I'm sorry to have to admit it, but The Hunger is another classic that had somehow managed to slip through my fingers during my cinematic explorations; I'd always heard talk of this movie and had always intended to see it, but I guess fortune was just not on my side. Anyway, when our dear Head Vampire informed me that I would be receiving The Hunger in my latest batch of screeners, needless to say I got a little excited. After all, who wouldn't want to see a movie with Susan Sarandon and Catherine Deneuve as lesbian vampires, right?

For those of you who are currently as ignorant of the plot as I was a couple of weeks ago, I'll get you up to speed. As The Hunger opens, we meet a sexy couple named John and Mariam (Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie) of upper-class city-dwellers who are seducing another young couple at a trendy nightclub. Taking the two back to their place, John and Mariam promptly break off with their respective conquests and engage in wild, passionate sex. Of course, the box art and synopsis should already have provided you with enough information to know that things do not fare well for the young couple from the club, and, indeed, before we know it, John and Mariam are slashing their victim's throats with tiny golden daggers they wear on chains around their necks.

Having satiated their bloodlust for another week, the two retire to the shower to clean off, where they each finish what they were beginning with their respective partners before it became feeding time. In bed now, Mariam rests peacefully, but John discovers that he cannot sleep. Days pass, and soon John is noticing wrinkles appearing under his eyes, something always shocking, yet even more disturbing to a supposedly immortal creature than to any of us mere mortals.

Quite disturbed by this turn of events, John seeks out noted researcher of age-related illnesses Dr. Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon). Of course, his decision to simply barge into her office and demand help does not exactly facilitate an instant rapport, and so it's little surprise that Roberts sends poor John out to the lobby to wait of an appointment that she never intends to give him. As John waits patiently, hour after hour, we watch him decay before us, withering into the form of an old man. Finally, after a deal of time, he decides he's fed up with waiting, and again seeks out Dr. Roberts in order to tell her off. Needless to say, she's stunned by his transformation and now more than willing to help him, yet he chooses to leave out of spite.

Back at the couple's chic abode, it becomes quite clear that, while John will not die, he will continually wither away at this same rate for all eternity. Apparently, this is an eventuality that Mariam is prepared for, as, seeing him in this state, she gives him one final kiss before entombing him in a coffin in the attic, with only seven other coffins containing seven other lovers who share his fate there to keep him company.

Alone again, Mariam needs to find new companionship, and the interest that Dr. Roberts has gained in John provides her the perfect opportunity to get her hands on some new blood - as well as, we find, her lips and, for that matter, most of the rest of her body, in the lesbian sex scene between Sarandon and Deneuve that has since become infamous.

Falling deeper into Mariam's web of sex and bloodlust, Sarah is soon forced to make a choice between an 'eternal' life as a blood-addict and one as a moral woman who is nevertheless free from addiction.

Overall, I found The Hunger to be a rather interesting experience, if not a completely satisfying one. While it is filled with an almost non-stop parade of absolutely gorgeous visuals and poetic imagery, its story ended up feeling a little weak as a result of this. The Hunger feels a lot like a hybrid between the styles of Jean Rollin and various Zales diamond commercials. As such, the film's two main elements, imagery and storyline, seem to often be at odds, each pulling in a different direction and never really finding a happy medium between their forces. Still, if you're looking for something that is enjoyable on a purely visceral level, The Hunger definitely delivers as a result of its splendid visual structures and poetic pacing, even if it isn't completely satisfying as an actual narrative experience.

So, while it does have many good points, I must conclude that, in the end, The Hunger is not quite perfect; however, it bears note that, visually, at least, the DVD is fairly damn close. Coming from a personal print of director Tony Scott's, The Hunger apparently looks much better in this edition than it has in previous incarnations (a look at the disc's trailer shows a striking comparison). The film's deep, bold color palate seems accurately depicted, and it's quite amazing to note that, for a film of more than 20 years age (even if it is one from a major studio), the image looks shockingly pristine, bearing few if any scratches or specks of dirt that I could see. Topping things off is the fact that the film is presented in it's original 2.35:1 aspect ratio, which preserves the skillfully-arranged scope compositions that have been mutilated on fullscreen VHS releases.

Sadly, the fantastic quality of the presentation is not exactly equaled in the disc's extras department, which has a rather sparse selection. Along with the aforementioned original theatrical trailer, a series of brief photo galleries is also included, along with a commentary track provided by director Tony Scott and actress Susan Sarandon that is pieced together from the individual comments of the two. (I generally call these 'dueling commentaries,' so if you see me use that term in the future, now you know...) Sadly, this 'the disc's only major extra' still feels rather lacking. There are some interesting facts to be found in a listen; however, one must also sift through a lot of rather uninteresting information to get to it. Most of the commentary is Scott's, and, while he seems amicable enough, he's never that engaging, and he has that bad habit that some directors do of starting to list credit after credit for every participant who happens to wander past the camera. As for Sarandon, she tends to disappear for large stretches of time (after the first fifteen minutes she disappears for about a half hour before we hear from her again), though when she does pop in she's usually entertaining enough. Rabid fans will surely want to hear the commentary track; however, the layman really needn't get too excited about it.

For visual presentation alone, Warner Brothers, release of The Hunger is a nice package. For those who have yet to see this film, I'd recommend giving it a try; as long as you're prepared to deal with some of its pretensions, you should be in for an entertaining viewing experience, at least visually. As for hardcore fans, you're definitely going to want to pick this package up for the widescreen presentation and the improved transfer alone. Then again, you probably already have, haven't you?