[TheDarkGift] Dracula (1931)
Dracula (1931) is one of the earliest classic American
horror films from Carl Laemmle's Universal Pictures - an acclaimed masterpiece
directed by Tod Browning, known also for two other vampire films: London After
Midnight (1927) (aka The Hypnotist) with Lon Chaney, Sr., and his own sound-era
remake, Mark of the Vampire (1935) (aka Vampires of Prague), with Bela Lugosi
and Lionel Barrymore sharing Lon Chaney's dual role. On account of Universal's
success with this classic Dracula film, the next year, Browning went on to
direct the truly bizarre, classic horror film Freaks (1932) for MGM - a
controversial and grotesque film that has achieved cult status, and was banned
for almost thirty years in Britain.
With
this "talkie" horror film, Hungarian stage actor Bela Lugosi (originally named
Bela Blasko), who had starred in the smash-hit Broadway stage play, took over
the part for the film when Lon Chaney, Sr. ("The Man of a Thousand Faces") died
of throat cancer. [Browning had teamed with Lon Chaney, Sr. on ten films,
including The Unholy Three (1925) - about a trio of sideshow freaks, London
After Midnight (1927), West of Zanzibar (1928), and Where East is East (1929).]
Lugosi established himself as the definitive screen vampire.
The
plotline was taken from Abraham ("Bram") Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. (The
screenplay by Garrett Fort was more closely adapted from the successful stage
play by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston.) The first film version of the
novel was an early German silent film, Nosferatu: A Symphony in Terror (1922),
an unauthorized adaptation of Stoker's novel directed by expressionist F. W.
Murnau. In Murnau's film, the rodent-like Dracula (Max Schreck) was renamed
"Graf Orlock." [The film was released in England as Dracula.]
Since
then, there have been about a dozen true film adaptations of the Stoker novel
(Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) is probably the most
faithful), and literally hundreds of other Dracula sequels, farces, and other
vampirish variations (including the "blaxploitation" Blacula films of the early
70s). Hammer Films generated The Horror of Dracula (1958) (with Christopher Lee
as "the Count") after purchasing film rights from Universal. [The most
frequently-portrayed character in horror films would eventually be
Dracula.]
This
successful, atmospheric 1931 adaptation, although somewhat flawed by its slow
dialogue and static, stage-bound nature, helped to launch a long series of
horror-pictures for the studio. (Universal's follow-up picture was the equally
successful gothic Frankenstein (1931).) Its eerie lighting, gliding camera
trackings, and moody and shadowy atmosphere were largely the work of
cinematographer Karl Freund. [An impressive-looking Spanish version, with
director George Melford in place of Browning, was shot simultaneously on the
same sets at night, but with a different cast and crew (Carlos Villarías
replaced Lugosi, and Eduardo Arozamena as Van Helsing, along with
provocatively-dressed actresses Lupita Tovar as Eva (Mina) and Carmen Guerrero
as Lucia (Lucy)).]
Although
it's hard to believe today, segments of the film were censored in overseas
viewings: a gigantic bug's emergence from a coffin, the appearance of Dracula's
three zombie-like wives in his castle, Renfield's begging scene to allow him to
eat spiders and flies, and the reading of a newspaper account of vampire bride
Lucy's victimization of children.
The
opening scenes of the film are the high-point of this screen classic. It begins
with the cinematic and atmospheric appearance of a horse-drawn carriage making
its winding way down a steep, narrow road through the jagged Carpathian
mountains in Central-Eastern Europe (the locale is NOT explicitly identified as
Transylvania). The coach is going at breakneck speed in order to reach the inn
before dark, jostling its passengers in its haste. A young English passenger on
board asks the driver to go slower, but he is ignored. Another passenger from
the local area explains excitedly that they must reach the local inn before
twilight ends:
We
must reach the inn before sundown!...It is Walpurgis Night, the night of evil
Nosferatu! On this night, Madame, the doors, they are barred, and to the Virgin
we pray.When the coach finally comes to a halt at an old inn, the darkness
is impending - it is nearly dusk and the sun is going down behind the black
mountains. Most of the relieved passengers climb down to end their journey for
the day.
One
passenger announces his plans to proceed further: "I say, porter. Don't take my
luggage down. I'm going on to Borgo Pass tonight." He is told by the nervous inn
proprietor (Michael Visaroff) that the coach driver is afraid to continue, and
that they should wait until sunrise. The undaunted young Englishman insists on
carrying out his
[TheDarkGift] The Legend of Dracula
Title: AOL Email Dracula is the best known sort of vampire. Vampires have lots of faces, behaviours, powers and names. Vampires can change their shape into a bat, rat, wolf, cat, spider or a raven. They can even transform their body into a cloud of mist. Vampires are very strong, have senses far beyond humans and can even control some type of animals. Vampires have to sleep in their coffin during the daytime. Originally the coffin was made so that animals chouldn't dig up the body. Vampires are harmed or killed by the sun. Religious symbols can harm a vampire, but there has to be a very strong faith in the symbol and it's efficiency as a dispeller of evil. Vampires have no shadow and no reflection in mirrors because they don't have a soul. When a vampire stands directly between two mirrors it would see into eternity, so could be killed. Vampires cannot cross running water, because of their reflection. Drive a wooden stake in one blow through the vampire's heart (his source of life and power). Behead the vampire with a gravedigger's shovel and remove his brain from the body (the brains are his lifeforce). You can also burn the vampire's body or smelt him in the sunlight. Dispelling the vampire with the Holy Cross can kill him too. If it is suspected that someone dead is likely to become a vampire, prevent the change by burying the facing the body downwards. Protect yourself with lots of garlic! Being bitten by a vampire or drinking the blood of a vampire is the most common way. Not having been buried properly or your dead body reflected in a mirror could turn you into a vampire. If a cat jumps over your dead body before being buried, you could become a vampire. (In Romania this is cured by putting a piece of iron into the body's hand). If you have red hair, after death you'll turn into a vampire (according to the Egyptian and Greek mythology). If you are a wizard/witch or the seventh son, you could become a vampire. Victims of unavenged murder are also likely to become vampires. Asasabonsam are African vampires with hooks instead of feet. They tend to bite their victims on the thumb. Baital is an Indian race of vampires, half man, half bat, standing roughly one and a half meter tall. The Baobhan Sith (buh-van she) is an evil scottish fairie who appear as a beatiful young woman and will dance with men they find, 'til the men are exhausted; they then feed upon them. It can be killed by cold iron. Bruja is the spanish name for a witch, it was very similar to the Italian Strega and the Bruxa from the neighboring Portugal. It's a living woman able to transform herself into various kinds of animals and attack children. In China there are vampire-like creatures called Ch'Iang Shih; created by a cat jumping over a dead body. They appear livid and may kill with poisonous breath in addition to draining blood. If a Ch'Iang Shih encounters a pile of rice, it must count the grains before it can pass on. Their immaterial form is a sphere of light. In Ireland many druids speak of Dearg-Dues which has to be killed by building a cairn of stones upon the grave. They can't change their chape. Ekiminus are Assyiran malignant spirits (half ghost, half vampire) caused by no proper burial. They are naturally invisible and are capable of possessing humans. They can be destroyed by using wooden weapons or by exorcism. The Crete vampire Kathakano is much like the originals, but it can only be killed by chopping its head off and boiling it in vinegar. The Krvopijac are Bulgarian vampires also known as Obours. They have only one nostril and a pointed tongue. A Krvopijac can be immobilized by placing roses around their graves. It can be destroyed by letting a magician order it into a bottle and throwing it into a bonfire. Lamias were known in ancient Rome and Greece. They were exclusively female vampires, which often appeared half human, half animal (most often a snake and always the lower part) form. They ate the flesh of their victims as well as drinking the blood. Lamias could be attacked and killed with normal weapons. Nosferatu is another name for the original vampire, which is also called Vampyre. Rakshasa is a powerful Indian vampire and magician. They usually appear as humans with animal features or as animals with human features. The animal side is very often a tiger. They eat the victim's flesh in addition to drinking their
[TheDarkGift] A view from today
Title: AOL Email An adaptation with fangs Werner Herzog's Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (Nosferatu the Vampyre, 1979) Detailing the cultural background, production history, and critical reception of Herzog's Nosferatu remake, Garrett Chaffin-Quiray explains the film's complex relationship to the horror genre while providing insight into the filmmaker's "purposefully austere aspiration to beauty." Strangeness has always been Herzog's major theme. A friend of mine once told me that she heard Herzog claim he wanted the world to appear in his films as it would to a Martian who just arrived on Earth. His method for achieving this is incongruity. [1] A view from today On 26 October 2002 I visited Manhattan's Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine for the "Halloween Extravaganza Procession of Ghouls." An annual production, the conclusion of the night's program was a puppet parade. Directly preceding this exhibition, though, was a screening of Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's 1922 classic Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horrors) with a live organ accompaniment. Having previously seen Murnau's film, I anticipated a creaking relic of histrionic acting and anachronistic special effects. Indeed, I watched the film while listening to alternating snickers of disappointment and simultaneous thrills of wonder in a crowd several hundred strong. As a result, I was reminded of the importance of context concerning Nosferatu with some eighty years having passed between now and its original release. Subsequently I binged on all things of unholy origin. I read reviews, fingered library books and compared images handed down through a lifetime spent consuming vampire movies. In so doing, I completed the Nosferatu trifecta. After attending the Cathedral Church screening, but only after reading Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, I watched Werner Herzog's 1979 adaptation, Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht and finished off with E Elias Merhige's insider-peek-cum-alternative-history, Shadow of the Vampire (2000). What follows, then, is the result of my dive into the subject at hand. Frames of reference What we recognise as das neue Kino, or the New German Cinema, was a movement born from generational conflict. Following Germany's defeat in World War II, the coherence of its national identity was split among occupying allied powers, just as the country was riven with foreign cultural products, sold piecemeal to external combines and dwarfed by memories of its former status under Adolph Hitler. Along with the rapid Americanisation of West Germany confronting Soviet-styled East Germany, there was a coincident malaise about the unassimilated Nazi past, the "unbewltige Vergangenheit." Turning the war generation against its offspring, another baby boom, Germany's future was a portrait of contradiction, not least because the Holocaust prosecuted during the war led directly to the post-war Economic Miracle. German cinema, itself a reflection of national sensibilities, exhibited these tensions on-screen. Decimated by an exhausting war effort, filmmakers in the 1940s largely produced works of narrow interest. Continental development and the popularity of television expanded the canvas just as a backlash against Hollywood's control over local movies was unleashed. At the Oberhausen Film Festival of 1962, "an acute sense of alienation and anomie"[2] bubbled to the surface. Alexander Kluge and Norbert Kckelmann, both filmmakers and spokesmen for the unrest, shaped the moment and lambasted the conventional system. One result was the Oberhausen Manifesto aimed at disrupting then-current cinematic practice. Finding American dollars easy to secure for distribution and exhibition channels, though not for investment in local movie production, the Oberhausen group envisioned a way out from under their cultural colonisation. Lobbying the Budestag, or West German parliament, they successfully set up the Koratorium Junger Deutscher Film (Young German Film Board), to support funding and distribution of members' work along with establishing film schools in Munich and Berlin and an archive in Berlin. From 1965-1968, the Koratorium supported the debut of several dozen new filmmakers. Yet the fundamentally inconsistent source of film finance continued to haunt das neue Kino. One method to solve the problem was the Film Frderungsanstalt (FFA), which gave money to film producers according to fairly loose standards and which led to soft-core porn and sex comedies. The second method was an FFA reform, the Filmberlad der Autoren (Author's Film-Publishing Group), a private company intended to distribute members' films with monies collected from television network subsidies and tithes, and to ensure artistic products with careful sponsorship. A fertile period resulted and the world was introduced to filmmakers like Wim Wenders, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Werner Herzog, although they were typically only celebrated abroad
[TheDarkGift] Part Two
Title: AOL Email Child of the night Unable to shoot in Bremen, as Murnau did in 1922, Herzog contracted the Dutch town of Delft. Embittered over memories of Nazi occupation, though, the Delft citizenry were less than enthusiastic about hosting a German production crew. When Herzog finally announced plans to release 11,000 rats for a particularly important scene, Delft's city fathers refused him after citing their extensive efforts to rid the city of vermin. Inconvenienced, Herzog moved his production, along with its Hungarian-bred white lab rats painted gray for the sake of realism, to the more accommodating Dutch city of Schiedam. At the same time, Kinski was enduring several hours of daily make-up to enliven his part as Count Dracula, although he was also weathering a personal hell. Estranged from his third wife, he laboured under the knowledge she was about to divorce him, taking with her their son. Everywhere mythologised as being wildly manic in his habits, Herzog managed to help channel his star's private pain into a form of helplessness more conducive to the part. The resulting film is not a clear copy of its source, though it does offer an occasional shot-for-shot echo. "It is an homage to the 1922 Murnau classic of the same name, from which it is freely adapted, and is thereby a tribute to the purity of vision of the silent cinema and also a lament of the loss of innocence represented by Bram Stoker's original 1897 novel, 'Dracula.'"[8] Developing the idea of lost innocence, Herzog's version makes a careful nod to female empowerment, offers a dystopian finale suggesting total failure and employs the relative richness of colour film stock and a recorded soundtrack. Opening in Wismar, we meet Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz), a property clerk newly wed to Lucy (Isabelle Adjani), for whom he wishes to provide a comfortable home. When a large commission is offered to him for transacting with the far-off Count Dracula (Kinski), Jonathan eagerly accepts the job. After an arduous month traveling through the Carpathian Mountains, he stops at a roadside inn for refreshment before meeting the Count. Mentioning his client by name, the establishment falls silent before Jonathan listens to rumors of Nosferatu. He discounts such talk as peasantry run amuck and soon meets the Count, a lonely and unloved "man." Very quickly, Dracula becomes fascinated by a photograph of Lucy and accepts Jonathan's offered property, which makes them neighbours. Long nights ensue and the Count begins feasting on his clerk before sailing for Wismar, bringing with him death and the plague in an army of rats. Jonathan belatedly realises Dracula's threat but loses his memory while returning home because he is gradually stricken with vampirism. Arriving after the plague has already been loosed, bodies pile up in the city square and Jonathan is delivered into Lucy's care, vegetative and absent of any love for his bride. Faced with the destruction of her world, Lucy contacts Dr Van Helsing (Walter Ladengast) requesting help, but is ultimately forced to act alone. She researches Dracula's whereabouts and uncovers his weaknesses, killing him through self-sacrifice as a sensual meal under the cast of morning sunlight. Unfortunately, Jonathan is already made the Count's successor and is last seen riding into the stretch of tomorrow, unmarked by his past life or the original ambition that drove him to the Count in the first place. Then versus now Enjoying a debut in Paris on 10 January 1979, Nosferatu was a mixed viewing experience. Though it received the Berlin International Film Festival's Silver Bear for Outstanding Single Achievement in production design for Henning von Gierke and a nomination for the Golden Bear for Herzog, and though Kinski received a German Film Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in acting, critics and viewers alike were troubled by the picture. Perhaps best summarising the issue, William Wolf wrote, "Unquestionably Herzog's version is a stylistic triumph. But do we need yet another encounter with the count?" [9] Vincent Canby echoed the sentiment and wrote, "Mr Herzog has done what he set out to do, but when you come right down to it, one wonders if it's worth the trouble. Dracula, after all, is not Hamlet or Othello or Macbeth. He's not some profoundly complex character who speaks to us in more voices than most of us care to hear. Dracula is Santa Claus turned mean. He's a fairy-tale character. Though he represents something vestigially scary, he's not endlessly interesting." [10] Given these indirectly complimentary remarks responding to a late-1970s spate of vampire motion pictures (including John Badham's Dracula [1979] and Stan Dagoti's Love at First Bite [1979]), and a certain reverence towards Murnau's original, the critical reaction divided among those preferring 1922's version to that of 1979. Pondering the adaptation, Ernest Leogrande asked, "What was its special fascination for
[TheDarkGift] Roman Funeral Procession
Title: AOL Email Ghost Stories Online Roman Funeral Procession I am an archaeology student. This summer just past I spent a month working at a Roman town, excavating a block along with about ninety other students, amateurs and a few professionals. As well as working in the town (its all flat and under grass except the town wall which still surround it) we were living in tents within the walls. I was partnered with a girl for the area I was working and one day she was more than a little nervous. She told me she had woken in the early hours of the morning to hear a Roman funeral procession passing down the street that our campsite covered, complete with professional mourners wailing and tambourines being shaken. She said she just lay still, petrified, until she went back to sleep; she heard the procession go all the way down the street and out the town gates to the south. The cemetery lines the road that exits at the south gate. She is not the type to make this up or imagine it, she was genuinely shaken. I'm skeptical, but she thinks it happened! Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] The Police Found Nothing
Title: AOL Email Ghost Stories Online The Police Found Nothing It happened way back on the last day of 6th grade. My best friend's birthday was on the last day of school, and she always had a huge party, and about five of her closest friends would spend the night. It was about 1 AM, and we were playing the game "Light as a Feather; Stiff as a Board". For those of you who don't know what that is: it's a game where someone is lying on their back on the floor, and everyone sits cross-legged around them. You take turns telling the scariest ghost stories you can think of, and then, when the game is over, everyone puts their index and middle fingers underneath them, and closes their eyes, and begins chanting quietly at first, and then louder and louder "Light as a Feather; Stiff as a Board", hoping to make them levitate. As you probably guessed, it never works. Anyway, as we were chanting when we heard a muffled scream, and her bedroom door slam. I headed to the closest light switch ASAP, and flicked it on with no hesitation. What I saw horrified me... I forgot to mention we had all of our sleeping bags, changes of clothes, make-up, towels, etc. stacked on her bed. There was probably about twenty items scattered across the bed. When I turned on the light, every single item had "fallen" off of her bed. We sat in shock until we heard another similar noise, and her bedroom door slowly opened. I assumed whatever was there, had left. Her grandmother had called the police after we sprinted frantically to her bedroom. One girl, Ashley, was crying and hyperventilating claiming that she had felt two strong hands holding her to the floor until the door opened. The police found nothing, but suggested we sleep somewhere else if it made us feel better. We all went to my house, and tried to sleep. Nothing has happened like that since, and I'm a Freshman now, and I'm over at her house practically everyday. Whatever it was, seemed as if it was keeping us in the room. Protecting us? I'll never know. You decide... Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] English Ghost
Title: AOL Email English Ghost Date: Thu, 29 Feb 1996 11:22:16 +0100To: obiwan ([EMAIL PROTECTED])From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Dean Rennard)Subject: Ghost story from england Hi there ive been lurking for a while now, about 6 months to be precise, and i love the stories that get posted. Well i think its about time i told you about my friends house that he bought about a year ago. My friend lives in the same city as me called Hull, which is situated in East Yorkshire in North-East England. His name is Kris and he is 20, he bought his first house, a 70-year old, 3-bedroomed semi detached a year ago and ever since he moved in some weird things have been happening. The first hint of anything weird happening was the constant switching on of the light at the top of the stairs, which slowly spread to the light at the bottom of the stairs switching on, i have witnessed this happening myself and so has another friend. This then went on to the gas fire switching on and things dissapearing and turning up in places that had been checked-over about 5 times!, then one night Kris was drinking a glass of beer, he put it down next to him, which i witnessed, only for it to dissapear and re-appear at the opposite side of the room! About 3 months ago he bought a dog to keep him company, and things have become much worse ever since, the dog barks at points on the walls which it follows with its eyes, in front of me and kris!...only last week (23rd Feb) my friend was in the bath, and i was in the dining room near his down-stairs bath, and Kris shouted out 'where the hell has my towel gone', he said it was right in front of him about 10 seconds ago, then the dog ran into the dining room and started barking and running backwards and forwards to a spot behind me, i turned round and there was the towel!! ontop of the Music system! The worst thing to have happened, occured over 3 nights last week, at the moment in England it is very cold, so he has been sleeping with a big blanket over the top of his bed. Well on the first night something happened, he woke up to find the big heavy blanket had been rolled up and placed across his neck!...he didnt think much of it, and thought he must have done it in his sleep, but it was rolled up so tight like a rope. The next night he went to sleep with the blanket over him, and woke up with the blanket rolled up and this time it went across his neck and then back round underneath him, as if it was trying to strangle him, and the chair in the corner of his room had been moved and placed against the door as if to try and stop somebody coming in! The third night was the worst, Kris persuaded his girlfriend to sleep the night, she usually refuses because she says she keeps seeing things, but she wont tell any of us what it is because she said she doesnt believe in anything weird like ghosts, well that night they both got drunk so he persuaded her to sleep the night. At about 3 am his girlfriend woke kris up by hitting him in the face!, Krsi shouted 'what the hell are you doing' and his girlfriend replied 'Youve just tried to strangle me!', and she was screaming at him..Kris looked at her neck and sure enough there was the big blanket rolled up and wrapped around her neck about 3 times! and pulled tight. They have now split up and its been about 3 days since they saw each other, his girlfriend has told her parents about what she thinks Kris tried to do to her, and no matter what he says she will not see him again. Only last night (28th Feb), Kris said his dog was sat on his bed and suddenly stared into the corner of the room, pissed all over the bed and ran out of the room, it took Kris 30 minutes to get his dog back into the room. I dont know what all this means or why it is happening, but i will keep you posted if anything more happens, which no doubt it will as something happens every night. Sorry if these very true happenings were long and boring, but i thought its about time i posted something on here! cheers for reading, and i will talk again soon Dean Rennard Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] History of Tarot Cards
Title: AOL Email History of Tarot Cards by D. J. McAdam. © 2001-2004. All rights reserved worldwide. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. There are few subjects known to Man about which more misleading or false information has been published than the history of tarot cards.Why? The answers are simple: Tarot cards today are associated with fortune-telling and "the occult." Serious historians, generally speaking, have no desire to be associated with such subjects. The absence of serious inquiries has created a vacuum that has been willingly filled by individuals who approach the subject with something less than scholarly rigor. Tarot cards, as a "product of mystery and the unknown," have been perceived to have benefited by allusions to "a secret past, shrouded in mystery" - at least, by some individuals who have been involved in marketing tarot cards. Misinformation about tarot cards has existed for quite some time. Thus, many old (and presumed reliable) works are quoted by newer works, and the misinformation is passed down from one generation to the next. The purpose of this article is to offer a historically accurate history of tarot cards, to explain how some misinformation about tarot card history came to exist, and to suggest some further avenues for study and research. In the beginning Tarot cards are an early form of today's playing cards, entering Europe in the 14th century in Italy and France. A nice facsimile of one of these early decks, the 15th century Visconti-Sforza Tarocchi Deck, is still available today. They were described by Feliciano Busi as being "from Saracinia," i.e., the land of the Saracens, or Arabia. It's important to recall that one of Europe's greatest civilizations - Moorish Spain - was flourishing at this time, and that there was a great deal of intellectual exchange going on between Europe and the Middle East. Tarot cards (or taroc cards, or tarocchi cards) were originally used for playing a card game called tarocchi, and had no more (or less) to do with foretelling the future than did other types of playing cards. The major arcana cards did hold secret symbolic meanings for Sufis, who influenced the kabala - this is why correlations are sometimes drawn between the kabala and tarot cards. In card games, the 22 major arcana cards were trump cards, and the 56 minor arcana cards in four suits are similar to today's standard deck of 52 cards in four suits, with the obvious difference being that the tarot deck has fourteen cards in each suit. The origin of the word "tarot" Numerous theories exist, some linking the word with geographic place names, others much more fanciful. Idries Shah, in The Sufis, hypothesizes that tarot is a derivation of the Arab word turuq, which means "four ways." And now . . . Nowadays, most modern tarot cards are used for divination or as a symbol-system for personal growth and development. Tarot cards are often used as vehicles for artistic _expression_ as well, and numerous artists (including Salvador Dali) have used the symbolism of the tarot as a means of creative _expression_. How did tarot cards get associated with fortune-telling? Actually, all playing cards have been used for divinatory purposes. Tarot cards, with more intricate designs and an older pedigree than modern decks, tend to look the part more. And, of course, tarot decks were not all that well-known in England - the English having derived their playing card designs from the French - so that when the Order of the Golden Dawn and other British occultists were searching around for things that looked mysterious, tarot cards filled the bill nicely. Some Common Myths Dispelled Tarot cards did not originate in ancient Egypt. This was an invention by an 18th century writer. Tarot cards did not arrive in Europe with the Gypsies. This rumor seems to have started because Gypsies were thought to have come from Egypt - which they didn't - and because Gypsies are often associated with fortune-telling. This myth is easily dispelled, however, when one stops to consider that tarot cards existed in Europe before the arrival of Gypsies. Tarot cards have not specifically been known as "cards of the devil." That title
[TheDarkGift] William Harrison Ainsworth, The Spectre Bride
Title: AOL Email William Harrison Ainsworth, "The Spectre Bride"The castle of Hernswolf, at the close of the year 1655, was the resort of fashion and gaiety. The baron of that name was the most powerful nobleman in Germany, and equally celebrated for the patriotic achievements of his sons, and the beauty of his only daughter. The estate of Hernswolf, which was situated in the centre of the Black Forest, had been given to one of his ancestors by the gratitude of the nation, and descended with other hereditary possessions to the family of the present owner. It was a castellated, gothic mansion, built according to the fashion of the times, in the grandest style of architecture, and consisted principally of dark winding corridors, and vaulted tapestry rooms, magnificent indeed in their size, but ill-suited to private comfort, from the very circumstance of their dreary magnitude. A dark grove of pine and mountain ash encompassed the castle on every side, and threw an aspect of gloom around the scene, which was seldom enlivened by the cheering sunshine of heaven. *** The castle bells rung out a merry peal at the approach of a winter twilight, and the warder was stationed with his retinue on the battlements, to announce the arrival of the company who were invited to share the amusements that reigned within the walls. The Lady Clotilda, the baron's only daughter, had but just attained her seventeenth year, and a brilliant assembly was invited to celebrate the birthday. The large vaulted apartments were thrown open for the reception of the numerous guests, and the gaieties of the evening had scarcely commenced when the clock from the dungeon tower was heard to strike with unusual solemnity, and on the instant a tall stranger, arrayed in a deep suit of black, made his appearance in the ballroom. He bowed courteously on every side, but was received by all with the strictest reserve. No one knew who he was or whence he came, but it was evident from his appearance, that he was a nobleman of the first rank, and though his introduction was accepted with distrust, he was treated by all with respect. He addressed himself particularly to the daughter of the baron, and was so intelligent in his remarks, so lively in his sallies, and so fascinating in his address, that he quickly interested the feelings of his young and sensitive auditor. In fine, after some hesitation on the part of the host, who, with the rest of the company, was unable to approach the stranger with indifference, he was requested to remain a few days at the castle, an invitation which was cheerfully accepted. The dead of the night drew on, and when all had retired to rest, the dull heavy bell was heard swinging to and fro in the grey tower, though there was scarcely a breath to move the forest trees. Many of the guests, when they met the next morning at the breakfast table, averred that there had been sounds as of the most heavenly music, while all persisted in affirming that they had heard awful noises, proceeding, as it seemed, from the apartment which the stranger at that time occupied. He soon, however, made his appearance at the breakfast circle, and when the circumstances of the preceding night were alluded to, a dark smile of unutterable meaning played round his saturnine features, and then relapsed into an _expression_ of the deepest melancholy. He addressed his conversation principally to Clotilda, and when he talked of the different climes he had visited, of the sunny regions of Italy, where the very air breathes the fragrance of flowers, and the summer breeze sighs over a land of sweets; when he spoke to her of those delicious countries, where the smile of the day sinks into the softer beauty of the night, and the loveliness of heaven is never for an instant obscured, he drew tears of regret from the bosom of his fair auditor, and for the first time she regretted that she was yet at home Days rolled on, and every moment increased the fervour of the inexpressible sentiments with which the stranger had inspired her. He never discoursed of love, but he looked it in his language, in his manner, in the insinuating tones of his voice, and in the slumbering softness of his smile, and when he found that he had succeeded in inspiring her with favourable sentiments, a sneer of the most diabolical meaning spoke for an instant, and died again on his dark featured countenance. When he met her in the company of her
[TheDarkGift] Van Helsing (Vampire Film)
Title: AOL Email
The hardest part of reviewing "Van Helsing" is deciding
how many stars to give it because it looked good. The CGI was
nothing special, but passable for the most part (save a fairly
important transformation sequence at the end that looked like it was
from "The Lawnmower Man). The sets were beautiful and gothic, seeing
Dracula's Castle and Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory on such an
elaborate budget was spectacular, and it was shot with the
appropriate low-angle hero-worship necessary for the suspension of
disbelief to become enjoyable.The rest of the movie, of
course, was horrible.Bad, to worse, to Frankenstein's
monster quoting the psalms and the guy who played Faramir fighting
with Igor (who looked strikingly like Radu from the "Subspecies"
series) on a bridge with a cattle prod. The dialog was like
something Roland Emmerich rejected and then flushed down David
Mamet's toilet. I'm aware of the snarkiness of the previous
sentence, but that's just the sort of response this terrible movie
has evoked in me.If you must know, the plot centers on Van
Helsing (Hugh Jackman) and his sidekick friar Carl (David Wenham of
"Lord of the Rings") heading to Transylvania to dispose of Count
Dracula (Richard Roxburgh) and his vampire brides at the behest of a
shadowy Vatican order. Dracula, flanked by a few werewolves for good
measure, is in search of the Frankenstein Monster so he can bring
his dead vampire fetuses to life. Lest you think you misread that,
it is indeed about Dracula using the monster for fertility
purposes."Van Helsing" was written and directed by Stephen
Sommers, the man behind both "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns,"
and really that's about all you need to know. The man has a light
touch for visuals, and even when the CGI isn't up to par, it's still
fun to watch. However, "Van Helsing" is no where near as much fun as
either "Mummy" films, and instead of playing like a second-rate
Indiana Jones, it feels as if Universal and Sommers are taking
themselves too seriously. These classic monsters have been around a
long time, but they are inherently supposed to be fun. Roxburgh's
Dracula seems so iconic he seems to forget what makes Dracula so
interesting in the first place. Roxburgh, a stage actor, seems to
forget that he needn't play the role so the people in the back rows
know what's going on. I can't believe I'm saying this about a movie
like Van Helsing, but if Roxburgh had just toned things down a
little bit, the movie may have been more fun. I highly doubt anyone
remembers Jeremy Irons in "Dungeons and Dragons," but if you're
unlucky enough to, this performance is almost as bad. Jackman and
Kate Beckinsale as, well, the girl, do what they can in poorly
written parts. Jackman looks cool in his billowing cape and
giant-brimmed hat, but only about an eighth as cool as his
Wolverine. But if you go see this flick you're not going for the
acting, or the directing, or the story, or blah blah blah. You're
going for the special effects, and if you like what you see in the
commercials or trailers, you'll like what you see in the movie.
