MovieChat Forums > Blade II (2002) Discussion > Lighthammer's reaper confrontation

Lighthammer's reaper confrontation


The director made a deliberate effort of showing us the reaper that attacked lighthammer back as it fed on it's vampire target. This was an extensive effects shot that basically showed the reapers back splitting open in two places symetrically as if it's a natural biological process of teh reaper. Why? what was that about. Where wings are arms supposed to come out of there but then they cutt that idea in shooting ? why not cutt the back shot with teh jelly oozing out of those dorsal fissures?

Was this supposed to show how intensely the thing was feeding that it ripped open it's own back ?

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Del Toro discusses this detail on his audio commentary. Basically, the reaper is defecating as it feeds. Just another aspect to make them disgusting.

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Oh, good info thanks.

Still he , del toro, doesn't give any indication of this in teh movie that i know of. The idea of metabolic waste comming from your uppertorso isn't even anatomically rational through smamll amounts are discharged on epidermis and via exhalation.

Whatever the case i would say this is fail. Plus things dont' usually crap while they are eating so i dont' see how a viewer woudl come to this conclusion.

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I agree. There isn't anything in the film itself to explain it. Del Toro just seems to love adding disgusting little details to his films (for instance, by his own admission he particularly likes showing weird things in jars whenever he can).

I wanted to double check exactly what he had to say during the scene, so here's a transcript of what he and the producer Peter Frankfurt say on the commentary. Del Toro always comes off as quite hyper on his commentaries, so there are a few bits where he repeats himself, or stammers, and his sentences can run on for ages:

Frankfurt: "I was actually surprised and freaked out when you shot this."
Del Toro" "Yes."
Frankfurt: "And, and, uh, the hemorrhoids came out of this reaper's back."
Del Toro: "Yeah, we called it, the, uh, we, we, I wanted like the, like the ticks or the mosquitos, the reapers would have a very efficient mechanism, and they would filter the blood, through these... bladders, and then drip the excess fluid in the back, like a tick or a mosquito does. That essentially they feed and they take a sh*t at the same time! In the insect world there is no, no room for politeness. *Laughs* And uh, I wanted the reapers to be doing that, just feeding and excreting at the same time. Another touch that makes them the perfect guest for a Christmas dinner! Yeah."
Frankfurt: "It was fun being in Prague in the middle of the night, having Guillermo explain the feeding and scatology of reapers to me."
Del Toro: "It, it was, it, it's nice because, er, although, although we don't have time to fully explain their biology, it seems and plays coherent. They, the uh, the idea was their metabolism gets so, so fast, and so, their bodies get so hot, that they start losing hair, they become hungry fast, they have very warm temperatures, body temperatures, and, uh-"

At this point Del Toro gets distracted by something else. If you get a chance to listen to the commentary, it's a very interesting and amusing one. His enthusiasm is very clear, and he's not afraid to criticise the parts of the film that he feels don't work.

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Thanks for going out of your way to post that. Now that you mention it i do think certain insects defecate while feeding.

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