Movies
Vamp
“1986’s Vamp is a forgotten relic from an era when horror-comedy reigned supreme. Arriving a year after the much-beloved Fright Night, this similarly campy sex comedy attempted to capture the same lightning in a bottle––the vampiric seduction, the thumping soundtrack, the dry wit––but even as Fright Night continues to enjoy midnight screenings and regular cable broadcasts, Vamp can be primarily found in your local DVD bargain bin. “
1986’s Vamp is a forgotten relic from an era when horror-comedy reigned supreme. Arriving a year after the much-beloved Fright Night, this similarly campy sex comedy attempted to capture the same lightning in a bottle––the vampiric seduction, the thumping soundtrack, the dry wit––but even as Fright Night continues to enjoy midnight screenings and regular cable broadcasts, Vamp can be primarily found in your local DVD bargain bin.
So what makes Vamp so inferior to 80’s horror-comedy classics like Re-Animator or Return of the Living Dead? I mean, consider the set-up, which is Grade A sex comedy gold: To be accepted into a fraternity, two college buddies are forced to drive to the big bad city of L.A to procure a stripper, so they hitch a ride into town with a rich Asian dork played by Gedde Watanabe (Sixteen Candles), only to stumble upon a strip club full of vampires. Sounds like the basic plot of From Dusk Till Dawn enhanced by the wacky comedic stylings of Long Duk Dong. Sign me up.
Once frat pledges Keith and A.J. make it to the city, they encounter a strip club that can only be found in 80s cinema, one of those joints where only a few of the girls are actually required take their clothes off. (About half the girls spend their stage time striking cat poses while clad in a full leotard.) When supermodel Grace Jones finally takes the stage and strips down to tribal paint and a spiral wire bra, A.J. declares, “Wait till the wimps at Dipsa Pi see this!”, as if her particular brand of non-sexual, Nubian gyrations are exactly what the fraternity needs to get its collective rocks off. I mean, she’s wearing a bright orange Ronald McDonald wig, for Christ’s sake. How sexy is that?
With just enough creativity going on behind the scenes, Vamp is a movie that‘s genial and likeable, but never lovable. It’s got with some fantastic (though sparingly used) make-up effects from Greg Cannom, a veteran of the industry who has worked on dozens of horror movies over the years, from Lost Boys to Blade and beyond. The use of lighting gels is exquisite, featuring a rainbow array of background colors that would make any Argento fan salivate. Horror veterans like Robert Rusler (Weird Science; Nightmare on Elm Street 2) and Dedee Pfeiffer (The Horror Show) appear in the lead roles, which adds considerably to the flick’s B-movie street cred. Vamp has the makings of an awfully good time for fans of 80s horror…too bad it completely stalls at the halfway point.
Jones is introduced as the main vampire at about 30 minutes in, but it takes the frat boys a good hour to finally get around to dispatching her. In the meantime, they soak up screen time by constantly switching locations. On the run from bloodsuckers, they flee the strip club and hit the nighttime L.A. streets. After finding brief sanctuary in the sewers, it’s back to the club. And then back to the streets again. It’s as if the movie knows that a fanged-up Grace Jones is its only attribute, and it’s completely content to have its characters run in circles until her next rare appearance. In fact, the final confrontation with Jones is so fun and exciting, you realize what a waste the previous 45 minutes have been. Why wasn’t the whole movie like this?
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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