Simple as that. Bottom line, Van Helsing is dumb, but the titular
creatures have survived worse than this ("Love at First Bite," "Teen
Wolf, Too," etc.) and if you must go to the movies to kill time
before the real brainless summer stuff comes out and you're looking
for some fun special effects, go see "Hellboy." Seriously.
Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test.
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[TheDarkGift] November's Vampire of the Month
Mistress of the Dark is our Vampiress of the Month of November Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. inline: pumpkinsawleft.jpg
[TheDarkGift] Elvira: Mistress of the Dark DVD review
Title: AOL Email Elvira: Mistress of the Dark DVD review Review date: July 11, 2001 [Full view - 40 kb] The Story [Full view - 45 kb] Elvira (Cassandra Peterson), a horror movie hostess with enormous...ratings, quits her job after being sexually harassed by the station's new owner. Her plan is to start a show of her own out in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, she needs to come up with 50,000 dollars in order to get the show going. As she's about to leave the TV studio, Elvira gets a telegram stating her Ant just died, and that she must travel to Fallwell, Massachusetts for the reading of the will. Elvira quickly packs her things, jumps in her car, and drives out to Fallwell in hopes of collecting a fortunate from her Ant's estate. [Full view - 56 kb] Elvira arrives in Fallwell just as her car gives in and breaks down. She gets a cold greeting by the uptight locals, who are led primarily by Chastity Pariah (Edie McClurg), leader of the town's morality enforcement. Fortunately for Elvira there are a few young teenagers nearby who are quite eager to give her car a push to the local gas station. Later, at the reading of the will, Elvira meets her uncle, Vincent Talbot (William Morgan Sheppard), and discovers that she's inherited her Ant's house, dog, and cookbook. Vincent offers to buy the cookbook from Elvira for 50 dollars, claiming that he'd like it for sentimental reasons. Elvira, disappointed that she wasn't left a large sum of money, quickly agrees. When Vincent shows up at the house to get the cookbook, it's nowhere to be found. Vincent becomes outraged and begins yelling at Elvira, demanding the book. Elvira calms him down, assuring him that the book will turn up eventually. Vincent is a bit anxious, though, and has a few of his goons poke around Elvira's house in search of the book. After a short time of failed searching, the goons flee the house after being barked at by Elvira's dog. Elvira, with the help of some local teenagers she's befriended, cleans up her Ant's house and tries to sell it. She has no luck selling, however, and decides to have a horror movie marathon at the local theater. Bob, the town's hunk and owner of the theater, agrees to help. All of the local teenagers show up, but Patti, the town's bitch who has the hots for Bob, ruins the marathon's finale by pouring tar and feathers on Elvira. [Full view - 47 kb] Elvira's bad luck is just beginning. She discovers that the cookbook has magical powers and learns of Vincent's evil intentions for the book. Vincent is determined to get the book by any means necessary. Things look bleak for Elvira - the police arrest her and the local townspeople begin making preparations to burn her at the stake. [Full view - 32 kb]
[TheDarkGift] Through Louis Eyes
Title: AOL Email I still remember the first time I saw Lestat. He came through the huge French doors into my bedroom, walking soundlessly like a cat and draping the shawl over my sister's eyes ever so gently. At first I thought he was an angel sent from heaven to let me know that Paul had forgiven me. Until I looked into his eyes. I'd never seen such beautiful grey eyes, so luminous in the darkened bedroom and when I looked into his eyes, I felt that I was standing alone somewhere where only he and I were present. They say that the eyes are windows to the soul and what had I first seen when I looked upon my beloved Lestat? I saw his pain, his loneliness and I could relate to it. I felt myself being drawn to him, his aura and energy as he spoke to me of the dark gift and how it would make my life much better. I'd wanted to damn myself into perpetual sorrow, actually. But instead love found me in the most unusual of times and places. I had tried so hard to deny it over the years that we lived together with Claudia, I had even tried to kill him just to save her and myself. But fate had so much more planned for us. Claudia may not be here anymore but Lestat is. I used to hate him, or make myself believe that I hated him because he'd turned me into a vampire but as I stand here in his warm embrace, looking through his eyes, I realize with joy what Lestat has really given me. A strong love that will never die.Written By"Danielle Anderson": Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor Get unlimited calls to U.S./Canada Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Elvira Mistress Of The Dark 12 Tooned Up Maquette
Title: AOL Email Elvira Mistress Of The Dark12" Tooned Up Maquette(DECEMBER PRE-ORDER) Availability: Contact us for availability.Elvira Mistress Of The Dark 12" Tooned Up Maquette (DECEMBER PRE-ORDER) STA690002$125.00Elvira, Mistress Of The dark makes her Tooned Up Television debut in this specially created tribute maquette. Horror fans worldwide regard Elvira as the premiere horror host and her image is iconic.(Originally sheduled for October, Elvira has been delayed to December)Elvira (whose skirt seems to have a life of it's own) stands at over 12" tall, including the skulls of the poor unfortunate souls beneath her feet. This very special edition is officially licensed and endorsed by the Queen of Horror herself!Strictly limited edition. Each cold cast statue is hand painted, individually numbered, and ready to display. Comes in a specially created box with certificate of authenticity! Designed by Tracy Mark Lee and sculpted by Schu. Oh, and if you are really scared...don't turn off the lights! Click Here to all of see ourHorror Merchandise! Click here to see all ofour Figures Statues! Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Elvira and the Siege of the Living Dead
Title: AOL Email Elvira and the Siege of the Living Dead By Patterson Lundquist Chapter 1 * Dear Diary, "Well darling, itappears the critics were right about that box office turkey... 'Mulon Spooge,' or whatever it was called. Igot in for free and I still feel ripped off. Imight as well have stayed home and watched the rerun of 'Attack of the Killer Tomatoes,' then again, Ido need to get out of the house more often. The doorbell just rang, back soon!" After rolling off of her stomach and onto her feet Elvira quickly slipped into her fuzzy leopard print slippers, threw a robe around her pajama clad body and bounced down the stairs to the front door. "Oh, my," she grinned as she opened the door. "I, uh, my uh, you uh," the hunky young stud stuttered as he stared at Elvira. "Car broke down," she asked with a grin. "Uh, yah." "Need to use the phone," she asked. "Uh, yah." he replied still stuttering. "Great then take a second to put all my cloths back on and come on in," she laughed as she flung the door wide open. "Huh, oh, sorry I didn't mean to stare," he said as he blushed. "It's ok, noone ever does." "I swear your house, it's the only one for miles," he said as he looked at his surroundings. "Funny, Iremember lots of neighbors when I moved in," she shrugged as they walked into the living room. "I hope I didn't disturb you," he said politely as she pointed to the phone by the sofa. "Oh, heck no, Iwas just about to hit the sack," she smiled sitting down while folding her right leg over her left as she continued to eye himlike a slab of beef. "You sleep in that," he asked slightly shocked. "Yah, Imean I don't exactly go grocery shopping in it," she said as she slightly rolled her eyes and glanced off to her right. "Funny," he grinned as he reached for the telephone. Before he could grab it a bolt of lightening flashed through the old windows as a boom of thunder shattered the silence outside. "Holy crap," he nearly yelled as he jumped in his seat. "Ooo, Ilove storms," she cooed as more lightening made her brilliant blue eyes sparkle in the dim light. Ignoring her comment he picked up the phone. "Yeah, I need the number for a wrecker," he said glancing around him. He flinched as he noticed a very strange looking poodle sitting at his feet staring up at him. "Oh, don't pay him any attention, Ghonk, scat," she said tossing a slipper at him. "Yes, my car broke down out here on, oh you don't, when will you, oh that's great, fine ok all right, bye." "Something wrong," Elvira asked asshe stood up and went to retrieve her slipper. "Their only driver is sick, and the back up driver is missing," he said frowning as he stared down at the floor. "Missing," she asked as she sat back down. "Yeah go figure, listen itwas really nice, and thanks so much for the phone," he said standing up. "You're kidding right," she asked her lip slightly curled. "About what," he asked. "You're not gonna go wandering back out to your car, in the dark, at this time of night," she said inching closer as a clap of thunder smashed through the house. "In astorm," she finished as the thunder subsided. "Well, if you have a car," hestarted. Just as she began toreject the idea of taking him to a hotel Elvira suddenly liked the idea. "Hey, that's new, uh I mean sure yah that'll be fine, lemme' go throw something on," she smiled as she stood up and sauntered up the stairs. "This is some place you've got here," he said as he walked about the living room eyeing the furnishings. "Oh, hey thanks," she called out from her bedroom. "Kinda like retro-modern-neo-gothic," he chuckled as he eyed some of the very weird furnishings. "Oh, is that what they call it," she asked as she looked over her home as she came down the stairs. "I thought you were gonna get changed," he asked as he eyed hertypical black gown. "I did!" "Oh, sorry I guess I was just expecting something a bit more substantial." "Believe me honey, this is more than substantial," she said as she swiped her keys off the stand by the front door. "Whatever you say, you're
[TheDarkGift] Psychic Vampires or Psi-vampires
Title: AOL Email Psychic Vampires or Psi-vampires This is a multi-layered and somewhat conflicting category. The most succinct way I can describe human living psychic vampires is the following: psychic vampires are living people who feel a pronounced need to enhance their natural state of being by drawing, absorbing, "draining" or "feeding on" some kind of "energy". Most psychic vampires claim that the kind of energy they require is life force, or "pranic energy", that is to say, a specific type of energy produced by living things and the biosphere as a whole. While this is the most common "energy" craved by psychic vampires, other types of "energy" that are identified, and differentiated from "pranic energy", include sexual energy, psychic energy, emotional energy, magickal energy, negative energy, astral energy, and atmospheric energy (for example, thunderstorms), and there are others mentioned, as well. These "energies" are given conflicting and overlapping definitions, however, and the explanations of what "energy" is, exactly, and how the psychic vampire uses it tend to vary from one individual to another. Most psychic vampires "feed" primarily from other human beings, but a great many report being able to "feed" from non-human living things and from other sources. In some cases, this is an emergency substitute, but some psychic vampires attempt to "wean themselves" away from human sources altogether for different reasons. Some psychic vampires hold (and this is simply their opinion) that it is more "evolved" or advanced to progress beyond feeding on humans. (See the section on Nonpersonal Energy Hungerers.) Some psychic vampires report an ability to absorb "energy" from material sources, including fresh vegetables, rare meat and blood. Although many psychic vampires have an interest in blood-drinking, they do not seem to crave or lust for it as do blood vampires. It remains an open question whether psychic vampires who have an interest in blood, but who do not actually drink it, may not be reacting to the power of suggestion, and feel interested in blood because they self-identify as vampires and on some deep level associate vampires with blood. But this is a question that psychic vampires themselves will need to puzzle out. (See Psi-Blood Feeders for a discussion of psychic vampires who crave blood.) Like blood vampires, psychic vampires feel that they must "feed" on the energy they require on a regular basis, and many report physical feelings of discomfort if they are denied access to a source. Symptoms of "energy deprivation" include extreme fatigue, depression, mood swings, immune system suppression with an increase in illnesses, uncontrollable "draining" of non-targeted sources, negative reactions from others close to the psychic vampire, insomnia and anxiety. Psychic vampires often discuss methods of finding energy sources and "feeding" reliably and harmlessly, and these methods vary to a high degree. I could not give a fair representative sampling, but some examples include psychic vampires who "feed" during sex, those who "feed" on large crowds, those who draw energy from the natural world and visit parks or wilderness when "hungry", and those who "feed" by finding people in highly energized states and either calming or further provoking them. Unlike blood vampirism, psychic vampirism may be diagnosed either subjectively by the vampire or objectively by observers. Symptoms that one is a psychic vampire oneself include mood swings, dizziness, alternations between high energy and fatigue, headaches, a distinct feeling that one is pulling or drawing energy or emotions from other people, and similar feelings. But more and more people are being "diagnosed" as psychic vampires by other self-defined psychic vampires, on the grounds of numerous criteria. These include observed effects of the suspected psychic vampire on others (fatigue or depression in the presence of the psychic vampire, a sensation of phantom "tendrils" or attachments, a sensation that something is being pulled or drawn out of the body or aura) and direct psychic perception of the aura or energy field of the suspected psychic vampire. Psychic vampires are developing a completely independent subculture of their own and have their own acknowledged leaders and their own vocabulary. They are also developing a consensual agreement on what being a psychic vampire feels like, both to the psychic vampire and to others around him or her, especially
[TheDarkGift] Elegaic
Title: AOL Email Elegaic Wraith-like in the lamplightFresh blood on your pallid lipsEyes aglow with unnatural firePassion on the rise after the feastMidnight wandererA warrior by moon's silvery lightFighting your battles within your lonely, immortal heartSitting at last beside meAfter so many months of waiting for youAt last you've taken my veins' beautyHot mouth draining my heartMy blood yielding, inevitable and precious,Given willingly into your careRainbows in the arc-lightA halo in your hairAs you stepped inside my homeCrossed the threshold of guilty longingAnd held out your icy, candle-wax handsTo me, at last, to meThe fateful kissSo nearly fatalYet you held backYour desire was quenched in that draughtWhile mine still hungeredAching and yearning for moreFor the release I know only you can bringFor a chance to share your perfect lifeMaybe if I wait til you sleepI can break your charmTaste of your bloodRecreate myself as your unholy mirrorTake the chance myselfRelease myself by stealing your magickPerhaps I canPerhaps I will... [11th June 1993] Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
Re: [TheDarkGift] Re: Leaving
In a message dated 12/6/2004 1:13:08 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: This isn't good news. I thought Gloria and the mistress were friends. What a shame. But, if you guys are leaving then I will too. No reason to stay, I guess. It'd be nice if the mistress posted an explaination or at least e mailed one of us to let us know what happened. How about it, mistress? Why are you treating your good friend so badly? It has been lots to do with the AOL Crap. She says that she sent me IM's and Such and I never recived them. It is a Lot of Misunderstanding and I am trying to Fix it but Please do not worry about me and Gloria's Friendship. Just leave this out of the Fan Club and List Please. Peace in the Shadows, Mistress of the Night Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] BLADE 2 Review
Title: AOL Email BLADE 2 Running time: 106 mins Starring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Thomas Kretschmann, Ron Perlman, Leonor Varela, Luke Goss, Norman Reedus Blade II begins where the original left off, in Moscow. Wesley Snipes's titular vampire hunter learns that his mentor Whistler, who was presumed dead at the end of the first film, is in fact being held hostage by vampires in Prague. Blade rescues his good friend (staking a few motorcycle-screeching bloodsuckers into the bargain), only to learn that the nightcrawlers are the least of his worries. A mutation in the vampire virus has created a rare hybrid known as The Reapers, which are wreaking havoc on the bloodsucking population, attacking humans as well as their own kind to satiate their bloodlust. Unlike normal vampires, there is no erotic exchange with The Reapers - they are like giant leeches, and exist solely to feed on their prey, and pass on the virus to create thousands of new carriers. Unfortunately, human numbers are dwindling fast, so vampire overlord Damaskinos reluctantly asks Blade and Whistler to join forces with an elite team of vampires known as The Bloodpack to defeat the Reaper threat. Blade and his mentor are uneasy about aligning themselves with their former enemy, but it seems to be the only way to defeat The Reapers. The Bloodpack is equally unhappy about this new union between vampires and Blade. Indeed, the group's leader, Reinhardt, makes it quite clear that he will kill our eponymous hero, given half a chance. The trail of bodies and bloodshed leads back to Patient Zero, Jared Nomak, who must be exterminated to prevent The Reapers taking over the entire world. Blade brings along brilliant young inventor Scud to give him the technological edge, but it quickly transpires that the Bloodpack will need much more than state-of-the-art weaponry to wipe out the thousands of Reapers swarming beneath the city streets. Director Guillermo del Toro is well versed in the horror movie canon.. His sense of style is impeccable, making each skirmish between Blade and The Reapers larger than life, feeding into the comic book aesthetic. Snipes looks cooler than cool, clad in black leather and sunglasses as he somersaults and punches his way out of danger. There's little emotional content to the performance, but he copes admirably with the physical demands, completing many of his own stunts. Make-up and special effects are stomach-churning in detail, and The Reaper designs are also impressive, with jaws fanning out to reveal a hidden, barbed sucker that latches onto unsuspecting victims. BLADE 2 Running time: 106 mins Starring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Thomas Kretschmann, Ron Perlman, Leonor Varela, Luke Goss, Norman Reedus Needless to say, the script leaves the coffin lid open for a third film. On this evidence, it's no bad thing at all. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Four-Colour Commentary
Title: AOL Email Four-Colour Commentary July 26, 2004 Blade II (film) First, I want to be clear on one thing: this was a terrible movie. Despite liking Wesley Snipes (and I do!), the script was perfunctory, it was shot like a horror movie, not a comic-book or an action movie, and the alleged romantic theme was laughable. That said, like the first film, there was one aspect of this movie that was ahead of its time. I remember watching it for the first time and thinking that the CG spliced into the fight scenes was distracting and stupid, not to mention that they used a liberal dose of pro-wrestling moves in the choreography (I don't have to tell you how much that bored the crap out of me). But on a second viewing I realise that, despite an only mediocre execution, the F/X department actually used a lot of the same techniques of animation that made Spider-Man 2 so good. Specifically, in Blade II they started thinking outside the box, or perhaps outside the lense. They stopped animating the CG bits as if they had a camera on set and a couple of performers who were capable of, shall we say, a "ridiculous aerobatic display." They actually allowed the camera to travel around the CG figures and freely slowed down the shots and sped them up again without 'cutting' back to normal speed. It's as if they applied the concept of morphing to camera speed. The action movie benefit of CG is that they no longer need to worry about th1e logistics of getting shots or getting actors to execute choreography. It's no accident that superhero movies are using this to their advantage in excess of some others. After all, a comic-book panel can capture any angle of any scene, and the characters' actions are limited only by what the artists can conceive of and draw. I konw it's not 'in style' with current artistic theory (the post-structuralists would have my balls for this... if they weren't constantly with ideological indecision), butt he more I examine different artistic media, the more I think that the technology and the creativity are holistically joined. In art, there are no coincidences, though there are certainly a lot of accidents. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
Re: [TheDarkGift] Greetings -- Intro
In a message dated 12/8/2004 3:08:56 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Also there are some stupid ones that were made. As for the most romamntic looking ones was Bela Lugisi and Jonathan Fried - Barnabas Collins from The Dark Shadows series -- and they are available now as box sets -- all 2400 epicsodes, I hope to hear from someone. Glenn I don't think Barnabas the Bela was stupid just a different point of View of how Bram Stoker protayed them in the Book. The Collins family is a Vary good family a Little odd and Corny but I like the Seiris. What Movies are your Favorites?? Peace in the Shadows, Mistress of the Night Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor Get unlimited calls to U.S./Canada Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Check out Blade 2
Blade 2 Go and See about the Game.. Peace in the Shadows, Mistress of the Night Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor Get unlimited calls to U.S./Canada Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Tears
Title: AOL Email Tears Beneath a cold eclipse of my darknessstygian beauty captive herepeel from thee all memoriesdarken your eyesand make you love me In dust and shadowsof forgotten dreamsI'll let you believeyou mean more to me than the stars in the skiesand all the withered leaves I'll be the god in your cold lightbinding your heart with liesdevil in the doorwaypouring teardrops from your skies A hero decayedjewel to your eyesdripping sadnesslike an addiction A tangle of teardropsin your cold winter gardenthe bloodkiss of rosesthe thorns in your eyes Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor Get unlimited calls to U.S./Canada Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Sherry Gottlieb. Love Bite. -------------------------------------------------
Title: AOL Email Sherry Gottlieb. Love Bite. Locus. (Mar. 1995). no. 3. p. 31 p. 66.It's always intriguing to see previously non-writing professionals in the field (booksellers, academics, editors, and the like) try their respective hands at creating the very work that has justified their careers; it's especially pleasing when that writing turns out well. Sherry Gottlieb started in L.A.'s SF bookstore, A Change of Hobbit, in 1972 and ran it for nearly two decades. Now Gottlieb's a successful novelist with Love Bite, a romantic police procedural about vampirism. Obviously that covers at least three popular bets. Love Bite has appeared in two editions. The ambitious new Canadian publisher, Transylvania Press, Inc., has created a signed and numbered limited edition hardback with a spiffy cover by Alan M. Clark showing Gottlieb's female protagonist putting on lipstick in front of the mirror. In the mirror we see lipstick tube and the lips outlined in pigment; nothing more. Vampire Junction Magazine. (199?). no. 12. n.p.Yeah, yeah, I know it looks expensive, but hear me out. Yes, this book did come out in trade paperback for much less than $65.00. However, and trust me when I say this, this book is cool as shit. First off, it's NOT the same as the trade pb, it has extra stuff in it. It was edited with the author's wishes in mind, NOT the publishing co. like most other books. And no, I'm not going to tell you what's extra, you're going to have to buy it to find out. But I can assure you. you'll like it. Secondly, It is an edition that is limited to 500 copies and is signed by BOTH the writer and the cover artist. It's a beautiful book, a value to anyone's collection. Los Angeles has a new MISS LONELYHEARTS. One with fangs, Sherry Gottlieb has woven police procedural, love, lust, and lots of blood into a colorful, compelling tale.--Brent Monhan Finding a romantic interest is difficult for most single women. It's even harder when you have to sleep all day and can never check your lipstick in the mirror.--Michele Slung Sherry Gottlieb tells a taut, tight, sexy tale, combining love, vampirism, police procedural, and some very mean streets. Deftly done.--Roger Zelazny, Hugo and Nebula Award winner A raunchy, viciously funny, post-feminist bat's-eye-view of L.A.'s darkside.--Jonathan Kellerman A notable addition to the vampire field.--Kim Newman Locus. (Mar. 1995). no. 3. p. 31 p. 66.It's always intriguing to see previously non-writing professionals in the field (booksellers, academics, editors, and the like) try their respective hands at creating the very work that has justified their careers; it's especially pleasing when that writing turns out well. Sherry Gottlieb started in L.A.'s SF bookstore, A Change of Hobbit, in 1972 and ran it for nearly two decades. Now Gottlieb's a successful novelist with Love Bite, a romantic police procedural about vampirism. Obviously that covers at least three popular bets. Love Bite has appeared in two editions. The ambitious new Canadian publisher, Transylvania Press, Inc., has created a signed and numbered limited edition hardback with a spiffy cover by Alan M. Clark showing Gottlieb's female protagonist putting on lipstick in front of the mirror. In the mirror we see lipstick tube and the lips outlined in pigment; nothing more. Vampire Junction Magazine. (199?). no. 12. n.p.Yeah, yeah, I know it looks expensive, but hear me out. Yes, this book did come out in trade paperback for much less than $65.00. However, and trust me when I say this, this book is cool as shit. First off, it's NOT the same as the trade pb, it has extra stuff in it. It was edited with the author's wishes in mind, NOT the publishing co. like most other books. And no, I'm not going to tell you what's extra, you're going to have to buy it to find out. But I can assure you. you'll like it. Secondly, It is an edition that is limited to 500 copies and is signed by BOTH the writer and the cover artist. It's a beautiful book, a value to anyone's collection. Los Angeles has a new MISS LONELYHEARTS. One with fangs, Sherry Gottlieb has woven police procedural, love, lust, and lots of blood into a colorful, compelling tale.--Brent Monhan Finding a romantic interest is
[TheDarkGift] Who do you want to be the Next Vampire of the Month?????
