately notice a figure rushing towards you. The closer it gets, the more your unbeating heart sinks. It’s one face you were hoping to never see again.

Samantha.

“Oh my God, it is you!” She rushes from the restaurant entrance and you nearly reel back from the woman, but stand your ground. You knew this day might come, one where someone from your past runs into you, yet you are not sure just how ready you are to deal with this. “Everyone’s so worried about you! What happened? You just vanished after that last party! You know what, nevermind, let’s just go, I will call the others, we have been looking for you for so long!” Samantha reaches to take your elbow but you step aside and avoid her touch, making the woman look at you with concern. “What… happened to you?” She asks again but this time her voice sounds sad.

“I cannot talk. Whatever it is you thought you knew about me – forget it.” With a frown you look at her and Samantha gives you an even more worried look.

“What do you mean, forget it?” She then changes her mind and tries to get a hold of your arm again. “Let’s go, whatever happened, we will help.”

You avoid the touch again and noticing some people walking in your direction, begin to feel the rising panic. You need to shut her up, before she causes the scene and possibly gets you both killed.

“Samantha, look at me.” You demand and the woman is clearly about to take out her cellphone, but now she rises her dark eyes which show nothing but concern and confusion. “You will walk away and forget seeing me. You will never come here looking for me again. You won’t let others to look for me either.”

The fount of your power increases your hunger when you tap into it, but you can worry about it later. Kine are getting closer and you are not sure if your attempt even worked, but at last Samantha’s shoulders relax and she looks dazed, like she’s experiencing a dream.

“I won’t ever… come… looking for you…” With a slow drawl the woman replies and you sigh slightly with relief. So it did work. Glancing around you at last see that it’s just a prostitute with some John and then look back at Samantha.

“Go now, leave. Don’t ever come back.”

Samantha’s head bobs on her shoulders for a moment, then she nods, even her actions betraying her dream-like state, and at last this shadow of your past departs. Slowly, step by step, the woman you once called a friend walks away and out of your life. For her sake you hope permanently. The couple pass you without even giving you a second glance and you exhale with relief. Crisis averted, Masquerade protected. For now.

Yet as you watch Samantha disappear into some side street, the reality of what just happened threatens to come crushing down. Your past, your present, the hunger, the vampires, the fragile balance between your world and hers. No, you can’t allow yourself to sink into these musings, you know they will only make you miserable. So you shake your head, roll your shoulders and exhale in a self-soothing attempt.

Focus. Proceed. Seek.

Abrams. You need to see Abrams after all.

And you still have enough time to do just that tonight.

#vampire the masqurade bloodlines #vampire the masquerade #vtmb #vtm #sebastian lacroix #sebastian lacroix x female reader #sebastian lacroix fic #sebastian lacroix x reader #reader insert #x reader #female reader #a minute to midnight #my vtm fics

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visions--of--collisions · 4 months ago

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for @spidereticas who requested 400 words of something I have fragments of: here is .. more than 400 words of an inspired-by/follow-up to I Get So Hungry (When You Say You Love Me) by AbiCats16, in which an experimental trial at Spider Society goes poorly for Hobie (and for Miles, in turn)

EXCERPT: some of us will never sleep again • hobie/miles, drama, romance, angst, friendship, established relationship; rated: m

“Ope,” said LYLA, somewhere close to Hobie’s ear. “Incoming!”

Peter crossed the cell to get the door, and Miguel dismissed the last of the medical team with a sigh. Miles’ anxious voice carried over the noise of their departure; Hobie rolled his shoulders and climbed to his feet.

“You’re cleared to go,” Miguel informed him, pointedly not looking up from his readings as Miles led the charge across the room with Margo and Peter in tow. “Your system’s clean, but I’m going to ask that you take the next twenty-four hours to rest. Margo here’s agreed to cover your patrols for the evening; Pavitr will take over when she’s done.”

“Just call me Renfield, I guess,” Margo drawled. She watched with raised eyebrows as Miles reached up to grab Hobie’s face, turning it this way and that like he was looking for physical proof that the serum’s effects had faded.

Like he wasn’t the one with the scars to prove its viability.

“Let’s not,” Miguel grunted. Hobie snorted. Margo hadn’t been privy to the trials until she’d shown up for her morning shift and Peter’d convinced him to rope her in, according to the texts Miles had sent from Medbay. Miguel hadn’t been happy about it then, and he wasn’t now, it seemed like, regardless of how much sense the choice made. He dismissed the projected screens with a curt motion. “There were no previous reports of any side effects, but if anything feels off, ping LYLA and come back to HQ. That applies to you both,” he added, with a meaningful look Miles’ way.

Miles made an affirmative noise, though his focus remained on Hobie. “You look wiped, man,” he observed. He thumbed across the hollow under Hobie’s left eye.

“M’alright,” he mumbled. He caught Miles’ wrist and managed a smile. “Better for seeing you in one piece.” There was an adhesive bandage matching Miles’ skintone just visible under the cowl neck of the sweatshirt Medbay must have supplied him with. The tall boots and the slate-coloured trousers had to be theirs too then, because getting him into anything that tight that wasn’t his Suit was usually a once-in-a-blue-moon kind of occurrence.

Miles chuffed. “‘In one piece?’ Are you kidding, I slept through the whole thing. I dunno what they gave me, but that stuff was potent.”

“This man was fully snoring and drooling when I walked in there,” Margo agreed. “Sheets fucked up, pillows on the damn floor. Giving the whole ward a free show! Pete really had my ass worried for nothing.” She folded her arms, tucking a neatly-folded bundle that looked awfully like Miles’ Suit into the crook of her elbow. “I thought I was gonna be hauling both your corpses through a portal, the way this dude was talking.”

“In my defence, you kinda blipped out of there before I could elaborate,” Peter pointed out. Hobie noticed he was still just in his Suit, for once; his memory of the night was all over the place, practically blank in some spots and almost excruciatingly vivid in others. MJ’s dressing gown had vanished in one of the latter - really, in the clearest stretch - after Jess and Miguel had burst in to rescue Miles before things went any further south.

