An Addition to the Legacy of Black Female Vampires: La Femme Blacula and Netflix's The Invitation (2022)

    Recently, thanks to Don Solomon, Director of Communications at the National Humanities Center, I watched Netflix’s The Invitation (2022).  What a wonderful addition to an interesting tradition of African-descended women in the roles of vampires.  Going back to Ganga, played by Marlene Clark in Ganga and Hess (1973);  Katrina, performed by Gail Jones in Vamp (1986);  Rita, portrayed by Angela Bassett from Vampire in Brooklyn (1995);  and Queen Akasha, depicted by popular R&B singer, Aaliyah, in the adaptation of Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned (2002), La Femme Blacula--my term--has had a fraught appeal on her audience.  This love-hate attraction is further explored through literature:  Octavia Butler’s Fledgling (2005), Jewelle Gomez’s The Gilda Stories (1991), L.A. Bank’s The Bitten (2005), Pearl Cleage’s Just Wanna Testify (2011).  Certainly, if this is an area of interest, you might want to peruse  Kendra Parker’s Black Female Vampires in African American Women’s Novels:  1977-2011:  She Bites Back (2018).  Another useful read could be The Paradox of Blackness in African American Vampire Fiction (2019) by Jerry Rafiki Jenkins.  In addition, there is Nicole Givens Kurtz’s Slay:  Stories of the Vampire Noire (2020) and Uriah Derick D’Arcy’s The Black Vampyre:  A Legend of St. Domingo (2020).  Moreover, I have a chapter on girl vampires in Speculative Film and Moving Images by or about Black Women and Girls:  Watch It! (2023), whereby I focus on the televised series, The Passage (2019)--books by Justin Cronin--and the film, The Girl With All the Gifts (2016)--adapted from a story and novel by Mike Carey/M.R. Carey.


    So what is up with this fascination with the Black female vampire, who first appeared in Blacula (1972), starring William Marshall in the titular role, directed by William Crain, with her reappearance in Scream, Blacula, Scream (1973) starring Pam Grier?  Why is she enduring in literature and on the screen?  I think The Invitation, directed by Jessica M. Thompson, offers some insights.  For even when infected by the monstrosity--the tainting of her blood with vampire venom—some of her humanity remains--at least in the ones we love who were human at first and not, ostensibly, the monster genetically from the onset (ex., Jone’s Katrina in Vamp).  There are some exceptions to this thought (Ganga from Ganga and Hess , for instance), but let’s focus on Evie and her backstory.


    Evie Jackson (aka Evelyn Alexander) is the only female descendent in the Alexander family-line.  Unbeknownst to her, her ancestors are part of a vampire quadrumvirate.  Walter “Walt” DeVille (aka Dracula) is the “Master” of the group and to ensure his--and their--immortality, he is wed to a woman from three human families:  The Alexanders from London, The Billingtons of Whitby, and The Klopstocks in Budapest;  “[they] have served the DeVilles for years."  The Klopstocks monitor his money, and he has been joined to Viktoria for 500 years.  His second bride is Lucy Billington, to whom he has been wed for 100 years;  the Billingtons offer Dracula/Walt his legal representation.  The Alexanders manage his real estate.  Evie’s grandmother, Emmaline, was the last Alexander bride.  However, having fallen in love with a Black footman with whom she had a child--she yearns for normalcy and has no desire to fulfill the family’s contract.  Committing suicide, she hopes to end Walt’s coven, literally saying, “It all ends here...with me.”  However, even in extricating her descendants from an eternal bond to Walt DeVille, they are not safe.  


