Bonnie & Clyde vs. Dracula

Bonnie and Clyde vs. Dracula is a better film than the title suggests. I have mixed emotions about this as I normally like for my bad films to be truly bad, but will admit to being pleasantly surprised by the story and production values.

Keep in mind I am reviewing a low budget film here. The acting was surprisingly good and, at 90 minutes, the story was neither too short nor too long. I thought Tiffany Shepis as the murderous Bonnie made the film and the other players, all unknowns (at least, unknown to me) were surprisingly colorful and good. Jennifer Friend as the dim-witted Annabel was a treat as well.

The plot is about what you would expect with a title such as this one. Bonnie and Clyde are out in the country hiding from the law and planning their next heist when they unexpectedly meet up with the evil Dr. Loveless and, you guessed it, the Prince of Darkness himself. This is as far as I will go on story explanation, the title says it all.

It doesn't matter to me if the story makes sense or is historically factual in regards to Bonnie and Clyde, but I was a bit frustrated by the fact that I had trouble determining whether this was (a) horror, (b) comedy horror spoof or (c) a gangster film. It is hard to mix genres within one production and that was, at times, uncomfortably apparent. But, it was not so bad as to ruin the production and, aside from that, Bonnie and Clyde vs.Dracula is a delightful film and nice addition to my library of B-horror.

Shot in 2008 around the St. Joseph, MO. area, near my home, I looked for this one on DVD for a long time. Per its website, it made the rounds of the film festival circuit in Kansas and Missouri before being offered on DVD. It was worth the wait. It fits nicely with such 1960s films as Billy the Kid vs. Dracula and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter. I am very pleased to see films such as these back in production. If you, as I, love films such as this one, I encourage you to add it to your library. I got my DVD from Amazon and it costs around $10.00, including shipping.

My criticism of Bonnie and Clyde vs. Dracula might be a tad-bit unfair as one probably isn't supposed to complain much about a movie called Bonnie and Clyde vs. Dracula.

Going into it, I knew it was a D-List B-Movie with a preposterous premise ... and it is. The film has "decent" acting from some no-name-never-will-be-a-name actors who do the most with their cheesy dialogue and the grotesque situations in which they find themselves. Simply because someone believed a confrontation between the notorious gangster-duo and Dracula would make for an interesting movie, Bonnie and Clyde vs. Dracula was made.

It doesn't really matter how Bonnie and Clyde end up in the same house as Dracula (a mad doctor with a burlap sack over his head -- Dr. Loveless -- is harboring the bloodsucker in his basement ... yep, hahaha, sure thing!); all that does matter is that the two sides confront each other ... and nobody else (the supporting players) really stand a chance.

This is an "ignorance-is-bliss" kind of a film ... the audience is simply supposed to enjoy the stupidity on screen. I was able to ... some.

What bothered me was that the remarkably bad screenwriter apparently knew next-to-nothing of Ms. Parker and Mr. Barrow. They are pretty-much Bonnie and Clyde in name ONLY as their behavior, action and motivation in THIS film are nothing-at-all like they were in real life (it could have been worse, though, as Hilary Duff doesn't play THIS film's Bonnie). I am sure I shouldn't have cared; and I only did a little bit ... because, seriously, get something right! (I'm not asking for 100% historical accuracy in ANY film; but I'd have accepted a mere 05% here)

It can be difficult to blend real-life characters with fiction in something like this. I read and accepted the recent Pride & Prejudice and Zombies lately and did NOT mind Lizzie Bennett and her sisters being ninja-trained warriors (as they are fiction-upon-fiction); but having Bonnie Parker go medieval with a razor blade (before they even encounter Fangs McGhee) was just too much (as it is still debated whether or not the REAL Bonnie Parker ever pulled a trigger).

The movie is supposed to be a brainless/thoughtless, fun-time. For this to happen the movie should be watched with one's brain turned completely off as ANY kind of thinking will mar the film. How is that possible?!? Actually ... I don't know as I haven't turned my brain back on yet.