Didn’t really take an educated guess to work out what had happened to it.

“Well, you know, you tell a girl one of her friend’s in a cell dosed up on Nosferatu juice and the other’s bleeding out in Medbay, it really lights a fire under her!”

Miles’ pulse was strong and steady under his thumb. Hobie didn’t remember feeling for it. He loosened his grip and let Miles slip free.

Miles grabbed his forearm before he could step back. “You good to get outta here?” he asked.

The hopeful tilt to his smile made Hobie’s answer easier than it probably should’ve been. “Yeah, mate.” He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’m good. You?” he couldn’t help but ask. There was none of the feverish sheen or the washed-out look of his skin that had shocked Hobie into letting Miles go after their last ill-fated conversation, even though he was looking for it. His hair might have suffered a bit of shrinkage while he spent the night in a hospital bed, but it was negligible.

The shirt was thick and its sleeves fell past Miles’ knuckles. He couldn’t make out any telltale bump where the gauze might be taped over an IV site. Hobie decided he’d ask when they had a second alone.

Assuming Miles was feeling up to that any time soon. Who could blame him if he wasn’t? “I have been ready, Hobes,” Miles informed him. He was smiling, his eyes creased at the corners in the way that meant Miles was laughing at him.

The knot in his stomach unravelled a bit. “Alright, shit. Don’t hang about on my account.”

Miles reached up just in time to intercept the folded bundle of his suit before it hit him in the head. “I am also ready to leave, if we’re all done here with this Twilight bullshit,” Margo chirped.

“Great. Thanks. How do you even know what that is?” Miles groused. He tucked himself against Hobie’s side, looping an arm around his lower back like he was ready to do the walking for him if need be. Hobie waited until Miles met his eye to drape his arm around his shoulders with exaggerated enthusiasm, pecking his temple when he glanced away sheepishly.

“Are you kidding, Pavitr lives for those movies! He’s got Collector’s Editions. Gayatri hates them and it’s like he doesn’t even care.” She oof-ed a bit as Hobie hooked his free arm around her avatar’s shoulders, but tucked her hand in between his and Miles’ sides readily enough.

“Huh. You know, that scans, actually,” Peter opined.

“Hmm. Espere un momento,” Miguel interjected, behind them. “You can go from here. LYLA, open access for Peter, por favor.”

“Y’got it!”

Peter rubbed his hands together. “Okay, where to, guys? Straight to ‘138 or should I drop you someplace else?”

Miles shook his head when Hobie glanced at him; Margo rolled her eyes and called up her mask. “Nah, mine’s good. I can give you the coordinates.”

Peter tapped at his Watch’s interface. “Go for it.”

Hobie rattled off the location of the first towpath bridge that came to mind; he hadn’t moored anywhere near there, but they could swing the rest of the way, and he had a better shot at finding Roxie the further afield they were. A minute later, the portal opened up a hole in the adjacent wall of the cell. Miles stuffed his Suit into his waistband, underneath the shirt.

“Okay, you guys, have a good one. Call us if you need anything! Me and Jess and Miguel are all burning the midnight oil this week, so don’t worry about catching us at a weird hour. Reach out whenever. Try and get some rest in the meantime, and make sure you eat, Hobie!”

The three of them waited in front of the portal, staring. “ … Anything else?” Margo prompted him.

“Remember what we talked about,” Miguel said, before he could answer. He was squinting at something LYLA was showing him, half-turned away. Just in case anyone was audacious enough to hope for context clues or a clarification, Hobie supposed.

He didn’t need any, but it was the principal of the thing.

“ … Cool. Alright.” Even with her headgear donned, Margo managed to give Hobie a disbelieving look. “Catch you later.”

She nudged Hobie forward; on his other side, Miles’ hand closed around the arm that hugged him close, and they walked through the dimensional door.

The portal dropped them into the half-light under a bridge in Islington. Experience had quickly taught Hobie to note the coordinates that pointed away from nearby bodies of water (it hadn’t been a learning curve so much as one or two deeply unpleasant and inconvenient swandives directly into the Thames) so instead they fetched up against a wall covered in faded graffiti and posters and some piss, which was still better than the alternative.

Between the three of them, it was Miles and Hobie who managed to cling to enough of their wits to stick out a leg before they all face-planted into the bricks. Margo let out a surprised breath where Hobie had twisted her back by the shoulders, on reflex.

The ruddy cast on the walls dimmed and died as the portal closed up behind them. In the gloom it left behind, they collected themselves and took stock. Hobie lifted his right arm high enough to check his watch without letting go of Miles. It had been after ten in the morning when the last tests declared him free of any traces or symptoms; his HQ watch had already dutifully ticked over to local time. 17:02, the glowing orange face read.

“Huh. Well this feels pretty on-brand.” Margo’s gear shone lilac when Hobie turned; her silhouette was stark against the fog spilling into the far end of the tunnel.

“What do you mean?” Miles asked. He reached up and squeezed Hobie’s hand, waiting for him to take his arm back before he turned to consider the other end of the tunnel, which looked much the same.

“I dunno, the London fog, this Dracula nonsense. You know?” Margo put her hands on her hips, frowning as she glanced about. Her lenses multiplied. “Where’s the good ship Demeter at?”

“Not here.” Hobie stretched a bit and checked his web-shooters. “We’ll swing over. Haven’t seen Roxie in a bit; I wanna find out where she’s got to.”

“‘Find her?’ In that?” Margo said, doubtfully. Her peripheral lenses changed colour as she tabbed through different visual modes, casting soft rainbow reflections off the surface of the water.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Miles watching the rippling colours as he clipped on his web shooters and dug out his mask. Hobie adjusted his guitar strap. “S’fine, I know her usual spots. Let’s cut.”

