During the 1st few viewings of ‘the Dusk’, I always had assumed Richie had killed hostage Gloria just because he was so inclined to do so.
His explanation to Seth about how ‘she became a completely different person’ when Seth left the room seemed like a lame excuse, for what looked like the needless slaughter of someone, who could have been your friend’s mother.
However, after watching ‘the Dusk’ over & over, I noticed something new recently:
When Richie is alone in the motel room with Gloria, she looks at Richie’s gaping, blood-soaked, mess of a hand.
And then some creepy sounds come over, similar to the sounds used later on in the Titty Twister, when the vamps start seeing blood and turning nasty.
As the viewer never gets to see the struggle between Richie & Gloria; could it possible Gloria might have been a vamp, and that she really ‘became a completely different person’ when Seth left to get the burgers? ???
Just to further clarify with specific time references:
@ 12:45 - Gloria sees Richie’s hand when Seth is re-wrapping it, as it was too tight:
The ‘creepy rush-kind-a sound’ comes over
Seth then leaves the room to get the money from the car
@ 13:02 - Richie has his hand held up, it’s oozing with blood; and Gloria is staring straight at it:
Again, the ‘creepy rush-kind-a sound’ comes over
The same ‘creepy rush-kind-a sound’ is not heard again; until they’re at the Titty Twister and have shot & stabbed Cheech & co.:
@ 57.48 - Santanico has stopped her dance, and stares at Richie’s freshly stabbed hand wound:
Then, the same ‘creepy rush-kind-a sound’ comes over again.
@ 58.31 - Santanico starts turning into a vamp
It’s cool that you could think like that, but no, she wasn’t a vampire. Pretty sure the sunlight would have fried her if she was. She wouldn’t be working in a bank, that’s only open during the day. The creepy music that washes over is meant to coincide with Richie’s sinister stares.
Great to hear your thoughts.
That’s a good point regarding Gloria being constantly exposed to sunlight.
But what gets me is the ‘creepy rush-kind-a sound’ is exactly the same when Gloria looks at Richie’s blood soaked hand; as it is when Santanico looks at it, just before turning into a vampire.
And then the ‘creepy rush-kind-a sound’ isn’t heard at all in between those instances, even when Richie is having sinister thoughts/fantasies with Kate.
Perhaps it’s possible the ‘would-be vamps’ could be exposed to daylight, before they actually turned into vamps?
i.e. maybe Santanico could have had a normal daily life too, before tuning into a vamp at night at the TT?
Similarly, maybe Gloria could also had a normal daily life, and then be capable of turning into a vamp once the sunlight is not visible (like in a closed up motel room)?
Watch it again and look at Richie’s face when you hear the thunder or whatever. I’m sure Robert only put it in as a sort of foreshadowing. Like subconsciously letting you know shit’s fittin to go down. And the creepy moment with Richie fantasizing about Kate, the music wouldn’t be there because he wasn’t meaning her harm, necessarily. He actually liked her and wanted to fuck her, not rape her and kill her.
I think it just has to do with his disturbed and paranoid character. he sees and hears things that aren’t there. Like in the opening scene where they supposed to have a low profile. Thanks to Richies paranoia it gets all out of hand.
Plus after raping a woman he gets really confronted with his psychotic nature and just snaps I think. In his fucked up mind it was the only way out.
[quote=“Seth_Gecko”]I think it just has to do with his disturbed and paranoid character. he sees and hears things that aren’t there. Like in the opening scene where they supposed to have a low profile. Thanks to Richies paranoia it gets all out of hand.
Plus after raping a woman he gets really confronted with his psychotic nature and just snaps I think. In his fucked up mind it was the only way out.[/quote]
Very good point, sir. That makes a lot of sense.
Makes you wonder how much of Quentin was in that character. >:D
I’m sure he spent more time as Seth than Richie as he was writing, but still, I remember that interview where they referenced Richie, and QT was like, “oh, I can go there.”
That’s a nice theory, and I bet it could be spun out into a decent fanfic.
However, I subscribe to the view that Gloria really was a nice, middle-aged innocent mom. And the commentary pretty much agress that you (as the audience) are supposed to be sickened by the way Richie treats the hostage, especially since she sisn’t some cute fuckable blonde.