AtoZ Day 2: B is for Blood, Baobhan sith, Byzantium

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Blood

There are many type of vampire and some feed on life energy, but when most of us think of blood sucking when it comes to these fiends of the night.

It is possible that the belief in the dead coming back to drink blood is actually caused by normal signs of decomposition. Some people were seen as being vampires because after death there was seen to be fresh blood on their nose and mouth. This is perfectly normal. When a dead body rots it swells because of gasses created by the decomposition and these are  forced into the torso, which in turn causes pressure and blood to ooze out of the nose and mouth.

Everyone knows that the dead do not bleed, so when staked a dead body should remain inert, right? Not the case if decomposition is under way because the same gases will force blood through the wound and even cause the corpse to make noise. Hence blood is probably the cause of many vampire beliefs.

Of course it's also incredibly sexy to think of a handsome man or beautiful woman nibbling on your neck, so there is that as well.

What is your favourite blood drinking scene from any vampire film, book or TV show? I have to say, for myself I find the scene in Fright Night (1985) where Gerry drinks from Amy to be incredibly intense.

Creature Feature:

Baobhan sith

This lovely lady is a blood sucking fairy from Scottish mythology. According to Wikipedia she is usually in a white or green dress and uses her beautiful appearance to lure unwary travellers into her trap. Then she uses her talons to pierce her prey's neck and drink their blood.

According to The Spooky Isles, however, these ladies are nastier than that. Unless you can protect yourself with iron they'll do more than drink you're blood, they'll dismember and eat you as well.

Then The Vampire Underworld gives more details, saying that she rises from her grave once a year to feed on young men. She can also appear as a raven or crow, so she's a tricky creature.

Movie Recommendation:

Title: Byzantium
Rating: 15
Summary: Clara and Eleanor are mother and daughter and vampires, in fact they are vampires that other vampires want to kill and they always run and hide. This time they take refuge in a small seaside town where Clara earns their keep the only way she knows how, with her body, much to the disgust of her daughter. Of course they cannot hide forever.
Why you should watch this: This isn't high budget and it's not fast paced, but it's still brilliant. The characters and the plot drag you in and refuse to let go. The vampire lore is new and interesting and beautifully committed to film. The actors are also superb. I reviewed it in detail over here when I saw it in the cinema: Review: Byzantium

The Taste 

(#2 in The Diverse Life of Ianthe Jawara, Vampire)

by Natasha Duncan-Drake

There was nothing quite like the taste of blood for a vampire. Other food was still good, even exquisite given the right chef, but it could not compare to blood. Ianthe bought most of her blood in bags from the local hospital trust. She was registered as having a condition which required it and it set her up quite nicely. She wasn't the only one surviving in such a way, modern society being so vigilant for unusual things, but most of her brethren would have denied it to their dying day, which was a very long time for a vampire.

Ianthe didn't care.

However, it was never quite that simple. Bagged blood was to normal food what feeding from a living donor was to bagged blood. There was nothing like it. Just occasionally Ianthe let herself indulge.

"Well hello, Precious," Grant greeted as she walked into his restaurant; "it's been a while."

"Too long, Mon Cher," she replied and smiled as he kissed her on the hand.

Grant wasn't even close to French, but he managed a very upmarket French restaurant and when she had mentioned she was from French stock he had started to play the game. He never seemed afraid of her, even though he was only human and his playfulness was fun. The establishment was owned by one of the old vampires in the area and it was where everyone came when they wished for a certain kind of company.

"Lauren," Grant flagged down one of the waitresses, "please show Miss Jawara to one of the back booths."

"Yes, Sir," the young woman said politely; "if you would like to come this way, Miss Jawara."

Lauren made sure she had everything she needed including the menu and a very nice glass of champagne before leaving her in the dimly lit, high sided booth. She perused the menu until Grant reappeared with a completely different one designed only for his special clients.

"I'll give you a few minutes to make your selection," Grant said, "just wave when you are ready."

"Thank you," she replied and flashed her eyes at him.

He inclined his head at the show of trust, clearly pleased. A vampire revealing themselves in any way to a human other than during feeding or attacking was a sign of respect.

The new menu was full of pictures of people. Everyone at the establishment was a volunteer and there was a club below through a very thick floor where potential donors waited and enjoyed Grant's hospitality. Never let it be said that the vampire community was not prepared. Hiring a donor wasn't cheap either and she knew for a fact a good percentage went to the one being hired. Most of the ones Ianthe had used did it because they enjoyed it rather than for the money, but she assumed it was a silver lining.

She perused the images and read the short bios that went with them.

A vampire couldn't taste race in blood other than if the individual stuck to cultural dietary norms, but they could taste sex. Due to hormone levels the blood of women did taste different than the blood of men. It was also very sexual so some vampires had preferences. Ianthe didn't, but she wasn't sure what she was in the mood for.

Most of those in the menu were pretty or handsome young things, all bright eyed and clearly lively, but Ianthe wasn't feeling the pull. Then she turned the page and knew she had found the right one. The women looking back at her from the picture was somewhere in her late thirties by Ianthe's guess (the bio said twenty nine, which was a complete fabrication) and she had an interesting face. Given that Ianthe enjoyed conversation as well as blood she was sure this was her choice.