Miles’ and Margo’s footsteps were bare whispers following the echo of his boots as Hobie lead them out onto the towpath. In the open, the mist hung thicker in his lungs than it did in the air; Hobie tugged his mask on and told them to stay close, just in case.

The approaching rumble of a lorry made him straighten up, and the other two turned to follow his gaze. Briefly, as its headlights cut through the haze, Hobie’s eyes caught on the sliver of skin between the slouchy neck of Miles’ jumper and his mask, where the bandage underneath strained against the torsion of his neck. Then Miles turned to him, the lenses of his mask refractive and questioning. Hobie nodded and threw out a web after the truck, letting its momentum haul him off the ground.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

#fanfic #spiderverse #asks and things #punkflower #hobie x miles #it started storming out last night i blacked out and then there were 2k words in front of me?? idk #this Will Not be happening again i don't think #also for anyone can guess who roxie is. i will write you a 500+ word punkflower thing 👀👀 of yr choice 👀👀👀👀#🎸🌻#some of us will never sleep again

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andmaybegayer · 16 days ago

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Last Monday of the Week 2025-01-06

Damn that last Monday of the week really barely got in under the wire.

Listening: Among other things kind of going through a bunch of popular songs and albums from the past year to see like. What I missed, which has included me introducing my partner to Guess from Brat by Charli xcx.

youtube

Brat is a good album, despite Brat Summer not actually being a real thing.

Watching: Ended up going to Nosferatu (2024) with the partner and a friend after their other movie companion bailed. Damn they really did file the serial numbers off Dracula with this thing huh. I have never seen Original Nosferatu.

This is a very good looking movie, and it manages to mostly retain some of my favourite bits of Dracula-ness like the protagonists generally getting along remarkably well given the situation. Friedrich is a little antsy for much of it but it's for a good reason and it pays off well with his Mina situation.

The shots in this movie are all... weirdly smooth. Every single shot feels like it's on an ultra-filtered dolly-crane move. It turns out it was shot on film so I guess it probably was, no one wants to handhold a film camera. It lends it a slightly strange air, lots of big long dramatic camera moves but also in situations where you'd really expect a shaky handheld shot it holds rock solid, to the point that I genuinely burst out laughing at a perfectly stable shot of knock-off Jonathan hoofing it down a street.

The steady camera doesn't do the composited backgrounds and effects any favours, some of the backgrounds are really obviously painted in. Weird choice! Some interesting BTS stories about shooting though. And it was shot around Prague, so that's fun.

It's good! You should check it out. Very different opinions on how sexy Nosferatu is from me and my friend. I would fuck that old man (bill skarsgard in so so so much makeup and a huge moustache).

Playing: Nothing really! Been busy unpacking and [REDACTED]

Reading: Finished The Apocalypse of Herschel Schoen by @nostalgebraist which is one of those things that gets its hooks into you. I think it makes its case well, which is basically "even if GenAI is going to take over the world, that might actually be great for the abstract moral state of the universe". I love an extremely disconnected look at humanity.

I do adore Miriam's chapters. She's meant to be this everyman narrator with no personality but she's so weird.

I gotta go read The Northern Caves and Almost Nowhere. I read Floornight a while ago and then just. forgot I guess.

the On Raven chapter intro to Herschel really heavily informs how I saw him for the rest of the book. He's kind of someone who thinks anything should be possible because anything else would be too sad to imagine. You can kind of take this two ways I think, one more literal that is explored more heavily in the story, and another as sort of. I guess the feeling of what it must be like to be a noise diffusion algorithm. You start out with this infinite possibility of random noise and it is slowly hacked up into likely meaning.

It's on AO3! Go read it!

Making: Nothing really! See Playing.

Tools and Equipment: Do Not Fucking Use CentOS Stream In Applications Where You Very Clearly Want RedHat Compatiblity, For The Love Of God.

#last monday of the week #Youtube

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b-skarsgard · 18 days ago

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Bill Skarsgård in a big interview with MovieZine: "Horror is always best at the cinema"

"Nosferatu" current actor in great interview with Alexander Kardelo - about finding Orlok's look and voice, love for Robert Eggers and a busy 2025.

It is a great pleasure to follow Bill Skarsgård's career, which moves from one exciting collaboration to another. Now the Swede is very current in the title role in "Nosferatu", the hottest thriller of the winter. But the risk is that you won't recognize Bill, who has turned into a 350-year-old vampire count with a taste for blood.

MovieZine exclusively tells us that Daniel Day-Lewis could have played Orlok, and that he himself was initially considered for a completely different role in the film. But years of delays led to something good, and Robert Egger's "Nosferatu" is now ready for release.

We also talk about Bill's other intense roles, from last year's "The Crow" to the upcoming "Lords of War" where he meets Nicolas Cage.

read at the link above or below the cut

translated through google

Last time we talked about you being in "The Northman" but choosing "Clark" instead. But you got to work with Robert Eggers in the end, fun! What was it like stepping into his dark world?

- It has been fantastic. It's a long damn journey. I met him at a meeting in New York right after he had done The Witch. I saw it and thought "who the hell is this, I have to work with this man".

- Our meeting only confirmed even more how much I wanted to work with him. I felt that he speaks to all my interests. He inspires. He is so chill in his integrity, in his creative expression. I felt wow , this guy makes no compromises.

- I was cast in "Nosferatu" when it was to be his second film. I read the script and auditioned, first for the role of Harding, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and then for the role of Thomas Hutter, who is the male romantic lead, played by Nick (Hoult). I got it, and I was so incredibly excited and tickled!

The idea was that Bill Skarsgård and Anya Taylor-Joy would have played the love couple at the center of "Nosferatu". But the project fell apart - Eggers refused to compromise his vision, and made "The Lighthouse" (2019) instead. Skarsgård got a minor role in Egger's third feature film "The Northman" but instead chose to jump on the Swedish miniseries "Clark".

