Bela Lugosi might be dead, but Christopher Lee isn’t about to let a little wooden stake stop him from seeking out his prey
BAMcinématek
BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave.
August 4 – September 30
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
Over the next two months, BAMcinématek will be paying tribute to one of cinema’s greatest and most beloved villains, screening more than thirty films that feature the bloodsucking creatures known as vampires, with nary a twilight in sight. The series begins August 4 with F. W. Murnau’s classic NOSFERATU (1922), accompanied on live piano by Ben Model, followed August 5 by Roy Ward Baker’s 1970 Hammer fave THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and August 6 by the inspired double feature of the French shot-by-shot remake of Tod Browning’s original DRACULA and Jean Painlevé’s nine-minute experimental scientific 1945 short LE VAMPIRE. Bela Lugosi finally shows up September 20, but among the others who don’t necessarily drink . . . wine are Christopher Lee, Klaus Kinski, Christopher Walken, Anne Parillaud, Gary Oldman, Vincent Gallo, Catherine Deneuve, Nicolas Cage, Béatrice Dalle, and, of course, Robert Quarry as the unforgettable Count Yorga and William Marshall as the one and only Blacula. The list of directors who have made vampire movies is rather remarkable, including Roman Polanski (THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS), Guy Maddin (DRACULA: PAGES FROM A VIRGIN’S DIARY), Francis Ford Coppola (BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA), Abel Ferrara (THE ADDICTION), Tony Scott (THE HUNGER), Q&A participant Michael Almereyda (NADJA), Kathryn Bigelow (NEAR DARK), Werner Herzog (NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE), Mario Bava (PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES), John Carpenter (VAMPIRES), Carl Theodor Dreyer (VAMPYR), and Claire Denis (TROUBLE EVERY DAY). And vamps are clearly an international concern with films from America, France, Italy, Germany, Canada, England, Hong Kong, Sweden, and Denmark. Be sure to bring plenty of garlic and holy water.