Blade: Blending Horror and Heroism
A white tiled bathroom is soaked in blood as the remains of vampires lie around. In the center of the gruesome scene is Eric Brooks aka Blade, a vampire hunter who is also one of the many heroes a part of Marvel Comics. Blade first debuted in July of 1973 in “The Tomb of Dracula #10”. Blade is a dhampir, half-human and half-vampire, who over his 50 years of appearances has been a crucial figure in the Marvel Universe. Blade has joined forces with Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, Wolverine, and many more over the years as well as being a member of the Midnight Suns and The Avengers. Despite Blade becoming more of a superhero overtime by taking part in “Civil War” and “War of the Realms” he has never left his horror roots behind. Although some consider horror and superheroes to be contradicting, Blade successfully fuses elements of horror with the superhero genre, creating an experience that challenges vampire films through straightforward storytelling, supernatural beings, and graphic violence.
Blade follows a half-man, half-vampire who seeks to rid the world of vampires to avenge his mother’s death. The premise is simple as is with most superhero films. There isn’t a shocking twist like Psycho or consistent jumpscares like Host. It's a simple story that is improved upon through it’s world building and dialogue. Lines of dialogue like “I have spent my whole life lookin' for that thing that killed my mother, and made me what I am. And every time I take one of those monsters out, I get a little piece of that life back” (Norrington). Dialogue is where we get the characterization of different characters within this film. An outsider could see Blade as a villain who is going around and killing all these vampires with some even appearing harmless, however dialogue like this shows where he morally stands and why he is considered a hero.
The simplicity of its story can be seen in how Blade depicts vampires. Blade exists as “a throwback to an earlier vision of the vampire as a bloodthirsty monster that looks on humanity as simply a source of food” (Frohreich 35). Prior to 1998’s Blade, films including The Lost Boys and Interview with the Vampire had already been released and showed how vampires can experience human emotion and be more human than monster. Blade decides to scrap all that and go down an almost stereotypical route for the vampires however there was a catch. “the narrative complicates this straightforward ‘throwback’ to earlier
vampire figures by positioning these more violent vampires in relation to another,
more peaceful group of vampires and distinguishing the two in terms of race; the
latter group are ‘pure blood’, born from other vampires, and the former are those
that were once human and have been turned” (Frohreich 35).
Blade uses its world building to flesh out vampires into two separate groups that can clash in a way of “turf wars”. The film sees Deacon Forst, a turned vampire, trying to take over the Vampire Council so he can make humans fear vampires again. There is a scene between Deacon and the Vampire Council where he claims that they “should be ruling the humans, not running around making back ally treaties with them” (Norrington). Deacon represents the traditional vampire we see in films like Interview with the Vampire, a monster that only views humans as food and nothing more. This characterization of Deacon makes it abundantly clear who the villain is even if someone like Blade can toe the line of hero and villain.
As a character, Blade lacks emotion that lets him resonate with viewers. Until the end of the film, Blade’s characterization comes from characters like Whistler talking about him. This method of character developing isn’t entirely common but it was popularized in the John Wick franchise as different characters describe Wick’s past and what makes him unique. When the Vampire Council reads about Blade’s involvement at Deacon’s nightclub they are in pure fear. The dialogue between the members shows how threatening Blade is to their species and this isn’t the first time its happened. It’s not just the straightforward storytelling that works but also the use of supernatural abilities that make this film encapsulate both hero and horror.
The superpowers in Blade separate itself from other vampire films. While vampires do have superhuman abilities from strength to flight and immortality, their origins are more monstrous and make it clear they are monsters before anything else. Understanding the origins of the vampires in this universe comes from Karen Jenson, a hemotologist, where she confirms “that vampirism is a disease, a stigmatisation that is also part of the way in which the two vampire groups are characterised” (Frohreich 35). Within this film’s universe, the vampires exist as science fiction rather than supernatural. Vampires were created from a disease similar to how zombies often originate.
Traditionally the origins of vampires dates back to Christianity as vampires have strong tries with religion. Blade flips this by making vampirism a disease that can spread and has been around for thousands of years. While the vampires still need blood to survive, it’s clearly not in short supply. The opening of the film shows one of Deacon’s vampire clubs where they have a bloodbath as it rains blood from sprinkler heads. The vampires in the film lack some abilities compared to other vampires. They don’t appear to be able to transform into bats or able to hypnotize people; instead they have some superhuman abilities with the kryptonite of not being able to be in the sun and the constant hunger for blood.
The lack of religion in the film is apparent when Blade states that “crosses and holy water don't do dick so forget what you've seen in the movies. You use a wooden stake, silver or sunlight to kill them” (Norrington). The weakness of the vampires is still traditional to other versions however religious items have been removed. In other vampire films, the protagonists can spend the entire film trying to kill the vampire, Blade is able to plow through hordes of them like they are nothing. While Blade’s superhuman strength plays a factor, once the weakness of these vampires are known they can be treated like any goon that someone like Spider-Man would face off with.
Blade represents the best of both worlds between humans and vampires. He has the strengths of the vampires and none of the weakness. However, “Blade believes the vampire is fundamentally evil and ‘animalistic’ as well as abject, and thus, his attitude towards himself is one of self-hatred” (Frohreich 36). Every superhero needs a weakness of some kind, Blade’s weakness is similar to one to characters like Spider-Man or Captain America which is their humanity. Self-hatred is something almost everyone goes through especially fictional characters. While Spider-Man hates himself for not having a normal life and being able to save everyone, Blade hates himself for his identity as half-vampire to where “every time I take one of those monsters out, I get a little piece of that life back.” (Norrington). He personally believes that if he were to keep killing vampires he would fully reject his vampirism and be fully human. Despite this simplified story and superhuman characters, the action sequences blend horror and heroism together.
Blade shares similarities with numerous martial arts film which defines the film’s action. The opening night club sequence sees Blade using his Daywalker Sword to slaughter hundreds of vampires with ease. The fighting style seen is common with most of Marvel and superhero movies as the hero uses their abilities to beat the enemies. The difference with Blade is just how violent the action is. Traditionally there won’t be blood in superhero films to maintain a family-friendly tone; Blade instead will cut off hands and slice vampires in half, signifying his difference. While the violence isn’t to the extreme of modern day horror films like Terrifer or Barbarian, Blade’s action blends that of traditional superheroes and the bloodlust of horror.
When summarizing Blade, there are three areas which you can analyze. The straightforward storytelling, the superhuman nature, and the action. The storytelling takes the simplicity of comic books and uses world building and dialogue to add in horror elements. The superhuman elements of the film are all based on science fiction rather than the supernatural which is traditionally expected for horror films. The existence of vampires is explained through a disease rather than being rooted in religion as seen in Bram Stoker’s novel. The action sequences are traditional comic book fight scenes with the added gore. Blade doesn’t use or need jumpscares in order to be a horror film as the film is filled to the brim with blood and guts that will make you unsettled. Ultimately, Blade is able to fuse the superhero and horror genre together in a way that can challenge traditional horror films and shows the potential of not only comic book films but horror as a genre.
Works Cited
Frohreich, Kimberly A. “Sullied Blood, Semen and Skin.” Gothic Studies, vol. 15, no. 1, May 2013, pp. 33–43. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.7227/GS.15.1.4.
Lee, Stan. Tomb of Dracula. No. 10, Marvel Comics, 1973
Norrington, Stephen, director. Blade. Warner Bros., 1998.
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