- I felt that I love Robert, but that role could not be compared to the challenge in "Clark". I produced "Clark", it was mine and Jonas (Åkerlund's) baby. I didn't know if Robert would be easily offended and write me off forever... Then "Nosferatu" was going to be his next movie and I heard he chose Nick Hoult for the role that was promised to me - that bastard...!

- But the Harding role then? I think I can do it well. No, he wanted Aaron Taylor-Johnson for it. Both of those actors are really my peers, I've been losing roles to them for a hundred years. They are my competitors. I thought Eggers will never want to work with me again. Thanks and bye, I will survive. But out of nowhere he came to me and offered me Orlok.

It is not the most expected choice. Orlok is a 350 year old, stinking, living dead count. Maybe you're not the first person who comes to mind for the role?

- No, I didn't think so either. I know he was talking about Daniel Day-Lewis, and for a while it was Willem Dafoe who was going to play him, and Mads Mikkelsen... When he came to me years later, it was a shock at first, but then I was very flattered. He can have whoever the hell he wants. Giants, big names... What does Robert see in me that I might not see myself?

- But I know he's a perfectionist, and would never ever cast that role with someone he doesn't think can do it. Because the film is so personal to him. My trial filming process was 10 days back and forth, where he shared his research, as he is known for doing. I got a big folder with details, clothes, what Orlok looks like... I would watch some movies for references. Then we started dating: "What do you think of such and such inspiration?"

Bill Skarsgård is really unrecognizable under layers of all the makeup. It took six hours in the makeup chair, every day, to make him hideous and mysterious. But the biggest challenge was finding Orlok's voice:

- How can I make my voice almost so supernaturally dark? And breathing was damn important. I started recording clips and sending them to him. "Should I go more for Bela Lugosi? Or find someone more nuanced?" It was an intense 10 days of express development for the character. But that led to camera tests, which led to me booking the role.

- Then the film fell apart again. And it took two years before we actually started filming. Then the real work began, Bill remembers.

- I worked with an opera singer to get the technique, to activate the voice and get it as deep as I could. Then followed hundreds of hours of recording yourself, listening, recording yourself... From that I found my method - I knew when the voice was at its best. When I was most relaxed. Then I started to build up my routine. I had a 20-minute vocal warm-up process before every damn take.

It's absolutely incredible, you don't see and you don't hear that it's you.

- I have 600 hours of voice recordings that prove it's my voice, haha.

How did you find the look itself?

- The look was based on: what did a Transylvanian nobleman look like in the 16th century, and what would he look like if he had been dead for 300 years? I read the script for the first time almost 10 years ago. Not much has changed. He has marinated on this film for so long. As you know, he always goes to research and to authenticity, to historical clues, for his creation. That's how it always is. He strives to be as historically authentic as possible.

- I asked Robert at some point: "Will you ever make a contemporary film?" "Never," he said. He will never make a film that is not set in the past.

Did you guys use the old "Nosferatu" as a reference?

- I had already seen the old "Nosferatu" many times before. And Herzog's too, to some extent. But there was absolutely nothing I watched before this one. I think it can be harmful to study what people have done before. Even subconsciously, you can start stealing.

You choose courageous roles and exciting film projects. In 2024 you've released 'Boy Kills World', 'The Crow' and 'Nosferatu', all of which are quite dark and brutal in different ways. Just a coincidence, or are you attracted to such roles?

- For me, it is that the characters attract you, and you yourself attract characters. And then you meet in the middle. For some unfathomable reason, I'm drawn to these characters and they seem to be drawn to me. That year was a little too intense and a little too dark, to make the three films back to back. But I think all three of them deserve it. And if you look at the three films, you see that "Bill does different types of characters anyway", haha.

- I am a completely different person than when I was 16 or 18 years old. But what is it that has always been consistent? Playing as many different roles as possible is something that has been true for me ever since I was young.

"Boy Kills World" went under the radar a bit. And "The Crow" was already criticized in advance. Are you affected by that, how the films are received?

- I notice how "Boy Kills World" has grown on streaming. There were a lot of different reasons: it was an independent film, the marketing didn't have that high of a budget, so that film wasn't launched to do best in theaters in today's climate. Then these films can live on-demand. A bit suspicious, I think. How much have these movies made from home rentals? It is nothing that becomes public. I can almost wonder, because I should have a piece of that cake too…

- But "Boy Kills World" is growing and finding its audience, which is fun. I think that film has its place, says Bill.

- With "The Crow" there was just a wave of negativity already in front. I think that film was a little undeservedly harshly judged without that negativity. The film is not for everyone, and I have a lot of opinions about the result as well. But I see that it runs well on-demand. And I meet fans who say "that movie is really important to me". That movie resonates with people. It is not for everyone. But if you meet someone who says "I loved The Crow", then that's enough for me.

After these three dark roles, what's next for you in 2025?

- It's starting to clear up more and more. Looks like it's going to be a pretty busy year... and a bit dark too, haha.

Is "Lords of War" with Nicolas Cage one of your upcoming projects?

- I'm looking forward to it. It looks like it will be released later in 2025. It is a dark comedy. The character is a bit like Clark... A real self-centered sociopath who is an asshole but also quite fun.

- But next I will work with Gus van Sant. We will start recording in January. It is a very demanding and intensive role. It's something I seem to have stuck with, that the roles become demanding. I'm like that. If it's a tight uphill, then I get motivated to start climbing up. When I feel scared, "I can't do this" - I do it! I don't know how wise it is for my well-being, but there is something masochistic about it that motivates me.

But blockbusters don't seem to attract you, do they? On the other hand, you have appeared in two Marvel movies with "Eternals" and "Deadpool 2"... How is it - were you considered for the role of Lex Luthor in "Superman"?

- No, no one contacted me. It was just media rumours. But just because it's a Hollywood blockbuster... that's not enough to get me going on it. But if I feel that I see a challenge, that I can do something that feels good or that I believe in the project - then it suddenly becomes relevant. If you make a big film, you want to make a Gus van Sant film after that. It's fun to switch tracks like that.