Grant was by her side before she even had to lift her hand to call him.

"Oh yes," he said as she indicated the woman she had chosen, "very you."

Sipping her champagne, she waited for her companion to arrive.

"Good evening," an alto voice greeted a few minutes later.

"Hello," she replied, looking up at her choice, "my name is Ianthe, please, have a seat."

"Jane," her companion replied, "thank you."

As soon as she sat down Jane politely offered her wrist. As with all things vampire there were protocols and Ianthe took Jane's wrist gently in her fingers. There was no point in continuing if she didn't like her companion's taste and so as etiquette dictated she allowed her fangs to lengthen and took a tiny bite. It might have been small, but as soon as the blood hit her tongue she knew she had chosen well and pleasure flooded her. She did not skimp ofn echoing the sensation back to Jane either, after all, it was only polite.

Jane gasped quietly, flushing as Ianthe watched through her eyelashes. With a flick of her tongue she sealed the small puncture and allowed Jane to take her arm back. The woman appeared somewhat surprised, but pleased and Ianthe knew they were going to have a good time. With any luck they would both end up having a really good time.

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Review: Byzantium - Vampires and blood, but really very little gore.

Title: Byzantium
Cast:
Saoirse Ronan ... Eleanor
Gemma Arterton ... Clara
Sam Riley ... Darvell
Caleb Landry Jones ... Frank
Daniel Mays ... Noel
Jonny Lee Miller ... Ruthven
Summary:
Eleanor and her mother Clara flee from their run down flat to an off season coastal resort town when the past starts to catch up with them. Clara support herself and her daughter the only way she knows how, using her body, but she meets Noel, the lonely owner of the one time grand, but now run-down guesthouse, Byzantium and she and Eleanor move in. Meanwhile Eleanor meets Frank and wants to reveal her long kept secret; she will be sixteen forever and she and Clara are over 200 years old, surviving on human blood. However, they have not run far enough as the past meets the present.

First of all I have to say this was not the film I thought it was going to be. From what I had seen about it I expected it to be more action packed. That being said I really enjoyed it. This is not a teen vampire film; it has a little teen angst, but it deals with very adult themes and is much more character driven than action or lots of plot or romance. I would call it a literary fiction vampire movie, rather than a genre vampire movie, although it has aspects of both. Now I don't usually like literary fiction type things, but this I thought had just enough action to keep me interested.

The characters are superb. There was not one actor in the film who didn't carry off their role, from Gemma Arterton as the practical and sometimes desperate Clara to Jonny Lee Miller as the arse of a man Ruthven, they all did superbly. There were a couple of characters that weren't fleshed out at all, but I still think they held up for what they were there for.

Let's start with Gemma as Clara. The first thing you see Clara doing in the film is lap dancing and that basically underlines her whole character. She uses her body to make money because that is all she knows and she will do anything to support her daughter.

Towards the beginning one of the other characters says something along the lines of 'All these years and you have learned nothing' and it seems sadly true in some ways. Clara survives and tries to be the best mother she can, but her life seems stuck in a cycle. Gemma brings all the desperation and raw love and pure survival instinct of Clara to the screen so very well. She was outstanding.

Then we have Saoirse as Eleanor, a much quieter character. Eleanor was brought up to be a good girl, to tell the truth and to be honest and pure. She is the opposite to her mother and she longs to be able to tell her secret.

She is in no way pathetic; she accepts who she is, but Saoirse shows us the longing in Eleanor so well. She tries to stay away from Frank because she knows she can never make connections, but fate brings them back together. It is only over time she succumbs to the temptation to tell him her secret.

Noel, Darvell, Frank and Ruthven are also well written and well acted characters. I connected with them all and wanted to know more about them, which is always a good sign.

The plot was also original and highly interesting. The vampire parts were different, especially the way they became vampires and the whole setup was beautifully done.

That being said, I do think the film suffered from errors in pacing. I was never bored, but there is a lot of the movie where nothing really happens.

The film starts with a bang, there is angst, tension and excitement, but that's only the first ten mins or so. Once Clara and Eleanor reach the seaside the film kind of just bobs along. There are small flashbacks, but really the audience isn't given huge amounts of information until the last twenty mins of the film. The film ends with as much of a bang as it began and I think they could make an absolutely stunning sequel, but I doubt they will.

The whole premise is that it's kind of from Eleanor's perspective and there are things Clara hasn't told her daughter so the audience don't get to know them either. Then at the end we have a point of view change and we get Clara's missing pieces and it's huge. I think there should have been more flashbacks and more detail in them about how Clara and Eleanor came to be. It would have given a little more tension without being thoroughly annoying and could have moved the middle section of the film along a bit.

The bad guys are menacing, but I think if we'd had a bit more about them they would have been more so and then the excitement would have been higher even if the reveal was still left to the end.

I would definitely watch Byzantium again and I will be purchasing the blu-ray when it eventually appears. This is a good film. I recommend it to vampire fans.