Title: AOL Email Tell, your Mistress who would you like to see as the Next Vampire of the Month? Come on, I know you Fledglings have fingers to type some words what are you guys afaid of your Mistress biting you for speaking your mind? Or you just like to watch instead of Ingageing Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Mark of the Vampire
Title: AOL Email Mark of the Vampire (USA, 1935, B/W) Alternative Titles: The Werewolf of Paris The Vampire of Prague Running Time: 65 minutes Video Certificate: 15 Directed By: Tod Browning Starring: Lionel Barrymore, Bela Lugosi, Elizabeth Allan, Lionel Atwill, Jean Hersholt and Carol Borland Genre: Thriller Gallery In the same vein... London After Midnight (1927) Browning's lost masterpiece (Mark of the Vampire is a remake) Plot: Sir Karell Borrowdon is murdered and two puncture wounds are found on his neck. However, the culprit is far from supernatural, he is a shifty friend of the family called Baron Otto. The Baron turned to murder when his plan to marry Karrells daughter Irena was thwarted, as she engaged herself to a young Man named Fredo. The police concoct an elaborate plot to reveal the killer, they hire showfolk Bela Lugosi and Luna the batwoman and make believe there is a real vampire on the loose. With the aid of a Professor with a talent for hypnotism, Baron Otto is revealed as a murderer and duly apprehended. Lugosi and Luna go back to the theatre and everyone lives happily ever after, safe in the knowledge that vampires are nonsence. Vampire: Despite not having any real vampires the film boasts plenty of vampire mythology. A mysterious herb called Bat-thorn has the same effect as garlic usually does, keeping vampires at bay. A vampire can only be killed in the hours of daylight. While it is night vampires cannot be harmed or destroyed. They can only be killed in a corpse like state, not as a bat or other animal. The only way to kill a vampire is to sever the head with a single stroke and place a sprig of bat-thorn in the gaping wound. Hunter: The hunters in this case are not after the vampire but a murderer. There are the police, who of course dont believe in vampires, but more interestingly there is the Professor with an interest in the supernatural and a sideline in hypnotism. Right. Love interest: Irena Borrowdon, is a dutiful daughter intent on catching her fathers murderer. In perfect English, she is constantly reminded of "the horror of it all" and spends a considerable amount of time swooning and lying in bed in a negligee. High Points: The one thing that really makes this film stand out is Carol Borlands performance as bat woman Luna. She says not one word until the end of the film and yet is by far the most memorable character. The scene when she morphs into a bat is awesome. She prompts extreme reaction like the poor young lady who has come to buy the house: "Ive been a good girl, Ive been a good girl all my life, dont let her get me!" While Lugosi goes around hardly noticed. The atmosphere is really creepy, from the opening shot of the cross on the church, to the old woman gathering firewood there is an eerie tension. Draculas castle makes up what it lacks in exterior with cobwebs and a host of bats, bugs, spiders, scorpions, rats and other unidentifiable rodents. You can cut the atmosphere with a knife! The cat jumping out of the rattling suit of armour gag, seen here for the very first time, adds to the creepy atmosphere. Low Points: The trite ending to this film is an anticlimax and bitter disappointment after the atmosphere built up throughout the rest of the film. The bats are so fake that they are really funny, in several shots you can see the strings and the squeaking sounds are definitely mechanical and not sonar. Anyone named Otto is bound to be shifty so it doesnt take a genius to work out whodunit. The dialogue is fairly stilted This film also suffers from far too many characters with very little depth to any of them, confusing and dull to watch. Logic let me introduce you... If the Professor was going to hypnotise Barron Otto anyway, why bother with the elaborate vampire scheme? They could have lured him back with some simpler ploy surely? What on Earth have the creepy Transylvanian/Romanian village people and the old woman gathering firewood got to do with anything? How on Earth does Luna transform into a bat? The film glibly explains her away as part of the bat-woman theatre, but I think even with todays technology such a stunt would be very difficult on stage. Say What? Cool Quotes: How terribly exciting! "Fancy Ronny, Vampires in the
[TheDarkGift] Les Vampires
Title: AOL Email One of the great French serials, Les Vampires (1915-16), was not available in America until 1998, when Water Bearer Films released the serial on VHS as a four-video set. Now, Water Bearer Films and Image Entertainment bring Louis Feuillade's classic serial to DVD. This is a great opportunity to check out one of the all-time great serials and discover how the European serial tradition differs from the American tradition. While the American serial tradition began with What Happened to Mary (1912) and The Perils of Pauline (1914), a parallel serial tradition developed in France and director Louis Feuillade was its greatest practitioner. From 1913 to 1914, he adapted a wildly popular serialized work of literature called Fantomas and many of the elements in Fantomas (poisons, murders, black-hooded villains, etc.) would find their way into Les Vampires. Filmed in 10 episodes that vary in length from 15 minutes to over 40 minutes, Les Vampires is a masterpiece of storytelling that focuses on the exploits of a notorious band of criminals called "the vampires" and the journalist, Philippe Guerande, who exposes their activities. Women are lassoed as they peer out of windows and pulled into the hands of kidnappers below. Cannons roll out of secret panels and fire upon buildings and ships. Ballerinas stumble and convulse in the middle of performances--the victims of poisonings. Partygoers inhale a sweet-smelling vapor and pass out--to arise several hours later with all their valuables missing. Rival criminal gangs steal each others loot. Black-suited villains run across roofs and climb the sides of buildings. Les Vampires provides one outrageous plot twist after another as it moves like a whirlwind through the streets of Paris and the French countryside. Musidora as Irma Vep in Les Vampires.(© 1998 Film Preservation Associates. All rights reserved.) Whereas American serials frequently degenerate into a repetitive series of struggles over a central what's-it, where the same sets and situations get recycled ad infinitum, Les Vampires provides us with a constantly changing canvas. Instead of using the American cliffhanger format, in which each episode would end by placing a hero or heroine in dire danger, Les Vampires provides us with new situations in each episode. As a result, the episodes can almost stand on their own (almost but not quite). In one episode, the criminals might attempt to steal from an American millionaire; in the next, the criminals might plot to free an imprisoned comrade; and in the next, they might use poisonous champagne in an attempt to murder an entire wedding party. In each episode, the story takes off in new and unexpected directions--as if large parts of the plot were improvised. In fact, improvisation played a crucial role in the development of Les Vampires. According to his biographer, Francis Lacassin, director Feuillade would take the entire company to "the new avenues being built at Montmartre, to the forest of Fontainebleau, or to some quiet, deserted street picked at random. The hazards of fate would play an important part in the improvisation of whatever scene was on hand." This approach to filmmaking gives Les Vampires an unpredictable rhythm, as if anything and everything might happen. Seemingly important characters get killed off. Strange side stories develop. Months suddenly pass. Largely because of this unpredictable development, the surrealists championed Les Vampires. Luis Bunuel said his artistic models were Fantomas and Les Vampires, works which he described as direct transcriptions of "an unwonted reality." While Les Vampires contains a fantastic set of events, the characters and situations never stray too far from the plausible. Filmed during WWI, Feuillade creates an environment where the criminals seem capable of accomplishing any feat that they desire; however, the scenario never drifts completely into the realm
[TheDarkGift] Movie Review ot Queen of the Dammed
Title: AOL Email he vampire Lestat (Townsend), an 18th-century French nobleman damned to eternal life, has slumbered for a century in a mossy New Orleans cemetery, heartsick at the loneliness of his existence. But he is stirred to consciousness by something new: the power chords of rock and roll. The music imbues him with new life, and he sees in rock an opportunity to fulfill his deepest longing, to dwell openly with mortal humans. Styling himself as a rock star, Lestat finds new fame in a 21st-century lifestyle of "sex, blood and rock and roll." At a London press conference, he challenges his shadow-dwelling brethren to join him in the open at a massive concert scheduled for California's Death Valley: "Come out, come out, wherever you are." Lonely, orphaned Jesse (Moreau), meanwhile, has troubling dreams of a family long lost and an aunt who weeps tears of blood (Lena Olin). A researcher for the London-based Talamascans, an order of paranormal investigators, Jesse finds herself drawn to this new rock star, Lestat, and sees in his lyrics intimations of the hidden world of vampires. But when she presents her findings to the Talamascan council, they warn her: "Observe the dark realm, but be not part of it." Undeterred, she takes a risk and seeks out a private London club that she believes to be a vampire coven. Only too late does she realize how dangerous is her flirtation with the darkness. Lestat takes an interest in her and saves her at the last minute. Later, she discovers Lestat's private journal and reads of his creation at the teeth of the ancient vampire Marius (Vincent Perez) and Lestat's 18th-century encounter with an even more ancient evil, Akasha (Aaliyah), an Egyptian queen and the mother of all vampires. Now, in the high-tech presentand unbeknownst to both Jesse and Lestatthe rock star bloodsucker's increasing profile has raised the ire of his brethren of the night and roused Akasha from her millennial repose. Should Akasha rise, the fate of both the living and the undead will be sealed. Sadly, this Queen really does suck Based on Anne Rice's best-selling Vampire Chronicles books, Queen of the Damned is a sequel of sorts to 1994's Interview with the Vampire, for which Rice wrote the screenplay. The film is also notable for marking the last performance of Aaliyah, the popstar and actress who died tragically in a plane crash last summer at the age of 22, shortly after she finished shooting her role. Alas, Queen of the Damned does not live up to expectations. Though it attempts to replicate Rice's richly evocative mythology, it is too self-conscious and humorless to transcend the essential silliness of its concept, and the movie ultimately collapses into a laughable unintentional parody of the Goth genre. One of the principal attractions of her Vampire Chronicles novels is the vivid way they breathe life into the most fervid adolescent fantasies of alienation and gothic romance. Vampires, as it has been pointed out, are the ultimate teenagersthey're misunderstood outsiders, they exude sexuality, they get to stay up all night and sleep all day, and they never have to grow old. While that may work on paper, it is as ridiculous as it sounds when transferred to cinema. The rock scenario doesn't workTownsend's Lestat is like a low-rent Marilyn Manson who looks like a reject from The Crow. The broody vampires are Eurotrash layabouts who lounge about decaying mansions. The dialogue and portentous voice-overs are leaden and obvious. The actors don't perform; they pose. KoRn stands in for Lestat's rock band, but its music is more headache-inducing metal than genre-appropriate Goth. And the film is curiously parsimonious in its deployment of special effects sequences: the final battle is anticlimactic. Notwithstanding the film's title and advertising, the film also disappoints by relegating Aaliyah's character to less than 15 minutes of the total story. Which may be just as well, as the otherwise talented and appealing actress seems woefully miscast. Akasha is supposed to be terrifying, but the game actress is nevertheless unable to appear anything more than waiflike and fragile in her skimpy Egyptian costume. Her attempts at an Egyptian accent wind up sounding like an unfortunate echo of Bela Lugosi. Only a few sparks of humor
[TheDarkGift] Queen Of The Dammed
Title: AOL Email Queen Of The Dammed-Review by VampireBuff. Akasha, the first vampire, cursed by a blood demon who was set upon her by two unsuspecting sisters,Mekare and Maharet, who later become the vampire queens, and who learned to use the power of the demon to make more vampires. This book is full of action and suspense as Akasha awakens from her centuries of sleep because of Lestat's music and tries to rule the world with Lestat at her side, but is thwarted by the combined efforts of the rest of the ancients, and in the end killed by Mekare. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
Re: [TheDarkGift] Check out The Dark Gift Web Site
Sorry the Link got Messed up. Here is the Right One: The Dark Gift Web Site Peace in the Shadows,Mistress of the Night Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Anne Rice 2000 Coven Ball
Title: AOL Email Anne Rice 2000 Coven Ballheld at the State Palace theatreNew Orleans,LAposter sixe:13 x 28in. coffin shape# of screens: 7edtion #: 200 Once again Akasha was the theme poster for this years coven ball. I decided to use her again since the queen of the dammed movie is in production. This year's coven ball makes the 12 th annual gathering of the coven and the last year the party will be held (so we think),Next year would have been the 13th gathering, a number of magic luck or bad. We shall see. The illustration on the poster shows Akasha sealing the tomb of Lestat (represents the party's ) only to be awakened on a special day.Maybe 2001 when H.A.L. in 2001:A space Oddessy says" Something good is going to happen" to the left the pictures of the frame i had built for my poster view other anne rice coven ball prints1997, / 1998, / 98var, / 1999, / 2000 coffin Please visit allens website to view his complete poster gallery www.allenjaeger.com or send him e-mail to check if a print is available. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Cult Classics
Title: AOL Email Cult Classics I've always been drawn towards movies that take the viewer into another realm, beyond what we believe to be real. I have film posters of all the cult classics. Vampires are mystical creatures that I find myself drawn to. They are dark elusive beings that hold the key to the underworld. Although dangerous, Vampires have an appeal of fragility that makes them so fascinating. The very first vampire movie, Frederich Murnaus' "Nosferatu" was made in 1922 and remains a classic. The hunched shadow of Count Orlok's, clawed hand outstretched towards Mina's room is a potent image and the embodiment of a vampire. The horror and uncertainty that surrounds death and the after-life can either terrify the viewer or captivate their curiosity. There is nothing like the rush of adrenaline when your heart starts to pound and your pulse races. You may want to turn away but the curiosity and intrigue keeps you watching as you feel every hair on your body rise! Over time vampires have been portrayed as seductive creatures in film. Mortals are seduced by the aura of mystery and knowledge that surrounds them, while others have offered up their lives in return for the experience. "Queen of the Damned" was dark and romantic and truly captivated the eroticism surrounding vampires. I have collected many vampire film posters over the years but some of the newer ones have really captured my attention. "Dracula" set the standard of seduction and mystique for the non-living. He needed the blood of mortals but needed to feel a connection to them as well. I have collected every great vampire film poster. The Vampire Chronicles, written by Anne Rice have created a whole new generation of cult and horror film buffs who appreciate great films like "Interview with the Vampire" and "Queen of the Dammed." "Come out, come out, where ever you are." Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] The Incubus
Title: AOL Email The Incubus No fear, no pain, no regret I yield to you unconditionally;Offer my boundless heartTo your hungry lips.My Dark Angel sweet immortal Whose mouth devours my flesh,Whose eyes corrupt my soul:You and only you can feed this hunger now. Your darkness caresses meLike a shroud of velvet Deep, aching and patient longingPossesses my every breath;I await your call, my love,Transport me on wings of fiery silkTo my final abode In your icy embrace aloneCan I find solace. Suck my life away,Drain my blood and taste my soul;Forever and ever, I whisper,Through tears tainted with red.Unity and union, sublime and eternal;Love and death in dangerous couplingAs your cock defiles my body,As I die willingly for you. My vampire soul, my Sire, my light,Whose passion guides meThrough the endless night,Reach out to me and call my name:Acushla, you sigh your voiceA satin caress that chills my bonesWith fear and delight. The dark night is alive for us Drenched in starburstsThat sear our flesh as we make loveBeneath the gibbous moon.Oh, Dark Angel, my true sublimeNo words are there for love so pure;Mere mortal bands of goldShall never taint our fleshBut we have a stronger bond by far For we are locked in perfect coitusFor all of time, beyond all death. Thee and me, and thus it shall beMy love, for all eternity. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Make up your Own Listing (I dare You)
Title: AOL Email Make up your Own FanFiction starring this Photo of The Queen of the Dammed. If you dare to write your own story Please Do something this list is going in the Wrong direction.Becaues I am the Only one putting up anything. Peace in the Shadows, Mistress of the Night Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Falling Into the Sky
Title: AOL Email Falling Into the Sky There's a chance when in darkness of falling into the sky. The danger, I believe, lies in the lingering of conciousness uponthe heavens. Hours caught up in the longing , eyes cast to the starsand breathing, dreaming, believing. Need and imagination,captured visions of fairytale magic, waltzing within your heart and mind.Enchantment can lift you and carry you awayon the fanciful wings of the dream. Once captured and taken the dreamer is helpless to deny the drawing of the night sky upon her thoughts.The evening hours illuminated by starlight are spent in an endless calling to step out upon the verandaand watch again, wish again, wait again.Sparkling and twinkling and flashing upon the darkened velvet drop,like some golden code begging for the knowing eye,shine for the dreamer, shine for the believer,shine for the patient gazer.And thoughts, wishes, dreams are cast down and formed,molded into the fabric of the mind. They drip down slowlyand embed their ties into the heart so that nothing of the earth belowcan hope to dissever the bond between.The long warm arms of the heavenly sentinals beckon and spell.Weaving in whispers, "Come and sail on my silvery dream".In the riddle of starlight and the darkness of space there is a fairytale awaiting you. Reaching and pulling you to take the dance into your smile,engrave the reflection into your eyesand carry the passion with you forever. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] 10 Stupid Vampires
Title: AOL Email 10 Stupid Vampires by Will Erixon (with Greg Eatroff) They're the children of the night, and the fathers of nightmares. They replace us at the top of the food chain. They have the strength of twenty men, vision in the dark, command over vermin, and while vulnerable to daylight and despair, they can shrug off assaults from an AK-47 and break out from under a ton of cement. How could you go wrong with this much inherent advantage? Observe. 10. The Count. By definition all Muppets are cool, so our friend the Count is much lower on this list than he otherwise would be. However, the facts remain. He's sublimated his predatory urges and replaced them with a neurotic compulsion to number things. Like Dracula, he appears to have some control over the storm, but he only uses it for dramatic entrances (not a good policy if it puts your only food source on guard). He at least gets some points for actually REALIZING that he's incompetent... that's why he hangs out with a bunch of innocent pieces of sentient felt who don't know enough to ask about all those visits to the local hospital. 9. Vampire from Daffy Duck's Quackbusters. Actually, this was a much older Bugs Bunny short, but I mention Quackbusters here so all of you can find it easier. Now just about anyone who goes up against Bugs Bunny-- Superman, Galactus, the Borg, Darth Vader, Jesus Christ-- is going to lose. But *YOU* could take this vampire out. *LISA KUDROW* could take this vampire out. His transformational abilities hinged on two keywords: "hocuspocus" and "abracadabra." Once Bugs realized this, he quickly took control of the vampire's body (no, not quite like that) by shouting the keywords in rapid succession. Then he put the vampire through horrible mutations with the variations "abracapocus" and "hocuscadabra." Then he made him sing opera and brought the auditorium down on top of him. Well, he might as well have. 8. Duckula. He occasionally managed to fluster Danger Mouse, but that task is so easy that it doesn't really count. In their first meeting, Duckula gets completely sidetracked by an insane desire to perform on television. He eventually got his wish with a cartoon show so lame that it needed its own wheelchair access. The show was also the end of his limited effectiveness: as a straight man, he was obliged to be a patsy for villains and monsters that even Xander (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) could handle. 7. Max (from The Lost Boys). He gets points for subtlety and style: it isn't until the end of the movie that we can even be sure he IS a vampire. However, this doesn't change the fact that his basic plan makes no sense. Apparently, all he wants is to take over the Emerson family and settle down as the head of a "vampire Brady Bunch." So he tells his Hitler youth to get the oldest son of the family (Michael) involved with their curse and completely ignores the fact that Michael might get killed by his brother or reject his family or just... you know... want to kill him. Most of the movie holds together really well, but Max's final scene is not a triumph of Boolean logic. 6. Asian geek loser (from Vamp). Sometimes a vampire bite makes no real difference. Before, he was a dork. Afterwards, he was a dying dork whining the words "You GUS--!" 5. That Malkavian character (Vampire: the Masquerade)who thinks that because he's insane, he's obligated to counter or sabotage every last move the rest of the party tries to make, completely ruining the atmosphere of the game and the Storyteller's efforts to move things forward. You know the guy. He's in like one-third of ALL Vampire games. 4. The entire cast of Sorority House Vampires. Just trust us on this. 3. The Anointed One. Granted, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a show I love) necessarily includes its share of intelligence-impaired vampires, as well as smarter ones. But "The Anointed One" here was so all buildup and no payoff, he deserves a round of backhanded applause. He deserves it, but since backhanded applause is really bad for your wrists, I won't give it to him anyway. Which is oddly appropriate. 2. James Woods on Saturday Night Live. This was in the Eighties, when SNL was still funny and the AIDS scare was getting started. Woods quizzed women on their sexual history before he decided whether or not to bite them. As anybody knows, finding a woman who's walking around after dark and also happens to be a virgin is no easy task, and he's about to give up
[TheDarkGift] Dracula 1979
Title: AOL Email A romantic approach to a classic tale, November 24, 2004 Reviewer: Charity Bishop "film critic" - See all my reviews I love this movie. That's really all that needs said on the topic but given our culture's obsession with explanations, I will proceed with further comments. Firstly it's a very romantic, soft approach to a story that has otherwise been brutalized in the cinema. Most Dracula films drench the audience in blood and give us gruesome depictions of leering fangs, while this one alludes to things but is never expressly gory or gruesome. It's a softer approach that appeals in particular to females. Of course, who could doubt that -- one glimpse of Frank Langella sweeping into Lucy's life and carelessly tossing his long, menacing black cloak to the nearest forgotten servant is enough to set any woman's head spinning. Forget the composure of most villains, Dracula has all the beguiling sexuality of a dozen infamous Don Juans that send the very Victorian women in his life to utter confusion. Frank Langella was ingenious for the part, reprising a role he'd already defined on Broadway. Everyone complains about the quality transfer and how this film has been forced into a nearly black and white canvas in order to create a gothic effect. Having not seen the original, I didn't find it disappointing, just a fabulous mood-setter. I know this will probably regulate my review to the bottom of the pile, but it's a matter of preference that lends a certain morbid flair to the piece. They had a marvelous palate to work with in the first place, from the Grecian architecture of the castle to the morose English countryside in midwinter, when death surrounds the morbid asylum and its pensive graveyard. The film manages to be very haunting and beautiful at the same time, indwelling romance while never allowing us to forget the sinister surroundings. For concerned parents and sensitive viewers, the R-rating seems heavy handed in comparison to most modern films. Gore is minimal, language is nonexistent, and sexual content consists more of underlining tension and passionate kissing than anything heavy-handed. The extras are also very nice, although in some respects the director's commentary rehashes much of what we've already heard on the featurette, which is by far the most marvelous addition. Interviews with some of the cast and crew, as well as reminiscences about filming, remind us that this wasn't just a movie, it was an adventure from beginning to end, from Laurence Olivier's increasingly bad health but persistent determination to do his best (and he turns in a fine performance) to Frank Langella's surprising thoughts on the film's love scene. It may not please anyone desiring leering fangs and blood spattered walls, but I certainly enjoyed it. --This text refers to the DVD edition Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Nothing
Title: AOL Email Nothing And it comes to take me away,this thing I love this beautiful day.But inside I know,the day will grow old and slow,and it comes to rust again,and I know this cycle will never end.When all things angelic waste and die,and nothing is beautiful to these eyes.Here it comes to take me away,this beautiful drug in its beautiful way.And again nothing can touch me,yet this also means nothing can be,so nothing is real,and there is nothing to feel.Pulled down by the weight of gravity,the haunting mockery of reality,to me this world is such an ugly thing,and I have nothing but nightmares to bring.And she comes to take me away,this beautiful girl in her beautiful way.Opening her wrist she gives me her blood,and I swallow her life in its flood,so together we live and never can die,as I slit the throat of a once-blue sky.Nothing is real and no one is there,in her loving arms I do not care,and I become nothing.-Bradley Lindsey Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] BLOODSUCKERS AND BREASTS
Title: AOL Email BLOODSUCKERS AND BREASTS The Vampire Films of Leon Klimovsky George R. Reis Vampires have been getting a lot of attention lately. Sadly, this attention is mostly limited to what is apparent in the public eye. Even the most devoted vampire film fans knowledge of a certain director can remain unenlightened. This is due to the fact that there is very little ever written on the subject in question. Some years ago, McFarland Books published a book entitled Horror Film Directors. Written by Dennis Fischer, it includes a main section for the most significant directors, as well as a smaller one for that author feels are lesser in their cinematic endeavors. It really drives you crazy when you respect a directors film work in the genre, yet he doesnt even merit a mention in a book thats touted as a definitive text of its kind. The man in question is Leon Klimovsky. According to a reference book on European directors, Klimovsky was born in Buenos-Aires, Argentina on October 16, 1900 (this would make him around seventy when he made LA NOCHE DE WALPURGIS in 1970). His directing career began in 1949, and he would make over forty films before entering the horror field 21 years after the fact. Though hes made all sorts of films within the horror/sci-fi/fantasy terrain, from the disturbing end of the world thriller PLANET CIEGO (1975) to the run of the mill slasher/sex item TRAUMA (1978), this article will celebrate his four intriguing vampire tales. Like Jean Rollin of France, Klimovsky specialized in these blood-sucking creatures of the night. But unlike Rollin, Klimovskys works are not art films; theyre sex/horror films. The difference is that Rollin uses surreal imagery to convey his story, the sex and horror are just part of it. With Klimovsky, its just the opposite; his are sex and horror films, surreal imagery comes to play (in a much different vein than Rollin) to carry that. Both directors vampire films are like comic books in different ways. Rollins look like imaginative comic art while Klimovskys plots are like the comics; they set out to deliver good cheap thrills. And thats exactly why Rollins vampire films are praised while Klimovskys are written off as silly, inept sex films. This labeling of his work is most certainly undeserved. Our friend Paul Naschy must have thought highly of the man, as Klimovskys signature is displayed prominently during the opening credits of LA NOCHE DE WALPURGIS (The Night of Walpurgis, AKA THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN, WEREWOLFS SHADOW) (1970). Klimovsky was brought in to direct the fourth in the endless Waldemar/werewolf saga, and its arguably the best. Never before have werewolf and vampire women been merged so effectively in what is one of Spains most important horror films. Leon Klimovsky, Pascual Cebollada and Paul Naschy on the set of LA NOCHE DE WALPURGIS On a dark and lonely night, a police surgeon and his assistant remove the bullet from dead Waldemars (Paul Naschys) chest, bantering about what legend says could happen. And so it does; the werewolf is again reborn, making myth fact, and reactivating a beast with an appetite for blood. Within the first few minutes, three succumb to his bloodlust, the third being an innocently wandering woman, whom he gnaws at ferociously, tearing her neck. The beast departs, now in search of new victims. We see a close-up of juicy red blood flowing slowly down her breasts. An unsightly blend of blood and saliva dangles from his knifelike fangs as he departs. The credits abruptly arrive, and we are made very aware of the fact that this is A film of Leon Klimovsky. Two young students Genevieve (MARK OF THE DEVIL barf bag poster girl, Gaby Fuchs) and Elvira (Barbara Cappell) embark on an outing to search for the remains of one Countess Waldessa (Paty Shepard), a
[TheDarkGift] Confrontation
Title: AOL Email Confrontationby Paula This is a work of speculative fiction and not intended to infringe on the rights of Anne Rice or her publishers. Reborn is the sequel to Reborn. Spoilers for all VC up to QotD. "Santino, please come with me." Armand begged once more as he finshed packing his case.Santino sat on the edge of the bed and held the lid of the case down as Armand locked it. "No, ragazzo. You need to spend some time with your friends, I understand that."Armand moved the case to the floor and plopped down beside Santino on the bed. Cuddling into his arms, Armand continued his argument. "But, they would welcome you. You know that."Reluctantly, Santino admitted something that had been preying on his mind ever since the victory over Akasha. "Armand, I will not be alone. I am going to Burma to seek out Maharet."Armand shot upright and pulled away from Santino, his eyes full of shock, "No! Please, not alone!""Don't worry. I have already contacted her and she is expecting me. I will do nothing to deliberately antagonize her, ragazzo. She has put up with my existence for centuries so I don't believe she will burn me on sight." Santino joked.Armand was bristling with a combination of anger and fear. Jumping to his feet, he began to pace furiously. "How long have you been planning this? Were you going to tell me at all? Santino, I don't like it. When we left her home in Sonoma I could see the hatred in her eyes.""Armand, I am sorry I didn't tell you, but I didn't want you to worry. Besides, do you honestly believe that she is that much of a danger to me? I pose no threat to her anymore. Eric is safely out of my reach and she never seriously threatened me, even when I was with him. She just showed her displeasure at our relationship."Santino pulled Armand back into his arms. "Trust me ragazzo. I need to do this. I have to face her and find out why she dislikes me so much and see if I can do something about it. I wish I could make you understand! For some reason her antagonism haunts me. I have done nothing to her, and yet she seems to hate me even more than Marius does. And you must admit that he has good reason for his hatred."Armand nodded grudgingly, and picked at the buttons on Santino's shirt. "All right, but promise me that you will not try to shield yourself from me. I need to know that you are safe."Armand was so agitated that another thought escaped his mind. Santino picked it up immediately. Armand was worried that Eric would be there. He was jealous! Sighing, Santino hugged Armand, kissed the top of his head and assured him, "Armand, I am going there for no other reason than to speak to Maharet. She assures me that we will alone and uninterrupted. I will agree not to shield myself from you as long as you stay out of whatever happens. I need to be able to concentrate totally on her. No putting answers in my head, OK? You, in turn, must promise not to follow me. You must remain with Louis and Lestat until I return."Armand started to protest vehemently but Santino was firm. "Promise me, Armand."Armand mumbled something too low for even Santino's vampire hearing to understand. "What did you say?""I said, I promise!" Armand blurted into Santino's shirt. "But I still don't like it."Santino put a finger under Armand's chin and lifted his face until his lover was staring into his eyes. Placing a soft kiss on the upturned lips, Santino stated, "It will be over soon and then we can get on with our lives. This is very important to me, Armand. I need to do this."Santino then quickly pushed Armand to arm's length and smiled down into the concerned face gazing up at him. "Now, be on your way. And don't stop until you reach New Orleans." Turning him, Santino patted Armand's behind in farewell. Smiling ruefully, Armand picked up his case. Reaching up, he grabbed Santino by the back of the neck and pulled his head down for a long, deep kiss. "Please, be careful." Armand murmured against his lover's lips. Then he went out the door.After Armand had left, Santino picked up the small case he had packed earlier. If Armand had noticed it, Santino would have been in even more trouble. Stepping outside, he locked the door, checked the area to assure that he was unobserved, rose quickly into the air and headed west, ahead of the morning sun. Several long hours later,
[TheDarkGift] Razor Blade Smile
Title: AOL Email This darkly satiric vampire film set in the swinging, Gothic scene of London in the 1990s, arises in 1850, when the beautiful Lilith Silver (Eileen Daly) was a dynamic, headstrong woman and still traditionally "alive." During a pistol duel involving her lover and a sinister, Sir Sethane Blake, Lilith produced a pistol of her own and shot Blake. Yet, despite inflicting a wound that would have killed a mere mortal, Sir Blake just smiled. Lilith herself was then brutally gunned down and to quote her dying moments: "That was the day I should have died. However far from things ending, the real fun was about to begin ... stil how was I to know that? Back then I was only human!" Enamored with Lilith, Sir Blake bestowed the dark gift of the vampire upon her and all eternity became her playground! Now, 150 years later, Lilith is the most outrageous and seductive woman you'll ever meet. Armed with a coffin full of weapons, she's a contract killer hired to eliminate all members of the mysterious and evil Masonic "Illuminati" sect. Besides being the ultimate guillotine maiden, Lilith in her lascivious style eludes the police who are desperate to discover her identity and end the carnage. Out fighting Emma Peel, out-dressing Catwoman and busting Barbarella's curves, Lilith is an assassin out for blood... According to your Mistress this was a Intersting movie but the Story is a Little corny. I hope that you guys only rent this movie and not Buy it. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Stating a Opition
Title: AOL Email VampFan 06-30-2004, 08:34 PM For me, the vampire is so appealing solely for the idea of immortality. I find the chance to travel along time, ageless, and watching civilization achieve great things upon greater things absolutely amazing. Part of that fantastic idea is, if a bit macabre, the fact that everyone else dies around you - but you, you just keep going, going ... It's sort of like your own private club, immortality seems. I don't think I'd like the idea as much if everyone else was immortal; then I just wouldn't feel so special, you know?Among others, there's the monster-yet-not-quite-a-monster idea; that they look so much like us, yet are completely different: stronger, faster. They have this incredible secret they cannot tell anyone; again, the special private club.The Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles introduced me to my love of writing. Her stories created a universe that inspired me to create my own. I don't mind the homo-erotica because her characters are so damned cool, if somewhat eccentric.The Lost Boys gave me an enduring love of the vampire. Cooler than rock stars, more vicious than werewolves could ever hope to be, and they could fly. Simply wonderful.Mr. Matheson was brought up earlier. His I Am Legend is something that nothing else in the vampire market has been able to touch - even Mr. Goyer was scared to touch it... ;) But I guess that's the most enduring thing about the vampire: the inconsistency. Each and every new story from every different author has, for the most part, changed the physical and mental attitude towards the lore of the vampire. Even Laurell K. Hamilton's idea of vampires and humans living together world works for me, even though it takes away that special mysteriousness of the vampire. I say as long as you keep them immortal, give them fangs and have blood their sustenance, and have them fear the sunlight...it all works, then it's a vampire. And Blade is just the best of the best of vampire films. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Foster on Film-Quick film Reviews Vampires
