Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Five-thousand-year-old vampire Miriam promises her lovers the gift of eternal life. When John, her cellist companion for centuries, discovers that he has suddenly begun growing old, he attempts to seek out the help of Dr. Sarah Roberts, a researcher on the mechanisms of aging.
Tony Scott's directorial debut is a visual feast — its MTV-influenced, slow-motion, diffuse-light aesthetic is genuinely distinctive for 1983 horror and holds up as a defining example of art-horror style. David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve, and Susan Sarandon bring considerable screen presence, elevating thin material. The plot, however, is underdeveloped: the mythology is vague, the pacing uneven, and the middle section drags. The ending feels abrupt and somewhat incoherent, undermining the dread the film so carefully builds. Novelty earns a solid mark for its unique sensory approach — blending fashion-world aesthetics, opera, and vampire horror — but it doesn't break truly new conceptual ground. Cinematography is the standout achievement.