    One hundred years have passed, and now orphaned, Evie longs for connection and a sense of purpose.  As a result, when she works as a server at an “Unlocking Your Past”/“Find Yourself” DNA event, she leaves with a grab-bag--commandeered by her best friend Grace--and decides to check her genealogy and ascertain if she has any surviving relatives.  A cousin from England, Oliver Alexander surprises her with an email, wanting to meet.  Over lunch, he invites her to the UK, coaxing her to attend “the wedding of the century”--between Martin Alexander and Cecile “Cece” DeVille.  He also tells her that “[she] is part of the family scandal,” yet despite her great-grandmother’s affair, “everyone is utterly overjoyed” to meet her.  Of course, Oliver lies to her, as Martin and Cece do not exist.  The purpose of her travel is to complete the quadrumvirate pact, whereby Evie fulfills her family’s polygamous union with Walt DeVille.  Thus, on the first night of her reunion with the Alexanders, Great Uncle Alfred, “the patriarch” acknowledges her with a toast, welcoming “Eve”lyn into the family:  “What a gift” and a “bless[ing]….So many boys;  we thought we were done for” (The Invitation).   
        
     Here-in begins the poignant iteration of an African-descended, woman vampire.  Evie/Evelyn/“Eve”lyn is the family’s Eve, and we will discover that she is a metaphoric Eve to Walt’s entire coven.  Even though she will not sire any children, literally, she is the , figurative, key to “pro”creation, fortifying Walt’s, Viktoria’s and Lucy’s immortality while ensuring the continued dominance and wealth of the three families—particularly the Alexanders.  She is also the key to death for neighboring humans, as her completion of the circle ensures the demise of more generations of servants who clean the DeVille home, attend to his guests, and are murdered for their nourishing blood.  Once these issues are revealed in the film, the sight of Evie, standing in the midst of a majority, white male audience, literally being called “Eve”lyn, it makes sense to link her to the Christian matriarch, Eve, the “womb-man” charged with birthing the origins and downfall of all humanity (Genesis 3:1-4:26).  For that matter, just as Eve was vital to her partnership with Adam (the biological father of humanity) and mother to Cain and Abel (who unleash a spirit of murder and jealously upon the earth), so too is Evie destined to walk a similar path, keeping vampires alive and damning humanity with an immortal threat.  Moreover, akin to the original Eve, Evie is tempted by the serpent in the garden or, in this case, the snake on the estate.  Over the next few days, Walt courts her with a romantic fervor, and anyone attracted to men will swoon at his dizzying gaze and alluring smile.  
         
    Is he really a monster at all?  On the night when Viktoria sneaks into Evie’s room to frighten her--she is not “playing nicely,” as Walt demanded of her earlier in the day--Walt comes to Evie’s aid.  Comforting her, he drops his guard, asking of her deepest hopes and fears and sharing his own.  She vents that she has been “treading water,” “barely scraping by” and “wan[ts] to live life fully...throw[ing] caution to the wind.  He reveals that “[He’s] tired of the facade....[He wants] someone to see [him] for who [he] truly [is].  Doesn’t try to change [him] into an idea or into a concept or an itch that they need to scratch.  Someone that accepts [him].”  After disclosing, he looks to Evie for affirmation and understanding, but she has fallen asleep.  Is he being honest or telling her what she wants to hear?  On the one hand, it would seem as if Viktoria and Lucy are giving him the love and support that he needs;  certainly during Evie and Walt’s courtship and during the wedding ceremony, Viktoria seems to have genuine concern for his well-being.  However, particularly after what Walt reveals above, we have to recognize that Viktoria and Lucy are fulfilling their families’ pacts--not actually, certainly not initially, marrying him for “love”--but Evie knows nothing about this ancestral arrangement, so her attraction to and interest in him was sincere.  Hence, his statement at the dinner that “[his] old heart [wa]s beating again” (The Invitation).  
         
