Vamp (BD)

It was perhaps no real surprise that I completely missed out on Vamp as I was a bit too young for it when it was first released and wasn't into horror when it came out on VHS so is one of those titles that I heard about recently, read about and couldn't wait to see. I'm not sure whether that was because it features Grace Jones, someone probably best known as a diva, fashion icon or pop singer, Dedee Pfeifer has a fairly prominent role or because it was one of those 1980s horror-comedies that has picked up a cult following. Anyway, when the review disc came through the door, I was anxious for a space to crop up in my rather busy calendar to allow me to watch the film, hoping it would live up to my high expectations.

The 1980s was an decade where horror-comedies and films set around college life in the US boomed so you had things like Fright Night, The Evil Dead and Braindead in cinemas along with National Lampoon's Animal House, 16 Candles and Revenge of the Nerds. Vamp begins with a scene in which two friends, AJ and Keith, are going through one of the initiation ceremonies in order to join one of the more prestigious fraternity houses on campus but it all goes very wrong and AJ proceeds to insult the guy he should be impressing. In order to try and placate him and try and get into the fraternity, he says he will get alcohol and a stripper for one of the parties. Alcohol is easy but, with the college being in the middle of nowhere and a fair drive from the nearest town, hiring a stripper would prove to be the tricky bit.

Fortunately, the two potential pledgers are in contact with Duncan, a nerd with no friends who is so desperate to be friends with AJ and Keith - or even seen to be friends with them - that he agrees to lend them one of his limousines and the three head off to find a strip joint. Looking through a newspaper on the way, they settle on the After Dark Club which, true to its name, doesn't open until after dark so they kill some time in a diner beforehand but this doesn't go exactly as planned, with the trio getting into a fight with a gang led by a strange albino. Once AJ has dealt with him, they head off to the club with AJ leaving Keith in charge of Duncan as he wants to go in and deal with it himself.

However, with Duncan on a weird high and so hyped up on adrenaline that Keith can't control him and prevent him from following AJ into the club, Keith has no choice but to follow his new 'friend' into the building. Although it is fairly quiet with a 'select clientele', there are strippers and a cute blonde waitress, Amaretto, who immediately sets her eyes on Keith, dropping hints that she knows him but he has no idea who she is or where he may possibly have seen her before. The first stripper is good but isn't the sort of woman who would impress a fraternity house to the extent that they would let in a couple of guys who had openly mocked their initiation ceremonies. However, when Queen Katrina comes on a stage and does her stuff, AJ motions to his friends across the room that she is the one and ends off backstage to try and hire her.


Before he knows it, AJ is laid on her waterbed with his shirt off and Katrina straddling him but, before he has a chance to even attempt anything with her, she undergoes an amazing transformation in which her face changes shape, her fingers become elongated and all of her teeth become longer and pointed. Pinning AJ to bed, Katrina bends over him and rips his throat out, feasting on the blood. Meanwhile, Keith and Duncan are wondering what has happened to AJ, completely oblivious to what has happened backstage and that the entire club is run by and stars vampires. With Amaretto agreeing to help Keith find his best friend, they soon realise that something is amiss so she heads back to her hotel with Keith in tow but something is very strange there yet Amaretto is completely oblivious to all the strange and sinister goings-on in the town.

I won't lie and say that I went into this with a completely open mind as I wanted to like Vamp because it is one of a rash of comedy-horror films that I haven't seen yet want to get into so it was important to enjoy the first one I saw. Thankfully, Vamp is an absolute riot and one of those films that has its faults with some less than perfect dialogue and acting that could be better but, as I was watching it, I didn't see those flaws as I was just wrapped up in the camp delights of his film.


Robert Rusler (who also starred in A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge and Weird Science) is perfectly cast as AJ, a good-looking and witty guy who can handle himself and is on the right side of conceited with Chris Makepeace brilliant as his foil and sidekick, Keith. Gedde Watanabe, an instantly recognisable actor, is great as Duncan but, when it comes to women, Dedee Pfeifer is utterly beautiful and vivacious as Amaretto but Grace Jones is something else altogether, using her androgynous looks and incredible physique to great effect as she looks suitably powerful yet alluring in her role as the chief attraction, both in the strip club and the film.

The screenplay, by Richard Wenk and Donald P. Borchers, is witty and endearing but with enough scares and moments of horror to put this in the same category as An American Werewolf in London. Richard Wenk also directs and he clearly knows what lucky is going for with plenty of pinks and greens and scenes that are completely illuminated by bright spotlights and lots of fog so that the background is a neon-fest of bubblegum colours.

I can really see myself watching Vamp many more times and putting it on a pile of discs that are watched more frequently than the others; I wouldn't go so far as to say I love the film but, give it a few years and that is a distinct possibility.

The Disc

Extra Features
The first piece of bonus material isn't in the special features menu but comes when you play the film and is a short introduction by Robert Rusler who tells you to enjoy the film, not to get scared and check out the commentary. I did exactly what he said and enjoyed the film, didn't get scared and then went to the special features menu to find the commentary. The option isn't there, but in the setup area on the disc and is a commentary by journalist/critic Calum Waddell and Robert Rusler. Rusler is a man who has clearly been around the business for years and isn't afraid to talk about his career, his private life and things that happened (or didn't happen) on set. Waddell does a good job in moderating this track as he allows Rusler to talk about horror in general and how he became a horror fan and aficionado before directing him to pertinent scenes and letting in wax lyrical about how he was nearly killed by Grace Jones who bit through the prosthetic on his neck and was shaking him by the muscles around his jugular whilst denying that they were anything more than good friends on set, so any rumours to the contrary are absolutely false.