Title: AOL Email Vampires To die, to be really dead, that must be glorious There are so many vampire films. Like other sub-genres, there isa basic story and an iconic film for vampires, but as there are so many, it is easier to find films that are farther from the icon than in other categories. And with vampires, there's developed a few extra main stories. It all started with Dracula (making 1931's Dracula the representative film); the story in some modified form has been made over and over again. A vampire, normally from Eastern Europe, finds an innocent girl he wants and more often than not is connected to him from ancient times. But the girl has a boyfriend/husband/fiance who, with several accomplices, defeats the vampire and retrieves the girl. Initially these stories had the vampire coming to a Western city, but by the '60s, it was as common for the girl fiance to be the ones traveling. While the Dracula story is still being made, another major story has popped up. In it, the conflict is no longer between vampire and human, but between vampire and vampire (or other supernatural creature). The fight is political, determining who will control the tribe, but there is still a love interest that the leaders of both sides want and whose existence has brought the political war to a head. My recommendations for the very best vampire films are: Dracula '31, The Hunger, Lair of the White Worm, Lifeforce, The Lost Boys, Underworld. My Vampire Film reviews (a * means the review is on a different page): Blade Blade IIBlade: TrinityBlood: The Last VampireBram Stoker's DraculaThe BreedBuffy The Vampire SlayerDracula '31*Dracula '79 Dracula II: AscensionDracula: Dead and Loving ItDracula: Pages from a Virgin's DiaryFrom Dusk Till DawnHouse of Frankenstein*Innocent BloodLair of the White WormLifeforce*The Lost Boys Night FlierOnce BittenQueen of the DamnedUnderworld The Vampire EffectVampire Hunter D: BloodlustVampires: Los MuertosVampires: The TurningVan Helsing Dracula (1979) Yet another film of the stage play, Count Dracula moves to England for new hunting grounds and to seduce Lucy Seward. However, vampire hunter Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker fight to keep Lucy in polite society and to destroy the king of the vampires. The problem with all Dracula movies is that the basic story isn't very good. It's a xenophobic tale that assumes that middleclass English society is the only correct society and foreigners are not to be trusted. Nor are women who are weak by their nature. Nor the lower classes who are inherently inferior. Nor, of course, any of our "base" urges as they are not sanctified by The Church. This is the world of the novel Dracula, a puritanical world, and it explains why Harker and Company are so dull and proper. By the nature of the story, the good guys are bland, and we are supposed to like them. But I don't like them. I like Dracula, even when he oozes evil (Lugosi). In this version, Dracula has been made seductive, so I find myself hoping he will destroy drab society (represented by Harker) and the institutions that support it (Van Helsing). Unfortunately, the Dracula story wasn't written for anyone to cheer for the "villain." Ah well. Within the non-functional framework, this is a pretty good adaptation. Yes, all the male "heroes" are either colorless or insufferable and the pacing is off, but that's true of every version. Laurence Olivier puts in a particularly annoying performance, but then who could play the voice of righteousness in an engaging way? It shines, as all watchable versions do, on its Dracula. Frank Langella, even with his '70s hair, is an extremely good-looking man with a fluid voice and piercing eyes. This Dracula seduces both his victims and the audience. Kate Nelligan, as a misnamed Lucy, puts in a capable performance as the seduced. As long as they are on screen, this is sensual and moving. That makes this a love story, and a very good one. Too bad Dracula isn't a love story. Once Bitten (1985) A beautiful vampire (Lauren Hutton) must bite a virgin three times before
[TheDarkGift] Thrid Part of Vampire film Reviews
Title: AOL Email Night Flier (1997) Bitter, slimy, tabloid reporter,Richard Dees(Miguel Ferrer), investigates a series of murders at rural airfields. Dees, who has a psychic connection to the killer, begins to suspect that the killer is a real vampire as a new cub reporter tries to take the story away from him. In the improbable world of Night Flier, the police and legitimate news agencies ignore strings of bloody murders, while tabloids have investigative reporters. Yup, in order to get those stories about Elvis sightings and yetis, tabloids have highly trained, competitive reporters who travel the country. Sure. The film clings to the exploits of Richard Dees, no matter what he might be doing since it's a lot cheaper to show him drinking in a bar than to show the vampire doing anything. But considering the half kangaroo look of the vampire when we finally do see him, less is definitely more. Dees actions are beyond stupid. He enters an airport filled with gruesomely mutilated bodies, believing the killer to still be there (and believing he is a vampire), and slowly wanders taking pictures. Then when he slips on blood, he goes to wash up. Wouldn't any sane person be running? For a time, the film implies that Dees is the killer, which would give the film some value and explain away a few implausible actions, but that possibility is smashed at the end, so we're left with Dees acting in ways that just don't make sense (plus no explanation for his psychic ability). There is one scene toward the end that is almost worth watching. Dees meets the vampire (named Dwight Renfieldreally) in a washroom and there are a few cute gimmicks, but then the vamp starts speaking in a junior-high-theater voice and, like the rest of the film, it turns out ridiculous. Blade (1998) A half vampire hunts the undead with guns, swords, spikes, and drugs. When an upstart vampire gang leader decides to overthrow the old order of their society, Blade's job gets a lot harder. An early entry in the style-first monster film sub-genre (Resident Evil, Underworld), Blade, like those that followed, is exciting, rich in detail, skillfully made, and a bit brain-dead. This is a film where the hero stops to pose before each fight and no female vampire would be caught without a mini-skirt or cat-suit. It's silly, but it looks great. While it contains vampires, it is a pure action film, not a horror film. There are no scares here, but a lot of over-the-top jumps, kicks, flips, and sword flourishes. Why do the evildoers charge one at a time to be cut down by Blade? Because it looks cool. Why does blade always reach for his sunglasses in a fight? Because it looks cool. That's what the filmmakers were going for, and they succeeded. So watch it, because it looks cool. Blood: The Last Vampire (2000) Saya, a vampire hunter in Japan just as the Vietnam is about to heat up, is sent by a secret organization to a girl's school on an American military base. There she seeks out vampiric demons that hide as students. I'd like to say you should rush out and see this anime film immediately. Mixing cell animation and CG, no anime looks better. It suggests an intricate world, with analogies galore. The pre-Vietnam setting is an underused one, particularly for vampires, and ripe for inspection. Blood: The Last Vampire, is set up to be brilliant. But it isn't, and I can only recommend it when all other options are missing. The problem is that this isn't a movie at all. Running just 48 minutes, it feels like the middle of a film. None of the mysteries are explained. None of the possibilities are explored. Outside of revealing Saya as a vampire (a surprise ruined by the title), her background isn't touched upon. Who is she and why does she hunt? What are the demons she kills? What is the organization she works for? What is the connection to the American war? Nothing is answered. All the film gives us is Saya running in, finding demons, and fighting them. The end. Perhaps a sequel (and a prequel) will make this interesting. Until then, it nicely animated, but vacuous. The Breed (2001) The vampires have decided to join human society and become just another racial group. However, murder disrupts the political system and a mix matched pair of police, one vampire, one human, must solve the crimes. An astonishingly bad film. Now why do the vampires want to join this future society that's two parts Nazi
[TheDarkGift] OOPPS
I goofed again and sent out a Extra Listing that I was to send later not now. So I will only be doing two Listings tomorrow. Peace in the Shadows,Mistress of the Night Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Sorry about Yesturday
Title: AOL Email I am sorry I did not have listings yesturday but the Service wasnot working right it would not let me log in. So here is todays Listings and Enjoy be Vampires Peace in the Shadows, Mistress of the Night Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Films of Vampires
Title: AOL Email Salems Lot In this adaptation of Stephen King's novel, a vampire and his human familiar come to the small town of Salem's Lot to begin a reign of terror. David Soul plays a relatively believable vampire hunter, although his acting at times seems a little forced. The premise and story are fairly good, even with all the adaptations and cuts you find in a novel turned horror movie. My largest disappointment with this film was in the portrayal of Barlow, the "king" vampire. Whether it was a decision of the director or the man who penned the screenplay, the portrayal of Barlow as little more than a grunting animal was a travesty. For those who have read the novel, I'm sure most would agree that what made the Barlow character so compelling and such a worthwhile adversary was his exceptional intelligence. In this film, Barlow resembles nothing so much as the vampire of mythic lore, grunting, discolored and disfigured, with only limited mental faculties. Still, there is enough here for most vampire fans, and fans of the book will enjoy seeing it brought to visual fruition, if a somewhat limited one. Back to top of Page Return to Salems Lot Loosely based on Stephen King's novel (the only things in common are the town name and the vampires). Michael Moriarty plays Joe Weber, a professional anthropologist who returns to the town with his adolescent "troublemaking" son, seeking a house willed to him by his late aunt. What he finds is that his aunt is not at all of 'late', as with the rest of the town she is one of the undead. The Judge, Axel Page From Dusk Till Dawn I couldn't believe how bad this film really was. It was as if Quentin Tarentino lacked an ending to a film and asked John Carpenter to finish it for him. The only thing even remotely good about this film was Salma Hayek, Cheech Marin's hilarious (but patently offensive) speech in front of the vampire bar, and the gorgeous Aztec pyramid matte painting at the end. A ward of warning however, there are some offensive scenes in here and the movie is alas one of the shoot em up - knock em down films. Back to top of Page Kindred-The Embraced The uneasy peace between five tenuously connected clans of vampires in San Francisco is constantly under siege, maintained at cost of "final death" by Julian Luna, a vampire prince who must mete out justice for infractions committed by the Kindred. A chilling, atmospheric, eight-episode series (in three volumes) based on Mark Rein-Hagen's cult novel, "Vampire: The Masquerade." For vampire lovers, this is a good item for the collection. Although many familiar with White Wolf's Kindred were horrified by the inaccuracies in this series, when viewed separately it stands on its own as an alternative view into the world of the vampire. Back to top of Page Fright Night Holy Cow! What do you do if you're a teenage horror film fan and you realize your new next door neighbor is a vampire? Well if you're Charlie Brewster (William Ragsdale) and you're in this knockout horror movformances from Amanda Bearse as Charlie's girlfriend, Stephen Geoffreys as his weirdo friend Evil Ed, and especially Chris Sarandon as the bloodsucking but smooth vampire, and you have a film guaranteed to knock your socks off! Check it out! If you're looking for a good, old fashioned vampire frolic, this is a good place to start. This movie has all the traditional elements and it does it in a way that's fun and thoroughly enjoyable. The cinematography is very good for the time, and while the acting can get a bit campy at times, you'll walk away from this one with a smile. Hats off to Chris Sarandon for playing a thoroughly despicable but eminently likeable villain. Back to top of Page Fright Night Part 2 In typical Fright Night fashion, this film carries on the tradition of trying to be scary and humorous at the same time, and carries it off
[TheDarkGift] INTRODUCTION TO CINEMATIC VAMPIRES
Title: AOL Email INTRODUCTION TO CINEMATIC VAMPIRES By John L. Flynn For almost ninety-five years, from THE DEVIL'S CASTLE (1896) to BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (1992), the vampire has freely stalked movie theatres and preyed upon the willing patrons of over three hundred films. Though his origins may have been lost in the cave etchings of primeval mythology, obscured by the superstitions of folklore, or exploited by the "penny-dreadfuls" of Victorian melodrama, the vampire has remained a popular subject for motion pictures and television. The novel DRACULA, for example, has been adapted for the silver screen more times than any other book and has inspired countless imitations, sequels, parodies, and spoofs! The words "vampire" and "Dracula" have become synonymous with sexual seduction, power, and domination, and are an intregal part of our daily vocabulary. And with the increasing number of major motion pictures currently in production (fourteen), the vampire film continues to be a lively and prominent form of entertainment. Perhaps the reason for its longevity and prolificacy has to do with a message that is universal; or perhaps it has something to do with myth and our collective unconscious. In either case, many media students, film critics, historians (this author among them), and filmgoers contend that the vampire film has been largely responsible for popularizing the horror genre. This seems like an enormous claim, but there may be some validity to that contention, considering its humble beginnings and progenitors as well as its world wide acclaim. The purpose, then, of this study is to examine the role of the vampire in the cinema and discover why this particular motif continues to be a ubiquitous part of our popular culture. The vampire or Dracula image is one that has instant recognition throughout most of the world in both print and media forms, and it is an icon which we become familiar with from the time we are old enough to color in a coloring book, watch a television show, or read. Almost any first or second grade child (as well as many pre-schoolers) can identify the vampiric characters of Count "Count" from "Sesame Street," Count Duckula from the noted British cartoon series (of the same name), or Count Chocula from their favorite General Mills cereal. As they grow older and become consumers, adolescents (as well as many adults) are attracted to print advertisements and radio/television commercials which feature Count Dracula as a spokesman for products as diverse as men's toiletries (from Gillette Industries) to sugarless gum (Trident) to copper-top batteries (Duracell). [Notation: the product line doesn't stop there either; over the years, the vampire image has been associated with mouthwash, cat food, alcohol, fruit juice, pizza, security systems, and two dozen other items. During the Halloween season,the product line nearly doubles with the large variety of greeting cards, party favors, candy, centerpieces, napkins, and paper plates that feature Count Dracula or some other noted vampire (Vampirella, Vampira, Elvira - to name a few).] Children of all ages dress in the traditional black cape and fangs and gain instant identification of character, while celebrating the curious holiday of demons, witches, and other creatures of the night. Throughout the rest of the year, contributors to more than a dozen scholarly journals (including a special newsletter from MENSA) regularly discuss the psychological, sociological, anthropological, and literary merits of the most famous creature who never lived. It is quite obvious that the vampire image has had a major impact on so many levels of contemporary society, as with cultures of the past. Superstitions, myths, and legends about the vampire can be found - with divergent variations - in almost every culture in the world. Most of the stories date back thousands of years and have been handed down orally from generation to generation. The single element, which seems to unite even the most diverse tradition, is the belief that the vampire is a dead person who returns from the grave to suck the life (ie: blood) from living persons. This conception of the vampire, known as nosferatu (the "undead"), is probably the most common among mid-European, Slavonic peoples, particularly in the Balkan countries, and in Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia. [Notation: Besides stories in folklore, actual documentation of historical vampires dates from the late Seventeenth Century.] In
[TheDarkGift] avamp2's AOL Address Card
You are invited to accept avamp2's Address Card.avamp2's Address Card information is attached to this e-mail as a vCard. When you accept this Address Card, you will receive updated vCards from this AOL member at TheDarkGift@yahoogroups.com whenever avamp2's information changes First Name: JuliaLast Name: Schopf AOL Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]Other Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. BEGIN:VCARD FN:avamp2 EMAIL;INTERNET;PREF:[EMAIL PROTECTED] EMAIL;INTERNET:[EMAIL PROTECTED] N:Schopf;Julia VERSION:2.1 END:VCARD
[TheDarkGift] Suggested Films for Dracula Projects
Title: AOL Email Suggested Films for Dracula Projects Dracula Films * I have personal copies of these films that English 390 students may borrow. Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie des Grayens* (The Undead, a Symphony of Horror) (1922) Directed by F.W. Murnau. A silent classic of the German expressionist cinema. Believed to be the first vampire film. Based loosely on Bram Stoker's novel. Nosferatu, Phantom der Nacht (The Undead, Phantom of the Night) (1979) Directed by Werner Herzog. German remake of the original vampire film. Starring Klaus Kinski. Dracula* (1931) Directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi. Classic by Universal Studios, also responsible for the famous Frankenstein movies of the 1930s and 40s. Based on the Deane/Balderston play, the film transforms Dracula into a type of suave, continental lover. Horror of Dracula* (1958) Directed by Terence Fisher. Starring Christopher Lee (Dracula) and Peter Cushing (Van Helsing). The first of the Hammer horror series of Dracula films. Loosely based on Stokers novel. El Conde Dracula (1970) Spanish version directed by Jesus Franco and based fairly closely on Stoker's novel. Stars Christopher Lee (Dracula). Franco portrays the Dracula story as a confrontation between youth and age. Love at First Bite (197 ) Stars George Hamilton (Dracula). Parody of the Dracula legend. Dracula enters the Disco Age to pursue the reincarnation of his lost love. A dancing Dracula?? Dracula* (1973) Made-for-television movie directed by Dan Curtis. Starring Jack Palance (Dracula) and Nigel Davenport (Van Helsing). Gives more sympathetic portrayal of Dracula as a noble warrior yearning for his lost love. Dracula (1977) BBC/PBS miniseries directed by Philip Saville and starring Louis Jourdan. More faithful to Stoker's novel than previous versions. Filmed on location at Whitby. Dracula (1979) Set at the beginning of the twentieth century. Dracula is portrayed as a romantic, dashing hero/villain; Lucy is a sexually liberated woman who is Dracula's perfect mate. Directed by John Badham. Starring Frank Langella (Dracula), Laurence Olivier (Van Helsing), and Kate Nelligan (Lucy). Bram Stokers Dracula* (1992) Very faithful to the novel, except for the inclusion of a love story between Dracula and Mina; Mina is the reincarnation on of Dracula's lost love. The love story transforms Dracula from the Satanic to the Byronic hero type. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Starring Gary Oldman (Dracula), Wynona Ryder (Mina), and Anthony Hopkins (Van Helsing). Dracula, Dead and Loving It (1997)Parody of Dracula written and directed by Mel Brooks (Young Frankenstein). Lacks the brilliance of Brooks' attempt at the Frankenstein legend. Stars Leslie Nielsen (Dracula) and Mel Brooks (Van Helsing). Dracula 2000 (December, 2000)Update of the Dracula story produced by horror master Wes Craven. Check out the trailer. Related Vampire Films Vampire Hunter D* (1985)A classic of Japanese animation. The story is imaginative, if bizarre. When the ancient vampire Count Lee plans to claim a village maiden as his bride, the mysterious vampire hunter known as "D" sets out to rescue her. Although Japanese, the film has strong similarities to American Westerns. It also features the theme of human duality that is central to Stokers novel. Contains scenes of graphic violence. Dark Shadows* (1966-1971) An ABC Gothic soap opera recounting the adventures of the vampire Barnabas Collins. Episodes of the television series and two spin-off movies, House of Dark Shadows (1970) and Night of Dark Shadows (1971), are available on video. Dark Shadows (1991) Revival of the old television series. Stars Ben Cross as Barnabas Collins. The Night Stalker (1971) In this made-for-television movie, an eccentric Los Vegas reporter investigates a series of murders that he believes were committed by a vampire. A major influence on the later X-Files TV series. Stars Darren McGavin. Salems Lot (1979) Television mini-series (a shorter movie version is also available) of Stephen King's horror novel . An ancient vampire
[TheDarkGift] FROM DUSK TILL DAWN
Title: AOL Email FROM DUSK TILL DAWN Rating: USA. 1996. Director - Robert Rodriguez, Screenplay - Quentin Tarantino, Story - Robert Kurtzman, Producers - Gianni Nunnari Meir Teper, Photography - Guillermo Navarro, Music - Graeme Revell, Visual Effects Supervisors - Diana Dru Botsford Daniel A. Fort, Bat Visual Effects - VIFX, Digital Effects - The Post Group, Mattes - Illusion Arts, Makeup Effects - Kurtzman Nicotero Berger EFX Group, Production Design - Cecella Monteil. Production Company - A Band Apart/Los Hooligans Productions. Cast: George Clooney (Seth Gecko), Quentin Tarantino (Richard Gecko), Harvey Keitel (Jacob Fuller), Juliette Lewis (Kate Fuller), Tom Savini (Sex Machine), Fred Williamson (Frost), Ernest Liu (Scott Fuller), Cheech Marin (Border Guard/Chet Pussy/Carlos), Salma Hayek (Santanico Pandemonium), Michael Parks (Earl McGraw), Brenda Hillhouse (Gloria Hill), Danny Trejo (Razor Charlie) Plot: Brothers Seth and Richard Gecko, wanted for armed robbery, flee police pursuit across Texas. They take as hostage Jacob Fuller, a Baptist pastor who has lost his faith, along with his teenage daughter Kate and adopted Chinese son Scott. Seth agrees to them let go free if Fuller drives them across the Mexican border in his RV. Across the border they go to The Titty Twister, a dusk till dawn biker bar, to meet Seths contact. But there they find that the bar staff, the bikers, the strippers and bouncers are all vampires and are thrust into a to-the-death fight for their own lives. For a time around the mid-1990s Quentin Tarantino was the coolest guy in Hollywood. Tarantinos meteoric rise from videostore clerk to the leader of the new brat pack was the thing of which Hollywood discoveries are made. Tarantino first emerged on the scene with the brash and brilliant crime thriller Reservoir Dogs (1992) and then slammed it home with the breathtaking Pulp Fiction (1994). Tarantino was the first of the filmmakers to emerge from the video generation - his films come packed with not only quotes but entire monologues about film, tv and junk culture. He writes laconically naturalistic dialogue and made violence, dashed up with a nihilistic cynicism, ultra hip. Less than a year after Pulp Fiction, Tarantino seemed to have his finger in every pie. He had only having directed two films but had already had two books published about him; he directed episodes of ER (1996- ); cameod in films like Desperado (1995), Destiny Turns on the Radio (1995) and Spike Lees Girl 6 (1996); became possibly the most over-exposed interviewee around; bought up other filmic properties like crazy - everything purportedly from the Halloween series to the Hong Kong festival hit Chungking Express (1994); lent his name to friends like Roger Avary and Robert Rodriguez to gain a wide audience for their films and united other fledgling directors in the anthology film Four Rooms (1995); and ushered a series of foreign imports and B movie video releases in under his name. And everywhere else people were reviving old Tarantino scripts - True Romance (1993), Natural Born Killers (1994) and this - that were sold but never produced when he was still a videostore clerk. Plus of course the Tarantino-styled thriller with cynically chic underworld, non-linear plots and wry monologues inspired a whole host of imitators, ranging from the good - The Usual Suspects (1995), Out of Sight (1998), Sexy Beast (2001) - to the amusing - Get Shorty (1996) - the so-so - Things to Do In Denver When Youre Dead (1996) - to the downright awful Killing Zoe (1996) and the output of Guy Ritchie. Alas after the so-so Jackie Brown (1997), which certainly revived the career of Pam Grier but did little else, Tarantino paled away and was been largely forgotten in the latter half of the 1990s, before making a return to screens with Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004). Mexican-born, Texas-based Robert Rodriguez is another customer altogether. His first film El Mariachi (1993), a South of the Border spaghetti Western, was made for $7000 and is perhaps one of the slickest no-budget films ever made. Desperado (1995), his big-budgeted Hollywood remake-come-sequel, successfully fused El Mariachi with the balletic pyrotechnics of the Hong Kong action film. It seemed natural that two such individualistic talents as Tarantino and Rodriguez, riding the Hollywood outside edge, would not only meet but also strike up a friendship and a collaboration which emerged with From Dusk Till Dawn. From Dusk Till Dawn began life as a script that Tarantino wrote circa 1990, developing out an idea for Robert Kurtzman who was intending to direct the film. Kurtzman is a makeup effects man better known as the K in the high profile KNB EFX Group. And while Kurtzmans From Dusk never went ahead, Kurtzman debuted later the same year with the inane robo-babe film The Demolitionist (1996) and then went onto make Wishmaster (1997). (And judging from Kurtzmans other films,
[TheDarkGift] VAMPIRES: FILM COMMENTARY
Title: AOL Email VAMPIRES:FILM COMMENTARY by Marthe Schroeder The vampire is a unique and interesting breed of monster. It has historically been a very successful monster because it plays on some of our worst fears. Among these are temptation by the devil (as he is represented by the character of the vampire) and the question of what becomes of the body and soul upon death. The first fear pertains primarily to Christians, but I suppose non-religious types can also sympathize with the general fear of being tempted into any kind of danger. The second fear is perhaps deeper and more frightening because it is not necessarily one of morality, but actual physical laws. When we die, we accept the fact that our bodily functions cease and never again will return. Those who believe in a soul also believe in a specific destination for that soul. But then there is always that worry about what happens if something goes wrong. That is where the vampire comes in. Of the six movies viewed, four contained definite religious undertones (and the other two are debatable). For example, in the Vampire Hunter D movies, Christ and Christianity are never mentioned, but still there is a cruciform object in nearly every scene. The sword that D uses to kill his vampire prey is shaped like a nearly proportionate cross and there are many cross shaped windows and steeples in the background. So while D appears to just use brute strength and cunning to defeat the vampires, we the audience actually get the feeling that his strength must come from a higher power. Bram Stoker's Dracula makes more obvious use of Christ and religious objects, with the characters actually using crosses and wafers to fend off the vampires. They try garlic and traditional cures at first, perhaps representing a willingness to stick to modern man's devices, but when those fail they must inevitably turn back to the church. The movie with the greatest religious presence was certainly John Carpenter's Vampires. Here we had a team of men (with their trusty priest companion) clearing out vampire nests, but soon most of the team is killed leaving the leader James Crow (who, not so coincidentally, shares initials with Jesus Christ) to finish off the vampire Valek. Another interesting detail is that the team stays at the Sun-God Motel. These two elements have historically been the only two effective against vampires and here they are linked (and logically too because who created the sun after all?) It is also no surprise to find that Valek (like Dracula) was created because he turned his back on God. Clearly here, then, we see the message to cling to the church at all times. Even more basic to all of the movies, though, is the game that they play with the notion of death. In real life when someone gets viciously attacked by a wild animal or beast, we expect them to bleed a lot and die. We will mourn their loss, but come to terms with it and eventually move on. This process gets complicated, though, in vampire movies. The biggest problem is that the attack does not kill the victim, nor does it allow them a normal recovery. The victim is left in a strange in-between state where they are neither alive nor dead, but simply "undead." This notion is similar to that of ghosts (souls who continue to haunt the earth from the grave) only it is more threatening because the vampires are not just passive wanderers, but active seekers of victims. When a friend or relative gets bitten, the survivors cannot accept the loss because they are unsure of the person's fate. The horror of the vampire story is the fact that the sacred security of the grave is taken away. The Blade movies make good use of this death game as a means of connecting the first movie to the sequel. In the end of the first, Whistler supposedly shoots himself and yet somehow we find him sustained by a pool of blood in the second. Also in Bram Stoker's Dracula we find that mere death is never the end. Lucy's final hours are filled with grief and then when she finally passes away she is not even granted peace. Once again there is this notion that there is something beyond the grave and so we must too venture into that unknown place. In recent decades there has been an explosion of vampire movies and this must be attributed to the fact that the recurring themes of vampire stories are very relevant in our modern times. The vampire teaches us to cling to the cross at a time when congregations are shrinking and more and more people are falling away from the church. Advancing medical knowledge now allows doctors to revive people who we would have traditionally seen as dead. New technology like cryogenics also adds new questions about how exactly we define death. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups
[TheDarkGift] John Carpenter's Vampires
Title: AOL Email Decent Vampire Flick, but Lacks Some Bite, July 23, 2004 Reviewer: CreepyT "CreepyTendencies" Jack Crow (James Woods) and his band of renegade wannabe Van Helsings are modern-day vampire hunters. Together they find and kill the world?s bloodsuckers, and are supported by the church in doing so. One day, seemingly like any other, they set out to rid the world of yet another ?nest.? Just like true heroes they kill all vampires present. However, they note that it is quite odd that there seemed to be no master present in this particular group of fiends. Brushing that thought aside, the group heads to a local motel to party in celebration of the day?s victory. Their party is cut short when the master makes his presence known by killing all present at the party with the exception of Jack Crow and his partner Montoya (Daniel Baldwin), as well as one random prostitute. This master vampire bites the prostitute and then leaves her with the two remaining vampire hunters. Since she, as she gradually turns into a creature of the night, will have a telepathic link to the one who bit her, Crow keeps her around to lead him to this nasty nighttime fiend. When the church is questioned regarding this particular vampire, Crow discovers that there is more to this vamp than meets the eye. With a newly acquired church representative in tow, Crow and Montoya set out to kill the bloodsucker. Though this is not the best of Carpenter?s work, he can really do no wrong in my book. His score, though highly cliched, is memorable. The script can be ?dangerously cheesy? at times, but that is, in fact, part of the point. The religious undertones are intriguing as well. The characters are all well cast, and the acting is great considering the less-than-stellar script and plot they had to go with. It?s interesting to see the slightly different take vampire lore. However, the plot centers around the hunters, particularly Jack Crow, thus placing the vampires themselves in the background and effectively giving them very little depth (ok, non-existent depth with the exception of Valek, the head vampire). Nonetheless, this film is extremely worthy of a rental and should not be over-looked by fans of the vampire genre. The opening scene immediately sucks you in and leaves you wanting to trail along for the ride. I would recommend buying this only if you are a die-hard Carpenter fan like myself, as there are indeed better movies of his out there (try Prince of Darkness for one) and better vampire genre films as well. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor Get unlimited calls to U.S./Canada Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] When you joined
I have just recently learned that the E-mail you get when you joined was really old I have changed it. I haven't really tried updated anything but the Web Site so I am try more to get everything updated. And I just also wanted to mention that i AM TRYING TO GET A hold OF my NEWEST friends IN THE night BUT "hunted vamp" HAS SEEM TO DISAPPEAR SO i WILL LOOK FOR her/him AND SEE WHAT IS UP WITH THEM. so ENJOYING THE listing have SOMETHING OF YOU OWN YOU WILL LIKE TO ADD PLEASE FEEL FREE JUST REMEMBER IT HAS TO BE vampire RELATED nothing ELSE. unless SOMEONE WANTS TO REQUEST THAT we DO all THING THAT creep IN THE night BUT vampires ARE STILL TOP priority. here lestAT de lIONCOURT IS kING AND HE MAKES THE rules ALONG WITH YOUR mISTRESS. feed, hunt BE vampire! Peace in the Shadows,Mistress of the NightThe Dark Gift Web Site Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor Get unlimited calls to U.S./Canada Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. inline: enchante'.jpg
[TheDarkGift] Some Vampire Films to check out.............
Title: AOL Email
The Lostboys
Sleep all day, Party all night. Never grow old. Never Die.It's fun to be a vampire.
The Classic cult vampire film, that inspired a generation. This is the film that most lovers of the vampire scene got their addiction from, though a good number of them refuse to admit that thay have a copy of this film. It featured young rebal vampires that were protrayed to the younger generation as cool and fun as aposed to the older vampires in films such as Dracula. It was also made popular with heartthrob actors such as Kiefer Sutherland, and a great sound track.
Interview with the Vampire
In a darkend room a young man sits telling the macabre and eerie story of his life... the story of a vampire, gifted with external life, cursed with an exquisite craving for human blood.The film `interview with the vampire` is based on the first book in the Vampire chronicles written by Anne Rice, it's main character is a vampire called Louis and its his story.
Dracula
Love never diesDirector Francis Ford Coppola returns to the original source of the Dracula myth, and from the gothic romance, he creates a modern masterpiece.It follows the tortured journey of the devastatingly seductive Transylvanian Prince (Gary Oldman) as he moves from Eastern Europe to 19th century London in search of his long lost love Elisabeta, who is reincarnated as the beautiful Mina (Winona Ryder). Anthony Hopkins co-starts as the famed Doctor Van Helsing and Keanu Reeves is Jonathan Harper who is forced to fight the dark forces of Dracual for the love of Mina.Visually stunning, passionately seductive and utterly irresistable, this is Dracula as you've never seen him before - a powerful and poignant vampire whoes yearning for human love ultimately proves his undoing.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
This feeble spoof works better as a sendup of bimbo Valley girls than a take-off of vampire movies. But as entertainment it doesn's work at all. Blonde, bouncy Kirsty Swanson is the bare-brained cheerleader of the title, who is sudenly informed by mysterious stranger Donald Sutherland that a vampire invasion is imminent and she has been chosen to act as a distaff Van Helsing. This entails her taking on sinister Dracul-type Rutger Hauer and his cackeling henchman Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman). After biting a few teens and crashing a Carrie type prom, the vamps get theirs in a pathetic finale. Swanson is quite good, but thefilm doesnt do her justice. Shot like a TV sit-com, its all rather sad that this was a modest box office hit, but thats probably down to the prescesnce in the cast of then screen harthrob Luck Perry (Beverly Hills 90210)
Nosferatu
A symponey of horrrorFirst of many films based on Stoker's Dracula. This was an unauthorized film, and it disappeared when Stoker's widow took out an injunction against it. However, Nosferatu was preserved by movie pirates and has been reissued in various versions.Max Schreck plays the vampire as a giant, human rat with an enlarged head, fangs, and talons; he is at once horrifying, ludicrous, and pitiful.