- I hope that "Nosferatu" can become a blockbuster. I think it has the potential to be. It is art house. Extremely artistic, very scary, but it's also very conventional. It's the Dracula story. We know this story. It sits in our spine. It's horror. It's a big release. So in that way, I hope and believe that the film can really find a large audience.

- And horror is always best at the cinema. Not enough of that. It's also one heck of a craft. It's the kind of movie that can't be made anymore. Almost everything is practical effects. It is filmed on film. Every single picture looks like a painting. This is filmmaking of the highest order, and should be seen on the largest screen possible.

#bill skarsgard #bill skarsgård #nosferatu #article #movie zine #the crow #boy kills world #nosferatu promo #interview

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shinysparklesapphires · 7 hours ago

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showtime precure!

Chapter 18: New girls in the theater course!

A/n: the trio are in their 6th year since they are all young adults (19, 18, and 20)

🎀: @baileypie-writes @xryptik @harufallinwonderland

"Um I really like you, please be my girlfriend!" A boy handed Lacey a bouquet of roses, his face bright red. She took them out of his hands and held them.

"Yo sorry to let you down but I'm already dating someone so..." She handed the bouquet back to him, "Also dude I like girls anyway so even if I were single you still wouldn't stand a chance."

"Ah ok I understand!" The boy smiled at her and bowed, even though he was slightly embarrassed and walked away with his head hung low.

"Wow Lacey you got another confession?! That's like the fifth one this week!" Lucia looked at the giant bouquet in her hands. There had already been a pile of love letters and gifts and such sent by other students to the trio, who were rather surprised by thier sudden popularity.

"But that's not important right now, there's something you need to know about curtain call," Dominique popped her head out of the pile of gifts in the corner of the room, Nosferatu trying to dig her out.

"Dominique are you ok?" Amber went over to help Nosferatu dig her out.

"Oh yeah I'm good," she pulled herself out and sat down at one of the tables, "as I was saying, Tragedy is probably going to send her two little brats after you next."

"There are more than Catwalk??" Violet sighed.

"Sadly, and those two are even worse," Lacey took a flower out of the bouquet and twirled it around in her hands, "That's as far as we know though."

"Well atleast we know something about Curtain Call now right?" Lyna looked around, but everyone was bummed out.

"Achoo!" A little girl sneezed.

"Whats wrong?" Another girl sitting next to her looked up from a book she was reading.

"It's strange I feel like someone was talking about me," she wiped her 'nose' that was covered by a tragedy mask.

"Calamity, Catastrophe," the girls looked up at Catwalk and giggled to each other, "Yes Catwalk?" They said in a mocking tone.

"Miss Tragedy wants you two to collect the coins of the academy students."

"Well we were already on our way to do that!" Calamity made a face at him, causing Catwalk to turn bright red from anger before he calmed himself down.

"We're off!" Catastrophe vanished, and Calamity followed.

"Wow those girls from the theater course are so cool!"

"And super pretty too!"

"I wish I could be like them!"

The trio walked through the corridor of the main building in order to get to the cafeteria, but they could still hear the whispers about them throughout the halls.

"Damn they're awful at whispering," Dominique had a pained expression on her face.

"Oh well at least they're not slandering us," Nicolette twirled her hair around on her finger.

"Guys over here!" Lucia waved to to trio from the table the girls were sitting at.

"You guys are way too forgiving..." Lacey took a sip from her drink.

"What do you mean?" Lucia looked at her confused.

"I mean one day you're fighting us and now you're letting us eat with you," she scratched her head.

"I mean you guys were being controlled though right?"

"I mean yeah but-"

"Even if you did do those things, you're purified now, perfection is subjective yknow?" Amber took a bite of her burger.

"I mean yeah I guess so.."

The boy who had confessed to Lacey sighed holding his bouquet.

"I understand why she rejected me but I'm still disappointed," he held his head in his hands.

"Oh how unlucky right Calamity?" The boy looked up to see two young girls hanging from a tree branch, both wore fancy dresses and tragedy masks.

"For sure Catastrophe! The wish of someone in love is super powerful!" She giggled.

"You two should get down from there, where are your parents?" The boy yelled, only to be met with a glare from both of them.

"What a party pooper!"

"No wonder her got rejected!"

"He should be elimated!"

"Misery loves company right?"

The girls clapped thier hands together and laughed, "You're lucks run out today, time to come out and play! Facade, wreak your havoc!"

The boy gasped as he saw a small white light fly out of his body and into his bouquet, before blacking out completely.

"SAWWW!" The group of girls looked up from thier food.

"Did you hear that?"

Lyna nodded, "let's go check it out!"

They ran over to where the commotion was to see a monster tearing up the courtyard.

"Look look! It's the legendary playwrights Catwalk ran his mouth about!"

"We should see if they're really all that!"

"Guys!" Lucia turned to the others, who nodded in agreement.

"Precure, Rollback! Lights! Camera! Action!"

"SAWW!" The monster shot a rose at Showtime's feet catching her off guard.

"Ah! Seriously this is what we're dealing with? Some stupid flowers?!" Wright kicked at it, only to be stabbed in the foot by a giant thorn, "Ouch!" She winced.

"They might be just flowers but they still have thorns!" Action jumped to dodge an incoming attack.

"Set can you try and capture it with your net?" Showtime slid under the creature and kicked it from behind.

"I can try but I can't find an opening!" The monster shot a vine at her, trapping her in its grip, "Shit!"

"Calamity these girls are so boring are you sure they're the Precure?"

"Positive! I'm never wrong!"

"I beg to differ!"

"Like you're so smart you dumbass!"

"Hey! Who are you calling a dumbass?!"

"You!" The girls started fighting each other causing the Facade to look at them confused.

"Saw?" It let go of Cure Set, letting her land safely on the ground.

"Set now!" Set nodded and pulled out her paimt pallete.

"Precure! Set Lasso....Net!"

"Saw!" The monster squirmed around trying to break free from the net that it had gotten tangled in.