Vamp It Up: An Interview with Dedee Pfeiffer (28:09, HD) shows that she still looks great (I knew how much from the shoot in the February 2002 issue of Playboy!) and is always happy to talk about Vamp (her 'baby'), her history with watching vampire movies from being a kid to the present day and her character, Amaretto. She's a great interview subject and is happy to talk about her TV career, her co-stars and her experiences of the shoot from parasites to Grace Jones! It's quite interesting how she is very serious at the end of the interview, talking about her current hiatus from acting where she is now back in education, wanting to make something of herself to inspire her two sons.

Vamp Stripped Bare: An Interview with Richard Wenk (17:52, HD) is a revealing and well delivered interview in which he talks about how he came to be involved in the project, the various cast members, the reviews and, of course, Grace Jones. Wenk is a reasonably effusive speaker and quite happy to talk openly about the film which makes this such an interesting interview.


Back to the 80's: An Interview with Donald P. Borchers (22:36, HD) is a revealing and lengthy interview with the rather dapper producer, who sits on the same settee as Richard Wenk when he was being interviewed and in front of posters for The Girl Next Door and Vamp, answering the questions fully and with a good sense of humour. Predictably enough, he spends most of the interview talking about Grace Jones: how she was cast, why it was such a big deal to have her name attached to the project and what it was like to work with her.

Scrapbook of Scares (8:28, HD) is a filmed look at a sizeable Vamp-related scrapbook with Richard Wenk, Donald P Borchers and Calum Waddell which includes everything from on-set photographs to party invitations and even a cocktail stirrer and matchbook from the After Dark Club. It is actually a much for interesting piece than I expected and is worth a look.

Behind-The-Scenes Rehearsals (6:56, HD) was shot in 1.33:1 and is a little rough around the edges but is quite funny because of the sheer amount of time that Grace Jones spends on top of Robert Rusler, often with her tongue sticking right out! You can hear Richard Wenk giving direction as a scene like that would need to be rehearsed over and over again to get it right and even then, as Rusler mentions in the commentary, mistakes can still happen.

Dracula Bites The Big Apple (22:02: HD) is Richard Wenk's short film that landed him the Vamp gig. It is a peculiar comedy with Dracula relocating from Transylvania to New York City because he reads a pressure that says what a great nightlife there is in New York. There is a whole variety of weird and wonderful situations from all the passengers getting off the plane and rubbing their necks to Renfield misleading Dracula's coffin and an impromptu singalong to 'Dancing in the Moonlight'! It is actually quite well made short with good camera work, acting and music including Bernard Hermann's score for Psycho and the Bee Gees!

Finally, there is a blooper reel (6:30, HD) and the original theatrical trailer (1:27, HD). The set also comes with a booklet, a double sided poster and a reversible sleeve with four display panels.


The Picture
You can generally tell by the first few minutes what the picture quality will be like and the opening shot, of a bell ringing, displays contrast levels that are very good, but not with inky blacks that you would find on the very best transfers. Overall, the AVC 1080p picture is extremely pleasing with strong, vivid colours which showcase the great cinematography by Elliot Davis and Douglas F. O'Neons who must have been instructed by Richard Wenk to make the film look as if it were directed by Dario Argento as there are so many scenes dominated by bright greens, pinks or both. There is a slight issue with picture breakup at about 9:40 mark as the car pulls up outside the diner but this was also on the Anchor Bay DVD and is probably a fault with the negative rather than the restoration process and so was out of Arrow's hands.

The vampire effects are surprisingly good for a film made in 1986 and a they aren't as convincing as one made now, Grace Jones' transformation from a statuesque stripper into an animalistic vampire is still extremely impressive.

As this was made in 1986, the order of the day is big shoulder pads and big, backcombed hairdos which have been permed until they couldn't take any more and the whole film screams 1980s!


The Sound
Sticking with the original soundtrack rather than going with a simulated 5.1 mix, the only option is a LPCM 1.0 mono track which is crystal clear and does a great job with the dialogue and gives a surprisingly effective soundstage using the music, atmospherics and ambient sounds to make scenes either funny or creepy depending on the dialogue and the director's intentions.

Speaking of the music, the score, by Jonathan Elias, is really good and does a great job of underscoring emotion and complementing the visuals whilst the source music (which doesn't include 'I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You)' or any other Grace Jones music) fits in very well and doesn't stand out in a bad way.

There are very well written English subtitles should you require them.


Final Thoughts
I can understand why Vamp is a cult classic and why it would have lovers and detractors in equal measure as it is a movie that is flawed but is extremely easy to like and I would find it very difficult to have to watch it once and then never again as, although I have now seen it twice in as many days (once with the commentary), I feel a desperate urge to watch it again!

I've almost come to expect this from Arrow Video, but they have really delivered a splendid Blu-ray set with excellent AV quality and copious extra features and I look forward to seeing the finished product with a poster, booklet and double-sided sleeve with four different choices of artwork.