Welcome Ghouls & Ghosts!
In which I launch a newsletter, not a podcast...and end up talking about vampires much more than I had intended.
An Intro
I’ve loved horror since I was a kid. Which I’m guessing anyone can tell. I mean if you’re subscribing to this newsletter, you definitely can tell.
My mom let me watch them way too early. And I’ve often referred to myself as a “Latina Randy Meeks but without the creep factor.” Mostly because out of all of my friends, I’m the one most likely to “know the rules” but also not be the Final Girl because, well, you can probably guess why.
Some of you might know that I work in publishing. And that is exactly why I didn’t want to start yet another newsletter on publishing. As much as I love chisme or giving advice to aspiring pros, it’s just a lot. And I’d rather use this new creative endeavor to talk about one of my favorite things ever and unfortunately, I don’t think I’m skilled enough to do my own podcast so here we are.
This newsletter is monthly, so it’ll be longer than others but I hope they keep the alligators in your sewers satisfied enough until the next month.
So without further ado, welcome to Ghoul Gal!
And Intros
CW / TW: blood
When I first started drafting my intro, I had a completely different segment in mind. But I realized that I really wanted to also talk about some of my favorite movie intros.
In books, a first line, a first page can do so much for a story. It sets the tone, the setting, and introduces your reader to your protagonist. It can be the reason why your reader gets hooked in or why they don’t.
Movies are the same, of course. And also like books, some movie intros can be fantastic while the rest of the movie just doesn’t do it. So let’s talk about some of my favorites.
Bauhaus enchants in The Hunger (1983)
To be honest, this isn’t a good movie at all. It’s all style. Which is such a damn shame considering that you have David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve as vampires alongside Susan Sarandon in an incredibly erotic film. But this intro fucking slaps! It takes me back to pre-pandemic times when I would go out to Svmmon nights at Talon in Brooklyn. I would dance in a dark basement that had fog machines, wall projections, and DJs spinning Depeche Mode, Boy Harsher, and of course, Bauhaus. In this intro, they perform their eternally popular “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” in a club where John and Miriam Blaylock hunt their latest victims.
Blade’s (1998) blood rave
Remember how I said my mom let me watch horror movies way too young? Yeah, Blade was definitely one of them. This is probably where my long-lasting love of vampires comes from. This movie is badass. But this intro? It’s late 90s perfection! Not only do you get a sexy rave sequence to New Order’s “Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction Mix)” but then you get the addition of blood raining down from the sprinklers and one man’s greatest boner kill ever.
Lestat’s moody monologue in Queen of the Damned (2002)
I don’t care what anyone says about this movie. It’s a fun movie and it just holds a very special place in my heart. And the soundtrack being produced by Jonathan Davis from Korn is *chef kiss*. Here, Stuart Townsend’s Lestat monologues as he wakes up from a decades-long slumber, all thanks to the jam session of a group of musicians playing a modified version of “Forsaken” from the soundtrack.
Edith begins at the end in Crimson Peak (2015)
Crimson Peak is easily one of my favorite movies ever. In my opinion, it’s Guillermo del Toro’s best movie, so far. We begin with a close-up on Edith’s bloody face. A steady sound of machinery, almost like a heartbeat, is heard in sync with her heavy breathing. “Ghosts are real. This much I know,” she says as the sequence then switches to a flashback: the funeral procession for Edith’s mother. The music is a beautiful and melancholy orchestra. And we get to see young Edith’s first ghostly encounter with her recently deceased mother who warns her, “beware of Crimson Peak.”
One Good Scare — Cronos (1993)
It's Halloween…everyone's entitled to one good scare.” —Halloween, 1978
TW: blood; addiction; body horror
Taking inspiration from this line, One Good Scare will be a recurring segment where I talk about an old favorite or a recent first-time viewing. There will be some spoilers!
The theme of this newsletter didn’t start out being about vampires, gothic films, or blood, but here we are. Lately, I’ve been working my way backwards through del Toro’s filmography and surprisingly, I hadn’t watched Cronos until a couple of a weeks ago.