The girls held thier hands together and got in a circle.

"Our beautiful hearts will crush your evil! Precure, Roccoco lovely...Shock!" And just like that, the monster vanished.

"Look what you did you weren't paying attention and now we don't have the ribbons!"

"You weren't paying attention either!"

"I'M SO SICK OF YOU!" both girls vanished.

"phew I'm glad we solved that problem," Violet wiped her forehead.

"Yeah but now we gotta deal with those girls," Amber sighed.

"It was weird how they also had masks like Tragedy, they're so....creepy," Lucia shuddered.

"It's too bad you didn't get to finish your burger Amber," Amber's stomach growled at the thought.

"It's cool, I can just get another one."

#🎀! Showtime precure #IM DUMB SHES A LESBIAN/REF 🗣#precure #fancure

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queenie-ofthe-void · 4 days ago

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Tagged by @wheneverfeasible Thanks for including me!! <3

Last song: Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

Favorite color: Dark Pink or Black

Last book: Never Whistle at Night horror anthology but I also kind of count The Magnus Archives podcast, since it's fiction and is taking the place of my audiobooks

Last movie: Nosferatu (2024) and holy damn was it good

Last TV show: X-Files switching back and forth with Hannibal

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: Savory and umami for sure

Relationship status: live-in partner

Last Google: Stardew Valley Gifts I ran out of teardrops, sashimi, and coffee for Seb

Looking forward to: Daredevil: Born Again and the new season of Drive to Survive

People I’d like to get to know better: Since I can’t “@ everyone”, if you don’t get tagged but want to do this, please consider yourself tagged! I'm a little late to the game on this one so sorry if you've already been tagged <3

@runninriot @runraerun @thewickedkat @estrellami-1 @ataliagold

@mugloversonly @just-my-latest-hyperfixation @sadisticaltarts @bramble-berries @hotluncheddie

#no pressure tags!#i love my mutuals #moots game

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dailydemonspotlight · 4 months ago

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Kudlak - Day 123

Race: Haunt

Arcana: Magician

Alignment: Dark-Chaos

October 9th, 2024

It's a bit surprising that, among the many famous horror monsters, Vampires aren't referenced that often among the ranks of Demons in SMT. Vampires are, naturally, a staple in horror and most things halloweeny, and for good reason, as they have a lot going for them- connections to the occult, famous works deriving from them, and an iconic design. You walk out with a cloak and some sharp fangs and people will know right away that, hey, you're Dracula! Dracula and Nosferatu are commonly seen as the archetypal vampires, and for good reason, as they both play on the most common aspects of them being unholy figures who suck blood, to the point that many people seem to think that Dracula was the original Vampire. However, the idea has a lot of historical backing dating far before Bram Stoker's masterpiece, and one example of this comes in the form of today's Demon of the Day, and a surprisingly popular one at that- Kudlak, the Slavic vampire and mortal enemy of Kresnik, legendary Hunter.

Kudlak and Krsnik [sic] are intrinsically linked in many ways, with them both being mortal (or, perhaps, immortal) enemies of each other. Originating both from several Slavic areas but primarily Croatia and Slovenia, the legends of the two are an incredibly interesting bit of folklore, all starting from birth. Literally. Kudlak and Krsnik are both less figures in their own rights and more titles given to two different kinds of beings, with Kudlak being a vampire and Krsnik a shaman. How do you know if someone is one or the other? Look at how they were born- it depends on if the child is born with a caul, a rare medical phenomenon where a baby is born with a thin membrane still over their head. Typically, this would be removed without second thought, but in the case of these two eternal rivals, it indicates the direction their lives will go.

A child born with a red and/or dark caul will turn into a Kudlak as they grow older, becoming a fearsome monster who could shapeshift into the form of any animal they choose. The Kudlak would use this power to strike fear into people's hearts, damaging wildlife and razing cities to the ground until eventually, hopefully stopped by a Krsnik, who are babies born with a bright caul over their head. Krsniks and Kudlaks both were revered at the time, and it was said that the only way to actually defeat a Kudlak would be to get it to confess to its sins- and, if that didn't work, to cut its damn tendons off- and, if even that didn't work, they'd be forced to stake it with one made of hawthorne wood, likely being the origin of Vampires and their connections and aversion to stakes.

Not a lot can be said about Kudlak without going over Krsnik, as, again, the two are completely connected down to the last fiber. However, as for the design in SMT, it feels like they really just wanted to come up with a vampire, and honestly, it works wonders. The black skin calls reference to the black caul a Kudlak is born with, and past that, it's a genuinely fun design. I love the artwork for it shown in the 3DS titles, as Kudlak has an insanely dynamic pose and the billowing cape on top of all of it is just... chef's kiss. Perfect. I do wish they found a way to connect the shapeshifting into the design, but I'm not complaining, as everything about this one is utterly rock solid.

#the count jokes write themselves #but were purely unintentional.#smt #shin megami tensei #megaten #persona #daily

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darkfictionjude · 23 days ago

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For the IF Question, I'd say I'm largely turned off by IFs that go straight into the action. Keeper of Sun and Moon, Werewolves: Haven, all of these dive in headfirst without giving us time to actually look at the characters.

WWC we have the asylum and the party, Bastard of Camelot starts from your character's birth, Blood Moon we have the pack hunting down strays (their idea of 'normal'), The Fog Knows Your Name has the ferry ride and then hanging out, and Thicker Than, etc before the main plotline starts.

It's just better (in my opinion) to have a few scenes regarding normal life before the main plotline begins. Establish characters, get a backstory, all that fun stuff.

Hmm...what else? Genrewise I'll take anything that's good, but I prefer supernatural and fantasy stories.

Writing style: Paragraphs. Give us paragraphs, please. I won't say this is a deal breaker, but how hard is it to just press 'enter' to make it easier for your viewers' eyes? Plus I find it helps with pacing as well.

However, I do dislike it when authors clearly haven't put all their effort into thinking about what a person can do.

