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Stars: David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon
Director: Tony Scott
Distributor: United International Pictures

“Forever and ever.”

The third feature film of Day Two at GASP! Horror Festival, and the last film to close out the evening, was the Mystery Queer Horror Classic. A complete mystery of a film, guests at Cutplex were encouraged to take a shot at guessing what the film could be. The previous year’s film was The Lost Boys. One lucky audience member had correctly guessed the film…the film would be: The Hunger.

Opening in punk flamboyance with a Bauhaus performance of Bela Lugosi’s Dead in a nightclub, rapidly intercut with David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve vibing and romancing with a couple from the club. The fast paced opening finds John and Miriam Blaylock (Bowie and Deneuve) engaging in bloody violence – romantically – with the couple brought home. So pacey and fantastical, this is Goth editing on cocaine. But who are these people? Shortly after, in New York, John forces through an appointment with famed doctor, Dr. Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon), to discuss the rapid aging process that he is enduring.

All quite mysterious, Dr. Roberts approaches the townhouse where the Blaylocks reside, though she soon captures the attention of Miriam before she is able to provide an analysis on John. Completely fixated on Miriam, Dr Roberts finds herself struggling to balance her career as a sleep and aging specialist, along with the eternal delights that Miriam can offer.

The Hunger is a vampire film, but isn’t explicitly a vampire film. Quite subtle, quite artsy, the notion of vampires and formulaic elements only come to fruition late on. Prior to that, and for the majority of the showpiece occasion, The Hunger is purely a film centered on a romantic and erotic bizarre love triangle, running in parallel with the effects of being and becoming a vampire.

Much of the decay experienced by characters does not occur from generic vampire/hunter battles – this isn’t that sort of film – but instead, from a rapid aging process in an incredibly short duration of time. Given this aging process, and visuals of blood transfusion, there are multiple instances where this can be read as a potential text for HIV/AIDS trauma in the 80s.

Whilst an erotic art film, as well as a vampire film, too, this is also a Tony Scott film (without Denzel). Given that this was Scott’s feature film debut, The Hunger feels far from what we would be accustomed to as a typical Tony Scott movie. However, there are elements present that would routinely be attributed to the visual style of Scott. The ice cool flamboyance is there, but that’s the limit, for now.

Not only is The Hunger an excellently horny queer classic, but it is also an outrageous vampire alternative that offers a preview into the excellent director that Tony Scott would become, whilst also showcasing excellent performances from its central trio of David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve, and Susan Sarandon. A New York backdrop, shrouded in the gothic, The Hunger is a film that provides eternal amazement.