Blades
Adapted from the comic books, "Blade" stars Wesley Snipes as Blade, a half human, half vampire man who's on a personal mission to rid the world of vampires since his mother was killed by a vampire. With a whole set of vampire killing tools, including silver bullets ("crosses don't do squat") and his own set of Xena-ish fighting skills (even has his own lil' funky silver chakram), Blade is set to avenge the death of his mother and to kill all vampires he can get his hands on. Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff), the man who bit Blade's mother, is the "impure" vampires, so called because he was bitten and turned to a vampire as a child. He is the rebel among the vampire ranks. Frost becomes Blade's main target in his journey to a vampire-free world.Featuring catchy techno music and one of the coolest vampire death/disintegration scenes I've seen, "Blade" starts out nice, scary, and somewhat involving. As the story goes on, however, some of the excess blood becomes a tad distracting, and the final scene between Deacon and Blade, albeit interesting and exhilarating, is predictable (good guy vs. bad guy. Who's gonna win?). However, everything between the beginning and end can be dissolved into mush if you don't dig this vampire stuff at all. Of course, being in the vampire genre, the movie is loaded with vampire gore and lots and lots of blood, some of which people are liable to cringe at. The plot is way in the background as a result of all this vampire kicking butt, and one may forget why the hell Blade is doing any of this in the first place.
Vampires
Dont let the title fool you -- Vampires is not a horror film. Vampires is a Western set in modern times where the good guys carry big silver crossbows and the bad guys wear long incisors. Plotless and mindless, Vampires is proof that a good director, actor and film personality can make a testosterone-laden
[TheDarkGift] Do It Yourself Film Festival: Bloodsuckers by Kerry Douglas Dye
Title: AOL Email
Do It Yourself Film Festival: Bloodsuckers
by Kerry Douglas Dye
Anulka and Marianne Morris in Vampyres, one recommended entry in the Bloodsuckers Film FestivalThey say that guys dig werewolves and girls dig vampires. To a chick, the idea of a tall, mysterious man floating into her bed chamber and suckling her neck--he doesn't want sex, he just wants to nuzzle--is a real turn on. Guys, on the other hand, dig the hairy beast who howls at the moon, eats when he's hungry, and pisses against a tree.You would think, then, that in honor of Halloween I might do a review of great werewolf movies. But I'm doing vampires. The reasons are two: one, there are few good werewolf movies (An American Werewolf in London and . . . what?); and two, in the hands of the right (male) filmmaker, vampires can be a helluva lot cooler than Frank Langella in a tuxedo.So hit the video store, crank up the VCR and/or DVD, and let's share a night of some of the best vampire flicks out there.
MANLIEST | FUNNIEST | SEXIEST | CLASSIC | MOST ENTERTAINING
MANLIEST VAMPIRE FLICKJohn Carpenter's Vampires
Director: John CarpenterYear: 1998Starring: James Woods, Sheryl Lee, Daniel Baldwin, Tim Guinee, Maximilian SchellWhat Makes It Manly: James Woods kicking the shit out of everyone, vampire and human alike If James Woods had been in the cast of Terms of Endearment, he'd have fucked Shirley MacLaine, beaten the shit out of Jeff Daniels, and told Debra Winger to shut up and die already. That's my longwinded way of saying, put James Woods in a movie, and it's instantly "Guy."As vampire hunter Jack Crow, he describes vampires this way: "First of all, they're not romantic. It's not like they're a bunch of fags fucking around seducing everyone in rented formal wear. . . Crosses don't work, they don't turn into bats, and garlic? You stand there with garlic around you neck, they're gonna take a walk up your estrada chocolata while sucking the blood outta you."Dude is of single-minded dedication to killing vampires, to the point that he thinks nothing of slicing a priest with a knife if it means getting information to help track down the head ghoul (don't worry--by the end of the picture Jack and said priest are best of friends).Sure the pic owes a lot to From Dusk Till Dawn, but From Dusk Till Dawn owed a lot to Dawn of the Dead, so no one's blameless here. Anyway, Vampires is a better movie. Sheryl Lee looks sexy, vampires explode, vampire killers get sliced in half, and James Woods gets to kick a lot of ass.Definitely a must for your bloodsuckers film festival.FUNNIEST VAMPIRE FLICKVampire's Kiss
Director: Robert BiermanYear: 1989Starring: Nicolas Cage, Jennifer Beals, Maria Conchita AlonsoWhat Makes It Funny: Nic Cage thinks he's a vampire, and spends much of the picture wandering around muttering through store-bought plastic vampire teeth Detractors of this film find it weird and confusing, but I think it's a scream. Nic Cage is a pretentious, neurotic, typically New York yuppie. One night, he has a close encounter with a bat--shortly after, he picks up ultra-sexy Jennifer Beals in a bar and next thing you know she's feasting on his neck.So it's vampirism by night, and by day, he torments an office secretary played by Maria Conchita Alonso. ("How do you misfile something??? It's all alphabetical! It's just A, B, C . . ." and so on in what is almost certainly the most maniacal recitation of the English alphabet in cinema history.)Cage isn't quite sprouting fangs, so he picks some up at a costume shop. He doesn't quite have the balls for drinking human blood yet, so he starts with pigeons and cockroaches. Yes, Cage actually eats a live cockroach on screen in this picture, an act that, according to lore, incurred the wrath of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. (Those guys are the real wackos.)Whether you find this film howlingly funny, or just howlingly odd, it's definitely a worthy screener for your night a vampire madness.SEXIEST VAMPIRE FLICKVampyres
Director: José LarrazYear: 1974Starring: Marianne Morris, Anulka, Murray BrownWhat Makes It Sexy: Marianne Morris and Anulka slurping up blood, then french kissing, then slurping up more blood . . . 'nuff said. There's little satisfaction to being a connoisseur of lesbian vampire flicks because there are so few good ones. In my teenage years I noodled around in the genre, but most entries, Lust For a Vampire, The Blood-Spattered Bride, etc., are 90% tease with maybe one or two extremely brief erotic encounters. Ultimately more frustrating than titillating.Tony Scott's The Hunger is the canonical example: hand a chimpanzee a camera and put him in a room with Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon and he'd come out with something sexy (something sexy and smeared with feces, perhaps, but sexy nonetheless). Tony Scott filmed a love scene between Sarandon and Deneuve, and it's just boring--all gauze and opera music and soft focus . .
[TheDarkGift] Vampires: A Chronology
Title: AOL Email Vampires: A Chronology by J. Gordon Melton The following timeline was used with kind permission from my friend J. Gordon Melton. It was originally published in his book "The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead" ISBN 0-8103-2295-1. It is not to be re-used or re-printed without express permission from Mr. Melton. The 1000's 1047 First appearance of the word "upir" (an early form of the word later to become "vampire") in a document referring to a Russian prince as "Upir Lichy", or wicked vampire. The 1100's 1190 Walter Map's "De Nagis Curialium" includes accounts of vampire like beings in England. 1196 William of Newburgh's "Chronicles" records several stories of vampire like revenants in England. The 1400's 1428/29 Vlad Tepes, the son of Vlad Dracul, is born. 1463 Vlad Tepes becomes Prince of Wallachia and moves to Tirgoviste. 1442 Vlad Tepes is imprisoned with his father by the Turks. 1443 Vlad Tepes becomes a hostage by the Turks. 1447 Vlad Dracul is beheaded. 1448 Vlad briefly attains the Wallachian throne. Dethroned, he goes to Moldavia and befriends Prince Stefan. 1451 Vlad and Stephan flee to Transylvania. 1455 Constantinople falls. 1456 John Hunyadi assists Vlad Tepes to attain Wallachian throne. Vladislav Dan is executed. 1458 Matthias Corvinu succeeds John Hunyadi as King of Hungary. 1459 Easter massacre of boyers and rebuilding of Dracula's castle. Bucharest is established as the second governmental center. 1460 Attack upon Brasov, Romania 1461 Successful campaign against Turkish settlements along the Danube, Summer retreat to Tirgoviste. 1462 Following the battle at Dracula's castle, Vlad flees to Transylvania. Vlad begins 13 years of imprisonment. 1475 Summer wars in Serbia against Turks take place. November: Vlad resumes throne of Wallachia. 1476/77 Vlad is assassinated. The 1500's 1560 Elizabeth Bathory is born. The 1600's 1610 Bathory is arrested for killing several hundred people and bathing in their blood. Tried and convicted, she is sentenced to life imprisonment, being bricked into a room in her castle. 1614 Elizabeth Bathory dies. 1610 Leo Allatius finishes writing the first modern treatment of vampires, "De Graecorum hodie quirundam opinationabus". 1657 Fr. Francoise Richard's "Relation de ce qui s'est passé a Sant-Erini Isle de l'Archipel" links vampirism and witchcraft. 1672 Wave of vampire hysteria sweeps through Istra. 1679 A German vampire text, "De Masticatione Mortuorum", by Phillip Rohr is written. The 1700's 1710 Vampire hysteria sweeps through East Prussia. 1725 Vampire hysteria returns to East Prussia. 1725-30 Vampire hysteria lingers in Hungary. 1725-32 The wave of vampire hysteria in Austrian Serbia produces the famous cases of Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paul (Paole). 1734 The word "vampyre" enters the English language in translations of German accounts of European waves of vampire hysteria. 1744 Cardinal Giuseppe Davanzati publishes his treatise, "Dissertazione sopre I Vampiri." 1746 Dom Augustin Calmet publishes his treatise on vampires, "Dissertations sur les Apparitions des Anges des Demons et des Espits, et sur les revenants, et Vampires de Hundrie, de boheme, de Moravic, et de Silesie." 1748 The first modern vampire poem, "Der Vampir," is published by Heinrich August Ossenfelder. 1750 Another wave of vampire hysteria occurs in East Prussia. 1756 Vampire hysteria peaks in Wallachia. 1772 Vampire hysteria occurs in Russia. 1797 Goethe's "Bride of Corinth" (a poem concerning a vampire) is published. 1798-1800 Samuel Taylor Coleridge writes "Christabel," now conceded to be the first vampire poem in English. The 1800's 1800 "I Vampiri," an opera by Silvestro de Palma, opens in Milan, Italy. 1801 "Thalaba" by Robert Southey is the first poem to mention the vampire in English. 1810 Reports of sheep being killed by having their jugular veins cut and their blood drained circulated through northern England. "The Vampyre," an early vampire poem, by John Stagg is published. 1813 Lord Byron's poem "The Giaour" includes the hero's encounter with a vampire. 1819 John Polidori's "The Vampyre," the first vampire story in English, is published in the April issue of "New Monthly Magazine." John Keats composes "The Lamia," a poem built on ancient Greek legends. 1820 "Lord Ruthwen ou Les Vampires" by Cyprien Berard is published anonymously in Paris. June 13: "Le Vampire," the play by Charles Nodier, opens at the Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris. August: "The Vampire; or, The Bride of the Isles," a translation of Nodier's play by James R. Planche, opens in London. 1829 March: Heinrich Marschner's opera, "Der Vampyr," based on Nodier's story, opens in Liepzig. 1841 Alexey Tolstoy publishes his short story, "Upyr," while living in Paris. It is the first modern vampire story by a Russian. 1847 Bram Stoker is born. "Varney the Vampire" begins lengthy serialization. 1851
[TheDarkGift] Angelous The Sweet Death
Title: AOL Email Angelous The Sweet Death I'm Angelous and who could believe that with a name as holy as mine. That I could be one of thecold-hearted killer in the world. Certain I can say that with a doubt in my mind. For none of my past crimes have ever been solved. I enjoy killing everything, but woman most of all. They the best tokill. For it's the thrill for me. To feel their fear they leave this earth before their time. It's notthat I have a deep anger toward women. No it thatwhen I kill me it for money or payback. But women I kill for pure pleasure. You see, first I get the womanto build a lot of hope about me. To trust me to love me.An then on the night one which love each with arehearts and body. I kill her when our bodies are becomingone in a intense orgamism. Because the sweetest type of death is when there is passion involved. I'm coldbut I'm not sick unlike my friend. Jack Hunter. Heis a killer who even I trend lightly around. Not becauseof fear but because his taste in killing is nasty. To put it bluntly. He once told me he killed a girland fucked her body into it went cold. His a very sick man. But nearly as dangerous as me. I have killed somany and done it well. Taking no pleasure from itbut he gets off on it, enjoys it with only a sickpleasure he understands. That makes the difference between me and him. And may the heaven, pray I never go to his level. I'm not sure the world could withstand that.-Angelous BetrayalBroken promises, other one touches, broken hearts. Thesething we leave behind in our betrayal. We promise each other things and break them for stupid reasons. Why must we do these things. When the only person we really hurt is ourself. Do we always have to do things the hard way. Have we no common sense. I have done these. I know and I sorry for everything I have done. If I could change it all I wouldbut I can't. I can only live the rest of my life tryingto make up for all the wrong I have done. You have my promise onthat. If that good enough for u. I have broke u heart so. NowI will spend the rest of my life. -Angelous Killers like me This is to all those who are like me. Killers whodoesn't care about anyone or anything. Death made intoflesh we have been called. We are the same inside, even though are flesh is different. Soulless thing's who cares about nothing. Who thinks about Death and blood all day.Who kills as easy and emotionless as they tie their shoes.For emotions are things for normal people. Emotions are thing we use to fool are future victims. You know what I mean. Weget them to love us and make ourselves believe we lovethem. But what we are really trying to do is feel human.I know for I have done it. For a while I really thought I could start feeling things for and like other people. Feelthings like love and happiness, or even sadness. Instead ofmy usual rage and emptiness. But I was just fooling myselfRunning from who or what I really am. So now hear me my kindred spirits. Don't try to fool yourselves. We was put on this earth to kill. I say don't fight who you arebut embrace it. Be yourself and enjoy. Enjoy your darkness.-Angelous Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Diaemus feeding on a chicken
Diaemus feeding on a chicken For our base in Trinidad, we decided to use an abandoned research station in the Arima valley in the northern range of attractively forested mountains. The station had originally been established in the 1930s by Dr. William Beebe for the New York Zoological Society and had good facilities for keeping bats for observational purposes: indeed, much of the important original research work on bat radar, or echolocation, had taken place there. The building had been deserted for many years but some renovation had begun prior to its being reopened for use by field biologists. But it was still charmingly ramshackle with creaky doors, cobwebs, old brass beds and its own colony of fruit bats in the house, which flew through the main hall at dusk and at dawn: a suitable, and spooky, setting for a film about vampires. The next problem was to find a friendly farmer with animals under regular attack. This was not easy: like their supernatural cousins, vampire bats tend to home in on some individuals but leave others mysteriously unmolested. Farmers with great numbers of cattle and other livestock were of no interest to us since it would have been to difficult to isolate, for filming purposes, an individual attack. We needed to find a farmer with a smallholding, but most are careful to seal off their precious animals at night to protect them. However, we eventually managed to find a donkey that was being attacked almost nightly in an open stall. For several nights nothing happened; it seemed that while our presence was of obvious benefit to the donkey, our hopes of filming the vampires were beginning to fade. During our nightly vigils we would switch on the lights from time to time to see if anything was happening and we could only presume that this was creating sufficient disturbance to keep the vampires away. What we had not considered was the moon. So far the nights had been clear and brightly moonlit; on these nights vampires stay in the shadows, attacking prey in dark shelters or in the forest. On the first overcast night at the donkey's stall, it all happened, and it took us completely by surprise. A dark shape had moved in towards one of the donkey's hoofs. When we switched on the light, it scuttled back into the darkness but to our delight came back again, at first slowly and cautiously, but then more purposefully. We were working with very low light levels and Martin Saunders, the cameraman, was only just managing an exposure with a very fast lens. As the bat moved in, Martin started the camera. Later that same night we filmed a second vampire attacking the donkey's ear. At four o'clock in the morning we returned to the creaky old house in the mountains bursting with satisfaction at having something on film, we hoped. If it proved to be technically good then this was the first time that vampires had ever been filmed feeding on a victim. The following night we returned again to try for more; and again we were lucky: the bats came and this time we were able to observe their technique more closely. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. inline: pdg50010.jpg
[TheDarkGift] Embrace the night
Title: AOL Email Embrace the night As I go into the night,I feel the world around me.Walking away, leaving behindAll the rest of humanity. As I walk into the night,I find myself heading out.Out towards the place of meeting;Towards the place where no one speaks. As I halt within the night,I scan the trees around me.I crouch down to the earthAnd feel it pulsing neath my hand. As I wait within the night,I send my senses outward.I feel the life around me, growing.The trees, the grass, they give me peace. As I listen in the night,I gaze up to the stars.The powers hear my troubles out,And give me answers to my queries. As I head home through the night,I embrace the calm that settles oer.I thank the powers for their aid,And for the wisdom I have gainedEach time I go into the night.-Chris Brion Davison Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Check out Dance Of The Vampires
Dance Of The Vampires Once I thought that love Was cheerful and bright Now I know It's baffling and dark -Total Eclipse Of The Heart Peace in the Shadows,Mistress of the NightThe Dark Gift Web Site Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. inline: enchante'.jpg
[TheDarkGift] Vampires - Thirsty...
Title: AOL Email In the last several months without a donor, I've learned a lot of things, as evidenced by my previous article. Some psychic energy will help, some natural energy will help. But the need for blood can rise and the desperate, physical craving can turn what was once a rational, passing normal human into a full on theatrical vamp-bitch. Ask the people I work with, I can get down right nasty (granted, this summer has had extenuating circumstances). The little tips I've worked on for a while haven't helped much, and I've turned to those who've been around much longer. I've tried many of their suggestions this past month or so, and found a great deal of relief. Meantime though - I must always recommend caffeine. Strong coffee, as strong as you can make it without it getting bitter. Add sugar and cream (even if you don't generally drink it this way). The caffeine/sugar/Vitamin D combination seems to work. Oddly, black coffee doesn't, at least, not for myself, or a friend of mine. It does however, work for another friend of mine (although, I think his is espresso). Other Suggestions: Sangi, at her site (Sanguinarius.org), suggests coffee as well. She goes on to suggest rare or medium-rare steak. Others at the site suggest steak as well, when the "real thing" is not available. Sarah Dorrance suggests red Gatorade, mixed with orange, beef broth and liquid multivitamins. I couldn't find red Gatorade, so I used the new Cherry Burst Powerade - works, and she's right - it does taste a little like blood! I did let it sit on the counter until it was room temperature though. ;) g0th, in an article also at Sanguinarius, advises orange juice and mediation to help stave off the blood addiction. I have to admit, orange juice does help, if you can stand the acidic taste and it doesn't make your cheeks meet in the middle of your mouth. I've taken the advice a step further (oranges being a citrus fruit after all) and moved on to lemonade - which for whatever reason - does not make me want to suck back a bottle of vinegar to cut the acid. Yes, I know - I'm strange. Saboankh's Blood Substitute(found on SphynxCat's Vampire Support Pages) "This one is great if you are really close to frenzy/beasting, as it tastes awful but works well: Get a 2 serving container of prepackaged tomato or V-8 juice (one of the drinkable vegetable/tomato based concoctions) and open it. Pour into a blender. Add: * 3 Tbsp black freshly ground pepper* 1 Tbsp. Cayenne pepper. Blend until well-mixed and add 5 drops lemon juice. Now choke it down if you can, and it honestly will ease the hunger (as well as killing taste buds by the hundreds)."* Saboankh's Web Page * I've tried this - it hurts, it burns, it's like liquid fire. It WORKS. I also have to agree with the suggestion of salt on the tongue. I will often grab a few grains of canning salt (aka rock salt) and try that. If I catch it early enough I can sometimes quell it enough to continue on my day without too many "shakes". And how about the old stand by alcoholic drinks? Bloody Mary and Bloody Caesar. Almost anyone over 18 knows how to make these. Bloody Mary In a salt-rimmed cocktail glass combine one shot of vodka with tomato juice, Worcestershire and Tabasco Sauces, dash pepper and a sprig of celery. Bloody Caesar In a seasoning salt-rimmed cocktail glass combine one shot of vodka with Clamato juice, Worcestershire and Tabasco Sauces, dash pepper and a sprig of celery. Fighting the thirst does not always meaning drinking something either. As it's often called the Hunger - if there is something in our stomachs, the need may not arise at all. So - either solid or liquid will often work. I've also included some recipes here for some "old-fashioned" foods that include blood. Almost makes me wonder about our ancestors. Then again - they did live the "waste not want not" livesdidn't they? I haven't tried these. I probably Won't (capital W). For a Vampire, I have a severe dislike of cooking with blood unless it's in/on/surrounding a steak on my plate. Maybe it's a phobia of English food? Nope, I don't mind Bubble n' Squeak or Toad in the Hole. ;) Blood Pudding(ichef.com) Ingredients 1 1/4 qt Fresh pig's blood8 7/8 oz Bread cut into cubes1 1/4 qt Skim milk1 lb Cooked barley1 lb Fresh beef suet8 oz Fine oatmeal1 ts Salt2 ts Ground black pepper2 ts Dried and crumbled mint Instructions 1. Put the bread cubes to soak in the milk in a warm oven. Do not heat the milk beyond blood temperature! Have the blood ready in a large bowl, and pour the warm milk and bread into it. Stir in the cooked barley. Grate the beef suet into the mixture and stir it up with the oatmeal. Season with the salt, pepper and mint. 2. Have ready 2 or three large roasting pans. Divide the mixture between them - they should not be more than 3/4 full. Bake in a moderate oven -- 350 F - for about an hour or until the pudding is well cooked through. This makes a beautifully light pudding which
[TheDarkGift] This Months Vampire (Web Site Updated)
The Dark Gift Web Site Peace in the Shadows,Mistress of the NightThe Dark Gift Web Site Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. inline: enchante'.jpg
[TheDarkGift] Subspecies
Title: AOL Email By: Aradia "I wish daddy hadn't brought me here!" Proclaimed Christine Morgan. Her oldest sister, Rebekah and her had never been able to see what had drawn her beautiful sister, Michelle to this land. Rebekah had thought there were other places more intresting and Chris was much more interested in her singing to care. Unfortunatelly, both her older sister's had dissapeared. Chris's dad brought her and his wife, Diane to this place. Ever since then, her mother and father had been busy doing stuff, leaving her in a stuffy, old fashioned town where when ever the villagers had seen her they would make a cross. Sure Chris wasn't the nicest person around but she was defintly pretty. She had long dark blonde hair that went with her diamond blue eyes and eternal tan. Her sister's were always saying that she looked like an angel.Personaly she always thought that she didn't belong in the family but what are you going to do? At this moment, She and her family were searching the castle Vadislav. Chris's lip curled, what a name! And what a castle. She had hated it from first sight. At certain times in her life, she had been able to sense things that had happened. She was getting a hint that that whoever had owned the castle wasn't very nice. She was serching the hall when she tripped and her elbow went agenst the wall. "Ouch! crap, that hurt!" Still cursing she sat up and looked around, it was almost as if someone was still here. She leaned against the wall and discoved what the wall was hiding. She put her hand in and slowly pulled out the book. It looked ancient. It was in leather and when she opened it, it was as if it was writen in blood. She opened the page and sat down on the thrown. She was soon engrossed in reading the Journal. It was written by someone called Stefan. Hmmm, intresting nameI never asked to be born, least of all as a vampire. I hate my brother. No, correction, I don't hate Radu, I pity him, really. He is rather hideous and has the love of blood that he had gotten from his mother. God, but that women gives me the creeps. She is nothing like my mother. I know that for a fact. According to father,she was beautiful with long black wavy hair and emerald green eyes. She loved me and my father. Her heart was in no way capable of the malice that Radu's mother is capable of. I have to write about everything now before I leave this place forever. Now that mother's body has been found, and with father becoming more colder, there is nothing left for me here. I have to write of the past before Radu has his blasted demon's find me. I know he wants to kill me. But first, I need to explan whyI was born in Translvaina in 1682. About twenty-five years before my older half brother was born. While I could look human, he couldn't. When I was born (I heard later from my Father, Vlad) that Radu had threatened my life. Even than he couldn't get past his hatred of me. His mother, Circe was worse. Father sent me and mother away to France. That is where she came from. Her name was Sarah. I never knew her last name. She was capable of reading and writing. She loved me even though, I was half-vampire. Anyways when we left the peasents gave my father a beatiful stone, called the Bloodstone. I remember the look of rage on my beautiful mother's face. She hated to be reminded of what her lover and father of her son was. Beside's that, I had a calm childhood. My father had somehow bought a beautiful house in France. We had our own servants and I had my own horse. I befriended serveral boys my age who didn't think It all odd that I was sleaping during day. They just thought that I was sickly. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Chapter 2
Title: AOL Email Chapter 2 Chris was beginning to get intrested in it when she heard, "Chris, come on. We found nothing here. We're leaving." Grumbling to herself, she grabbed the book and stuffed it into her leather backpack. Glancing around, she once again thought that someone was watching her. She heard something, like the sound of a door opening. She stepped toward it and was about to open it when she heard, "Christine Alicia Morgan. I said, we are leaving now!" The girl glanced at the door and headed out to join her parents.Ash watched the pretty girl go. She looked so much like her sister. He shook his head. He had come from his home and had come to Castle Vadislav to see if there were any clues as to where Michelle had taken the stone. Unfortunatelly it had been sunrise before he had discovered anything intresting. He had to take shelter in one of the old crypts. He had just got up when he heard the girl walk toward the door. He had stood there mesmerized. She was beautiful. He had to have her.That was it, plain and simple. He shook his head. He was not pleased with Serinia. She was rather spitfull. He also had a sneaking suspision that she had tried to get his master to kill him. He wouldn't put it past her. He smiled to himself and followed the girl.Chris had finally got out of the castle and was walking to where her father and step-mother were. She reflected that she had never known her real mother. Her real mother had died when she was born. That also explained why she and her sister's didn't look alike.To be continued. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Vampire Journals
Title: AOL Email Story Basically, this story starts out at Sofia's performance, at which both Zachery and Ash are in attendeance. Afterwards Ash meets Sofia outside, and gives her a rose and his business card. With Ash being on Zachery's hitlist, Zach interupts their little meeting and offers to walk Sofia home. Sofia gladly accepts since Ash frieghtened her. The next day Sofia meets Iris. Iris appologizes for Ash's actions and tells her that Ash just wanted her to play a private concert in the casino. On her way to the performance that night, she runs into Zachery who was coming to see how she was doing. When she tells him about the performance, he pleads with her not to go, she tells him not to boss her around, and gets into the car. Zach follows them to the show, and attempts to go in and protect her, but somehow his Jedi Mind Trick does not work on Iris. He realizes his defeat and leaves willingly. Ash then turns Sofia to vampirism as she performs for the crowed of fellow vamps. Knowing Zachery is a threat to his community, Ash invites him to the consino to make a deal. The deal is Ash will get to see Sofia one last time if he promises to leave and never come back. Zach has no choice but to agree, so Ash brings him to his sleeping quarters to prepare, and gives him a willing sacrifice in order to feed his hunger. Not wanting to give in to his temptations, Zachery pleads with the girl to run before it's too late. She refuses to, and he soon cannot control himself and proceeds to bite into her neck. As Zach is feeding Ash brings in Sofia to him. They enter without Zach knowing, and Sofia screams when she sees Zach acting like one of the vamps. Ash says he has fullfilled his end of the bargain..and takes Sofia back to her room. Ash talks Iris into bringing Zach's body away to perish during the daytime. She goes to enter, but Zach is awoken from a nightmare right before she comes. He spare's her life when she tells him where Ash stays. He enters Ash's chamber just as Sofia is giving into Ash and making him her master. Zach sees his opportunity to take out Ash, but ash notices him in time and takes the sword meant for his head with his arm. Zach grabs Sofia and looks for a place to hide until sundown. Being too injured to fly, Ash orders Casandra to follow them. Casandra attempts to take out Zach, but ends up being taken out herself. Ash knows he us helpless, so runs away..right into an open room filled with sunlight. Zach takes one final blow at him and he falls to the ground and turns to ashes. Zach takes Sofia into a dark room and they lay down to sleep. In closing Sofia asks what will happen to her, Zach replies "..only one thing is certain, you will never again feel the warmth of the sun.." that beautiful or what? Characters Radu (Anders Hove) - well..he ain't in it..but like..how could you not mention him? Ash (Jonathan Morris II) - direct decendant of our boy Radu, and the main evil of this movie. Zachery (David Gunn) - tortured with the curse of vampirism, he vows to rid the world of all those in the bloodline of the creature that made him this way. Sofia (Kirsten Cerre) - Innocent pianist that is caught up in Ash's world. Cassandra (Ilinka Goya) - willing servant of Ash. Iris (Starr Andreeff) - Owner of the casino Ash has made his own, and the vampires' connection to daytime. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Bloodstorm
Title: AOL Email Bloodstorm The above picture was taken from the GOREZONE. Characters Radu (Anders Hove) - everyone's favorite master vampire. Michelle (Denice Duff) - don't worry..Michelle hasn't gone through another genetical change. Ash (Jonathan Morris) - a very obedient version of the man you loved to hate. Serena (Floriella Grappini) - Ash's protege. Anna (Iona Abur) - A nurse at a nearby clinic. Dr. Niculescu (Mihai Dinvale) - a doctor that seems to know a thing or too about the undead. umm..don't read any further if you haven't seen the movie and don't want it spoiled Story This starts out with a naration from Michelle, and lots of clips from the old movies. Then they show Radu "dying" at the end of part 3, but he doesn't melt this time, he falls into a puddle, grabs the Bloodstone, and walks inside. Then they go into the teaser that was on the Talisman video, but with different music. One of the new characters, Anna, finds a car turned over on the road. Both Rebecca and Mel are found dead (that's what happens when you cross Nicolaou!) Michelle is safe in her body bag, and is brought to the clinic. Dr. Dimitri..I mean Niculescu..knows exactly what she is, and when he finds out Radu is her master, he promises her both treatment, and protection from Radu. Radu visits Ash, takes back his stronghold, and decides to have his way with Serena. Meanwhile, we find out that Niculescu is indeed a vampire, but has been able to come up with a treatment to protect himself from the sun. He also reveals his plans to use Michelle to discover the secrets of the Bloodstone. When Radu comes to the clinic after Michelle, he is met with a trap that ends up paralizing him. Michelle senses his danger, and her fledgling side takes over and aids Radu in his escape. Serena, who is also after the Bloodstone, then gives Anna the key to Radu's resting place so she can destroy him in the daylight. When she gets there however, Radu wakes up, and eventaully beheads the doctor. Now Radu goes after Anna, and is about to feed off her when Michelle decides to take an ax and go for his throat. This seems to hurt a bit as he falls to the ground in pain. Anna then takes the ax from Michelle and finishes the job. After Radu's head is disconnected, Anna burns his body and starts to head outside with Michelle. Ash and Serena meet them at the exit, but a cleaning lady hears their screams and opens the door enough for sunlight to shine through and chase them away. Like the beginning, the ending is narated by Michelle. She is now the possesor of the Bloodstone and eventually learns what secrets it beholds. Radu's head is shown mounted on a steal post, melting away by the sun. So that's it. Michelle is able to live at peace with both herself and the mortal world, and Radu is once and for all, no more..for now (well..I hope anyway) Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Bloodlust
Title: AOL Email Bloodlust The above picture was taken from Videoflicks.com. Characters Radu (Anders Hove) - Like you weren't expecting him. Michelle (Denice Duff) - Same old Michelle..except she's at Radu's mercy. Rebecca (Melanie Shatner) - Continuing her mission to rescue her sister. Mel (Kevin Blair) - He has become a believer. Mummy (Pamela Gorden) - Once a Mummy always a Mummy. Lt Merin (Ian Haiduc) - Still annoying..but also proves to be not so smart. Bob (Michael Dellafemina) - This guy's good!! Story Before Rebecca has time to find help for her sister, Mummy resurrects Radu and teleports all three of them (Mummy, Radu, and Michelle) to Castle Vladislav. Michelle finally gets Mel to believe her about the vampires and they visit the late Popescu's office in order to "borrow" his book about the Vladislav legends and his assortment of vampire slaying weapons. Once they get passed Marin and his men, Rebecca and Mel (and Marin for some reason) go through the secret entrence of Castle Vladislav only to find out it has been sealed off from the rest of the castle. Knowing that Radu senses their pressence, Michelle tells him that she would do anything as long as Rebecca is not harmed. Knowing they can't do it alone, Mel contacts his old climbing buddy Rambo (uh..I mean Bob). Bob brings with him everything needed including climbing gear, bullets made from a melted down silver cross, walky talkies, and a light tight body bag. After scaling the side of the building bare handed (I said he was good), Bob helps Mel get up himself. Together they go in to clean house. Thanks to Mummy, Bob-o gets a knife to the forehead rather quickly, and Mel gets himself captured. Mummy also tries to take out Michelle because she will be Radu's downfall, but Radu would rather see his mother die then Michelle..so that's what he does. Being the kind genreous soul that he is, Radu allows Michelle to go outside and talk to her sister. While she is pleading with Rebecca to leave before it's too late, Radu takes out that Marin guy. When Radu approaches Rebecca, she pulls the gun on him and demands that he lets Mel out and allows then to leave with Michelle. Once back inside, Michelle takes the gun and goes to kill herself because she cannot stand the life she is forced to live, but at the last second she turns the gun on Radu and fires a few rounds at him. They grab the Bloodstone and starts to leave the castle. Radu follows them out, but since he has several bullet holes throughout his body and the fact that the sun is coming out, he is very weak. He demands the Bloodstone, so Rebecca gives it to him..unfortunatly her aim is not good and it happens to fall off the side of the castle :) Radu falls off trying to get it, gets burned up from the sun, and falls onto a dead tree with the branches driving themselves right through Radu's body (that's it..it's over..there ain't no way he can get up from this). Rebecca and Mel get Michelle in the body bag and they take her somewhere. As Radu continues to melt, his drops turn into those little sunspecie thingies, and they walk towards the Bloodstone. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Bloodstorm
