It Came From the '90s: Bloody Good—Sheryl Lee in <i>Vampires</i>

It Came From the '90s: Bloody Good—Sheryl Lee in Vampires

This series looks back at the 1990s and its influence on the generation of people who came of age during the decade.

The last entry in my ongoing '90s series revisited Sheryl Lee's heartbreaking, harrowing performance in David Lynch's masterpiece of psychological torment, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992). That reminded me how, for a hot minute in the '90s, Lee seemed poised for big things. Her work in Twin Peaks was astonishing. Her raw, intense portrayal of the doomed Laura Palmer remains one of my favorite performances from the decade. My goodness, I thought, she truly was one of the most brave and committed actresses of that era, and I need to remind everyone just how great she was! So, because it's my mission to remind y'all that Lee was a force to be reckoned with, let's take a look at another of my favorite performances of hers from the '90s.

After Twin Peaks, Lee returned to the theater and over the years has stayed mostly under the radar on screen, appearing in a series of mostly unmemorable films and television shows. She recently reprised the role of Laura Palmer to great effect, in the beyond-weird Twin Peaks: The Return. Fire Walk With Me is likely her crowing achievement, but I'm also extremely fond of her work in another, later-'90s film. Once again, she was working for an iconoclastic director, and was charged with playing a woman victimized by supernatural forces beyond her control. A woman whose objectified body was also her currency. This time though, instead of facing the maniacal, possessing spirit BOB, Lee fell under a vampire's sway in John Carpenter's underrated, gonzo fangs-in-the-desert extravaganza Vampires (1998).

Few would rank Vampires among Carpenter's best, but that's because the man's best work is the unassailable stuff of legend. If you don't expect Vampires to compete with The Thing or Halloween or They Live, and just enjoy it on its own merits, then it's a bloody good time. I absolutely love it. Twenty years on, I'd even say it's a lost cult classic. In the grand tradition of independent, exploitation cinema, Carpenter has a blast mixing up a potent stew of vampires, sex, and Catholicism.

In accordance with the material, the acting is often gloriously over the top, as well. James Woods turns in a memorably hammy turn as the no-nonsense Vatican-sponsored vampire hunter Jack Crow. His partner Tony Montoya is played with taciturn smarminess by Daniel Baldwin. But this post is all about celebrating another fearless performance by Lee, this time as the prostitute-turned-vampire Katrina.

Lee's trademark scorching-hot intensity is on full display once more, as Katrina undergoes a slow transformation over the course of the film, from a hard-partying hooker to an undead siren with an appetite for blood. Her bloodlust escalates and Lee fully commits to Carpenter's classic exploitation film vibe. Not only does she commit, but she tears into it with a ferocity to match her character's voracious appetites. The film has some fun with the old vampirism-as-sex metaphor, and Lee especially makes solid gold out of it. Katrina is an unapologetic sexual being from the start, and then Lee only dials up the heat as she becomes more vampire than woman.

Katrina maintains a psychic link to the bloodsucker that bit her, Valek, making her a valuable asset to Crow and Montoya in their mission to bring down this grandmaster of the vampires. At first, Katrina can barely function, because she just got fanged by an uber-vampire (I told you, it's full-tilt boogie with the vampire-sex metaphor). The vampire transformation begins, and she stumbles through the desert in an intoxicated haze while Crow berates her and smacks her around. Few actresses can play stoned, somnambulance as believably as Lee. There's a natural melancholia to her heavy-lidded bedroom eyes that draws viewers in, almost hypnotically. We're entranced by the eyes to stick around, and then we're fully engaged by the artistry of her performances.

Over time, Katrina's vampire transformation only intensifies, and Lee delights in being as ferociously bad as she wants to be as the taste for blood increases. Sex and danger are the two key ingredients to any memorable vampire performance, and Lee brings both with maximum impact in Vampires. With a devilish smile and blood dripping down her chin, Lee is as scary-sexy as any vamp you'd have the pleasure to meet. She'd completely devour those sullen, sparkling-vampire Cullens of Twilight in a damn heartbeat, and I'd pay good money to see her do it.

Beyond just celebrating Lee's '90s work, I hope these last few posts have served as reminders that she was indeed quite good. She deserved bigger, better, meatier roles. Think of what she might have done with either of the lead parts in Single White Female. Or how about in the Kim Basinger role, as another wounded and fragile woman defined by her body, in L.A. Confidential? Also, she could have absolutely killed it as the object of Ben Affeck's affection in Chasing Amy. I don't believe she was ever in contention for any of these roles, but my point is, she should have been!