The film starts with a nice plot twist and is a tale of two worlds until Bonnie meets Drucula. All in all it was pretty well written, shot well with a good sound track. The graphic violence was a little rough for my taste however. Tiffany Shepis as the mean girl Bonnie is the standout, but everyone was good including the space cadet flower child Annabel played with glee by Jenny Friend. T. Max Graham who plays the irascible Jake has one gruesome but hilarious scene towards the climatic end. Even though the film was made in 2008 it feels like a period piece and is well worth a watch if you can stomach occasional graphic violence.

Hiding out in the countryside, the notorious outlaw couple trying to find a safe space to wait for a new score end up confronting a mad doctor and his assistant in the middle of experimenting on bodies for a captive vampire and must find a way to stop their deadly plans.

This was quite an enjoyable enough effort. One of the better aspects of this one is the fact that it manages to really play up it's silly and somewhat anachronistic storyline to the fullest for an enjoyable time. The idea of the famous duo coming upon a mad scientist in the middle of the countryside is a rather goofy premise already before bringing along all the different experiments and the outcome of their work makes this one even more crazy in how they get together. There's a lot of fun in how the two sides mesh, with the gangster story coming into play showing their struggles between being on the road and the stress of outlaw life which shows up in how they interact during their time in the farmhouse hiding out before their initial interaction. That coincides with the oddness shown in the laboratory with the experiments being conducted by the mysterious doctor who has a quirky habit of wearing the towel over his head with the single eye-hole or his dim-witted assistant who runs around with a goofy disposition conducting radio plays with dolls which adds a nice bit of intentional comedy during the proceeds. Once the film gets going into the final half, that's where it really gets going with some fun as it manages to offer some enjoyable elements from this setup. Starting with the dinner party and carrying over into the horde of vampires attacking in the various aspects of the house, it ends up leading to the better encounters where the creatures are involved in the battles which is rather enjoyable. These here hold it up over it's few minor problems. Among the few flaws here is the fact that there's not a whole lot of actual vampire confrontations between them which is somewhat disappointing. Rather than actually engage in a series of back-and-forth encounters between gangsters and vampires, this one tends to focus on them as two separate storylines featuring the vampire actions and then the gangster family dealing with their own issues which aren't all that well-defined in dealing with the potential of having them mixed together for the whole time. They don't even get together until the final minutes of the film and it really seems as though there are two separate films cut together into being one film yet have nothing in common with each other because they're so differently matched for so long. There's also the film's rather obvious inability to hide it's low-budget limitations, going from the cheap and flimsy setups to the low-budget tone and feel that really highlights those issues. These here are what hide this one the most.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Brief Full Nudity and mild drug use.

If you like B-horror movies, &/or campy horror (Zombieland, or Shawn of the Dead), you'll definitely enjoy this film.

I do not particularly care for horror, campy or otherwise, but am always interested in Indie flicks. So I had the opportunity to see this at a film festival, and am glad I did. It got lots of laughs, and even had some decent special effects.

To briefly summarize: the setting is early 20th century, where the fugitives Bonnie & Clyde meet up with some supernatural forces, including Count Dracula. The film definitely had the feel of a comic book dramatization or graphic novel, perhaps inspired by League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or something like that.

The acting by Tiffany Shepis was brilliant, and the rest of the acting was pretty decent. The doctor's sidekick Annabelle also got lots of laughs.

My only complaint is that a few scenes dragged on, and a few too many lulls in the flow of the film. I think the writer/director might have been trying to cram too much story into the 2 hours. But frankly, I was more impressed with this low budget film than most of the movies in the theater currently, so I can hardly complain.

If you are just looking for Hollywood gore with fast-paced special effects, then look elsewhere. But if you are interested in out-of-the-box storytelling, original scripts, and independent film making with an eccentric flair, Bonnie & Clyde vs. Dracula will not disappoint.