Title: AOL Email Bloodstorm The above picture was taken from the GOREZONE. Characters Radu (Anders Hove) - everyone's favorite master vampire. Michelle (Denice Duff) - don't worry..Michelle hasn't gone through another genetical change. Ash (Jonathan Morris) - a very obedient version of the man you loved to hate. Serena (Floriella Grappini) - Ash's protege. Anna (Iona Abur) - A nurse at a nearby clinic. Dr. Niculescu (Mihai Dinvale) - a doctor that seems to know a thing or too about the undead. For a more complete credit listing wait a little bit. umm..don't read any further if you haven't seen the movie and don't want it spoiled Story This starts out with a naration from Michelle, and lots of clips from the old movies. Then they show Radu "dying" at the end of part 3, but he doesn't melt this time, he falls into a puddle, grabs the Bloodstone, and walks inside. Then they go into the teaser that was on the Talisman video, but with different music. One of the new characters, Anna, finds a car turned over on the road. Both Rebecca and Mel are found dead (that's what happens when you cross Nicolaou!) Michelle is safe in her body bag, and is brought to the clinic. Dr. Dimitri..I mean Niculescu..knows exactly what she is, and when he finds out Radu is her master, he promises her both treatment, and protection from Radu. Radu visits Ash, takes back his stronghold, and decides to have his way with Serena. Meanwhile, we find out that Niculescu is indeed a vampire, but has been able to come up with a treatment to protect himself from the sun. He also reveals his plans to use Michelle to discover the secrets of the Bloodstone. When Radu comes to the clinic after Michelle, he is met with a trap that ends up paralizing him. Michelle senses his danger, and her fledgling side takes over and aids Radu in his escape. Serena, who is also after the Bloodstone, then gives Anna the key to Radu's resting place so she can destroy him in the daylight. When she gets there however, Radu wakes up, and eventaully beheads the doctor. Now Radu goes after Anna, and is about to feed off her when Michelle decides to take an ax and go for his throat. This seems to hurt a bit as he falls to the ground in pain. Anna then takes the ax from Michelle and finishes the job. After Radu's head is disconnected, Anna burns his body and starts to head outside with Michelle. Ash and Serena meet them at the exit, but a cleaning lady hears their screams and opens the door enough for sunlight to shine through and chase them away. Like the beginning, the ending is narated by Michelle. She is now the possesor of the Bloodstone and eventually learns what secrets it beholds. Radu's head is shown mounted on a steal post, melting away by the sun. So that's it. Michelle is able to live at peace with both herself and the mortal world, and Radu is once and for all, no more..for now (well..I hope anyway) Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Zachery (The Bloodline of Radu)
Title: AOL Email Zachery (David Gunn) - tortured with the curse of vampirism, he vows to rid the world of all those in the bloodline of the creature that made him this way. Name: David Gunn Birthday: March 2, 1972 (I *think*...not sure about the year) Astrological Sign: Pisces Raised In: Gresham, Oregan Current Place of Residence: California (I think...not sure about this one either) Natural Hair Color: Blond Studied At: The American Acadamy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles Favorite Actor: Marlon Brando Other Actors Liked: Montgomery Cleft, James Dean Favorite Movie: The Crow Favorite Band: Depeche Mode Other Bands Liked: Front242, NitzerEBB, Nine Inch Nails, Mesh, Echoing Green, Iris, Devision, VNV Nation Music He Dislikes: Corporate Rock (i.e. Britany Spears, boy bands, etc.) Random Tidbits: He likes to hang out at The Asylum night club in L.A. He listens to trance and electronica music. He used to drink a lot of Diet Coke, but he consumed so much caffeine that he's now allergic to it. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Redemption By: Mica West
Title: AOL Email Redemption By: Mica West He sat there, thinking about his life, about the things that had once been. He stopped himself, no, not once had been, but could have been his life. Born into the world of the vampire was a cruel fate, but it was better than being brought over from natural life, there was nothing that one could miss. He missed many things, things he had not even experienced before. Sunlight, hapiness, love Most of which that were forbidden to him.His brother dwelt in a similar world, but one of his own putrid creation. Radu was a demon, created of a demon. His father, Stefan's father, had fallen under a spell of an evil sorceress. Sorceress, witch, hag...whatever he pleased to call her, it was always the same. Pure evil.Radu had been conceived of this evil. Then his father had fallen in love with a peasent girl, and Stefan was born of that love. He was also the heir to the bloodstone, which was a giving life force to vampires. He couldn't shake the feeling of darkness when he thought of this. Radu had been the King's first born, which meant that the blood stone was his birth rite. But he had been banished a long time past.Stefan looked up towards the dark moon, which was clearly visible from the window. To most humans, the moon was an alumination of the night. To him, it was darness, a darkness that binded him to his destiny and fate. A fate, that was clearly worste than death. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] SUBSPECIES (1991)
Title: AOL Email SUBSPECIES (1991) "You know, the funny thing about Castle Vladislasis that nobody ever says anything about it."This movie came out of nowhere to become one of my all-time-favorite vampire films. Crackling with energy and invention, creating its own imaginative chapter of undead mythology plus one of the most unique vampire characters ever, it takes no genius to see how easily it became the foundation of a series that has lasted a decade.The thing I love second-best about it is the richness and ingenuity of its backstory, which has a genuine folk/fairytale feel. Long ago, the story - though this isn't the only version of it - goes, the King of the Vampires was bewitched by a wicked and powerful sorceress who "craved an unusual offspring". The result of their mating was an intelligent, crafty, sensitive but dangerous child, grotesque in appearance, who had no desire to live in peace with ordinary mortalkind. (This doesn't seem to have troubled his mother at the time, as he's acquired extensive training in the mystic arts.) More than 500 years later, in 1443 to be exact (we're told it was "during the reign of Vlad Dracul", the father of Vlad the Impaler), the vampire lord led his tribe in an attack on a Turkish army which had besieged the town of Prejmar, and vanguished it (the villagers, venturing out after the din of battle had subsided, found "many Turks with bloody throats"). In gratitude, the people of the town gave the ancient ruins above the city to the vampires for a resting place. Being what they were, however, the vampires continued to prey on the townspeople until a clever Gypsy recalled a story he had heard: The Pope of Rome (who would at that time have been Pius II) possessed a sacred relic, "a stone that dripped the blood of all the saints". The Gypsy traveled to Rome, stole the stone and presented it as a gift to the Vampire King - and since that day no one in Prejmar has ever been bitten by a vampire. The Bloodstone is the sign and seal of a pact which has stood unbroken to this very day.Not long after the siege of Prejmar, the vampire lord fell in love with a mortal woman and fathered a second son. This one was very different from his elder half-brother; handsome and human to the eye, he like his father wanted only peace with the humans alongside whom they lived. Thus, when King Vlad nears the end of his reign and desires to pass throne, Bloodstone and pact on to an heir, it's not his eldest son he summons, but his second. Stefan - not Radu.
[TheDarkGift] fromme2youwho@yahoo.com Joined in
Title: AOL Email Thank you for the welcome. my real name is sascha barbakov, i was adopted under sonia lorraine wold by my mother's new husband, but i took back my biological father's names. on my biological father, they came from france to protect king henry [don't know which one, have that fact somewhere], and their order of knights was called the order of calatrava. when i looked up that order they are related to vlad the impaler. just look up "order of calatrava" or look up "calatrava" for i can not remember which one i looked up. they are aka orden de dragoon, which are relations to vlad the impaler, and very famous knights. and on my mother's mother's paternal side, i have my pedigree papers, they are all goths/ostrogoths/visigoths from a tribe called "amali" [not to be confused with "alemmani" which they are as well for it means "german"], and "amali" means "blood royale, holy graal and graal means "blood", holy grail and grail means "blood." but this side up to "amalric" my forefather, the first gothic king of navarre spain married "clotilde" and her father was 1st christain king of france [france got its name from the franks, so the original blood of france were "germans" as well]. and it is her line that stems from the merovingians, irish, druid and arch druid kings of britain, and of the "pendragon" line, we have two males in our family of this "pendragon" family. and "pendragon" means "orden de dracul" or modernized to "order of dracul" and "dracul" means "dragon" and i am sure that "dracul(a), dracula" got its start from this "dracul". It also means son/daughter of the devil. so does that mean that "dracul" means "dracula" means "devil", hell if i know, but i can send you proof of this lineage of mine. the gothic side who came from the "amalric" side has "brunehilda/brunehaut", daughter of "atanagild(o) which means "guilded in immortality." and she was known as the 1st witch, though she was not the 1st in our family, for this specific blood line of mine were known as priest kings with supernatural powers and were known as "sorcerers/sorceresses" not witches.they did not believe in cutting their long hair or they would lose the throne plus they would lose their supernatural powers.i am sorry to bore you with such detail but i wanted you to know who i am, though on all my profiles i am very evasive. i am an esoteric writer, genealogist of my families, [to keep it going for my great uncle, rosicrucian and fantastic artist and researcher, as myself, researcher that is, i am only good at writing], research of my families history. there is a book out with my relations in the genealogical tree on merovingians, it is called "holy blood, holy grail" by 3 authors, one of which is michael baigent. ps when the goth/amali's went into navarre, spain, they were known as the "godos." ciao for now, a friend Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Stranger
Stranger Dressed alone in midnight lacebeneath a weeping candle flameyou linger alone for the one who haunts your dreams Torn from madness, beating heartlips parted for the silent screamThe kiss instead fills the nightyour dream again is broken Midnight calls the hours witchinggentle winds guide starlightto your eyesgentle the madness when he callslifted from slumber beneath the guard of angels Nameless rapture overtakes youhis sad wings against your body brushbroken by his touchcry inside for one last kissyour days forever driftin the torture of his absenceall the long burningwaiting for darkness And last nights stranger.. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. inline: back56.jpg
[TheDarkGift] Swept Away
Swept AwayPale my love softly whisper drinking so deeply of mesifting sands hold a vision of darknessand serpents that coil in the treesalone in the world slowly dancing,fading lights call your soul to my skiesso dark in the shadowsalive where the moon glowsas starlight drips into your eyesthe keeper of keys to a secretive soula sensual merchant of dreamsa healer of pearls calling diamonds from coalbinding spells while a lonely heart singswith a twist of the vines soon the heart he posseseswhen the weakend knees bowsoon the sweet tongue confesses in the silence of rhymes that will never deceiveno return,no retreat,no release,no reprieveswept away in strong wingsfrom the cold skies you're underfast escape from the rain and the roar of the thunderand your innocent eyes plead for gentle embracea whispered lust kiss with a ruby wine tasteand the aching is lost as you fall to the nightwhen the princess succumbs to the Vampire's bite Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. inline: vampg003.gif
[TheDarkGift] Suburban Vampires
Title: AOL Email EBOOK TITLE: Suburban VampiresGENRE: teen fictionAUTHOR: Connie KeenanAVAILABLE FILE FORMATS: HTML for the standard computer, Rocket reader for the Rocket eBook reader device, MS Reader for the PC and Pocket PC, FUB for eBookMan, Mobipocket for Palm Pilot, Pocket PC, and eBookMan, and KML for hiebook "At first thought, reading a book about vampires was not going to be my cup of tea. Surely, this must be either gory or run of the mill reading. I was wrong! I found Suburban Vampires to be a delightful read...I don't want to tell too much and give away this wonderful story of love and victory. Do the young Vampires find a way to become mortal again? Does the curse continue? Is Professor Ellery killed? This is a fun read for teens, and adults, too. Thumbs up on this one, you will enjoy it!"Reviewed by Shirley Johnson for MidWest Reviews "The strength of this book is in its characters, particularly in its vampire protagonists." Reviewed by Audrey Snowden for Inscriptions Magazine "People think that vampires are mean, wear capes and say, "I vant to suck your blood." This book describes vampires not as nasty blood suckers, but as a minority that can blend in. Vampires look, speak, and for the most part, act the same as ordinary humans. They just need blood. SUBURBAN VAMPIRES is great because not only does it make you see vampires in another light, but it shows you how a guy from Britain in 1776 thinks of Long Island in the year 2000. Hilarious and just plain interesting to read."Reviewed by Amanda, for Romance Reviews Today DESCRIPTION: A whole high school full of vampires? Well it will be, if Dylan and Jesse follow orders. A vampire hunter is making living death dangerous in New Jersey, so the two young men...uh, relatively young as vampires go...are sent by the Master Vampire to bite the entire student body of a local high school. All is well until the lads fall for Tegan, the daughter of the vampire hunter, and her best friend, Rina. Dylan and Jesse are inventive enough to appear to be ordinary guys, until challenged. No red-blooded vampire is going to let a mere human outdo him, as Jesse proves when he transforms into a bat to muddle a football game. Dylan survives a fatal fall from a tree--vampires are immortal. Tegan and Rina become pawns in a deadly game, until a final battle with the Master Vampire has an unexpected outcome. Dylan and Jesse prove their heroism, but will the vampire hunter give up his quest, even when his daughter's happiness is at stake? Usual nonsale price is $4.75 Awe-Struck E-Books: teen fiction, Suburban Vampires Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Speaking with Vampires Rumor and History in Colonial Africa
Title: AOL Email Speaking with Vampires Rumor and History in Colonial Africa Luise White Suggested citation:White, Luise.Speaking with Vampires: Rumor and History in Colonial Africa.Berkeley: University of California Press, c2000. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft8r29p2ss/ Acknowledgments This project has been transformed by the research I did on it. I was doing the research for my dissertationwhich became my first bookwhen I first heard stories of the firemen in colonial Nairobi who captured Africans and took their blood. Back then, I was incredulous. In fact, when I repeated this story to my research assistants mother, I learned the word for crazy in Swahili in order to describe the woman who told it to me. It only struck me that this might be an interesting thing to pursue when my assistants mother assured me that it was true, that it had happened from the fighting of the Germans to the day Pangani was broken, from World War I to 1939. But the more questions I asked about these bloodsucking firemen, the more I learned about these stories and how different versions of them commented upon the history of which they were a part. On all the research trips that inform the bulk of this bookto western Kenya in 1986, to Zambia and Uganda in 1990, and to do archival research in England in 1991 and 1992, Italy in 1991, and Belgium in 1992 and 1993I told myself that I needed one more piece of the puzzle, one more fragment with which to write a history and then I would be done. But I learned, quite slowly in fact, that there was no puzzle, no flat, two-dimensional representation of the world that Africans had represented in vocabularies of blood, firemen, and injections. Instead, there was a maze, almost a series of mazes, a set of meanings and messy epistemologies embodied in every fearsome hour when men and women had wondered whether it was safe to go outside and animated with every recounting of a blood accusation. Letting the maze be the maze, letting this history be as messy and meandering as it needed to be, occasioned a rethinking of the historiography that had dismissed rumor and gossip as a likely way to reconstruct the past. As this book took shape, I found myself moving from contextualizing these vampires to allowing them to comment on historiography and evidence. What better way to reexamine the way historians have thought about evidence, reliability, and truth than by studying the history of things that never happened? The research for this book began in the 1970s. It has been funded by the Jan Smuts Fund of Cambridge University, the Division of the Humanities at Rice University, the McKnightLand Grant Professorship at the University of Minnesota, the American Philosophical Society, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Wellcome Trust. That these funds became research owes much to the extraordinary generosity of those with whom I stayed while in Europe and Africa as I followed these bloodsucking firemen, and I want to thank the late Timotheo and May Omondo for my home in Yimbo, Siaya District; Jane and Opiyo Odhiambo in Alego, and Sidney Westley in Nairobi, in Kenya; Hugh and Monica Macmillan for housing in Lusaka; Megan Vaughan and Henrietta Moore and William Beinart and Troth Wells for housing in Oxford; and Robert and Helen Irwin for accommodation and friendship in London over the years. My research in Uganda would not have been possible without the generosity of Nnakanyike and Seggane Musisi. I owe a special debts to archivists: Musila Musembe at the Kenya National Archives in Nairobi; Mrs. M. N. Mutiti at the Zambian National Archives in Lusaka; Pre Renault at the White Fathers Archives in Rome; Pre Christian Papians de Morchoven at Saint Andreas Abbey in Bruges; John Pinfold at Rhodes House, Oxford; and Julia Shepard at the Wellcome Trust in London. None of this would have been possible without some extraordinary research assistants: Margaret Makuna and Paul Kakaire in Nairobi, Odhiambo Opiyo in Siaya, Fred Bukulu, Godfrey Kigozi, and Remigius Kigongo in Kampala. This book was written during periods of unemployment and has been sustained by a number of institutions and a somewhat larger circle of friends. Fellowships at the Institute for the Humanities at the University of Michigan and the Institute for the Advanced Study and Research in the African Humanities at Northwestern University gave me the time to start two chapters. From 1993 to 1995, I had the great good fortune to be at the National Humanities Center, where fellow Fellows and staff nurtured this project: I am grateful to Robert Conner and Kent Mullikin for their generosity and to Alan Tuttle and Jean Houston for library services above and beyond the expectations of even the most pampered academics. Most of the book was finished when I was a Fellow at the Center for Folklife Programs at the Smithsonian Institution, and I am grateful to Peter Seitel for his stewardship and many discussions about
[TheDarkGift] Blood and Words
Title: AOL Email Siting Vampires But why have I focused on these stories of blood? There are any number of other widespread rumorsabout food additives that made men impotent, about dreams that foretold the appearance of white men, or dreams that foretold when they would vanish, about the origin of AIDSthat I could have used. But they do not share the same generic qualities and lack the similarities of plot and detail. Stories about colonial bloodsucking, in contrast, are told withand abouta number of overlapping details; they are identifiable over a large geographic and cultural area, both by the people who tell them and the people who hear them, as a specific kind of story. Even people who dont believe them understand that this is a particular kind of story and often use it as an example of what Africans are willing to believe, as chapters 4 and 8 argue. These stories are almost always taken together, so that they form a genre, a special kind of story that, while drawing on other kinds of stories and everyday experiences in each retelling, retains a specific set of plot and details. It is the pattern of the tale, not the circumstances of the telling, that makes a story recognizable as belonging to a genre, different from other stories that flourish alongside reports of bloodsucking firemen and game rangers.[4] As some of the oral material quoted in these introductory chapters makes clear, the circulation of the genre gives these stories their unity. These were the kinds of stories that, like some kinds of song or praise poetry, could be extended, amended, and applied and reapplied to different situations in different places.[5] Listeners understand the variety of these stories as forming part of a whole: hearing a bloodsucking story from Uganda can confirm a bloodsucking story from Nairobi. When someone hears that prostitutes work for firemen in Nairobi but not in Kampala, this does not contradict the story he or she knows. Instead, it underscores the local difference that makes the stories such accurate descriptions of life in Kampala and Nairobi. The circulation, and the differences circulation reveals, makes storytellers and listeners aware of the historical location of these stories, which in turn gives the genre its authority: a story that reports so many diverse experiences from so many different places must depict elements of social lifeand speechthat hearers recognize and want to repeat. Map 1. East and Central Africa[Full Size] Firemen, pits, injections, game rangers, and bucketsthese are the formulaic elements of these stories. The formulaic has had a troubled history in the study of oral literature. Originally thought of as a group of words that expressed an essential idea, often in meter, formulas were once considered a key tool by which Homeric bards had composed their epics. But the idea was reworked, and by the time African history emerged as an object of academic study, the very fact that formulas were an explicit tool in performance was thought to make them less reliable as historical sources.[6] The devices of storytelling were considered irrelevant to the history as a story told. Recent research, however, has argued that African oral materials never provide the same kind of stable texts that documents do and has challenged historians to unfix the boundary between the formulas used to tell a particular story and the history transmitted in that story.[7] My use of the concept of formula in this book takes up that challenge, arguing that the formulaic elements of these stories, the firemen and the pits and the injections, are simply that: terms and images into which local meanings and details are inserted by their tellers. These stories say different things about injections and pits in different places because the history and the meaning of those terms is different in those places. These stories belong to a genre that is told with formulaic elements; they are about the past and can be used to recover experiences and ideas best described in terms of firemen, pits, and blood. I call this transnational genre of African stories vampire stories, not because I want to insert a lively African oral genre into a European one, but because I want to use a widespread term that adequately conveys the mobility, the internationalism, and the economics of these colonial bloodsuckers. No other term depicts the ease with which bloodsucking beings cross boundaries, violate space, capture vulnerable men and
[TheDarkGift] Vampiric Studies: Introduction
Title: AOL Email Welcome. I am Catherene Teacher to 'Night's Children'. You will find no Role Playing Games here, just the simple truth about today's real and modern Vampires. Classes are taught on this site which will give you an understanding of the emerging role of the genuine vampire, revealing the nature and lifestyles of real Vampires, not Goths. Classes cover a range of categories, including: Inheritors, Classicals, Night-timers, Genetics, Psi~Vamps, Symbiotics, Bloodists, Fetishists, Sexual Vampires, Real Predators, Real Hunters, the Vampiric Myths and their explanations, the Vampire Prophecies, Historical Vampires, Medical Reality, F.A.Q., a Parent's Page, and more. This page serves as an introduction to the world of Real Vampires. Classes are provided to promote better understanding between the human and Vampiric natures. They also clear away the cobwebs of lies, myths, legends and inaccuracies, which normally surround the mystique of the Vampiric lifestyle. To access the classes simply click on each link to get to the next class in the series. It is in your best interest to look at them in order, however, you may access any individual class at any time. If you have questions please read the entire class and then feel free to ask these questions. Just click on the E-mail link. I will be happy to answer them for you. Please understand, I get hundreds of emails per week. Please wait until you have read the entire site, even the classes that do not interest you, then send your email. And please limit your questions to three per email. Your answers will arrive much quicker that way.We have added an explanation of the V5 virus due to the fact that several people have read one or two other sites relating to it. These sites claim that V5 is a hoax, made up and taken from a television program called 'Ultra Violet' which aired in Great Britain. To learn more of the truth, read our Medical Page. Everything you need to understand is there. NOTE: For those who are new to cyberspace ... the links below will connect one page to the other taking directly to each of the Information Pages listed. You will notice that your 'mouse-pointer' (the arrow) changes into a hand pointing at the link when you have it in the correct position to 'click on it.' We recommend that you read the information in the order it is presented ... (going from top to bottom, left hand column first) but it is not mandatory that you do so.We strongly suggest you go to the class which is titled Real Predators and then to Real Hunters before you begin reading the vampire pages. It may give you some insight you had not thought about before.Site visitors, please note: This is an information intensive site. There are currently 21 pages of class and other text information. You must be patient, please read the entire site, not just this first page, if you seek information and answers to questions. Please don't write asking questions which are already answered on this site. You MUST read the entire site and then you are free to ask anything you like. To try to conserve bandwidth we have taken steps to make renovations to the site. (Over use of bandwidth has caused this site to be shut down by GeoCities at times) We have been working on this for quite some time to be able to present the site in a condition where it will load much faster and use much less of our allotted bandwidth. So
[TheDarkGift] Vampiric Studies: Inhertior Vampires
Title: AOL Email Now we learn about the Inheritor Vampire. Inheritors come in two categories: Class 1 (also called Category 1) and Class 2 (also called Category 2) There is no one language or word in the vampiric community, which describes all of the subspecies of vampires. With the exception of the word 'True Borne', 'Borne', or 'Blue Blood', which is generally taken to mean Class 1 or Category 1 Inheritors. Class 1 comprises the true Inheritors. For, although they are born into their lifestyle, just as are Category 2 Inheritors, they are different in several ways. They are immortal, or what most think of as immortal, living for many hundreds of years. They heal much more quickly. They can be killed but it takes quite a lot to accomplish it. They do regenerate some organs, teeth, fangs, and nerves. I am not sure if bones are regenerated. I think perhaps so, but do not know this as a certain fact. Class 1's can go about by day as well, better than the other categories, because they usually are born into a very human state and gradually become aware of the Vampiric growth and changes in their bodies as they age and enter puberty. Thus, often feeling different as they grow into the teen years. They can eat regular foods and beverages for their entire lifespan. The changes begin at puberty, and slowly, over years forms into the full blown Vampiric Medical Condition. During the first stages of the transformation they begin to feel the need for blood and will begin to feed. At even this early stage, they DO feed for nourishment but continue to eat regular foods. It is a fable that Vampires only feed on blood. Even when they 'mature' into the Vampiric Condition they will continue to eat normal foods throughout their lives. In fact many Vampires enjoy dining in fine restaurants and drinking fine wines. As with most, but not all real Vampires, Class 1's do tend to avoid humans. Some do make good and lasting human friendships though. The Class 1 is what is considered the immortal Vampire, as are the Classicals, but they can die. They just do not do so as often or as quickly. Regarding feeding: Most Class 1 Inheritors disdain 'dead' blood which is frozen or animal blood such as in a steak or piece of liver. They almost always prefer live blood directly from a living source.As with most real Vampires, they lead secretive and secluded lives, making it difficult for humans to get any closer emotionally than the Vampire chooses to permit. As with ALL Vampires they can disappear for long stretches of time. Identities are changed more often than clothes.They have a different relationship to, and perception of, time, which is vastly different from most human perceptions. They can become ill, but do so far less often as their recuperative processes are faster and stronger. In mental ability all Inheritors can be, and often are, highly psychic and/or empathic -- as are Classicals. They can do all the things Classicals can do. Perhaps it is they, the Inheritors, about whom the legends are truly speaking.As with all races, Inheritors number the bad, the good, the evil and the saintly among their ranks. But as with all Vampires, they are what they are -- predators, hunters and true to their real natures. To quote a close Vampire friend of mine, 'Don't let this pleasant human exterior fool you. Never forget, I am what I am. I'm a killer. That's my nature. I'm a killer. Please don't ever forget that.' Most do maintain their humanity, some do not. All are
[TheDarkGift] Night Timers
Title: AOL Email Exactly what is a Night-Timer? Night-timer is a title given to a race of beings who are actually also Inheritors. Although, they are distinguished by the term Category 2. They are also, a Bourne or Inheritor Vampire, and very similar to Class 1 Inheritors. Night-timers are affected and infected by a much weaker strain of whats come to be known as the V5 virus. Night-timers normally Live Much Longer than humans: They outwardly age more slowly and stay younger looking in appearance much longer. The average live span of a Night-timer is 200 to 300 years. They look about 80 to 90 at age 300. On the whole, nowhere near as long as the average Classical or Class 1 Inheritor Vampire. Night-timers Can Be Killed: They may be killed by most of the normal ways of killing humans, but not as easily. Night-timers Are Psychic: Usually, they tend to be much more psychic than the average human and, most often are just as psychic as the most skilled Vampire. Night-timers Are Physically Stronger: If healthy, they average three to five times as strong as their counterpart human, but much less powerful than a Vampire at the same stage of life at any given point. Night-timers Have Extreme Sensitivity To Light, Heat And Sun: As their Vampire counterparts suffer, so do Night-timers. They are also prone to eye problems and digestive maladies. Night-timers Consume Blood: As their Classical and Inheritor counterparts, Night-timers consume blood as nourishment, in varying amounts. If they do not do so on some sort of regular basis, they become very weak and prone to illness. Like other Vampires, Night-timers can eat and drink as well as consume blood. Night-timers Function Better After Dark: As with Vampires, Night-timers feel more vigorous, and stronger during the non-daylight hours. As Vampires do, they prefer not to go out during the day. But, as with Vampires, they can and do go out when the need arises. Night-timers Do Not Regenerate Organs: Unlike Inheritor Vampires, who tend to heal faster and regenerate to a greater extent, Night-timers do not regenerate organs, but are more like humans in this respect. It was once said that Night-timers inherited the worst of both species. The ailments and other characteristics of both human and vampire without the strength, regenerative abilities, health, or long life of the Vampire. Actually, there are two forms of Night-timer. The ones who more strongly resembles Inheritor vampires in their attributes, (they heal faster, are physically stronger, and tend to be more arrogant) and those who more strongly favor humans. That which causes these differences is believed to be the original strength of the infecting virus. Night-timers never get much respect from the Classical or Inheritor communities. Most vampires consider Night-timers to be half-breeds or even think of them as human. Humans think of Night-timers as vampires and insist on calling them vampire. Most vampires, especially Bornes, refuse to recognize Night-timers as vampires, even though Night--timers are born the same way. Usually from human parents or skipping generations and resembling ancestors such as Aunts, Uncles, cousins, etc. Night-timers choose to call themselves Night-timers to help differentiate themselves from true Bornes. Unlike Class 1 Inheritors we are not sterile, but we die, and it is difficult for Night-timers to get pregnant. Many first pregnancies are lost, or the children die very young. So, even though new generations may be sired, the young often die much before maturity, making the race as a whole, sadly doomed to extinction. Mating with humans seems to eliminate the Night-timer qualities or, at least, dilute them even further. And since Class 1 Inheritors are sterile; mating with a Vampire to strengthen the race would accomplish nothing. Many Night-timers have fangs, but many do not. Night-timers feed exactly like Class 1 Inheritors, but whereas Inheritors and Classicals disdain dead blood and prefer their blood pumping live from the vein of a feeding source, many Night-timers exist on animal blood. Which most secure from possible blood donors and butcher shops. Night-timers feed by biting, those who do not have fangs use an appliance called Feeding Fangs. Which are actually dentist quality fangs over a very sharp piece of steel at the point. For reasons explained in the class on Inheritors, else where, most Night-timers feed from the area just above the heart, the breast, the upper arm, upper thigh both inside and outside thigh and on the hand. The fangs make small punctures which heal rapidly and resemble freckles when healed. Class 1 Inheritors are mostly immune to human illnesses. They cannot catch AIDs and other varying diseases, but can pass them on from blood donor to blood donor. (i.e. sources) The Night-timers, even those which resemble Inheritors Class 1, are also susceptible to human
[TheDarkGift] Genetic Vampires
