From its origins in the eighteenth-century literature of terror to its contemporary manifestations in vampire fiction, cinema and art, the gothic has embraced the powers of horror and the erotic macabre. This book suggests that gothic fashion has deep cultural roots that give it an enduring potency.

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Amazon.co.uk Review
The word “vampire” is never mentioned in Near Dark, but that doesn’t stop this 1987 cult favourite from being one of the best modern-era vampire films. It put then-unknown director Kathryn Bigelow on Hollywood’s radar and gave choice roles to Aliens costars favoured by Bigelow’s ex-husband James Cameron–Lance Henriksen is the leader of a makeshift family of renegade bloodsuckers, nocturnally seeking victims in rural Oklahoma; his immortal gal pal is Aliens and T2 alumnus Jenette Goldstein; and Bill Paxton is the group’s deadliest leather-clad ass kicker. Fellow traveller Jenny Wright lures Okie farm boy Adrian Pasdar into the group with a love bite and he’s soon turning toward vampirism with a combination of frightened revulsion and relentless desire. With Joshua Miller as the youngest vampire, Near Dark is Bigelow’s masterpiece of low-budget ingenuity–a truck-stop thriller that begins well, gets better and better (aided by a fine Tangerine Dream score) and goes out in a blaze of glory. –Jeff Shannon

Near Dark

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Amazon.co.uk Review
Written by Karen Walton and directed by John Fawcett, Ginger Snaps combines horror and pubescent angst in a thoughtful portrayal of female teenage development both socially and physically. The Fitzgerald sisters are alienated to the point of discussing honouring the suicide pact they made when they were eight, and producing disturbing mock-up photographs of their violent deaths. Then the slightly older Ginger is bitten by a werewolf and starts developing hair in odd places and feeling more alive than she has ever felt–but it’s not entirely clear whether this is sexual maturity or monstrosity creeping up on her until she starts developing canines and a tail. The look and feel of the movie is a cross between Grimms’s Fairytales and Neil Jordan’s A Company of Wolves, while the influence of Buffy the Vampire Slayer runs through both script and cinematography–which means it occasionally looks like an extended episode of Buffy, minus the Vampire slayer herself. The performances of Emily Perkins as the nervy Goth Brigitte and of Katherine Isabelle as the extrovert charismatic Ginger are more or less faultless; we are taken to the heart of this claustrophobic relationship just as it starts to implode. Mimi Rogers as their ditzy mother and Kris Lemke as the stoner who tries to help Brigitte are almost equally excellent.

On the DVD: The DVD includes as special features some impressive screen tests by Perkins and Isabelle in which we see them evolving their final takes on the characters; we also get a mildly interesting documentary on the construction of the werewolf Ginger becomes and a featurette that has some snappy one-liners from the cast, as well as production notes and cast notes. The Dolby sound catches the nervy grungy world of the film, which is presented in 16:9 ratio.–Rox Kaveney

Ginger Snaps

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Blood Noir: Anita Blake Vampire Hunter 15

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