Vamps

How far the mighty have fallen indeed. In 1995, writer-director Amy Heckerling hit the nail on the head with what would be the definitive chick flick of that decade with Clueless, and propelling its lead Alicia Silverstone into super-stardom, launching words and phrases into collective acceptance. Fast forward to today, both didn't quite have projects under the belt that rivaled their early success, so I guess coming together again was probably an opportunity to find their collective magic, and what's none better than to tackle a popular subject matter for film - Vampires.

Granted that Alicia Silverstone is no longer the teen that she was, Amy Heckerling has created quite a smart plot device, which provides Silverstone with playing an older character, but able to retain her relatively youthful looking features for the story of the undead and immortal. She plays Goody, a 2nd generation vampire who was turned by Sigourney Weaver's Cisserus in the late 1800s. In today's context, Goody managed to save Stacy (Krysten Ritter) from Cisserus, convincing the latter of Stacy's fashion sense and the need to stay with the times. So Goody and Stacy become "blood sisters" after the latter gets converted, staying in their coffins in an upmarket swanky New York apartment, leading the good life but only at night, but are at the beck and call of Cisserus when she goes out hunting for human blood.

It is probably in the mantra of human-friendly vampires to be sucking on blood of vermin, following the Twilight model. And Twilight dictates the falling in love, so there's a huge sub- plot revolving around Stacy and her relationship with a Van Helsing bloodline in Joey (Dan Stevens), where soon their differences get discovered because you can't really hide the fact that one is without a pulse, or body warmth, with pale skin that had hardly seen any sunlight. This of course raises the suspicion of Joey's father Dr. Van Helsing (Wallace Shawn), himself a vampire hunter given their heritage, and with Cisserus going around killing folks for sustenance, you'd know everything would converge and come to that necessary climatic finale to have all narrative loose ends resolved.

But underneath this candy and sugar coated sweetness, lies a rather dark tale about love, and the cruelness imposed by immortality. People you love would come and go, and there's always more than enough folks wondering why you just won't age together with them. It's an incredibly lonely process, and a heartbreaking one, as epitomized by Silverstone's character of Goody. But of course there are those who live it up given selfish motivations, and drunk by immense power that the undead status brings. This contrast is what propels the story right to its touching finale, which is rather surprising if one happens to contend and condemn the film solely on its trailer and promotional material.

Effects are laughable though, if you forget that this film is firmly set in B-territory. There's no masking of its limited budget, and the deliberate use of plastic props whenever possible, with tongue-in-cheek effect. Even the CGI is completely amateurish, a throwback to things down some two decades ago, which highlights just how cheap the production really is. But it contains a decent story, with romance and comedic elements to allow it more breadth in its narrative. Sigourney Weaver hamming it up these days in various support appearances also makes it a little bit fun, but the winner here are the darker tones that lie beneath its surface, if you'd only give this film a chance, and look a little bit deeper. Recommended!

Plot

Two female vampires in modern-day New York City are faced with daunting romantic possibilities.

Cast

Alicia Silverstone and Kristen Ritter lead while Sigourney Weaver, Wallace Shawn, Malcolm McDowell and Dan Stevens support.

Verdict

I'd not heard of this at all which I was surprised about considering the cast. Did it bomb? It truly came out of nowhere for me and yes truly unconditionally isn't exactly my genre. For all intent and purpose this is Clueless, with vampires.

Camping it up to 11 Silverstone and Ritter are saved to a degree by a surprisingly decent supporting cast but doesn't take away from what it is and that's pure nonsense.

It tries to be a comedy but it's just not funny, later in the film it tries to be deep but rushes it badly and by this point with the dramatic tone shift I just couldn't find it in myself to care.

Not a bad film, just a fruitless silly one.

Rants

Am I the only one weirded out when Malcolm McDowell doesn't play a bad guy, I mean yes he was Vlad the Impaler here but he was presented as a good guy, a nice guy despite this unlikely fact. He's a bad guy, he looks positively evil and has been typecast ever since. Whenever he's a good guy it makes me uncomfortable, like I'm being gaslit and any second he's going to do something positively ghastly.

Breakdown

Solid cast Just not funny Attempts at being deep and emotional fail hard.

I saw Vamps at the Fantasy Filmfest, where the comedy was well received by the public. The main actors were very funny, Alicia Silverstone and Krysten Ritter make a good duo. The story was fine and most of the jokes were great. The film is aimed more at middle-aged people than teens so I doubt it will be very successful. It is a little gem, yet miles away from Clueless or Fast Times. There was more potential for horror or gore, it is very tame in that department. Also, Sigourney Weavers sire vampire of both Goody and Stacy was too tame a character for my taste. Malcolm McDowell, Justin Kirk and Wallace Shawn were funny and as always great in their supporting roles. They can do no wrong.

Not a bad movie, some very witty and funny commentary on vampire lore. For me the best parts were the constant use of classic black and white movie and news footage and references to people and events of the past as I'm a huge fan of history and old movies. Also some very old songs from the first half of the 20th century. Great use of fashion with the contrasting styles of the 2 main characters as well. Some relevant rants, even more so now, about the due falls of progress and technology in particular. Not as funny or as dark as "What we do in the shadows". Mostly light hearted fun with a bit of heart , especially the ending.

Any rating of this film would be flawed, because it is a collection of extremes rather than a smooth average. Some of the scenes or references are great, especially for some older people, while some are simply horrendous. The cast is great, but the performances average. Some of the ideas and dialogues are incredibly interesting or funny, while others are simply garbage. You would have to watch it to truly tell if you liked it or not.

I never liked Alicia Silverstone, but at least before she was young and sexy. In this film she plays a vampire that has found a reason to live in her much younger friend and colleague in blood sucking. They are good vampires, meaning they only terrorize mice. They are part of a Vampire Anonymous organization where they count the years sans human blood, together with Vlad Tepes (which no one even remotely pronounces correctly) and a bunch of others. Things get more complicated when their maker Sigourney Weaver becomes mass homicidal and one of the vampires falls in love with a Van Helsing and becomes pregnant.

There is much to be said about references on older films and characters and history. That part was truly emotional. Unfortunately it wasn't done well and most of it would mean nothing to iPhone people anyway. And who else would look at a film with vampires that is labelled a romance? Also some of the acting was horrendous and some of the characters superfluous. There were some very funny jokes, peppered here and there, but overall it felt rather dull.

Bottom line: I had expected either a Sex in the City with vampires or a sexual exploitation of the genre. I did not expect deeper meaning or funny dialogue, and I was pleasantly surprised. But only bits and pieces were thus, while the rest was utter nonsense.