The Telltale Bulge

There's a moment that is very special to me and which exists in certain vampire movies. This moment occurs as the fledgling vampire has risen from her coffin/grave/bier and advances upon the former lover/friend/parent for feeding. I look forward to this moment with almost fetishistic anticipation, because it seems to me the very essence of horror.

You tend to see this moment in older vampire movies, made before orthodontic advances in the construction of cosmetic fangs minimized the size of the appliance. Back in the old days, fangs were bulky and barely fit into the actor's mouth, resulting in a tattletale bulging of the lips.

The effect was achieved by use of a cutaway. You'd see the revenant rising, her eyes fluttering open, at which point the camera would cut to the shocked reaction of the witness/victim... and then a return to the freshly minted bloodsucker would reveal said appliance in place. And it's unmistakable, this bulge, especially once you become sensitive to the addition and start looking forward to seeing it, as I do, my heart racing, my breath ragged.

I find this phenomenon effective because it plays off of our fear of seeing in a loved one something that's not quite right. That queasy moment of heightened sensitivity is more terrible to me than the terror that accompanies the baring of the fangs, for by that point there's no doubt, no ambiguity, you're just screwed and that's that. The moment before that hand is played, the moment of rising dread, the moment of the bulge, is my all time horror highlight.

I think this moment was best played in THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (1967), in the final moments in the sleigh as Roman Polanski cradles Sharon Tate, whom he has helped to save from a vampire horde. Of course, this fairytale climax is compromised by the sudden appearance of that curious bulge...

... that augurs an unhappy conclusion for all involved. I'll never forget the gut punch this twist ending delivered to me when I saw the film for the first time as a kid, on late night television. And I still find it creepy as hell.

This post was written especially for my fellow Tana Tea Drinker Ryne Barber's The Review a Vampire Movie/Talk About Vampires for an Unstated Length of Time Blog-a-Thon, headquartered over at The Moon is a Dead World.