When The Vampire (Genre) Rose From The Grave

Blade is an important movie for me as it was the moment in pop culture that I started liking vampires. Prior to that, the blood sucking undead were romantic figures, firmly locked in an , outdated gothic past or portrayed as a primitive unsophisticated underclass of society. Finally Blade came along and vampires felt like they finally could exist in the modern world; they went to raves, they owned real estate, they had a governing body and could now be killed with technologies like ultra-violent lamps, garlic-filled bullet firing automatic weapons and blood coagulant projectiles.

The look of the vampire film was thankfully updated too thanks to director Stephen Norrington who films the stark, contemporary steel and concrete production with a glossy, deep focus sheen. The score is moody, the techno score ear-opening amazing (the opening club scene is game-chantingly great), the editing restrained, the image compositions embrace negative space and it admirably has the atmosphere of a John Carpenter film. On top of this Wesley Snipes is cool and magnetic as the title character with Kris Kristopherson giving gruff, laid back support as his partner Whistler and Stephen Dorff bringing on the menace as the young upstart villain.

Blade is wonderful. Apart from a familiar plot and some appalling CGI at the climax, Blade rarely puts a step wrong.