March 28, 2008 (Paste Magazine / Christina Hansen) -- Fans of Bret Easton Ellis' novel The Informers may be surprised to see a few of their favorite characters missing when the film adaptation hits the big screen later this year.

The Informers tells the interlocking stories of several wealthy, morally bankrupt families living in Los Angeles during the early 1980s. Gregor Jordan is directing the film, starring Mickey Rourke, Kim Basinger, Winona Ryder, Billy Bob Thornton, Amber Heard and the late Brad Renfro, in his last theatrical role.

The most unconventional storyline in Ellis' original novel involved the character Jamie, a sadistic vampire who liked to lure club-hopping teenagers to their untimely, grisly deaths. While the novel's supernatural underpinnings were largely panned by book critics, others argued that the vampire subplot added a fresh twist to an otherwise predictable story. Superman Returns star Brandon Routh plays the role of Jamie in the film.

But the blogosphere is alight with rumors this week that the entire vampire subplot has been edited out of the final film. /Film reports that all of the scenes featuring Routh landed on the cutting room floor at the last minute, and that the film's director has offered no explanation.

Another of the film's stars, John Graham, expressed his bewilderment at the last-minute cuts during an interview with IGN. "God knows why they took the vampire characters out," he said. "I can't say if I was pleased or displeased, that is just the way it is."

It's difficult to even speculate how Ellis, who co-wrote The Informers screenplay, will react to the cuts, as the film adaptations of his novels American Psycho, Less Than Zero and The Rules of Attraction never strayed far from his source material.

If Ellis is unhappy with the final cut of The Informers, at least he'll have several other projects to keep him busy. Film adaptations of his novels Lunar Park and The Frog King are in the works, and he is said to be shopping Glamorama around the studio circuit, as well.

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Posted by Vladimir Tue, 04/01/2008 - 16:38

 

Vampire controversy hurts proud papa DJ BoBo

April 12, 2007 (esctoday.com / Steve Holyer) -- "The Switzerland I know," DJ BoBo said, "is one that isn't afraid of vampires." The Swiss representative to the Eurovision Song Contest was with his family in South Africa when he took the time to talk to Schweizer Illustrierte magazine about the Swiss petition against his song Vampires are alive. He told the magazine that he is frustrated the controversy went so far; he is sad that the rest of the world is laughing at Switzerland.

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The Problem with Immortality

When the image of the vampire is presented to us, we are filled– even if secretly or subconsciously – with longing. The three most desirable traits of the vampire are his power, sexuality and immortality. In this essay we will be looking at the immortality of the vampire.

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Vampires from the deep

Are there vampires who dwell beneath the waters of the world, and if so, what myth, legends, and folk tales surround them? Are they normal vampires who just prefer water to the land? Are they blood-drinking mermaids? Are there any such vampires in fictional books or movies? To fully answer such questions, a whole book would be required. But let me give some telling examples.

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Now Alone

The empty weariness settle over me.
I am tired and alone.
You have left me now and forever.

Sweet city in the sky or the eternal inferno within.
I cannot decide where it is you've gone, where it is I'll follow to.

Surely it must be hell for the life you inflicted on me.
Yet surely it must be heaven for the ecstasy you envoked in me.

Was it you that said, one never walks the path to heaven but is carried there on the wings on righteousness.

Yet one must walk the pathes to hell to know what living is.

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The Significance of the Vampire in Gothic Fiction

Gothic fiction is that which provokes fear - fear of the unseen or unknown, fear of the taboo or forbidden, fear of "the Other", fear of what lies outside of 'normality' to name a few. There are many kinds of fear that are connected with the vampire in Gothic fiction.

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