    This intimate scene is a curious one.  First, it conveys that Walt finds in Evie, something that he has not found in his other wives.  The “‘je ne sais quoi’ quality” that Oliver describes when talking about Evie to Viktoria (The Invitation).  In essence, this black woman captures a civility that has been missing on the DeVille grounds, such humanity that is on display when she first arrives.  She is only on the grounds for minutes when she bumps into a servant who is carrying a crate with glasses.  Instead of reprimanding her--as the butler Renfield does--or pretentiously stepping over the women and the mess, as they try to clean up, Evie bows down and helps retrieve the broken glass.  Such a gesture of concern for the “help” is unfamiliar in this environment, and this genuineness is what Evie shows Walt, who is obviously used to people being afraid of him and only responding to his “beck and call” without question or hesitation.  This lack of humanity and true civility is on display during the wedding feast when, in stark contrast to Evie, Walt stands as the “Master” of New Carfax Abbey.


    At the feast, when Evie inquires about the bride and groom, Martin and Cecilia “Cece,” Walter ends the ruse.  He explains that “someone has been missing” from the table and that there has been a “strain” and “imbalance” on the four families for some time:  “The once broken-bond [is being] renewed,” whereby his “lovely mortals [the Alexanders, Billingtons, and Klopstocks]” have fulfilled a pledge to him, “a pact” that was made “many many moons ago.”  Next, he announces his impending nuptials to Evie and the male servers, cut the throat of a woman-servant, filling a crystal punchbowl from which they dip a ladle to fill three cups:  Walt’s, Viktoria’s, and Lucy’s (The Invitation).   In spite of her shock, Evie remains composed and walks to the entryway in an effort to leave.  To his credit--truly, I use this term fleetingly--Walt goes to her, reminding her that they had agree to be their “true selves” and have “no secrets,” and so even though she is “embarrassing [him],” he kisses her gently, saying “It’s me” (The Invitation).           
          
    This is yet, another, difficult moment.  On the one hand, Walt seems troubled by the turn of events.  He had thought he found his soul-mate.  Someone who would truly see and accept him for who he is without pursuing the relationship for what s/he could get out of it or for what the union will do for her family. (Note1)  In other words, in an ideal world, if Evie had been allowed time to fully fall for Walt--and vice versa--the DeVilles might stop murdering servants identifying another blood-source?  Of course, such a turn of events is not in the plot of The Invitation, but such an outcome is feasible, considering the humanity shown by La Femme Blacula in other texts, such as Shuri's deference for humans in Fledgling and Amy's defense of them in The Passage.  (See Chapter Five in Jeffrey-Legette’s Watch It!.) Let’s, however, return to our analysis of The Invitation, as shown.
         
    Once, the rehearsal dinner is finished, everyone is clear about what is transpiring on the DeVille estate.  Evie is passed on to the bridesmaids, Viktoria and Lucy, who are tasked with giving her a “bachelorette party.”  They explain the transition from human to vampire and what Evie must expect going forward.  During this exchange, Viktoria retorts that Emmaline was “not as difficult” as Evie is being, and Lucy, who is truly trying to console our femme-fatale, reveals that she, Viktoria, and Emmaline “were such great friends.…”  What matters, and why Evie must join the trio, is the rare blood types that the four families share:  “[T]he combination…makes [Walt, Viktoria, Lucy, and Evie] all-powerful[, and i]mmune to the effects of time."   Lucy goes on to describe the wedding ritual, which binds the women to each other and “to the Master.”  First, the bride must drink Walt’s blood, gaining his power and sealing the union.  Then, after he drinks her blood, the four acquire “eternal life,” and they can only die when he does  (The Invitation). 
        
