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Tale of a Vampire
from
Issue
#2, August 1992 of "SHIVERS - The Global Magazine of Horror"
Deepest, darkest Depfford in suburban South London may lay claim to certain secret vices carried out behind locked doors but it's doubtful if vampirism is one of them. Yet in a disused library on Lewisham Way the undead could be seen stalking around cob-webbed bookshelves in shadowy rooms during February and March this year. For this 1913 Gothic building became a mini-studio complex housing a very unusual horror film project.
Tale of a Vampire.
The full-length feature inaugurates State Screen Productions, an oft-shoot company of Naked Films - run by Simon Johnson and Linda Kay. Both producers wanted to apply their extensive experience, gained from rock music video promos for Chris lsaak, Rebel MC and Manic Street Preachers, to the more demanding feature arena and thought Tale of a Vampire would be the most interesting way of doing it.
Right:
Feeding Time', Tale of a Vampire style;
Written and directed by diminutive Shimako Sato, a 25 year-old Japanese girl student Johnson met while attending London Film School, Tale of a Vampire is loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's poem 'Annabel Lee' and concerns a melancholic blood-drinker in contemporary London fatally attracting a mirror-image of the lover he lost in 1847. Why Sato wrote the screenplay is a strange story in itself. It was her birthday and one gift she received was a book on vampire lore.
Walking through downtown Tokyo clutching her present, she was mugged and stabbed in the ear. As blood splattered all over the book cover, she saw the brutal attack as an omen and wrote a script she describes as "An expressionistic, pre-Raphaelite, horrifying ballet with beauty, elegance and meaning". Literally translated from Japanese, Sato's original script title reads 'A Tale Of Vampire'. Although grammatically shored up to Tale of a Vampire in English, a decision is yet to be made if Western audiences will see the movie as simply Vampire.
Sato then gave this script to Johnson Fry who convinced Japanese backers to finance State Screen's trial run picture for "under $1 million" with options on a fantasy project set for this Autumn if the deal proved successful. The Japanese also requested a big name star if possible. That was last Christmas. Two months later a youth-plus crew began principle shooting with cast members Kenneth (Hellbound) Cranham and Suzanna (1984) Hamilton already in place. One of the few thirtysomething technicians employed is special effects man David Watkins whose stunning work on Ching Siu Ting's A Chinese Ghost Story may give some idea of what atmospheres to expect in Sato's Kabuki Guignol.
Sands and Kenneth Cranham In mysterious mode, Left.
But for the lead vampire role, Sato only wanted one actor. It was someone she had a dream about and pleaded with Johnson to contact. He did as his director wished, never thinking for a moment that the star would agree to appear in such a minor league British picture for only a minimum wage and deferred profit points. However Julian Sands was delighted to be asked and his involvement upgraded Tale of a Vampire into a major motion picture assignment.
Say what you like about Sands. I often have and none too complimentary either. But the star of Naked Lunch, Arachnophobia, Gothic, The Doctor and the Devils and Warlock believed in the Tale of a Vampire script, and Sato's talent, to such an extent he ignored his agent and business manager's advice not to waste his time. Why? Sands explains, "In the past year I've been offered seven other vampire scripts, all of them generic, derivative, Hammer-type B movies. Shimako's script arrived and it was like a breath of fresh air. It was so well written. It contained real emotional and psychological depth, the atmosphere conjured up was haunting, exciting and tinged with an oriental flavour. Her cultural influences were quite definite and stimulating. Although it remains a genre movie because of the subject matter, it transcends it by getting into the more interesting realms of romantic darkness".
The blond actor plays Alex, knitted throughout the picture in Victorian garb which suits his Byronic looks. "He's a poetic character who's awoken in contemporary Depfford and spends a lot of time hanging around the river and the rest in his library. He has a very melancholic personality because one of the themes Shimako explores so well is the interminable tragedy of being sentenced to immortality... to a forever without end. Just imagine it! Within that framework is a moving love story and generous doses of sex and violence". Sands calls the plot's Poe connections "Thematic echoes rather than narrative throughliness although Ken Cranham intones a few 'Annabel Lee' lines over the opening credits and his mysterious 'Man in the Hat' persona is revealed to be Poe himself at the climax. Poe's child bride was called Virginia and that's Suzanna Hamilton's alternate name in the 19th Century dream flashbacks".
Left:
A Victorian flashback to Julian Sands and Suzanna Hamilton's
previous love affair:
Don't expect Sato's Tale of a Vampire to adhere to traditional undead conventions either. Sands reveals, 'There's no neck-biting, no fangs, no bats and no black flowing capes. We call it 'feeding time' and there's something far more exotic and elegant about it than just simple blood-sucking. Basically Alex is an animal, or to be specific, not strictly human. He has the behavioural instincts of an animal in human disguise. Shimako says it was that facet of my own demeanour which made her certain I was right for the part. Besides, my own teeth are naturally very sharp!".
During the six week shoot Sands has sucked blood from a dead cat, opened arterial veins, mutilated bodies and, in one major gore highlight, smashed open a victim's skull, cut his throat, hoisted the wound over his mouth and drunk the cascading red fountain - a special recipe formulated by make-up artist Melanie Gibson - Mel for short. That credit is going to confuse a lot of people! Sands continues, 'The killings are down to basic instincts rather than supernatural, malevolent forces. Garlic and stakes through the heart are missing too, they're more Bram Stoker influenced in the grand Dracula tradition. I suppose the closest comparison to what we're attempting is Tony Scott's The Hunger."
