There are so many rock joints that precision doesn’t matter, if it’s a 90° joint set, some will be exact enough.
This talk of belief against vampires reminds me of Mightily Oats** (Carpe Jugulum, Terry Pratchett) who, after a crisis of faith, decided to believe in his double-headed battle axe.
** full name: The Quite Reverend Mightily-Praiseworthy-Are-Ye-Who-Exalteth-Om Oats
To be fair to the author, he implies if not directly states that vampires died out after that mutation became prevalent*. In the present tense of the novel and sequel, vampires have been recreated through genetic engineering and are given anti-convulsants or something similar to mitigate the issue.
*that’s how I dimly remember it; it’s been years.
And is it an actual right angle, in three-dimensional space (which a creature with sight can only perceive as a result of significant spatial processing in the brain), or a right angle as projected onto the field of vision?
While laughing menacingly
Here’s one of the quotes I was looking for…
Because we humans were never meant to inherit the Earth. Vampires were. They must have been sentient to some degree, but that semi-aware dream state would have been a rudimentary thing next to our own self-obsession. They were weeding it out. It was just a phase. They were on their way. The thing is, humans can look at crosses without going into convulsions. That’s evolution for you; one stupid linked mutation and the whole natural order falls apart, intelligence and self-awareness stuck in counterproductive lock-step for half a million years.
So like it or not, the fact that nature is “lousy with right angles” is exactly why the vampires failed from a reproductive standpoint.
Great movie, Only Lovers Left Alive, neither Hammer or Twilight.
I have a vague memory of someone using a Star of David to ward off a vampire in a movie or television show. I thought I saw it done in something produced within the last ~20 years … was that device used in this movie also?
Love at First Bite with George Hamilton? A leeettle bit more than 20 years old, though.
It could be worse…much worse
(From this movie, apparently)
IIRC, there was an X-Men comic where Nightcrawler (a devout Catholic) successfully uses a cross to ward off a vampire, but it doesn’t work for Kitty Pride (a Jew). But when she then switches to a Star of David, it does work.
“An axe isn’t a holy symbol, you stupid man.”
“Oh. Then let’s make it one.”
Cross tattoos only repel tattoos of vampires, causing them both to turn into tattoos of hearts with “Mom” on them.
And would a cross with barbed wire around it be extra protection?
Somehow it feels like it should. Don’t know why exactly. How about a cross tattoo with roses that have barbed wire thorns. Maybe any really cool tattoo will repel vampires.
Maybe it’s an inverse of how cool the vampires are themselves.
OK, what if…someone had a really cool tattoo of a cross and roses and barbed wire thorns over their heart, but they get blackout drunk and are bitten (and turned) while effectively roofied. Would it tat keep them from turning, or would it burn through their torso the microsecond they turned?
It could be like a poison tooth if you get captured by vamps.
Ah … I do recall that Love at First Bite scene! Good find – hadn’t seen that in over 30 years.
I did find what I was remembering that was inside of 20 years ago, though – it was this scene from the series Being Human (link should be cued to 3:17):