Cronos was Guillermo del Toro’s debut film from 1993 and wow! I mean, what I wouldn’t give to have an ounce of talent as del Toro has. Because let me repeat that, Cronos was his first feature film! Its Criterion collection entry describes it as “a dark, visually rich, and emotionally captivating fantasy.” And they’re so right!
Cronos truly holds several of those familiar del Toro trademarks: beautiful imagery, a haunting story, an industrialist and greedy antagonist, fantastic practical special effects, and a Ron Perlman pre-Hellboy and Blade II.
In Cronos, Jesús Gris is an older man who owns an antiques shop. There, he finds the mysterious and titular device hidden in an archangel statue. In the prologue, we learn that an unnamed alchemist created the Cronos device to provide ever-lasting life but at the cost of the need to consume blood. After accidentally using the device, Gris soon begins to be consumed by a sort of addiction, but in return, he becomes more youthful and his energy increases. But businessman Dieter de la Guardia and his nephew Angel (played by Perlman) are also in pursuit of the Cronos device. The elder de la Guardia is dying and desperate for a cure and immortality. The De la Guardias pursuit of the Cronos device soon leads them to Gris’ shop.
Del Toro’s film is a wonderful love letter to the vampire myths. There is a scene where de la Guardian explain to Gris that the Cronos devices comes with a little rule book to follow. Gris and the audience never really get to “know” these rules. Though the need to consume blood is a given. And instead of making his protagonist yet another youthful character, del Toro chooses to have the elderly Gris who soon de-ages thanks to the device. Del Toro’s vampires a lot more like addicts, but the realities of the Cronos device also come with the horrific consequence that once hurt and healed, the Cronos user sheds their old skin to reveal a brilliant marble-white and blue-veined appearance. It’s ghastly and unattractive. This isn’t your Bela Lugosi or your Gary Oldman vampire at all.
A Vampire Renaissance for Books
As much as I keep mentioning publishing in this newsletter, I won’t normally recommend a ton of books, but Emily Hughes’ Nightmare Fuel is definitely the newsletter for all of your horror book rec needs.
Anyways, I’ve kinda been yelling about vampire books since I started working in publishing. So coming off of my first-time viewing of Cronos, my thirst (pun very much intended) for more vampire fiction has only heightened.
But thankfully, publishing has been answering my yells with some fantastic reads and two of my most anticipated reads right now are:
Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker’s Vampires Never Get Old YA anthology.
and Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s adult novel Certain Dark Things
Moreno-Garcia’s novel has literally been brought back to life. It had gone out of print years ago. You could try finding a used copy around online or try your luck at the 35 weeks long wait for a library’s e-copy. But thankfully, Tor Nightfire announced that they’re republishing Certain Dark Things for May 2021. Vampires in Mexico City? Fuck yes!
And Córdova and Parker’s co-edited anthology features one hell of a line-up that I cannot wait for. It publishes this September and while I normally don’t read anthologies, this is the one I’ve been waiting for.
Trends in publishing always come in waves. In my middle-school years, I devoured books like Blue Bloods, Midnight Kisses, Tantalize, House of Night, Vampire Academy, and of course, Twilight. I lived and breathed those books. But the lack of representation was astounding. So, it’s really exciting to see new books featuring diverse casts of characters that are being written by Black, Indigenous, people of color, and/or queer folk that are giving new life to the paranormal genre.
Ghoul Gal is a free newsletter, but if you like my writing and want to support me, consider leaving me a “tip!” Thank you and stay spooky!
Great write! I haven’t seen Cronos- but now it’s on my list. My favorite Vampire movie is 30 days of night. I love gritty, thirsty vamps who aren’t into reasoning. It makes them scarier to me because the humans have to outwit them by digging into their primal instincts, straight up surviving. The usage of the dark season was brilliant - mice in a trap. Sorry, rambling. I miss talking horror with someone so much. Glad I found this!
My favorite opening is Bram Stoker's DRACULA. I love it more than the rest of the movie!