Stylish, gothic, dramatic. If it weren’t for the vampires you might not know that Only Lovers Left Alive is a horror movie. Indeed, some say it’s not. You can have movies about vampires that aren’t horror films, right? Still, vampires defined horror, at the earliest stages. There’s no on-screen violence in Only Lovers. No, it’s about a pair of vampires named Adam and Eve, who are many hundreds of years old, that have developed different outlooks on undeath. She reads and lives in exotic Tangier, enjoying herself. He’s a depressed musician who lives in Detroit—there must be a book in horror movies set in post-industrial Detroit, wondering what’s the point. In any case, they decide to get together in Michigan where they revel in each other’s company. But then Ava, Eve’s troublesome sister pops in, unannounced. Not refined or cultured like her sister and brother-in-law, she leads to trouble.
Eve and Adam move back to Tangier where whey have difficulty locating a good source of blood. As cultured vampires, they do not attack people—zombies, as they call them—but procure it from doctors willing to sell. When the supply runs out, they do what they must to survive. This gentle story is art-house quality and it brings a different angle to the aristocratic vampire. These vampires are the creators of culture. The mortals sometimes appreciate it, but are generally too busy destroying the world to pay much mind to the superior creations all around them. There’s not a hint of evil about these undead, subverting the usual narrative of such beings.
Vampire movies offer some complex possibilities. They’re also a reminder why “horror” isn’t the best movie label ever invented. Monsters by definition, vampires are portrayed in many ways—from animalistic, sometimes even with wings, to European nobility with great politeness and decorum, even as they bite your neck. Then there are those who don’t attack people unless absolutely necessary. They’re symbols of capitalism, with its greedy sucking of the blood of others. They’re also symbols of evil, at times barely distinguishable from demons. They seem endlessly adaptable. In Only Lovers they are folks you’d be okay with, if they lived next door. As long as Adam didn’t play his music too loud. Since horror is a slippery term anyway, I opt for counting this in that genre. In fact, I learned about it from a website listing stylish horror movies, so I’d say it counts. Even if it’s just a bit out of the ordinary.
