THE HUNGER (1983)

Directed by Tony Scott

Starring Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie

Unbelievable from start to finish, "The Hunger" nonetheless looks good. It also deserves some credit for redefining the vampire film. "Nadja" and "The Addiction" both drew inspiration from it, but surpass it on almost every level.

Starring Bowie and Deneuve as a metropolitan vampire couple—and Susan Sarandon as a doctor who helps Bowie when he suddenly finds himself aging rapidly after hundreds of years of being a 30-year-old—the flick has some attractive, hip stars. Bowie is as cool and stylish as ever.

The opening scene with Peter Murphy performing Bauhaus' underground hit "Bela Lugosi's Dead"—and Bowie and Deneuve looking for victims in a disco—is cool, but the flick gets dull from there, despite some excellent Dick Smith make-up later in the film.

Like so many of Scott's other films (from "Top Gun" to "Days of Thunder"), "The Hunger" offers nothing beyond MTV aesthetics. Goth rockers love it, but what do they know? The flick has no suspense. A "cult favorite" that is basically popular among fans of The Cure, this barely qualifies as a horror film.

You do get to see Sarandon and Deneuve in a lesbian scene, with Sarandon topless, reclining on a bed in bikini underwear! Wubba wubba.

But that doesn't save this piece of garbage—which is saying a lot. The flick was influential, but fails on too many levels to make it worth watching. Skip it.