Portis_Charles

The project, blending segregated South, music, religion, and vampirism, is in itself a very good idea. The problem is that some of these elements are poorly used. The vampiric aspect of the film is completely unconvincing and seems artificially tacked on as a convenient plot device. Probably too busy with building his heavy-handed racial metaphor, Coogler neglects the strangeness of the moment. Annie, who apparently knows the genre very well, quickly announces what's going on and throws garlic at them. "It ain't your brother," she tells Smoke, which doesn't prevent a melodramatic scene between the two brothers shortly after. What remains is a magnificently rich soundtrack and some beautiful visuals here and there.

I watched this for the first time about 40 years ago. It was wonderful, mythical. And it still is. The flesh, the dirt, the heat, the fear, it is pure pleasure and pure filth. There is a physical dimension to the film that I don't see often. There is something nearly metaphysical in this struggle for life. Hooper is struck by genius here, the editing is of an extraordinary richness. The film is a crescendo that ends up in absolute, perfect, definitive madness. An immortal masterpiece.