Instead though, she was starring in films and television series that no one remembers today. That's a shame. Lee had an utterly unique quality to her in the '90s—an ethereal yet intense combination of sadness and madness, pleasure and pain. She turned in truly electrifying performances in films like Fire Walk With Me and Vampires. I only wish we could've seen more of her during her prime.

Her resume might not show it, but Sheryl Lee was a major talent. These posts have been my small way of making sure we don't forget her talent today, looking back at the '90s from our twenty-first century vantage point.

Comments

Blowing in the Wind: Marilyn Monroe and That Iconic White Dress

This month marks sixty-five years since one of the most iconic moments in twentieth-century popular culture: Marilyn Monroe’s angelic white dress being blown sky high by wind rushing up from a subway grate beneath her feet in the film The Seven Year Itch . Billy Wilder shot multiple takes, while Sam Shaw snapped photo after photo for what had to be the biggest publicity stunt ever staged at the time. Marilyn wore two pairs of underwear for the shot, yet, as noted in Lois Banner's critical biography Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox (2012), "a dark blotch of pubic hair" remained visible to the 100 male photographers and over 1,500 male spectators, all of whom crowded eagerly around the set to gawk and drool. Due to strict 1950s movie censorship laws, photos had to be doctored to white out the offending blotch, but those in attendance saw it, over and over, shot after shot. Marilyn's husband at the time, the extremely old fashioned Joe DiMaggio, stormed off th

All I Want For Christmas: Phoebe Cates's Monologue in Gremlins

Joe Dante's 1980s classic Gremlins will always be a subversive Christmas favorite. From Spike exploding in the microwave to Mrs. Daigle's "stairlift to hell", the movie is packed with deliciously transgressive moments that turn the holly jolly season right on its ear. None are more memorable, though, than Phoebe Cates delivering her legendary "worst thing that ever happened to me on Christmas" monologue. It's a jaw-dropping, tour-de-force moment, a truly horrific story that's also one of the most darkly comic moments in Christmas movie history. Cates really shines during this scene. There's no denying just how seminal that scene of hers in Fast Times at Ridgemont High was for a generation of young people, but her speech in Gremlins is equally important and a wonderful showcase for her serious and comedic acting skills. Here's the speech, in its entirety. No Christmas season is complete without at least one viewing

Misspent Youth: Joanne Whalley

Looking back at the pop culture mainstays of this Gen-Xer's gloriously misspent youth. One of the most famous and oft-quoted Seinfeld scenes involves Bobka and Jerry's discovery of the existence of Cinnamon Bobka. After Elaine scoffs at the notion of such a thing, even calling it a "lesser Bobka," Jerry unleashes one of the great defenses of a freshly ground spice ever delivered: People love cinnamon. It should be on tables at restaurants along with salt and pepper. Anytime anyone says, "Oh This is so good. What's in it?" The answer invariably comes back, Cinnamon. Cinnamon. Again and again. Joanne Whalley is like Cinnamon. Yes, I just compulsively double-checked my DVD copy and it's the unrated version, thank you very much. Let me explain. You see, during the formative years of my misspent youth, if I stumbled on a movie featuring the doe-eyed, petite, beautiful English actress, invariably I'd feel like Jerry does about Cin

"That girl looks just like Pat Benatar"

Linda, that girl looks just like Pat Benatar. I know. Wait, there are three girls here at Ridgemont who have cultivated the Pat Benatar look. I was just a kid when Fast Times at Ridgemont High opened in 1982. Still though, even at the tender young age of seven, I knew who Pat Benatar was, because a.) her music was all over the radio and even then I recognized the utter awesomeness of her vocal talent in songs like "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", and b.) some of the older girls around town were obviously cribbing their looks—clothes, hair, makeup, strut—from Benatar's own style. Benatar was ubiquitous. So, when I see or hear vintage-era Benatar now, I think of Fast Times , but mostly I remember that ubiquity—of both the performer and her legion of young imitators. I know it's not true, but when I recollect those years I swear every older girl looked like either Benatar, Juice Newton, or Joan Jett. It's easy to forget, years later, that

Misspent Youth: Randi Brooks

Looking back at the pop culture mainstays of this Gen-Xer's gloriously misspent youth. ***** A note on the series and this site: This might be the final post in the "Misspent Youth" series - at least here. Maybe it'll eventually move with me. Oh, right, I buried the lede: I've moved, and would love for you to come visit me at my new site, The Starfire Lounge ! Moving forward, this site will likely cease to be updated, but will remain around for posterity and your continued reading pleasure. I have a few more things to post here over the coming days or weeks as a sort of "everything must go" send-off to the old girl. I also plan to write a final farewell post to my main online home for the last five years. Stay tuned and, as always, thanks for reading. ***** It's no surprise that the talented but now mostly forgotten Randi Brooks would make an appearance in the Misspent Youth series. She may not be a household name, but her resume

