Vamps

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.

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.

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.

I must say that "Vamps" was actually better than I had expected it to be. Sure, this is a chick flick, but still it was actually enjoyable.

Why? Well because of the cheesy and campy story, but also because it actually boasted some pretty impressive names to the cast list! And for a chick flick vampire romantic comedy it actually had some adequate special effects as well.

The story is about two ladies, Goody (played by Alicia Silverstone) and Stacy (played by Krysten Ritter) who are roommates and vampires! (Wouldn't a better term be coffinmates, then?) Living in New York, the two vampires have to deal with modern life and dating in the modern age. But something is threatening the vampire community, and can vampire find love in the Big Apple?

For a movie of this caliber, the story was actually fun and entertaining, despite being as campy and cheesy as it actually is. But what really made the movie work was the list of people credited to the cast; Alicia Silverstone, Krysten Ritter, Sigourney Weaver, Marilu Henner, Richard Lewis, Wallace Shawn and Malcolm McDowell.

Something did strike me kind of odd though. Why would Vlad Tepes be living in New York, that was just a bit too far fetched. And also since they stayed fairly true to vampire lore and mythology, how come the vampires cast shadows? How come when they cast no reflection, you could clearly see the reflections of Goody and Stacy in the restaurant window when they carried out the Chinese guy? Or how come Goody's gloves were off in one scene, then magically appeared on her hands in the next, only to be off again moments after during the dancing scene? And finally, during the hilarious nosebleed scene, how come the blood was down to almost touching the upper lip in one scene, then magically retraced and just under the nostril in the next?

Despite these visual mistakes, "Vamps" is actually a fair enough movie. But hand on heart, then I am sure that you'd enjoy this movie a whole lot more if you are a woman.

In Manhattan, the vampires Goody (Alicia Silverstone) and Stacy (Krysten Ritter) share an apartment and work and study in the night-shift. Goody was turned in vampire in 1840 by the evil Cisserus (Sigourney Weaver), who turned Stacy in the 90's, and they became best friends but Goody never told her real age to her friend. They only drink mice blood and refuse to drink human blood, and they go together to the Vampire Anonymous.

Stacy falls in love with her classmate Joey (Dan Stevens), and soon she learns that he is the son of the vampire slayer Dr. Van Helsing (Wallace Shawn). Meanwhile, Goody meets her former passion, Danny (Richard Lewis), in the hospital where his wife is terminal. When Stacy gets pregnant, Goody knows that the only way that the child can survive is killing Cisserus, since they would revert to their human ages. But nobody knows here her lair is.

I was afraid to see "Vamps", based on the background of director Amy Heckerling, with movies like "Clueless" and the franchise "Look Who's Talking" and the poster that recalls "Sex & the City"; so I was expecting a shallow sex and the city with vampires.

But I was wrong and I have just decided to see this movie and I found it surprisingly funny and cute. The screenplay has brilliant and lame moments, and the result is uneven. The footages from the past are outstanding and the conclusion alternates between a corny and a beautiful ending. I would never go to the movie theater to see "Vamps", but it deserves to be rented on DVD. In the end, I have enjoyed this movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Vampiras" ("Vampires")