Critics reviews

The parallels between actor and character in Deneuve and Miriam are perversely satisfying. Much like the unsuspecting characters that surround her, we too are seduced and then embroiled into narratives that repel and repulse. Cinematic archetypes imbue so-called beautiful women with certain functions: the femme fatale, the ingenue. Deneuve's beauty is mutable, and she wields it accordingly.

The Hunger" was Mr. Scott's sophomore feature, and it established his commercial-honed, MTV-friendly style, at once frenzied and soignée and often risible. Curtains billow, doves cry, the light is filtered and huge close-ups are ladled with a dollop of Schubert. Although the movie ultimately dissolves into a blood-feast zombie-fest, the performances are not without merit.

The concept is stronger than the execution: the green Scott rushes too quickly into the debilitating effects of vampirism, leading to a lethargic middle act in which the deliberate listlessness becomes too detached. Nonetheless, Scott's thorough stylization of every blue-white frame, every piece of sheer fabric over clearly visible flesh, makes for a landmark entry in the ever-shifting genre.

[Roger] Ebert was not wrong about "all flash and style and no story." As narrative, the failures of THE HUNGER are total, but they are radical, deliberate failures. Instead of individual shots building towards a sequence, each frame dissolves into a miasma of details that refuse assimilation into conventional storytelling rhythm.