We, The Infected

Hey I'm new to posting here although I have spent so much time on here reading all the fantastic posts and discussions. Don't know if this will be of any interest to anyone but I thought I'd mention my experience discovering this amazing movie.

I was about 11 or 12 when the movie first came out and had heard people say how good it was as a huge vampire fan I was curious about it but with other things going on I quickly forgot about it. Eventually the movie came out on dvd and a friend of mine was eager for me to watch it, looking back he probably picked the worst way to describe the movie to me just saying it was a story about a young boy who falls in love with a girl who turns out to be a vampire. Hearing this I immediately rolled my eyes knowing that I had absolutely no desire what so ever to see another bland generic modern love story that happened to feature vampires and planned to just avoid this movie all together.

Fast forward to more than a year later I'm looking for something to watch and I see the dvd on sale I debate for awhile about if I should get it or not being pretty convinced by everything I've heard about it that I'll probably hate it but it's cheap enough and atleast I'll finally understand what everyone is going on about.

I ended up putting off watching the movie for weeks before one October night when I was extremely bored I thought I might as well bite the bullet and see what it's all about and by the time the credits rolled at the end I was completely speechless I had no idea what I had just watched.

I knew I liked the movie but I couldn't exactly explain why I wasn't even sure if I fully understood it. It was so strange and unique like nothing I had ever seen before it almost felt like a weird dream. As someone who got bullied alot as a kid I really connected with that aspect of the story and the growing friendship that formed.

This was the first movie I saw where I wanted to know more straight after watching it and eventually I came across discussions online talking about the movie and the book it was based on which I had no idea going into it that it was based off a book. This further blew my mind hearing people talk about some of the themes of the story that I didn't really pick up on during my first watch. Hearing people discuss themes of loneliness, isolation, morality, identity just made me what to watch it again and again to better understand it and eventually 2 years later I finally picked up the book and my love for this great story only grew.

Now having watched the movie more times than I can even remember reading and rereading the book multiple times, watching the remake and just recently about two weeks ago seeing the stage play it amazes me that this wonderful story that has easily become one of my favourite things is something that I most so quickly dismissed.

Welcome aboard fellow infected.

Yes, from the summary alone, it is a story that one could easily dismiss as being just another vampire-love story, but as you said, there is so much more underneath it all.

To me, this story has always been more so intriguing less so for the love story itself and more so for the way it questions the nature of love and how far we are willing to go for those we love. How much of ourselves are we willing to sacrifice in order to feel loved and accepted? Other days, I see it from the lens of finding pure acceptance in another being. Finding that someone who will accept you for everything you are. Even if that happens to be a blood-dependent being.

On the outset, it's a simple love story. But underneath it there is so much more waiting to be dissected from it. And that has been the major crux of all of John's writing. It's why I became such a fan of his writing. At the core of all of his books is the exploration of the nature of love and what it means to us in life.

Anyways, welcome aboard. If you haven't already done so, I strongly urge you to read his other books. Little Star being my personal favorite but all of his books are truly wonderful. Funnily enough, you mentioned you just recently saw the stage play. So did I About two weeks back I saw it in Sydney Australia.

ky259911 wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 08, 2022 3:06 am

Hey I'm new to posting here although I have spent so much time on here reading all the fantastic posts and discussions. Don't know if this will be of any interest to anyone but I thought I'd mention my experience discovering this amazing movie.

Welcome! Good to have you here.

ky259911 wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 08, 2022 3:06 am

I ended up putting off watching the movie for weeks before one October night when I was extremely bored I thought I might as well bite the bullet and see what it's all about and by the time the credits rolled at the end I was completely speechless I had no idea what I had just watched.

I knew I liked the movie but I couldn't exactly explain why I wasn't even sure if I fully understood it. It was so strange and unique like nothing I had ever seen before it almost felt like a weird dream. As someone who got bullied alot as a kid I really connected with that aspect of the story and the growing friendship that formed.

That was exactly my state. It was jarred beyond anything I had even thought might happen to me before seeing this. What days those were.

And then, like you, I was amazed by online discussions that delved into story lines and meanings I had not had the time to think into on my own.

Somehow I found myself on this site, about two weeks after first seeing the movie. It took me until the end of that month to find a copy of the novel, which I begrudgingly read, fearing I'd wreck my sudden love of the movie by learning the origin story. Fortunately that was not the case. Rather, the opposite. Yeh, what days those were.

Anyway, glad to have you here!