I know this is a me issue, but when there's only two choices to make and it's obvious to me that there are at least five different ways to get a more favorable outcome...it's not a dealbreaker but it's damn annoying.

Also, well-developed characters, but that's a pretty borderline requirement.

I love poetic languages, metaphors, etc.

Also, I love darker or at the least, thematically appropriate worldbuilding. E.g, Thicker Than (a vampire IF that's a sequel to Blood Moon), where being a vampire kinda sucks.

To elaborate: a lot of vampire fiction tries to make it seem like being a vampire is bad or at least, not all good. And sure, there's the basics like not being able to enter a home, not walking out in the sun.

But the Vampire Diaries for instance pretty much takes these away. Sun protection in the form of magical rings, hypnosis to be able to come inside a home, etc, to the point where being a vampire is much more fun and beneficial than being a boring human. And when they die, they get to go to Peace (basically Heaven).

But Thicker Than actually treats vampirism as being a bit of a grey thing. The character gets superpowers, sure, and immortality, and advanced healing. But their thirst for blood grows everyday. The oldest vampire is a sociopathic wreck who lives in utter boredom and hunger, restrained to a single city because that's the only way he can get the blood he needs to survive.

This thirst is especially bad when you play the route where you have a kid (Which I did because angst, angst, angst). And then, perhaps the singular reason to not become a vampire in this world: vampires don't have souls. When a vampire is made, the human soul moves on leaving a shambling corpse behind.

So the vampire self and the human self are completely different. And once a vampire dies, it's game over.

Side note: Vampires can't cry either, because 'grief belongs to the living, not the dead'. I love the world-building in this IF. It's just very thematically appropriate and here it actually makes sense as to why people wouldn't want to become a vampire.

I love how half of this is about vamps one of my fav topics and so yeah I’ve played thicker than I’m a fan of the author

You see I think like when vampirism is seen as a curse, that it’s nightmarish I really want to see nosferatu since I’ve heard how bleak it is. I think vampirism is treated as a bad thing because it’s used as metaphor for something whether it be aids, sexual assault, repression, night terrors, serial killers and the fear of death but also the fear of not dying before someone you love does

I saw the vampire diaries and I think it’s fine to show the virtues of being a vampire but what I hated was that they sought to take away what makes vampires vampires. Like the daylight ring stuff, the fact that they can eat human food, etc., I like my vamps more gothic so I felt they were defanged in that show

#IF question

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lena--beana · 1 year ago

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Damn I can't believe Sam Deats read my journal and made Castlevania Nocturne specifically for me with everything I could have wanted from a Rondo/Symphony story but like

Oh my GOD??????????

Olrox getting main billing after being my favorite one-off villain with one (1) boss fight with no build-up and never reappearing, they were really like "yeah let's make him the hottest motherfucker in the world and make him even cooler while we're at it"

Richter and Maria's character designs are 😘👌 perfection! I loved how Maria had her classic hairdo with her nightgown too and watching Richter put the bandana on for the first time with goddamn "Divine Bloodlines" playing like????

And Richter doing the Grand Cross??? And his flame whip????? The 1000 blades technique against the marquis?????? Maria using so many of her animal friends and caring so much about each of them sweet child oh my goodness

Not to mention the way I screamed louder for Juste than Alucard bc let's be real baby vampire boy was always going to come back but I had NO faith that they would even look at my boy JB and especially Maxim?? Even in passing I'm so touched holy shit. And I see that red coat on the foot of his bed, I know my angry grandpa's coming back 👀👀

But speaking of Alucard I adore this redesign, the little cravat telling me they're at least trying to give him his Symphony look instead of the t-shirt in the last show is a nice touch but that porcelain doll look is killer and I'm all here for it 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

Also everything about Annette oh my lord?? Giving her anything besides just being a damsel in distress like before but everything about her backstory had me on the edge of my seat and I LOVED watching her trap the plantation owner in a cage before the end

Loved getting to see Countess Bathory since we're never getting a Bloodlines anime, the succubus who took me way too long to realize she wasn't just a unique vampire like I had every clue thrown in my face from the fit to the nails and she even admitted to haunting men's dreams and I didn't figure it out til the second she grew wings 😭 glad Alucard still got to finish her off but I'm sad we probably won't get that scene with Lisa again (which probably wouldn't happen since Drac isn't back anyway so there wouldn't be much point)

Can I just talk about Olrox some more bc like??? This guy had NOTHING before the show, he was a fuckin Nosferatu reference and now they gave him all this history, they kept all of his abilities and the dragon transformation?? Plus the beautiful purple and gold suit and those piercing green eyes I love one (1) man and its this fucker I need WAY more of him next time around 👀👀👀👀👀

And yes absolutely I'm excited for next time, we're picking up right where Rondo starts, Father Abbott as a stand-in for Shaft and Tera immediately being turned, the city about to burn like? Are we gonna see Death again?? Do we get to watch Richter fight the Behemoth next season? Is Abbott going to totally lose his mind and bring back Dracula to stop Bathory? Since Alucard is here from the start and not after a time skip do we get to see the Inverted Castle? We already got so much that I would have called a million to one chance but anything's possible now we are SO back baybeeeee

#i like this series a lot and i'm really excited for more of the show 🥺#Castlevania #castlevania nocturne #castlevania netflix #Castlevania nocturne spoilers #richter belmont #maria renard #alucard #juste belmont #olrox

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the-queerview · 4 months ago

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The Substance

2024

by Coralie Fargeat

My dear readers, it's been a while since I decided to post. It was a long summer, ending with me visiting North Korea, just kidding, i just saw North Korea, which is already pretty amazing and frightening. Unfortunately my experience was disrupted, since a few week before my arrival some American tourist ran into North Korea and got shot, rest in peace idiot. They say never judge a deceased and in retrospective, i can't since those tours are literally disneyland trader joes tourist traps kind of, but lets not roast on peoples buisnisess here, lets roast the films, that take us on rides in our grey existence.

