Another eighties horror film, and
this time something which has something of a poor rep, but it’s hard to see
quite why. There’s a lot to like in Vamp.
It’s ostensibly the tale of a
couple of young men about town, Keith (Chris Makepeace) and AJ (Robert Rusler)
who, in order to pass a College initiation ceremony, have to procure a stripper
… so they head for the most jumping joint in town after procuring a ride from
Duncan (Gedde Watanabe), a rich, but lonely, loser. They end up at the place
where Queen Katrina (Grace Jones) performs, except that she’s a vampire queen
and just about all the other performers at the club are also vampires. All
except, strangely, for Amaretto (Dedee Pfeiffer), a familiar young girl who, it
turns out, once kissed Keith. AJ is killed by Katrina and becomes a vampire
himself, and Keith and Amaretto have to escape from the vampires, corrupt
police and a psycho-albino vampire … Duncan is also vampirised, and it all
comes to a head as they flee through the sewers and stumble across the
vampire’s lair …
The film is great fun, and in
common with gems such as Fright Night
(1985) and Return of the Living Dead
(1985), it doesn’t take itself too seriously. There’s some smashing make-up
effects, Grace Jones is as weird and kooky as you would expect her to be – one
distinctly gets the impression that for her stage routine, they just pointed
the camera and let her get on with it – and Dedee Pfeiffer is cute and perky
and ‘girl next door’ as anyone from Night
of the Comet (1984) or pretty much any other eighties horror flick. There
are also elements which seem to have been borrowed by From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) … and lots more besides.
It’s a film to enjoy with a few
beers, and to snuggle up with the girlfriend (or boyfriend) … as such were
these films designed to be.
- High Definition digital transfer
- Original mono audio
- Subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- One of those Nights: The Making of Vamp - a brand new documentary featuring interviews with director Richard Wenk, stars Robert Rusler, Dedee Pfeiffer, Gedde Watanabe
- Behind-the-scenes rehearsals
- Blooper Reel
- Image gallery
- Dracula Bites the Big Apple (1979) – Richard Wenk’s celebrated short film
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil
No comments:
Post a Comment