The Hunger is a film both assured and ambitious, wringing subtlety and slow-boiling tension out of a shamelessly ridiculous plot involving a vampiric vixen that has persisted since Ancient Egyptian times in the graceful form of Catherine Deneuve, with lover David Bowie riding her coattails through the centuries. It’s also a vampire film that could just as easily be a study of lust, love, and the waste that either lays on the body. Scott may be accused of almost exploitatively turning up the heat in the infamous lesbian scene between Deneuve and Sarandon, but like the rest of the film, even the juicy bits are handled with the kind of restraint that may have been the director’s trademark had The Hunger been a runaway hit. Alas, it was too strange, too dark and burdened with a vexing finale for that to happen. But, it is also one of the best vampire films ever made, a fable that toes the line between a fairy tale and a blood bath, occasionally (and expertly) mixing both. OL
D: Tony Scott
G: Ivan Davies, Michael Thomas
F: Stephen GoldblattE: Pamela Power
DA: Brian Morris
S: Peter Pennell
M: Denny Jaeger, Michel Rubini
P: Richard Shepherd
CP: MGM, Peerford
Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, Cliff De Young, Beth Ehlers
Hollywood Classics. Julia Kelly T +44 20 7517 7530
E julia@hollywoodclassics.com W hollywoodclassics.com
He was born in northern England in 1944. He spent 20 years directing an enormous amount of TV ads for his brother Ridley’s company, and made his first feature in 1983. Later, he directed such classics as Top Gun (1986), Days of Thunder (1990), The Last Boy Scout (1991), and Enemy of the State (1998), among many others. He died in Los Angeles...
