The Hunger | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

58% Tomatometer 38 Reviews 66% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings

John (David Bowie) is the lover of the gorgeous immortal vampire Miriam (Catherine Deneuve), and he's been led to believe that he'll live forever, too. Unfortunately, he quickly deteriorates into a horrible living death, and Miriam seeks a new companion. She soon sets her sights on Sarah (Susan Sarandon), a lovely young scientist, who quickly falls under Miriam's spell. However, Sarah doesn't warm up to the concept of vampirism easily, leading to conflict with Miriam.

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The Hunger

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Critics Consensus

Stylish yet hollow, The Hunger is a well-cast vampire thriller that mistakes erotic moments for a satisfying story.

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The Hunger | Rotten Tomatoes (1) Simran Hans New Statesman The film's enduring quality is its ineffable coolness, which feels inextricable from Scott's supposedly lowbrow music video origins. Jan 7, 2021 Full Review The Hunger | Rotten Tomatoes (2) Raoul Hernandez Austin Chronicle More style than substance, and perhaps simply an excuse to get Denueve and Susan Sarandon, Miriam's post-Bowie love, in bed together. Nov 18, 2008 Full Review The Hunger | Rotten Tomatoes (3) Variety Staff Variety In his feature debut, director Tony Scott, brother of Ridley, exhibits the same penchant for eleborate art direction, minimal, humorless dialog and shooting in smoky rooms. Nov 18, 2008 Full Review The Hunger | Rotten Tomatoes (4) Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal What should've been a lingering lamentation suffers an all-consuming transfusion of style over substance. But for a flawless first half, David Bowie’s outstanding performance & Tony Scott’s image-making proof of concept, "The Hunger" remains worthwhile. Rated: 3/5 Apr 26, 2023 Full Review The Hunger | Rotten Tomatoes (5) Trace Thurman Horror Queers Podcast Tony Scott's gorgeously shot erotic vampire drama is so much more than the lesbian sex scene that made it (in)famous. It's a very strong debut for Scott. Rated: 4/5 Apr 17, 2023 Full Review The Hunger | Rotten Tomatoes (6) Joe Lipsett Horror Queers Podcast A visual feast starring a trio of gorgeous bloodsuckers, Tony Scott's vampire film is the perfect synthesis of music video sensibilities and pre-AIDS crisis consideration of sex and bisexuality. Sarandon and Deneuve's coupling is infamous for a reason Rated: 4/5 Apr 16, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Nicholas D Initially I was excited to watch The Hunger because of its cast. I'd even asked myself, How have I never seen this movie? However, it was so dull, I literally fell asleep. Rated 1.5/5 Stars • Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/15/25 Full Review DanTheMan 2 Moody, elegant, and undeniably cool, The Hunger is a visual feast starring a trio of gorgeous bloodsuckers. Tony Scott's vampire film is the perfect synthesis of music video sensibilities and pre-AIDS crisis considerations of sex and bisexuality; the absence of any labels is a powerful choice to make at a time when stigmatizing conversations about sexuality were dominating the news. We know that the hunger of the title isn’t just a hunger for blood, it’s a hunger to hold on to life, to love, to all of those moments that make us what we are, in that brief period of our lives that we shine, when we are at our best. With a proper helping of eroticism and blood, the film gnashes its way by the teeth into that upper echelon, the pantheon of great vampire flicks in a pure, rarefied sense of horror, disquieting in its suggestion that men and women in the 1980s have the same desires, the same appetites, and the same needs for power, money, and sex. Scott's direction is to die for, every shot oozes mood with enough smoke-filled scenes to rival that of his brother's Blade Runner, the performances, particularly from its core trio of Deneuve, Bowie and Sarandon are outstanding and the haunting musical score only help to amplify the film's sumptuous photography. A lingering lamentation of the inevitability of death, The Hunger is utterly incredible exuding chic, but never, for one minute, takes itself too seriously, nor does it ever slop over into camp, it's one of the best artistic cinematic representations of the vampire ever made. Tony Scott, you'll never make me hate you. Rated 4.5/5 Stars • Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 12/16/24 Full Review Angelo R Not so much horror than an examination of immortality and undying love. Very stylized. Bowie gives a beautiful portrayal of one who does not understand the promise of love, beauty and immortality being unwoven. Catherine Deneuve plays creator and lover who always has to watch her creations wither away leaving her alone and looking for a new companion in a timeless existence.A Goth touchstone. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/24 Full Review Alec B A gorgeously filmed Gothic horror piece. It is a shame the movie so blatantly disregards its own internal logic and rules in the end but by that point you're so thoroughly hypnotized by all of the billowing curtains and Deneuve's presence that you may not care. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/09/24 Full Review Dallas H The visuals are amazing to watch, and the makeup effects are masterfully done. However, the dialogue is wooden and shallow. I struggled to sit through the dinner scene between Sarah and Tom right after she began turning into a vampire. The conversation between them is laughable, with lines of dialogue that almost reach the point of being beyond the level of a cliché. Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 12/08/23 Full Review PridePosterStudios Aha noooo Bowie you’re so crusty now time for the attic Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/21/24 Full Review Read all reviews

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Cast & Crew

Tony Scott Director Catherine Deneuve Miriam Blaylock David Bowie John Blaylock Susan Sarandon Sarah Roberts Cliff DeYoung Tom Haver Beth Ehlers Alice Cavender
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Synopsis John (David Bowie) is the lover of the gorgeous immortal vampire Miriam (Catherine Deneuve), and he's been led to believe that he'll live forever, too. Unfortunately, he quickly deteriorates into a horrible living death, and Miriam seeks a new companion. She soon sets her sights on Sarah (Susan Sarandon), a lovely young scientist, who quickly falls under Miriam's spell. However, Sarah doesn't warm up to the concept of vampirism easily, leading to conflict with Miriam.

Director
Tony Scott

Producer
Richard Shepherd

Screenwriter
James Costigan, Ivan Davis, Whitley Strieber, Michael Thomas

Distributor
MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Production Co
Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Peerford Ltd.

Rating
R

Genre
Horror

Original Language
English

Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 29, 1983, Original

Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 14, 2014

Runtime
1h 37m

Sound Mix
Mono

Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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