Genetic Vampires are similar to Inheritor Vampires. In fact, the term Inheritor is correctly applied to Genetics as well. The difference being, true Inheritors must be born into the lifestyle and inherit their Vampiric abilities and attributes from someone in their family; although it may be several generations removed. Genetics are thought of more as having their chromosomes altered and being carriers of the genes, which are usually transmitted by birth or infection. It is generally believed that real Vampirism stems from an altered physical state, which is influenced by an original viral infection or other deficiency, such as body chemistry, altering due to some form of extreme mutagen. As with Night-timers, It is believed that the infecting virus for Genetics was a much weaker strain than that which infected Bornes. In most cases the modern view is that a virus which alters the immune system to produce longer life, greater physical strength, faster healing of an injured or other wise normally infected body. This virus is also believed to affect the bones and organs as a person gradually ages. The aging process is much slower due to the reaction to the virus. Current medical research into the extending of human life, indicates that by altering the chromosomal chain by 'capping' the ends of some of the genes so that the gene does not continue to degenerate, as it normally would, with each succeeding cell division; could possibly result in a vastly increased lifespan for the normal human -- if not a form of human immortality. It is believed that the physical Vampire, such as the Inheritor and the Classical have already undergone this change in cell division, caused by the 'capped' genes --- due to the results of an infection which is either inherited or spread by one who is carrying it. It is believed, by these researchers, that there may actually be a vaccine against human aging. One shot of this substance into the human body may result in the altered DNA structure and 'capping' of the gene, therefore preventing the deterioration of cell structure that causes aging. However, it is also believed that the real Vampire has for centuries already been undergoing this dramatic alteration. At about 700 years of human age or slightly before, the DNA is so altered that immortality is achieved. Immortality does not mean living forever and never dying. What it means in the case of a vampire is that the life span is so much longer than the human life span, or even the Night-timer life span, that in the early days this was thought of as living forever. Example: in the days of early Rome old age was reached at 30, extreme old age was believed to be 50. Although many lived to past 30 and a few lived to 50, very few lived past 50 years of age. To those Romans our normal life span today of ages ranging from 70 to 100 would be considered immortal. To someone who reached old age at 30 a life span of 100 years, which is more than three times their normal life span, would have been considered immortality, just as Vampires are now considered immortal. Genetics are infected with the virus. Most Genetic males are said to be infertile. Most Genetic females are believed to be able to pass on the disposition. As with anything there are exceptions to all of this. The viral research is very new to the medical community and is not officially recognized. Opinions may change in the future and in fact some medical opinions differ from these stated facts. But the following is thought to be true ... Real Vampirism is a disease, transmitted by a virus. Almost all Vampires have the same needs, symptoms and attributes. The virus may be transmitted by birth or infection. The virus affects gene structure and DNA after a period of time. The more common results are longer life, faster healing capabilities, improved immune systems, the need to ingest blood (diminishing over time), the changes in bone and organ structure over a passage of time, heightened mental and physical abilities, and at this time, no reversal of the process is known. In a sense you could say it is incurable. Genetics live nearly as long as Night-timers, and they too have both more vampiric, and less vampiric, type individuals. As ever,Catherene NightPoe Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. inline: gold.gif
[TheDarkGift] Psi~Vamps
Title: AOL Email Psi~Vamps Psi~Vamps are people who have the ability to drain away energy in all of its forms. To do so enhances their mental and physical energies as normal feeding would to regular Vampires. A Psi~Vamp may or may not be psychic in the normal sense, but this use of the terminology means the psychic ability to drain another of energy or life forces. It also means such an individual can drain thoughts, emotions, life force, mental and physical strengths. About 50 percent of Psi~Vamps do so automatically without intending to or even realizing that they are doing so. Everyone has known or shall know a person like this, be it a sibling, lover, relative or friend. No matter how little time you spend with them you always feel tired and weak when they leave. The other 50 percent do so with intent. Some do so just to increase their own power, while others do so as a challenge --- a sort of game, to see how much they can take. Like Vampires, Psi~Vamps can sense another of their kind and sometimes attack mentally just to see if the victim feels it or reacts to it. They enjoy the hunt and love the challenge when the victim feels it and tries to block or responds in kind. Then it becomes more than a Battle of Wills. There is no magic attached to this, it is pure mental and psychic energy and force of will. One of the prevailing beliefs is that the Psi~Vamp attacks from the Astral Plane ... controlling the Astral State and its Astral Body. Another view is that the Psi~Vamp is in some way ill or unable to maintain its own energy levels for some reason, so it draws energy either unconsciously or deliberately from another to sustain its own energies. This does not mean the Psi~Vamp or Symbiot is a creature or spirit or anything else living or originating on the psychic plane. By doing so he/she can launch an attack upon the Astral Body of anyone else by eliminating negative energy, such as can be seen in auras, the Psi~Vamp can actually heal. Some Psi~Vamps care very little that the energies they are draining could seriously hurt their prey. Especially if the victim is weak from illness, injury or is in a diminished mental state due to mental illness, physical illness or severe depression. By feeding on these victims, the loss of both physical and mental energies to the extreme, could cause death. It is believed that some very rare Psi~Vamps try to make themselves immortal by preventing the 'second death'. The second death being the death of the Astral Body shortly after the death of the physical body. It is also generally believed, that in these rare instances, if this state of increased physical energy to the astral body is sufficient, the astral body of the Psi~Vamp could possibly be freed, upon the death of the physical body and yet maintain its own separate 'living' (i.e.: continuing) astral state. In so doing, the astral body of the Psi~Vamp would then be freed to continue the drawing off of energies of both astral and physical bodies of those remaining alive. In a sense, gaining a true immortality. Involuntary Psi~Vamps often do not realize they are draining energies of those around them. It is thought that these people do so on a non-conscious level. In many cases the involuntary Psi~Vamp is, in some way, ill or in some sort of diminished capacity. The energies being drawn from those around may be an automatic procedure of their own astral bodies in an effort to gain strength to preserve or create a more healthful state for its own physical body. Symbiotics This is perhaps the other side of the coin, as Symbiotics, or Symbiosis, is a form of Psi~Vamp. But instead of feeding off of the life force, and physical and mental energies, this Vampire feeds off of the spiritual energies and electro-bio-chemical energy found in a person's aura. Feeding off this energy can also have a negative effect on the source. However, this Vampire is known for draining the negative energies away from or off of the aura, allowing these energies to be naturally replaced by the person's own individual auric replacements. Example: A person is ill or weak, his aura is black, grey or greenish yellow, or perhaps purple. If a Symbiotic begins to drain off this energy, the person's own recuperative powers become stronger and the physical, mental or spiritual healing may proceed at a faster pace. Most Symbiotics do what they do with intent -- unlike their cousin the Psi~Vamp, only a few do so unawares. Psi~Vamp is short for Psychic Vampire. Again, a Symbiotic may be a real Vampire ie, Classical, Inheritor, Night-timer, etc. or a human. The term Vampire is used in this case mainly because there is a draining or feeding, even though most regular Vampires are not Symbiotics or Psi~Vamps. Any human may be a Symbiotic or Psi~Vamp. The victims are not usually aware of a Symbiotic, as the results usually makes the so called victim feel much better. Most
[TheDarkGift] Real Hunters
Title: AOL Email There are real hunters as well as real vampires. These hunters are both male and female; gender does not matter. Actual hunters have only one thing in mind: to really harm the vampire, sometimes to even kill their prey. There are three main classes of hunters: the Religious Hunter, the Sports Hunter, and the Revenge Hunter. The Religious Hunter This person can be of any religion. Mostly these hunters are Christian, but there have been Jewish hunters and Moslem hunters. The Religious Hunter is convinced that the vampire is a servant of the Devil. 'A Spawn of Hell.' An actual demon with the power to steal souls and beguile the innocent. The religious hunter feels that killing a demon is not a sin, and truly believes that all vampires, or those claiming to be vampires, are pure evil. It is not against their morals or religious convictions to kill in the name of God or to kill that which they feel is evil. They are very dangerous as they often refuse to listen to (or believe) the truth, feeling that a 'demon' always lies and is not to be trusted. They often feel it is their duty to destroy vampires. These people also feel there is a plot afoot by Vampires and by the Goth movement through out the world especially in America, Germany and some other countries, that the Goth movement is a plot to corrupt the innocent of the world (i.e.: the children or other people), these hunters are also bent on targeting these people. Deprogramming, religious indoctrination and even killings are their way of dealing with this perceived threat on the morals of civilization. The Sports Hunter He or she, just like a hunter of small or large animals, hunts for sport. The thrill of the chase; the thrill of the win; and the thrill of the kill. Because the sport hunter loves the hunt as much as the conquest, this hunter will often warn his prey, the vampire, of his intentions to harm or kill it. In that way he knows the vampire will be alert to the threat and offer him a better and more interesting hunt. He knows the vampire to be as dangerous a prey as any large or small animal and he knows the vampire will do all that is necessary to defend itself and protect its friends and family. So, mostly the hunter will warn the vampire either be declaring who he is and challenging the vampire, or by stalking it first, doing small things like harassing it and stalking it to let it know he is there. In some rare occasions, a sport hunter will just attack the vampire with no warning but mostly not. The sport hunter hunts for sport, to be matched and to have the thrill of a dangerous situation. If he really feels superior to his prey, he will let them know who he is and what he intends. If not, the hunter then stalks and tries to use psychology to unnerve his prey. The religious hunter is often more silent in his intent for he believes the vampire to possess supernatural powers and gives no warning most of the time. The Revenge Hunter This is a person who hunts to revenge someone he knows; it could be either a vampire or a human. Example 1: A hunter killed a vampire and a friend of the vampire went after this hunter. Example 2: The vampire killed a hunter and that hunter's friend went forth to hunt his friend's killer. Anyone who hunts to even a score, is a revenge hunter. There is also a third kind of hunter, but we cannot actually say this is a true hunter. This is the vampire itself. Hunting other vampires, usually for criminal reasons. This hunter is the
[TheDarkGift] Native Americian Vampire Myth
Title: AOL Email This is a condensed combination of the Vampire Creation Myth. To my knowledge, there are five, three of which I have seen. All are based on Native American myth but two are based on 'The Book of Enoch' (about the fallen angels and the Watchers). To save time I have condensed the non-Christian ones here. To my knowledge the basis for these myths are deeply rooted in the religious lore and Shamanism of the Lakota Sioux, Cherokee and Black Foot Nations. The Myth There was once a brave and powerful Medicine Man and Healer who was kind and ruled his tribe with love. His brother was the Chief of the Ten Tribes. The Medicine Man loved a maiden named Laughing Sky. He and his love were wed and they lived among their people in peace and harmony with all. But Laughing Sky was barren and brought forth no children. One day the Medicine Man, in his anguish for the lack of a son, raised his head and challenged the Great Spirit. He declared that he would no longer obey all things, if he where not given a son. But the Great Spirit was deaf to his plea and listened not. As the days passed Laughing Sky grew old and the end of her child bearing time drew nigh. In desperation, the Medicine Man turned to the more negative spirits for aid in making Laughing Sky fertile. He did things forbidden and one sad day opened a portal by the use of magick, through which entered a dark spirit named Jumlin. Jumlin was a strong and dominant negative spirit who sought life in the living dimension of the Earth and tricked the Medicine Man to bring him forth. He promised in payment for bringing him out of the Spirit Realm into the world that he would bestow the Medicine Man with many healthy sons and daughters to enrich his later years. Jumlin promised the Medicine Man that Laughing Sky would bring forth to bare a beautiful and healthy son nine months after the Medicine Man granted Jumlin's desire to be brought from the Realm of Spirit Shadows into the Living World. The Medicine Man complied. Even though to do so was forbidden, the Medicine Man brought the Spirit of Jumlin into the world. But Jumlin had fooled the great Medicine Man. Jumlin had shielded much of his power and once across the Divide, he possessed the Medicine Man, going into his heart, mind and body. Jumlin was a hard and cruel spirit, dominant and hungry. He fed on blood of living things. First the animals of the forest, then the horses and finally on the people of his tribe. As the Medicine Man, Jumlin had power and control of his people. He first selected the strongest of Braves to feed upon and in his hunger and blood lust fed from them unto their deaths. The Medicine Man's brother, the Chief, and his people lived in fear. As Jumlin continued, his physical and mental powers grew stronger until none dared to resist him. The stronger he became the more he took advantage of those weaker. Then one day he stopped feeding from the males and went into the female population of his village, doing as ever he liked or willed with their minds and bodies as he fed. As with the males he satisfied himself fully with the women ... most died. In the spring, those who did not die, became with child and there where many new births in the village, all healthy, robust children. The young, and older, braves, even though terrified, hated their Medicine Man more and more as he did as he pleased to their wives and
[TheDarkGift] Prophecies
Title: AOL Email In many societies there are prophecies foretelling the time of the last great battle of good against evil. The Vampires have such a legend as well, here are a few of the Prophecies which foretell a time of ending, which begins this, the last war of good against evil, to take place in the modern-day world of the viral vampire. And now here are only a few of the prophecies that foretell this time of ending and beginning. The words are taken from Paladin as said to her by Azraeyel and also taken from other verbal Vampiric Sources. And there grows near the foretold time. A time when the truth breaks forth, like a chicken from its shell, at the moment of birth, into the world. The truth is upon the wind and the wind becomes a gale. Once set free, the truth travels and releases the knowledge. And there shall be those on both sides who do not wish the truth known. And yet shall it become known to all. On that day, shall human turn against human, vampire against his own kind and brother shall slay brother and friend shall kill his friend ... in the name of truth. Then he shall have been the first, but his truth shall go unheeded, and the children shall betray him. One of his own shall bring forth the tempest. And the child shall lead and so shall he become the first and be the last. In the end, there shall be only two kinds of humans: those who believe and understand, and those who fear. The truth is upon the wind, and the wind becomes a gale, and shall blow across the land to devastate all within its path. The wind shall blow ill. And so doth the time of ending become a plague upon all the land. The messenger rides forth alone. The wall of stone is false and 'tis but made of clay which shattered as the balance is shattered. They who speak this truth are the first to die. The Messenger carries forth the divine truth unto the masses. The death is accomplished by the hand of evil which is mistaken for the Sword of Right. But though the lips are silent, the heart screams and the words rise as the Phoenix to herald the end of the beginning. As the storm grows more ponderous, THEY shall hear the windsong. And what was fantastic will be reality, and reality shall be proven. He who is the first, he who is the last, shall know the truth. And as they do, so shall all, and the tempest subsides leaving only the destruction, a memory ... the voices an echo, and the truth evident. And Brother kills his Brother, and Friend lies to Friend. and loves are lost as friendships die and the wind blows cold. The Silent Battle rages, the Balance is no more, and yet doth the end come slowly ... with promise of renewed Light. As with humans there is, and has been for centuries, a foretelling of a Time Of Ending; a time of a great and awful war which would put an end to things as we know them. A war that would tear families apart, that would turn friend against friend and bring destruction, devastation, and death in its wake. This was/is not exactly religious in nature, but there are parallels. And, as with the Second Coming and the Armageddon, this Ending Time has its own legends and prophecies. These legends are known mostly only to the vampires and those close to them. But the rumors of such a time have endured for centuries, told by word of mouth from one to the other. There are several groups of vampires, and those who have an interest in them, who have very similar prophecies. A word or two different, a piece of
[TheDarkGift] Acknowledgments and Credits
Title: AOL Email We of Vampiric Studies would now like to give a special THANK YOU to all those who over the years have helped us in providing you with the most factual and up to date information on today's world of Modern Vampires. You will find these people and organizations listed elsewhere on this site. Stephen Dafoe of Stephen Dafoe's HISTORY AND MYTHOS OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR. Artist Boris Vallejo for the use of his notable artwork on this site. Rev. Black Raven (The Coven Organization) Inanna Arthen ... Gateway To The Living Vampire Everyone at Fangs Entertainment Everyone at Vampires Alive, The Blood Coven All of those at The Vampire Society All those at The International Vampire Society All those of the Elysium Society of Brooklyn NY All those of The Living Vampires Group The Cherokee Vampire legend is from the upcoming bookTHE VAMPIRE SLAYERS FIELD GUIDE TO THE UNDEADby Shane MacDougall CREDITS Creator of Vampiric Studies, the Night~Timerofficially and professionally known as Catherene / Night Poe. Web Site Chronicle: 1996 first design Web Master -- My Husband2nd design Web Master for redesign -- Lucandra3rd design Web Master for redesign -- Keeva Nero4th design Web Master for redesign -- Stormssongs5th design Web Master for redesign -- Coriy6 Web Master for Web Design redesign 2000 2001 -- My HusbandWeb Master for October 2003 Update -- My HusbandNewest Update 2005 -- My Husband Other CreditsWe have had several crashes and one sabotage of our site, some names and addresses are lost to us, so if you see your work here without proper credit, please write and tell us. We will give you full credit and provide a link to your site. Graphic Credits.Our thanks to Boris Vallejo, and all the others who provided original and other graphics to this site. A special thank you to ImortalN, Nicholas, for all the help, information and endless questions answered, which made most of the Vampiric Information possible. A special thank you to the Vampires, of all species, (who wish to remain anonymous) who have made contributions to this site as well. > Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Teacher's Lounge
Title: AOL Email Greetings Students. I am Catherene Night Poe, creator and author of the Vampiric Studies teaching site. The creation of thisLeson is to better inform and educate the general public as to the real world of today's modern Vampire and the environments in which they and we live. The Vampiric Studies Web Site was also created so I did not have to personally send out each page to whomever wished to see it and so my online and in person students could have access to the Text Pages when I was not available to answer questions. 2000 -- February, The site was sabotaged and caused to malfunction, the passwords and identity safeguards stolen and changed so it was impossible to change, update or get into to fix problems. Pages malfunctioned, as did graphics. Pages would vanish and not be able to be accessed, it took many months to regain control of the site but we have done so. In October 2002 the site was repaired and is functioning once again. Our most recent update is 2005 I thank you all for attending these online classes.We hope you enjoy Vampiric Studies. Please read all the class pages at your leisure, then ask any questions you wish by e-mailing me at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Teacher Profile: Note: Due to unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances, much of the personal information on this site has had to be removed for security reasons. Name: Catherene Professional name: NightPoe Marital Status: Married to a Classical Vampire Children: no children. Catherene is a born Nighttimer (see the Nighttimer page on this site for an explanation) Age said to be about 60 human years. At time of this update, Catherene has been teaching Vampiric Studies on AOL and the Internet for the past 8 years. Catherene presently teaches classes on Thought Projection, Psychic Self Defense, Guided Meditation for many subjects and many Wiccan Subjects. Catherene was the first and for nearly three years, the only person to produce and host her own local Cable Television Show dedicated to real Vampires. (The only such show in the world at that time it began) The Show, called simply 'Vampyres', was carried by satellite to all parts of the world. 'Vampyres' was the feature of many national shows such as 'The Other Side', and 'Strange TV'. Catherene has, herself, been the subject of national and international documentaries seen in Japan, Spain, Germany, the United States and England such as 'PAGE 9' and featured in England on the famed 'Girlie Show.' She has made guest appearances on many local, national and news shows such as CNN, ABC, CBS, and national and international television shows such as 'The Other Side', 'Entertainment Tonight', 'TV.COM' and currently is written up in Catherine Ramsland's book 'Piercing The Darkness' as well as other such publications. A brief note about Bandwidth:The Vampiric Studies web site is hosted on GeoCities which is a service that provides free space for web sites. Because the site is free, GeoCities limits the amount of bandwidth a web site is allowed to use. Bandwidth is used up by the number of people who are looking at the web site. When all the bandwidth is used up, GeoCities will shut down the web site for a few hours (up to a day) and then re-open it again. This is what may be happening when you try to visit the site. If you wait a few hours, or until the next day, the links may be back online.If you are still getting the message from GeoCities that the site has been shut down because it has exceeded it's allotted bandwidth, please email me and let me know which page seems to be causing the problem. We strongly suggest you pay extra attention to the classes which are titled Real Predators and Real Hunters as you read the vampire classes provided on this site. It may give you some insight you had not thought about before. As ever,Catherene NightPoe > Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Genres, Voices, and Evidence
Title: AOL Email Genres, Voices, and Evidence This chapter argues that oral African vampire rumors can be read alongside medical writings about triumphant drugs and vanquished superstitions to illuminate the context in which Western biomedicine was practiced. This chapter is not about the clash of beliefs or of technologies; it is about how technologies were believed to work, and how much power was invested in their application. It is about cures that were rubbed on the skin, or inhaled; it is about needles and scalpels that penetrated beneath the skin. The sources I use overlap only somewhat. Missionary writings from early colonial Uganda, primarily published in the Church Missionary Societys journals, and writings by doctors and officials about medical practice in East and Central Africa provide a chronological framework that is somewhat longer than that of vampire rumors in the same region. Colonial doctors positioned themselves firmly within imperial science, and their writings describe many of the tools and technologies that figure in the vampire stories.[1] These medical writings and these oral vampire stories are not about the same events and experiences in any firm chronological sense. They are about the same procedures and technologies. I am not reconstructing a sequence of events and responses to them, but the vocabulary in which medical care was both negotiated and undermined. What follows is a juxtaposition of texts to get them to interrogate each other, to show how different ways of talking about colonial medicine reveals the extent of its control. This chapter, perhaps more than any other, relies on the combination of oral material and written accounts. This is not just because African anxieties about the blood taken in medical encounters are so commonplace in colonial medical writings, but because medical writing and vampire stories are so often about the same things. The use of the oral and the written together, rather than as different visions, raises another question altogether: how to write history, especially colonial history? Some recent African history, some of it by me, has argued for the great reliability of oral evidence for twentieth-century Africa. Who after all was more qualified to describe colonialism than those who lived through it or under it? The words of the colonized simply describe their world with far greater detail and accuracy than any colonizer could. The voices of women, moreover, are all but absent from the colonial record; only with their own words could we reconstruct their lives. But few historians, and I include myself again, have actually relied exclusively on oral sources. Time and time again, we have used documentary material to flesh out, contextualize, and even explain the words of our informants to provide a more reliable, representative, accurate history. I have, for example, argued that a 1940s prostitutes description of male violence does not so much describe male violence as boast that a clever woman could negotiate urban life. I still think I am right, based on what I know about Nairobi prostitution and that particular informant, but nevertheless, this kind of insight comes from contextualizing testimony rather than from letting Africans speak for themselves. [2] Most historians of colonial Africa have seen the oral and the written as two different sources with which to support their arguments. Where oral and written accounts agreed, it was proof positive. Where oral and written sources contradicted each other, this was not a problem to be resolved; instead, it proved that Africans and colonialists had vastly different opinions and memories. But simply by including the African voicea term still used without ironyhistorians could claim that their work represented Africans views of their experiences, even when, as was so often the case, those voices were placed in a narrative derived from colonial documents and shaped by the authors mediation. How accurate a history, even a history of vampires, can emerge from a combination of African and colonialist voices? Doesnt the power and authority of European words invade every aspect of speech and narration? In recent years there have been a few striking colonial histories that have mediated different voices. The roughest edges of cultural contactwith Christian Maroons, for example, or black South African women in secondary schoolshave been described with great power by articulating the differences between voices.[3] But separate voices make for separate pasts, each perhaps more self-contained and reified than may have been the case in actuality. Even the most effectively controlled colonial terrain was too contested, and too compromised, to allow for the disembedding of any clear voice, colonized or colonizing. Indeed, the process of disembedding obscures the way in which voices reinvented themselves and borrowed words and images from the world around them even as it changed.[4]
[TheDarkGift] Gossip and Authority
Title: AOL Email Gossip and Authority When I was a girl I was taught not to gossip by a school game: we would sit in a circle and someone would whisper a phrase into the ear of the person sitting next to her. By the time the phrase was returned to the first speaker, it was totally deformedhilarious proof that hearsay distorted facts. I had already published a book based extensively on oral interviews when I realized how insidious this game was, that it rested on two extremely authoritarian principles: that information should be transmitted passively, and that no one has the right to alter or amend received statements. Map 2. The Belgian Congo and Northern Rhodesia[Full Size] Real life and real gossip and rumormongering are substantially different, however. The purpose of gossiping, rumormongering, and even talking is not to deliver information but to discuss it. Stories transmitted without regard for official versions, stories that are amended and corrected and altered with every retelling, are indeed rumors, but they are also a means by which people debate the issues and concerns embodied in those stories. In a historiography based on such stories, then, there is no one true or accurate version. It is precisely the fact of many variants that is crucial to our understanding the meaning of these stories. Each one, taken on its own, may be interesting and suitable for analysis, but taken together, they form a debate, public discussions and arguments about the issues with which ordinary people are concerned. And, more important, these stories were taken together: they were neither told in isolation nor recounted without contradiction or correction. There was no single established version; there was no single accurate account. Instead, these stories were told, exchanged, criticized, refined, and laughed atthey were part of public knowledge, a way to argue and complain and worry. Taken together, the stories I shall discuss articulated why Africans should have been concerned about the motives and activities of certain groups, whether firemen, tsetse-fly pickets, game scouts, or Catholic priests. This chapter explores why one congregation of Catholic missionaries was accused of drinking Africans blood. It is not a conventional historical narrative. Not only will it lack a beginning, middle, and an end, it will not attempt to tell a coherent story. If vampire accusations have multiple meanings, one chapter in this book should have multiple endings. What follows are three sets of evidencesome historiography, the accusations, and the economics of the missionsand four separate interpretations of the accusations. My goal is not to explain these particular vampire accusations, but to contextualize them, and show how they might be interpreted to form a debate about the priests ritual and daily practices. My concerns are not about popular culture as most twentieth-century African historians understand itmusic, oral literature, and street wisdoms of various sortsbut about popular debates about ideas: the meaning of sacrifice, food, and blood, and tensions over work and its remuneration.[1] These questions were engendered in the most formal of settingsin schools, during Communion, and in the workplacebut they were debated in a popular form, rumor and gossip. Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] 10. Conclusions
Title: AOL Email 10. Conclusions I began this book by asserting that vampire stories could be used like any other historical source. But in several chapters I have argued that vampire stories offer a better, clearer, more analytical picture of the colonial experience than other sources do. Did I just become more self-confident as I wrote, or did I in fact manage to use these stories to illuminate new areas of inquiry, to articulate concerns and connections that other sources had simply glossed? Do vampire stories actually make for a more thorough reconstruction of the past, or do they simply add another layer of interpretation to already known histories? Historians should, I think, find vampire stories good to write about, just as the people quoted in this book found vampires good to talk about. They make for better, more comprehensive histories. As chapter 1 argues, vampires themselves are revealing beings: a separate race of bloodsucking creatures, living among humans on fluids that they extract from human bodies; vampires mark a way in which relations of race, of bodies, and of tools of extraction can be debated, theorized, and explained. No vampire stands alone. The incorporation of vampire stories in any historical reconstruction allows for a description of these debates. And that description alone should generate a more nuanced reconstruction of the past. The reconstruction does not come from vampire sto-ries alone, but rather from how those stories feed off the other stories through which a past is known. The vampire stories that prostitutes told in colonial Nairobi, for example, did not change the way I thought about the history of that city,[1] but they did allow me to access changing ideas about gender and culture, about menstruation and property and its transmission in colonial times. In other places, vampire stories offer insights that can help historians rethink and recontextualize local histories: vampire and batumbula stories ground the place of free issues of clothing in the wages paid on the copperbelts of colonial Northern Rhodesia and the Belgian Congo and suggest a way of thinking about migrancy as a workers strategy. Here the details of vampire stories transform conventional wisdoms; stories of bloodsucking and cannibalism in which clothes play a prominent part illustrate what was significant about work, what was seen as remuneration, and which strategiesand which form of engagement, in which minecould increase a wage that was partly commodified. But the problem of this book has never been vampire stories, but history writing. The stories, as I wrote early on, are fine, worth taking at face value as few other texts are. Historical reconstruction is somewhat more ambiguous and complex, and it does not emerge full-blown from the deployment of good stories. Some of the issues that have recently troubled historiansare we writing truth, or stories? is history constituted by facts, or by many narratives?are themselves troubled by vampire stories. The line between fact and story, indistinct as it is for most historians, is made concrete by people who believe that some agency of the colonial state captured Africans and took their blood. Vampires are a story, but belief in vampires is a fact, just as the attacks on fire stations in Mombasa, policemen in colonial Nyasaland, and prospectors in Tanganyika are facts. The imaginary makes the real, just as it makes more imaginings: it is the inclusion of both that gives depth to historical analyses, and, if not some certainty, at least solid grounds on which to assess motivations, causes, and ideas. In February 1959, Nusula Bua was convicted in a Kampala court for offering to sell a man to the fire brigade. A fireman testified that he had met Bua a few days before; Bua had said he had a man he wanted to sell to the fire brigade for 1,500/- and asked the fireman to help him. Buas defense was that he had taken his friend Alubino Ongon to the fire station to help him find a job. Once there, he was offered 1,500/- for the man, and was waiting for the money when he was arrested. Ongon gave evidence that Bua had told him he would help him find a job. It was only when he was taken to the fire station that he realized he was being offered for sale.[2] The firemaster, a European, joked about the event: 1,500/-, he said, works out to about Shs. 12/ a pound, including bone, for the rather skinny Alubino Ongon. Turkeys are cheaper. [3] There is little reason to try to find out which, if any, of these statements is true. Even if that were a viable line of inquiry, it would have disembedded each statement from its own contextthe belief in bloodsucking firemen, the ways that white employers played with and off this belief, and the vulnerability of job seekers and their dependence on networks and acquaintances to find work. All of these statements together make a vampire story and vampire actions. It is the several contexts within a vampire
[TheDarkGift] The Dark Gift Web Site UPDATED!!!
