The vampire craze continues full tilt, and now with acclaimed Hollywood director Guillermo del Toro throwing his hat in the ring, the bloodsucker invasion is officially on. From the AP:
“Pan’s Labyrinth” director Guillermo del Toro is collaborating with crime author Chuck Hogan on a trilogy of vampire novels, starting next summer with “The Strain.”
“The idea is epic in scope,” del Toro said in a statement issued Wednesday by publisher William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins. “The trilogy advances in unexpected ways and each book contains unique and surprising revelations about the history, physiology and lore of the vampiric race, tracing its roots all the way back to its Old Testament origins.”
Del Toro has brought some wonderfully imagined worlds to life. Hellboy II remains one of my favorite movies of the year, a fantastical celluloid rendition of the graphic novel character. Apparently the director is on a mission to recast classic fantasy and speculative titles in modern idioms on CGI pallets. Universal recently inked a deal with del Toro by setting up four directing projects, including remakes of FRANKENSTEIN, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE and SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE. (read details HERE.)
But as much as I’m a del Toro fan, this notion of “tracing [vampire] roots all the way back to its Old Testament origins” is… anticlimactic. As one who’s read the entire Bible several times over, I can say unequivocally that the Old Testament never talks about vampires. Perhaps the closest Scripture comes to addressing vampiric concepts is in Leviticus 17:
10 ” ‘Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any blood—I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. 11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. 12 Therefore I say to the Israelites, “None of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood.”
13 ” ‘Any Israelite or any alien living among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth, 14 because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, “You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off.”
Leviticus is well-known for its detailed (some would say tedious) framing of Jewish laws. Blood is central to a Judeo Christian covenant, which is one reason why the whole vampire mythology often plays out against a religious backdrop. Nevertheless, the Bible just does not speak about vampires. Sure, the above verse mentions the “person who eats blood,” but it is clearly in the context of dietary prohibitions, not ghoulish addictions.
If Guillermo det Toro’s vampire trilogy will trace the undead curse “all the way back to its Old Testament origins,” I’m guessing the director will be using a different Old Testament. Most likely, his sources are extra-biblical, apocryphal or Gnostic. But the Bible just has no straight forward references to revenants. Which makes me wonder whether this nod to the O.T. is meant purely to pique interest or is just flat out fictional.
I’m guessing he’ll toss in a shabby anachronistic occult “mystery” for the origins of vampirism, which could be fairly easily “tied” to the OT for the undiscerning.
The horror of widespread biblical illiteracy is two-fold: the distance such a disorder places between God and man, and the easily fashioned idolatry which emerges from the phantoms of our ignorance.
The only reason del Toro mentions the old testament is to steal gravitas for his own work while simultaneously making a broadside against the truth. A frustrating artist he is.
There are atheists who are capable of detaching from their faith in service to a portrayal (Paul Giamatti in ‘John Adams’ for example) but there are others who have engaged in the art of portrayal in service to their humanism (Del Toro, Tim Robbins, etc.) that they can become unwatchable because of it. Their “truth” is so jarringly oppositional to the Truth, that it becomes like squeezing good juice from dry grapes for the endeavor to be worth it.
Del Toro is most disappointing when his demons overtake his work. His talents and eye are such gifts from God, it would be remarkable to see what he could do if he returned them to His service.
I use del Toro, brilliant as he is, as a warning to my own writing, because in several of my out of print books my demons overtake my work, and it gets ugly… and loses holiness.