The Hunger is an annual vampire-themed costume ball that happens in
San Francisco every year around Halloween time. Two of my friends
had attended last year and had a wonderful time, so our local group of
vampires decided to go out en mass this year. All told, there were
seven of us in attendance, dressed as though vampires of fantasy
and legend had materialized from the shadows of a San Francisco night.
As it turned out, we had gotten all dressed up for nothing.
The event itself was a complete disappointment. First of all, it
cost $20 each to get in (It was $15 before 10pm - we just missed it),
but that we expected. It is not an unreasonable price for a once-a-year
all-out vampire ball. Sadly, the actuality fell short of the
expectations. The first thing we noticed was by far the worst
offense of the evening: a really terrible DJ. Well, he might have been all
right for a techno rave, but certainly not at any vampire-themed
event. And that was another feature lacking: with the exception of
a biting booth (pay by the minute to be bitten by cute girls wearing
fangs), there was no "vampire" theme in evidence at all.
The event was sponsored and (it appeared) organized by the Pagan
Alliance in San Francisco. I have nothing against their group, but
apparently they cannot organize a decent party. The music (such as
it was) was periodically interrupted by an annoying sales pitch to buy
raffle tickets, and a room that had the previous year been
dedicated to dungeon play was this year some kind of pagan proselytizing
room. Overall it gave the evening the feel of a social fundraiser rather
than a night of dark decadence.
The performances included belly dancers and a girl with a spark-
generating device. Both of which were mildly amusing but not really
enough to be worth the price of admission. The fact that the belly
dancers were performing to bad hip-hop also kind of lessened the
effect.
Overall, this event was not worth going to at all. However, it was
much better last year. Given a sample size of two, there is a 50%
chance of it sucking next year. As my friend said, "You pays your
money and you takes your chances."
Review by Cole Wellman