Alternate Character Interpretation: Miriam is definitely lonely but it's left open how much sympathy she deserves. She clearly grieves for her individual partners, but she doesn't give them Mercy Kills and just places them in coffins in her attic. She also moves onto the next candidate pretty soon, and forgets about Alice once John has killed her. Is she so desperate for companionship that she just moves onto the next person once she can no longer have someone? Or is that her way of trying to avoid the heartbreak that must come with such repeated losses?
Angst? What Angst?: Miriam is definitely sad when John rapidly ages and has to be put into a coffin along with the rest of her other partners. But for all her sadness, she gets over it very quickly and moves onto Sarah.
Best Known for the Fanservice: The film is best known for the very gratuitous lesbian sex scene between Susan Sarandon and Catherine Deneuve. The TV spin-off was Hotter and Sexier for this reason, despite the sex being minimal in the film. The bloodlust is actually paralleled to addiction rather than sexual lust.
Cry for the Devil: While 200 years of lifestyle murder have certainly done nothing to make John endearing - he shows sadistic pleasure at killing his victim in the intro sequence, and generally comes across as selfish and embittered - the more we learn of Miriam's modus operandi, the harder it is not to feel some pity. Judging from her strategies with Sarah - a mixture of seduction, date rape, and of course omitting to tell her the true And I Must Scream price of her immortality - there is no reason to suppose John was not also a perfectly decent guy before she targeted him, and condemned him to eternity as a withered, immobile cadaver. Not to mention David Bowie and the makeup artist completely sell the performance of a once-strong and handsome man reduced to a decrepit husk in the space of one very traumatic day.
Cult Classic: It was a bomb in it's day and got a lukewarm critical reception but has since found it's own audience who love it for it's unique atmosphere, original approach to vampires, striking visuals and the performances of the cast, especially David Bowie as John, making it now seen as a compelling debut from a soon to be huge director.
Fair for Its Day: Despite the eventual sex scene being completely gratuitous and shot for the Male Gaze, both Miriam and Sarah are surprisingly deep characters for females in a vampire movie. Both are strong in their own way - Miriam as a powerful seductress and Sarah as a scientist. They're also allowed to be vulnerable and feminine without it being shown as a weakness. Their lust is also not something they are punished for. What's more is that the script called for Sarah to be drunk when Miriam seduces her, but Susan Sarandon insisted on it being 100% consensual. And although Miriam is a fairly twisted person, her seduction of women as well as men is not depicted as a sign of her depravity.
John's sudden and rapid deterioration over a period of days became a lot harsher after David Bowie's sudden death. Bowie kept his terminal cancer a secret and was still seen in public apparently healthy only days before his death.
Tony Scott was revealed by his brother to have had cancer himself at the time of his death. What’s worse is that Frank Scott, Tony and Ridley’s brother whom the film is dedicated to, died of skin cancer in 1980.
Signature Scene: The opening with Bauhaus performing. The scene of John rapidly aging while waiting in the hospital is also very popular, due in no small part to Dick Smith's incredible make-up work. The sex scene between Sarah and Miriam is also very popular for obvious reasons.
Squick: It's heavily implied that the teenage violinist, Alice, who John and Miriam are friends with, is being groomed by the two of them as their next paramour. Ick.
Vindicated by History: Somewhat. The film did get some lukewarm reception and praise for Bowie and Deneuve's performances, but was criticized for it's slow pace and plot despite the great atmosphere and visuals. It later on developed a cult following within the goth culture for its dark and gloomy atmosphere. The usage of Bauhaus especially with the intro worked in its favour.
Visual Effects of Awesome: Even those who don't like the movie acknowledge that John's Rapid Aging (and aging, and aging, and aging...) is a sight to behold, thanks to Dick Smith's makeup work. Between this and David Bowie's performance, John is something of an Ensemble Dark Horse, as he gets little to do after the first half.
The 2018 novel
Spiritual Successor: The novel has quite a few similarities with The Terror. Both are based on real events that happened in the 1840s (the Franklin Expedition and the Donner Party), both involve a supernatural enemy hunting the characters, and characters resort to cannibalism in both.