I would like to start by saying, that it's a pretty good year for babes and a pretty good year for horror film. We had Brat summer and soon there will be Nosferatu Autumn, with Lily Rose Depp starring in Nosferatu (102 years after its first release). We have Hunter Schaefers first cinema film, where she is not there for like 5 minutes like in Hunger games or entirely Naked for a few minutes like in Lanthimos kinds of kindness. Not to hate on nudity here, but we have a quite problematic history with women* and nudity. I highly recommend here Linda Nochlins representing women, on womens representation within western art history paintings, which is till todays core a major influence on cinematography. Which brings me to start today with a Portrait by Gericault, titled : Monomaniac of Envy (Monomane de l’envie) from 1822.

The Substance is a film following Elisabeth Sparkle ( Demi Moore), a former Oscar winner now aging TV -Starr with an aerobic ( I assume) show. (We might be remembered here of Jane Fonda, who indeed was an actress and the figure for aerobic in the 80s, when american propaganda preached they can't control the world in post vietnam war america and they only thing they can control is the BODY.) Elisabeths nasty boss is firing here for being to old, sad and isolated as she is, we don't learn so much, about her inner world. They cinematograpghy is resembling a distant, almost, stretched, lets say overdrawn perspective, probably similar to the characters inner world. Everything is clean, but not personal. Theres a giant photograph of Elisabeth in her almost comic looking loft. It reminds me somehow of older sowiet films, where a picture of Lenin would hang on the walls or some shit, so I thought, damn, the main dictator in Elisabeths Life is probably herself. And turns out right. Long story short, I try not to spoiler the grande scenes here, but one word, the billboard scene.. Elisabeth gets in contact to an anonymous note by an anonymous person, after some tragedy, and orders the SUBSTANCE. She will pick it up, inject it, and after some alien shit, which you see in the first picture, a second version of herself, that is herself will crawl literally out of her back. This version is young, hot, and will fuck Elisabeth up. Her name is Sue ( Margaret Qualley) and the rule is, that Sue got 7 days, and Elisabeth got 7. If one breaks the rule, they basically both fucked.

So the movie itself, is literally like, when popstars get the chance, like i dont know, rihanna doing superbowl singing all her bangers. kind of this vibe, So for horror film nerds, and i m sure i didnt guessed all but we have of course, david lynchs twin peaks and pretty sure wild at heart. we have suspiria by dario argento, especially the soundtrakc and BLOOD, we have some cronenberg body horror, and crazy camera like in gaspard noes enter the void, but all in all, i guess, what i was missing in the film, is that the first half was literally fucking amazing. it had it's own signature, it didn't need the references from my part, like yeah those dude directors did important work, i wish Fargeat would trust herself maybe more, that what shes doing is the right thing to go for. Also I literally loved ALL THE DETAILS. Like i could start analyzing so many bits of it.

I loved, that it was dealing with Envy, fear or aging, MISOGYNY, and comparison in such a smart way. The first half of the film, felt like an entire advertisment, which is the core to all evil, as we know. We literally spent actually years of our lifes watching advertisments.

The second half of it, reminded me to much of 80s body horror, it had its campy moment. And here I m being unfair probably. I did my research and Coralie Fargeat is born 1976. She was a a child in the 80s, and this was a time, that formed her culturally and therefor aesthetaically to a certain degree... or did you never noticed that fashion designers usually end up designing clothes, that they loved to wear as kids/teens? I feel like, if Coralie Fargeat felt like working in this 80s rubber stuff was important for, fuck , let her do it. Also in the 80s there weren't many female filmmakers around, especially not in the dudy dude horror scene. So whatever.

Also I was tbh in shock about the violence. Like many times, my partner had to close my eyes in the cinema, cuz i was hella scared of the intense violence. Maybe Kira Muratova ( an amazing ukranian filmmaker, that I truly adore for insane films) was right, when she said, women make harder films. I wonder if it has something to do with being in pain every month, of the injustice of the binary patriarchal world, or the violence transwomen experience?

There was for sure a very insanity level of violence, but at the same time, the most stunning portrayal of envy against a version of yourself, that you might never see. I loved that it also reflected so much the world in a sense, the decadence of the west, hollywood, glamour, age, ozempic, comparison, starving for youth vs the isolation of those from the current wars in the middle east, the starvation in Sudan. The proatogists were isolated in every scene almost. The Bathroom was the scenery of the crime, similar to the way we use this room to get ready for the outer world. The only real personal details in the film I experienced in the notes, those handwritten notes, that would always appear. I kept thinking about them for days. They became almost a metaphor for me, that different then then all the advertisments, the substance delivery typography, all those for Elisabeth Sparcle seemingly important objects, where not personal, thou its about her,about her body. while those handwritten notes by the strangers, seemed more personal, then the things that surround her, since trough the handwriting they are proof of a human life. Turns out, they were a signifer of what is missing in her world, the way she experience having the body, its no intimate, not adressed.

Also Demi and Margaret were so fucking amazing, i 'm literally blown away. Like i WISH i could like scream and hug them and be like. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT. I bet all their friends and family are proud like crazy. This shit was insane, playing that? Insane. They did so good, like not many ppl can read a script like that and be like...mhhh yup. So GRANDEUR APPLAUSE !!!!!!!

All in all I highly recommend checking out the Substance, I m sorry if I spoilered to much. Big trigger warning for violence, also some scenes are literally gross, depending on you, bring a friend or a lover, and watch it in the cinema, if your socio cultural situation allows you to, i can imagine this film being censored, otherwise just be illegal literally. Like we live in hell.

but dont watch it alone, only if you are freaky deaky i guess.

love to my readers.

the queerview

ps: Also I did watch blink twice by Zoë Kravitz. a queerview will follow, but its so hardcore to watch blink twice and p.diddies freak party assault stuff. mentally i cant go down that road, but Kravitz did literally on time...

#art house #film critique #female directors #the substance 2024 #demi moore #margaret qualley #horror films

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