The Web site has been updated for the Month of April I hope you will enjoy it. And please if you don't see your Favorite Vampire being done for a Month Please E-mail your Mistress and Tell her which Vamp you would like to see next Month..([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Peace in the Shadows,Mistress of the Night The Dark Gift Web Site inline: fall%20of%20a%20centuey.jpg
[TheDarkGift] Leather Bound
Title: AOL Email Leather BoundBy Kabuki January 2003 Spoilers: MW1 The vampires themseleves belong to Madame Rice, but the poetry, artwork, and the concept are my own. This was inspired by the life and work of Emily Dickinson. Bon appetite! A few lines I shall set down to paper, trying to find permanence in the physical for the abstractions of my mind. I tell my fathers that by setting these things down, I shall make my thoughts immortal and unchanging as we are, capturing the essence that I may look upon them forever and know the exact meaning of what I wrote. Lestat has no interest in such pursuits, but Louis seems sad when he lowers himself to my line of sight and tells me that such ideas are futile. The mind, he says, changes even when the words do not. What you write tonight will never be the same, for tomorrow you will read the words a little differently. When I asked him if there was any way to capture my words and make them immortal, he simply shook his head. I like to remember this particular image of him because it gives me some comfort. Louis wisdom was never betrayed by his appearance, and though often I dismissed him as a sentimentalist fool, I was drawn to the words he spoke now and then which hinted at multiple meanings and innuendos beneath the veneer of such simple phrases. He told me once that if he had learned anything by being a vampire, it was that language was a poor excuse for the myriad thoughts within the mind. He pitied my attempt to chronicle my thoughts because he too had attempted just such a design in his youth before I was born. The journals, he said, had been burnt when he realized that a greater snare was needed for capturing the precise nuances of emotive thought than simple writing. It was years later that I noticed the careful inclination of his words and the way he said that the books had been burnt. I understood but never acknowledged my comprehension to poor Louis. Things were so much easier for him if he thought me oblivious to the constant cruelties of our maker -- It was obvious that Louis had not disposed of such private papers by choice. But even with such words of consternation I could not help but dawdle now and then with my paper and pen, scrawling little phrases and paragraphs in the attempt to express in a few lines what I saw and felt. Eventually my lines turned to conscious poetry, and as I moved from one experience to the next, I took down my thoughts in a manner which would come as close as possible to evoking the proper feeling. I looked upon a tiny room And saw instead a little tomb Not big enough for men, you see But just the perfect size for me. Within a few years I had amassed a handful of descriptive paragraphs in addition to nearly fifty poems. I had been showing them to Louis from the beginning, soaking up his praise with the self-admiration of the young and reveling in the attention he lavished upon me for them. We began to exchange a few poems and bits of prose back and forth, dreaming of perhaps publishing but knowing all the while that, being unnatural as we were, we didnt dare. Our styles differed greatly, but the difference made us even more interested in each others work. I showed Louis a great deal of my poetry, but as I grew older and more aware of the voluminous weight within the scant words of a simple poem, I became selective of what I showed and what I reserved for my own eyes. Louis had purchased for me a leather-bound journal in which to collect my poems, and I did indeed make use of it much to his delight; but those poems I found too private to show were written on the finest paper I could afford on my allowances and sewn with careful reverence into packets. These packets were kept in a locked strongbox beneath a floorboard of my bedroom where I reasoned my fathers would not stumble across them. Glassy-eyed china head Hair trimmed from some lady dead Painted mouth into a bow Their gaze is dead, their wits are slow. But hands are tiny and so pale Delicate and frail . . . It was in this place that I found Lestat a few years later, cross-legged and so engaged in the act of reading that he was left oblivious to the sound of my unmistakable footsteps coming up the outside walk and then up the stairway. When I spied him, I made a sound like a small squeak and flung myself at him, tearing the packet from his white hands with a violence Id never known myself to possess. He stared at me with wide eyes, a sort of shame creeping over his face as I screamed at him to get out of my room and leave me be. But Claudia, theyre very good. You should be proud of them! I flailed at him and, though I could do no harm, he backed from my bedchamber and left me to my weeping. I hated him in that instant, and though he had complimented my work as had Louis, I felt that the latter had been given the blessing of my permission to read and critique. Lestat had rudely entered my room with the intent of poking about and
[TheDarkGift] Territorial Beasts
Title: AOL Email Territorial Beasts By Kabuki February 2002 Told from Lestat's POV. Violence warning. Hope you enjoy.It has always been my belief that vampires, by nature are fiercely territorial. They repel any of their own kind who does not bear some former stamp of approval. Most vampires will either attack or ignore any fellow blood drinker who passes through their hunting grounds, yet if a coven is threatened then heaven help the trespasser. A vampire is prone to defending those of its blood, and of course the lair, at all costs. Armand is the most obvious example of this sort of behavior, and as Louis related in his novel the later coven which formed in the Theatre of the Vampires in Paris had much the same inclinations. Even I am not above such actions, as evidenced by my past history in the lush nights of the city of New Orleans when an unnatural child with golden hair and large sapphire eyes bound Louis and me inexorably together. I was not blind to the rules I had broken in creating those two, for both were technically weak and dependent on me for survival. At all times I envisioned the harsh glare I would receive from Marius was he to know of my doings. Because of the weakness others might have perceived in my fledglings, I made a point of keeping the city of New Orleans clean of any other vampires that may have chanced upon us. I had little to fear in the earliest years of our life together, when I was the only other vampire in the New World to whom they could turn. There would be no other vampires who had formerly been aristocrats washing up on the Mississippi shoreline. Armand's tawdry little coven had succeeded in preventing such a breed of blood-drinker from taking hold in the city of Paris and, I discovered during my travels there, within the French countryside as well. Armand had held sway over all the vampires in France, much to the surprise of Gabrielle and myself during our nightly procession toward Italy. However, New Orleans became a sort of vampire destination when Napoleon sold France's claim in the New World to the upstart former English colonies. I found that I had others of my kind to contend with while keeping Louis and Claudia innocent to the reality of other vampires aside from us. I was completely unprepared for the first encounter. Claudia, far from the woman-child she would become, never ventured far from me in our kills every night. Even so, I would return her to Louis when she had taken her fill and set out to make my second or third kill. Her smaller stature demanded less blood than mine, and the constant temptation brought about by living so close to mortals, and of course the beguilingly distant Louis, made my hunger increase. I had learned early in our relationship, if one could call it such, that only when I was filled to capacity with human blood and sated by the heady thrill of the kill could I live so close to Louis without supping on his blood. When Claudia and I fed together that particular night, she had chosen our prey with an intuitive skill common among my children. The man and woman had been easy targets for us, stepping with the daintiness of the overly rich through an alleyway. Two boys, barely fifteen and living from the stolen trinkets of their victims that could be pawned, had been following the couple since Canal Street. With a silent command I bid them away and allowed Claudia to continue after the rich couple. I was still wary of allowing her to feed from children so soon after her own creation. The rich couple held her attention completely, however, so there was little for me to do except allow her to decide the night's hunting pattern. As we moved nearer to the couple I caught the scent of something strange emanating from the man -- blood. Not any ordinary sort of blood, but that of a vampire. It was as though another of our kind had marked this particular mortal for a fledgling. I glanced at Claudia, but she seemed oblivious to that which I could so easily detect. Her movements all indicated a strong desire for the woman, and seeing that her quarry was of little threat I allowed Claudia to pursue her kill while I in privacy pursued mine. She was more than happy to comply, and so I found myself striking up a conversation with the dashing young man. The closer I came to him, the more certain I became that he had somehow been fed the blood of a vampire. I admit I was intrigued. I had thought myself the only vampire from the Old World to migrate this far into the Americas. I had never sensed another of my kind within the city of New Orleans, and so the smell of an unfamiliar vampire was an allure to which I was unaccustomed. I drew him close, as though for a kiss. He may have protested but I held him easily in my thrall, deepening my spell as we spoke. By the time I was prepared to slide my fangs into his tender throat, he was lost in my eyes and in his own thoughts. It was the feeling of being watched, as I had so often felt in Paris
[TheDarkGift] The Vampyre Pair
Title: AOL Email The Vampyre Pair By Kabuki July 2000 Spoilers: IwtV Characters: Louis, Claudia, Theodore (OMC) Disclaimer: Louis and Claudia belong to Anne Rice and Knopf Publishing respectively. Theodore is mine. Comments: Please. Don't be stingy. "But first on Earth, as Vampyre sent, Thy corpse shall from its tomb be rent; Then ghastly haunt thy native place, And suck the blood of all thy race; There from thy daughter, sister, wife, At midnight drain the stream of life; Yet loathe the banquet, which perforce Must feed thy livid living corpse. " -- George Gordon, Lord Byron "The Giaour" Theodore glanced up once again at the tiny figure so engrossed in her regular volumes. The librarians had long ago left off their polite words to the girl, suggesting children's books in favor of Latin texts on death and damnation. How could such a small child be capable of even lifting, let alone reading or comprehending such texts? It was a mystery to the young author, and even though he was technically on holiday in the relatively new section of American soil purchased fairly recently from Napoleon, he was tempted to write a poem or story passage about the fascinating youngster. He had been watching the girl for at least five nights from a safe and unobtrusive distance as she turned yellowed pages of archaic writing with her tiny hands. Her eyes moved over the pages more swiftly than any of the scholars Theodore had ever chanced upon, and her determined manner evidenced in pursed lips and drawn brow made her all the more a curious figure. She was almost always alone in the mammoth library, save for a lone gentleman of good stature and fine profile that spoke softly to the child as though intimately aquatinted. Both figures were of fair complexion and aesthetically pleasing components; men and women alike gave both figures a brief glance each time they appeared. Reason would proclaim the pale, dark-haired man the father of the child, yet their features were different enough to beg otherwise. Somehow, Theodore found himself shuddering when the pair were together, or as the child cast the people about her a musing glance. Her eyes were somehow disturbing, as though they were not orbs to relay vision, but the reflection of a soul far beyond the frame in years. They told of age in the youth beheld in such a dusty place, of maturity to a level of restlessness. It would have been peculiar in any woman, but it was particularly disturbing to sense within the eyes of a child. The more Theodore watched the pair, stealing glances over random books of prose, he felt as though some part of him recognized and, stranger still, shrank from the presence of the man and girl. Not human, the instincts seemed to whisper. The very idea was unheard of in a learned man of science and the modern world, yet superstition seemed to be the stronger force in his mind. One evening, after observing the child for an entire night and finally watching her depart from the building, Theodore swallowed his fear and pride in exchange for a glimpse at the material that would so enrapture a child-thing's mind. Though he had been prepared for whatever he might come across, the subject of the massive volume was unsettling to be sure. The supernatural, vampires, death, and folklore; all were the focus of the various books left behind by a child that by all appearances should have been no more than five years of age. What would a child want with such information? It was weeks before Theodore chanced upon the unsettling pair once again, and in the most peculiar of instances. He was boarding a ship to further his vacation into the Old World, to seen the Mediterranean Sea and the countries bordering it. The sea air would clear him mind of poisoned thoughts and nonsensical ideas, or so he hoped when he booked passage after a close encounter with a bizarre young man not three nights after his strange discovery at the library. He had not ventured to the place again, deciding that whether supernatural phenomenon existed or not would be the subject for a scientist of sound standing instead of a writer with one foot since placed firmly in the realm of fantasy. Fear had washed over him in waves, and no amount of philosophical dialogue nor scientific fact could make the young American feel the contrary. He felt as though the world had shifted perceptibly leaving a gaping wound where logic had once reigned, for if such beasts as vampires existed in the guise of mortal men and children, what other creature must slink through the darkest night invisible to the mortal eye? Three nights after his epiphany concerning the existence of the supernatural, Theodore had been the subject of an unwelcome visit. He had avoided the library at all costs until that eve, when doubt began to slither into his brain. Had he imagined the entire event? How could a simple child evoke such fear and loathing from a modern learned man? After much deliberation and a
[TheDarkGift] Fledglings of Lestat
Title: AOL Email Lestat has many fledglings. Most of them he loves very much. Not all of them are as strong as he lOVES lOUIE. Some did not make it to the twentieth century. Get to know Lestat's fledglings better, they are as interesting as Lestat himself. Lestats first fledgling is his own mother, Gabrielle. There was no one whom he felt closer to than Gabrielle. There is a bond between Gabrielle and Lestat. They area two parts of the same soul, Gabrielle told Lestat that he is the male part of her. When she is dying, he brings her into immortality with him. They became lovers. Gabrielle quickly acquires her own strength and no longer needs Lestat to be her male part? She is completely androgynous, bold, tenacious, and practical. She embodies a sense of freedom that Lestat cannot grasp : freedom from gender, social roles, family expectations, and the demans for relationship. She is obsessed with finding truth and beauty in nature. In the end, her curiosity leads her away from the world and from Lestat. Nicki was the merchants son, who befriends Lestat after Lestat kills the wolves. He invites Lestat to tell him about the battle and a bond forms between the two. Even so, the two are very different. Nicolas is full of cynicism and dark despair, while Lestat firmly believes in goodness. They ran away together to Paris to pursue their dream and career. After Magnus abducted Lestat and turn him into a vampire, Lestat avoids Nicolas, but sends him gifts. He also tells his lawyer to urge Nicolas to get out of Paris. However, Armand and his coven, who knew what Nicolas means to Lestat, abducted him. Lestat goes to rescue Nicolas and when Nicolas finds out what Lestat has become, he demanded that Lestat share the Dark Gift with him. Although Gabrielle warns Lestat against it, Lestat turns Nicolas into a vampire. This new level of intimacy only serves to distance Nicolas and Lestat further, and makes Nicolas more despondent and cynical. He admits that he hates Lestats exuberance and ability to triumph in the face of adversity. It becomes clear that Nicolas hates him and he finally leaves Nicolas behind at the Theater of the Vampires. In the end, Nicolass darkness consumed him and he goes into the fire to destroy himself. When Lestat sees Louis, he senses in Louis an echo of Nicolas : an intense, self-destructive, and cynical nature, one filled with despair. Louiss beauty, refinement, and dependence enchanted Lestat, and he makes Louis into a vampire. Yet they develop a problematic relationship because Louis is not Lestats equal in vampiric skill. Louis resents Lestat for being insensitive and not a very good mentor. In the end he simply stood by and watched when Claudia rise against Lestat, gaining freedom for them both. But when Louis and Lestat eventually reunite at Lestats rock concert, the love between them has evidently developed and grown. Lestat eventually forgives Louis for turning on him and denying to makes him into a vampire when he switches body with Raglan James. Their relationship becomes more intimate and closer. Lestat make Claudia into a vampire simply because he wanted to keep Louis with him and because he wanted to play GOD. Lestat enjoys the little family?that he has created, but Claudia eventually hates him for condemning her in a little girls body forever. After sixty-five-years of living together, her hatred deepened and she turn against Lestat. She poisoned him with dead blood and dumps his body in the swamp. Lestat survives and in the end she was punished because of her deed. She was expose to the sun and destroyed. Although Lestat created Claudia because of his own selfishness, he eventually learns to love her. She was his daughter?and he treated her like a little girl. He gathers the best children dressmakers to make her clothes and buys her all kind of dolls. He also trusts her enough to drink from the dead boys. David is the superior general of the Talamasca. Lestat visits him at Talamasca Headquarter and finds himself strongly attracted to him. He offered David the Dark Gift, but was rejected by David. They eventually become close friend. David claims that Lestat is his only friend and Lestat loves David for his understanding and acceptance. Lestat worries about Davids health at the age of seventy-four. Finally after his adventure with Raglan James and David got stuck in a young mans body, Lestat force the Dark Gift on him. David eventually forgives Lestat and he became Lestats equal companion in vampirism. From time to time he wanders off on his own or joins the other vampires, but is always available for Lestat.
[TheDarkGift] Lestat de Lioncourt
Title: AOL Email Lestat de Lioncourt (Tom Cruise in the movie) Lestat embracecs what it means to be a predator. He enjoys messing with his victoms before he kills, but not for thrill simply to watch with irony of their impending death. He comes across Louis, a man who wills for death, and turns him into a vampire. Eventually they learn just how opposite they can be. Eventually Lestat adds a young girl as company for Louis. Claudia, Loui's new companion, and her grow tired of the ever frustrating Lestat and his hopless guidance. They leave Lestat and travel the world in search of more of their kind. Like louie, Lestat is also a french vampire. He knows nothing of his sire, and claims he had no chioce to become a vampire. He is a true killer and creature of the night. He is a main character of The Vampire Chronicles, by Anne Rice. I don't know much about this character, he is very mysterious. If you wanted to be his girlfriend he probably would mess with your mind for a few minutes and then bite you, plus he seems to be more atracted to Louie and the same sex anyways. " 'Evil is a point of view,' he whispered now. 'We are immortal. And what we have before us are rich feasts that conscience cannot appreciate and mortal men cannot know without regret. God kills and so shall we; indescriminately He takes the richest and the poorest, and so shall we; for no creatures under god are as we are, none so like Him as ourselves, dark angels not confined to the stinking limits of hell but wandering His earth and all its kingdoms.' " Come one come all Mortals who are willing to stick their neck out for a vampire to feed upon. We will be willing to share our Dark Gift to you mortals if you pass our test. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheDarkGift/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[TheDarkGift] Louis de Pointe du Lac
Louis de Pointe du Lac (Brad Pitt in the movie) Once the wealthy owner of a french plantation, overrun with sadness and greif after the loss of family members he is followed by a vampire known as Lestat. Lestat drinks from him till the moments of death and offers him a new life with him. As unwilling companions Louie goes along with Lestat in his quest for other vampire kind, and what a vampire truely is. In a cruel joke to keep him from leaving Lestat provides him with a vampire child to quench that feeling of need the Lestat cannot provide him with. Louis does not enjoy his life as a vampire and the need to take others lives to maintain his own. "For four years I had not savoured a human; for four years I hadn't really known; and now I heard her heart in that terrible rhythm, and such a heart - not the heart of man or an animal, but the rapid, tenacious heart of the child, beating harder and harder, refusing to die, beating like a tiny fist beating on a door, crying, 'I will not die, I will not die, I cannot die, I cannot die' " Great Interview With The Vampire links. Vampire Heaven inline: back56.jpg
[TheDarkGift] Out Of The Dark by Lara
Title: AOL Email Out Of The Darkby LaraJuly 1999 This is a piece of amateur fiction and not intended to infringe on the copyrights of Anne Rice or her publishers. Spoilers for TVA Translations of the Latin phrases: Quid vultis in cella mea? - What are you doing in my cell? Hic sumus, ut tibi vale dicari. - We are here to say farewell to you. It was over. I had lost the game, had been defeated finally. Was lost on my own battlefield. My figure was being taken from the board and placed next to it, without any importance, a useless piece that had fulfilled its purpose and was now replaced. Now only one question remained; would the figure be simply ignored, or would it be broken, crushed to dust? What happened I could have predicted, should have foreseen, must have known. I had been aware of what was going on, but somehow I had never believed them to actually stand up and do what I had prepared them for. The teacher tries to give his knowledge to the students, but does he ever expect them to use it? I certainly hadn't. And now I would pay the price for being so short-sighted. All I could hope for now was that I had not taught them everything, had not perfected them. "Quid vultis in cella mea?" I asked them in the usual calm, controlled voice, my face a perfect blank, the mask I was so used to wear in front of them that it had become normal to me. This, I noticed with a certain amount of pleasure, was something they had not learned. Indifference in any situation, even if your life depends on it, is something that needs time to be mastered. Time was what gave the possibility to struggle for perfection, to learn and repeat the lessons. Who rushed would never gain knowledge. "Use a language everybody understands." My own words, spoken months ago to this creature I would have been overjoyed to meet in a different situation, were thrust back at me. He had certainly learned a lot of the art of words. Now we would see if he could use it as well. "You should really attempt to master Latin." Add a slightly reprehending undertone, and watch how he reacts. "What for? It is old-fashioned, and not useful anymore. Like you." Very well done. But he made the mistake of showing his thoughts too soon, he gave away things he could have used later. Quite good, but far from being something that could be called close to perfection. He had never had the patience necessary to really study every aspect of the art of debating. "Hic sumus, ut tibi vale dicari." Now this was something completely different. She had always been a keen student, and she had learned well. And the progress she had made during the last few months was remarkable. She was showing a lot more interest in the lessons, as if she had finally discovered that what I taught her could be useful. The way she was standing in front of me, next to her lover, her hair matted and coated with dirt and dust, her dress torn, she radiated power. A regal being if ever I saw one. Not even my dear Allesandra had accomplished this state of majesty. She had been a ruler, but in a different way; what Allesandra had achieved through cleverness and diplomacy, Isabella carried out with her charisma. I would have been proud of her if she weren't trying to replace, expel and kill me. But I could certainly say that she had paid attention to what I had taught her. I had prepared her for such situations, had given her the knowledge how to react, how to overthrow. But never had I expected her to actually use it. Theory was a wonderful thing, but when it became reality, it suddenly did not look that pretty and worthwhile anymore. "So what will you do?" I looked at them inquiringly, as if I were questioning them as I had done during so many lessons. "Will you return to the coven and pretend that this has not happened? Will you try to achieve a pact with the master to participate in the power? Or," I leaned forward, my hands on the table, "will you attempt to kill the master, risking to lose your life if you fail? It is your choice. Choose wisely. Which of the three possibilities do you decide to execute, Isabella?" She smiled me, her lips curling without any humor. The best student I had had for centuries turned against me. "I will choose the fourth possibility," she stated firmly, and continued as I rose my eyebrows questioningly. "I will try
[TheDarkGift] Death of a King
Title: AOL Email Marius put both arms out, a walking Christ, fingers touching the walls on either side. Polished stone, he could remember the day that path was carved out. It was narrow and cool, the moisture in the underground pathway making ice crystals in the cracks along the floor. Marius didn't like that, frowning as he viewed them. Yes, he would do something about that. Why have such imperfections in the design in this day and age when such things could be done flawlessly? Though the passage was dark he could see keenly, his ice blue eyes sharp and calm. This was a forced emotion, a forced sense of peace. Something was wrong and Marius felt it inside of him. Small clues ran over and over through his brain; the TV too loud, the light that was usually blocked by sets of locked doors shining down the tunnel. And he was trying not to lose his calm, not to cry out and rush down to the shrine in a frenzy. His heart was pounding, a flush rising to his face and numbing down to his fingers. Marius' head was light, spinning, causing him to close his eyes for one sweet moment. Nothing is wrong, he told himself, have they not moved things about their own shrine? Have they not opened the doors before? But this felt different; he felt a sense of foreboding. It was thicker them the ice-cold moisture in the air, thick enough to suffocate him. Placing his hand to his forehead, Marius gave himself a small speech intended to encourage him. He could not spend all night hesitating in the corridor; he had to view the shrine to make sure that everything was alright. This was his responsibility. This was what he was, all that he was. And inside, deep inside where he hid everything he denied, he hated it. A feeling of bitterness swept over Marius. Why should he be burdened with such a thing? How many times in the long centuries had his heart been broken because of the still pair he kept under his wing? He had been the most faithful of all acolytes, sacrificing so much for the benefit of the Royal Pair. And now he saw the cruelty of it. How selfish were the parents that they refused to move for him, refused to let him have a moment of peace. Granted the visits to the shrine were growing few and far between, they were a constant worry in his ever-running mind. No wonder the Elder had put the pair into the sun; he had grown weary as Marius had. Marius felt an instant shame at thinking such a blasphemous thing. His Queen and King could hear everything, were their fine ears not tuned into the thoughts of their own keeper and watcher? All of this was for the purposes of lingering, the fear still in the pit of his stomach. Placing his cheek against one of the cool walls, the chill sank through his layers of immortal flesh. The cold seemed to go all the way down to his bones. When he shivered, though, it was not from the temperature, it was from simple fear and anticipation. Could he now summon the courage to walk forward? With a deep breath Marius did indeed stride forward, taking sure but small steps, letting the passing seconds still the pounding heart and ease the color of worry from his cheeks. Was there truly any preparation that he could do? Maybe at that moment he believed that measured breaths and positive thoughts could have some sort of effect. But when he saw what was in the room all of that washed away, all thoughts that maybe nothing could be wrong. Upon entering the room his eyes were downcast, it was show of respect. To look a marble saint in the eyes in a church seemed unsettling, and this, to Marius, was just the same. His mind was pleading, hoping that when he did look up everything would be normal and he could give a deep sigh of relief and go about his routine of dusting and cleaning, praying and giving his reverence and respect to the ancient man and woman. But that wasn't what happened. When Marius lifted his eyes the room was, for the most part, the same. Only a few small differences graced the interior. Two very noticeable and devastating details. Marius felt a cry swell on his throat, gripping his fists painfully to keep it inside. "No, no, no, no..." Marius whispered to himself, his voice soft and shaking, "It can't be, this can't be." It was too horrible to be true, too much for even his vast mind to comprehend. With shock induced innocence his eyes scanned the shrine, falling again on his king. With great effort he took a few strides forward, his feet like lead. They didn't want him to go any closer to the still King. His eyes saw what he brain refused to register, the growing transparency of Enkil's skin. He felt his head shaking with pure disbelief. This isn't real, his mind said, this isn't real. But it was and he knew it, he was a man that had perfected the art of reason after all. Such a thing was so; he was staring through the body of the King he had taken care of since he was first brought into this life. True, he had never worshipped Enkil as a King, and it was true that this was all