Misspent Youth: Morgan Fairchild

Looking back at the movies, music, television, and other pop culture mainstays of this Gen-Xer's gloriously misspent youth. Once I decided that Morgan Fairchild would be the subject of the next installment in this series, I did what I usually do and researched online for a bit, just to refresh my memory on details that might've previously been lost to time. Morgan Fairchild was legitimately one of the most potent sex symbols of the 1970s and '80s. Not that I needed much refresher when it came to Fairchild. Born Patsy Ann McClenny in Dallas, Texas, February 3, 1950, the American actress was everywhere during those oh-so-crucial formative years of my pop culture obsession. She loomed large in the growing ranks of proto-haughty glamour queens, a trope that was hot on prime time TV in the 1980s. The characters she was most well-known for were drop-dead gorgeous and didn't suffer fools lightly. Really, few ever did it better than Fairchild. The shirt do

It Came From the '90s: My Secret Crush on The Nanny

This series looks back at the 1990s and its influence on the generation of people who came of age during the decade. For six seasons in the 1990s, The Nanny made many of us laugh. At times, it could be downright hilarious . At others, well, not so much . This isn't a review of a '90s sitcom staple, though. No. This is simply an excuse to come clean about something I've kept buried deep inside for over two decades now: I had a secret crush on The Nanny herself, Fran Drescher. The unadulterated nineties-ness of this is practically blinding. And I love it. While The Nanny was sometimes quite funny, thanks largely to Drescher's spunky charisma and wholehearted commitment, the show was never considered hip. People my parents age seemed to love it, but my friends preferred, well, Friends . That smile! Those legs! That dress! It's all overloading my circuits. I watched Friends with my friends, but I also thoroughly enjoyed The Nanny , to

Margot Kidder and the Childhood Crush That Will Never Die

"I dream about sex, flying, and being chased by Nazis." — Margot Kidder, Rolling Stone , "The Education of Margot Kidder", 1981 ***** File that quote under, "Reasons why I love Margot Kidder." Last month, Margot hopped a one-way flight with old pal Chris Reeve off into the stars and beyond, where they could reenact their iconic moment from Superman (1978), for all eternity. I wrote a little about Margot, here and here , trying to explain why this particular actress meant so much to me as a kid growing up in the 1980s. I thought that would be enough. It wasn't.* Those posts were my fumbling attempts to sort out just how large an impact Margot had on my young life, and, to my present-day surprise, how much she still means to me now. Before news of her death, I hadn't thought of her in ages. I assumed the early childhood crush I harbored for my Lois Lane had dwindled and faded. Ha! I was a fool. My crush on Margot was very

It Came From the '90s: Kelly Bundy and the Alternative Family Ideal

This series looks back at the 1990s and its influence on the generation of people who came of age during the decade. Very few television series in the 1990s were as polarizing as Married...with Children . People either loved it or they loathed it. TV critics and good upstanding Catholic families like mine fell into the latter category. Soon after it debuted during my first year of junior high in 1987 (not quite the '90s, but on the brink), my parents made it clear that we would not be watching. I believe the words they used were "vulgar," "unfunny," and, one of their perennial favorites, "risque." Of course, this meant it immediately took on a prurient appeal for me. Parents can never win, honestly. Kelly Bundy—the talented Christina Applegate, who never gets enough credit for elevating the blonde airhead trope into an art form—only further piqued my interest. She was like the girls in school with the absurdly voluminous hair and ridiculously sh

Michelle Pfeiffer: Ant-Man and the Wasp

Revisiting and celebrating the work of Michelle Pfeiffer, the best actress of my lifetime. Spoiler alert: I'll be discussing plot points for the new film Ant-Man and the Wasp . ***** If you've spent any time at all on the internet this week, chances are you've noticed the gushing adulation and hyperbolic lovefest surrounding Michelle Pfeiffer's performance in the newly released, and extremely fun, Ant-Man and the Wasp . It's fascinating to behold this lovefest—and also to be an active participant in it! Obviously, I spent some time on Twitter praising Pfeiffer's work as Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp, after seeing the movie. And of course I'll be heaping more praise on her work here. Yet, what's so intriguing about it all is that she only appears in the film briefly! It's a glorified cameo. She has, max, fifteen minutes of screen time (an awfully generous estimate on my part), but she is the highlight of the film, no questio

Words Seem Out Of Place

Search This Blog