    The next day, during the wedding rite, Evie says “Yes” for “I do.”  All expect her to fulfill her great-grandmother’s task, but she has other thoughts, aspiring to complete her ancestor’s wish to “end” it all.  Evie drinks Walt’s blood, emaciating him.  Only Viktoria, his longest bride, seems concerned, knowing how much energy Evie is drawing from him.  Here-in, we see the Black woman become the most powerful entity in the room, stronger than Walt who she impales and who, first, appears to die in the arms of his wives.  However, Viktoria, the first wife, will avenge him or allow him time to heal, for she knows that if Evie had given him a death wound, she and Lucy would not still be vampires.  Lucy rescues Evie, impaling herself and Viktoria, so that the horror can end.  Now, Walt has one bride, Evie, and he must begin anew, for without the three women, he lacks immortality.  For that matter, having not ingested Evie’s blood, he is definitely vulnerable.  When she fights him, Evie decries, “I would rather die than be a part of this.”  She calls him a monster and after cutting off a hand, and kicking him into the fire that is blazing throughout the mansion, the oldest, most horrifying fiend is destroyed. Evie quickly regains her humanity, losing the fangs and claws, and when the film ends, she has become a vigilante-hero, endeavoring to exterminate the family members who enabled Walt/Dracula.  She stands with her sister-friend, Grace, another mortal, Black woman, across the street from Oliver’s law practice.  They are going to “beat the F out of him” (The Invitation).  Evie has regained her humanity, literally, although, figuratively, it never left her.  She embraces and founds her strength on--perhaps--one of the most endearing qualities of La Femme Blacula, her humanity, which has destined her to become the woman warrior we see at the film's conclusion.


Notes
1. I would love to have this optimistic view.  However, he is a vampire, the father of deception, so I think about Edward Cullen’s statement to Belle in the first Twilight film—based on the books by Stephanie Meyers--how “everything about him draws you in”;  he is the superior predator who attracts his prey.  Yet, particularly because of the Twilight films, I wonder if Evie might have “loved” Walt, and if allowed to join the family willingly--not in the coerced way shown in the film--might she have humanized the vampires, as Carlisle does with his coven (Twilight).
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Blacula's wife Tina/Luva

Pam Grier/Lisa Fortier in Scream, Blacula, Scream

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Katrina in Vamp.

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Rita from Vampire in Brooklyn

Amy in ​The Passage

Evie in the closing minutes of ​The Invitation

Works Cited
Bank, L.A. The Bitten.  New York:  St. Martin’s Griffin, 2005.

Butler, Octavia.  Fledgling.  New York:  Grand Central Publishing, 2005.

—-.  Mind of My Mind. 1977.  New York:  Grand Central Publishing, 2020. 

Carey, Mike R.  The Girl with All the Gifts.  Orbit, 2015.

Cleage, Pearl.  Just Wanna Testify.  One World, 2011.

Cronin, Justin.  The Passage.  Orion, 2018.

D’Arcy, Uriah Derick.  The Black Vampyre:  A Legend of St. Domingo.  Gothic World Literature, 2020.

Ganga and Hess.  Directed by Bill Gunn.  Kelly/Jordan Enterprises, 1973.

The Girl With All the Gifts.  Directed by Colm McCarthy.  BFI Film Fund/Creative England/Altitude Film Entertainment, 2016.

Gomez, Jewelle.   The Gilda Stories.  1991.  City Lights, 2016.

The Invitation.  Directed by Jessica M. Thompson.  Screen Gems/Mid Atlantic Films, 2022.

​Jeffrey-Legette, Karima.  Speculative Film and Moving Images by or about Black Women and Girls:              Watch It!  Landham:  Lexington P, 2023.

Jenkins, Jerry Rafiki.  The Paradox of Blackness in African American Vampire Fiction.  Columbia:  Ohio State UP, 2019.

Kurtz, Nicole Givens.  Slay:  Stories of the Vampire Noire.  Mocha Memoirs P, 2020.

Parker, Kendra.   Black Female Vampires in African American Women’s Novels:  1977-2011:  She Bites Back.  Lanham:  Lexington P, 2018.

The Passage.  Created by Liz Heldens.  Scott Free Productions/6th & Idaho Productions/Selfish Mermaid, 2019.

Queen of the Damned.  Directed by Michael Rymer.  Warner Bros/Village Roadshow Pictures/NPV             Entertainment, 2002.

Twilight. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke.  Summit Entertainment/Temple Hill Entertainment/Maverick Films, 2008.
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Vamp.  Directed by Richard Wenk.  New World Pictures/Balcor Film Investors/Amaretto Films, 1986.