Apart from 'feeding time', there's 'chasing time' and 'sexual time' for Sands to contend with. The latter found him naked on a wrought iron bed tying up Suzanna Hamilton with red ribbons the day before my set visit. But he notes, 'The sex is mainly heterosexual and dwells on the erotic mingling of blood with danger and other exotic elements. It's a perilous combination for Alex. And that's the Iongterm effect of his curse. If you're a vampire you must wait lifetime after lifetime for a romantic relationship that has to end eventually. Knowing you're condemned to that cycle, what do you do? You look for every way possible to add new thrills and twists to the grimly predictable events. That's something observed by the movie which I feel is the dramatic crux making for a gripping and compelling narrative".
Calling himself "the old man of the piece", Sands observes, 'The tremendous enthusiasm and energy displayed by this small maverick production team and young crew have amazed me. Although certain things have been frustrating to contend with due to basic inexperience, they've been more than compensated by the refreshing lack of cynicism and tremendous desire to do great work. This marks the first time I've worked in my home country since Gothic in 1986. I now live in Los Angeles and it's very pleasing to be back here working with future participants in the British Film Industry".
He
adds, "that State Screen's craft and tenacity got this off the
ground in today's climate. They almost didn't bother sending me the
script thinking it would be an unrealistic waste of time. But they
had the courage of their convictions and a determined belief in the
script, and themselves, that was impossible not to warm to. Many of
my advisors thought Tale of a Vampire was a big career
mistake. But what's life without a few risks? And this one feels like
it will pay off handsomely".
Right: The loneliness of the long distance Vampire
To make sure in his own mind Sato was up to the directorial challenge, Sands screened a short she'd made at film school. He continues, "And I liked what I saw, heard and felt deep down. She obviously understood the medium and could convey her ideas through it. Her nationality has made this experience a different and far more interesting one for me. The oriental flavour she brings to the composition of ferocious sexuality and violence, and the juxtaposition of romantic repose, is intriguing in it's Japaneseness. Shimako's cultural integrity and thought process is so stimulating. That's what turned me on and why I'm happily involved in making an Eastern-style independent horror film, based on Poe, shot in Depfford!".
His co-stars were the icing on the cake he's having and currently eating according to Sands. "I've admired Suzanna as far back as 1984. Her interesting, mysterious presence has always impressed me. There's a depth to her work that's attractive and very galvanizing. The fact they offered her the female lead is evidence of the producers' intelligence and understanding of their material. I've seen Ken's stage work and he brings the same dynamic flair to Tale of a Vampire which is a great foil to my poetic femininity. This cast is as good as any I've been involved with". But Cranham's "Man in the Hat"/Poe character isn't simply just Van Helsing to Sands' Dracula, he points out. "He's more Verlaine to my Rimbaud. Sure, he's pursuing me, but Edgar is as empirical as he is vampirical. He wants vengeance for my past deeds and follows me through time to achieve that aim. But he can only use Anne to hurt me, not destroy me, in spite of substantial efforts to do away, and have his way, with me".
Below: Julian Sands and Kenneth Cranham fight for Suzanna Hamilton's life.
So
what is one to make of the scene Sands shot just after our
interview? Cranham cuts his throat with a sword and, as gushers of
gore spray over the artfully art-directed bedroom set, the actor runs
the blade through Sands' stomach causing a river of blood to flow all
over the floor. "Wait and find out!", smiles Sands
conspiratorially. For a big name actor Sands has certainly done his
fair share of genre pictures. Does he like them? "I enjoy
working full stop. As an actor I can only choose from the scripts I'm
offered. Producers see me in A Room With A View and I'm
offered a hundred romantic swain roles. Then they see me in Gothic
and I suddenly get sent weird and wacky scripts. It's a wonderful
place to be career-wise. I have such a diverse wealth of material to
pick from. I will admit to gravitating more towards outrageous
concepts. If that's a genre film, fine. But whether it's in the genre
or not makes no real difference as long as I can sink my teeth into a
part. Tale of a Vampire falls into both categories, literally!".
Sands follows Tale of a Vampire with another English-based production. Rusty Lemorande's The Turn of the Screw stars him alongside Patsy Kensit, Stephane Audran and Marianne Faithful in a new version of the classic Henry James' 1898 terror tour de force which Jack Clayton brought to the screen in 1961 as The Innocents and Michael Winner prequeled with The Nightcomers. But don't expect Sands to reprise his supernatural role in Anthony Hickox' Warlock II. He says, "the script is neither good nor interesting".
Tale of a Vampire is only one of the many undead movies now in production for release over the next year. While the myth has endured for centuries, what does Sands put the current craze in Hollywood down to? "Francis Ford Coppola making Bram Stoker's Dracula. He seems to have given the genre more attention than Werner Herzog's Nosferatu or Scott's The Hunger ever did because he's such a high profile director. But trends always go in cycles in Los Angeles. Gangsters are out and the vampire number has come up because, globally, it's always been in the collective subconscious".
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