Vampira and Me

There's not much surviving footage of Vampira in her prime, so there's only so much they could do here, but the interview with her in her old age was great and she was quite candid and sharp. Overall, a very well made doc about a legend that deserved better in life.

A documentary that shows in great depth the life of Maila Nurmi and what she really was behind the character of Vampira. Mr. Greene did a great job to gather information that seemed to be lost for decades. He created a very good biography of a woman who is called "The Godmother of Goth". For a D.I.Y. documentary I think is a 10/10!

(IMO) - "Vampira And Me" was a good (but not great) bio-documentary.

This 106-minute presentation takes a close-up look at the patchy career of Maila Nurmi (known as "Vampira") who hosted her own late-night TV show back in the mid-1950s.

Maila died in 2008 at the age of 85.

This intimate and moving portrait of a lost goth icon brought tears to my eyes.

It's rare to see a movie and know that it was made with love, but I would say this is a film like that. Director R. H. Greene has excavated pretty much every frame of film featuring Maila Nurmi as her barrier-shattering goth creation Vampira, the majority of which was found and presented here for the first time in over 50 years. In that way, this film is quite a present to pop culture history.

But the core of this documentary is the on camera interplay between Greene, the unseen questioner, and Nurmi, the regal, coquettish, gleeful, moist-eyed interviewee. Nurmi was clearly bloodied by her adventures in Hollywood as Vampira but she comes across as (mostly) unbowed, or at least willing to make the sacrifices that were required to give the world her creation. Knowing Nurmi at least got respect and affection from Greene and other second and third generation fans makes the rest of her story--a real Hollywood tragedy--easier to bear.

Thoughtful comments by cult comedian Dana Gould stand out, as does the amazing side story of Voluptua, a rip-off character created by men to capitalize on Vampira's popularity. Voluptua proved by her sex kitten submissiveness just how radically feminist the self-sufficient Vampira really was--when men tried to recreate Vampira's success, they created a blow-up doll, where Nurmi created a feminist icon. An amazing story, for horror fans and anyone who cares about radical.depictions of women in the media age.

I have always been interested in the Vampira character portrayed by Maila Nurmi. She created an iconic image as the ghoulish vampire woman surrounded by a web of mystery. During the 1980's, when I first saw her image, I became a fan. The fact that she was an Scandinavian like myself fueled the interest. Unfortunately there was never enough facts or information about Maila Nurmi to make me know enough of her career and life as a misfit in the Hollywood system. This documentary film is an excellent telling of her life and the creation of Vampira. An objective telling of how her short lived fame during the mid 1950's brought both happiness and tragedy into her life. Vampira was a character that grew out of an era in change, where teens became rebels and rock'n roll was the new beat. An underground culture that grew to the surface and changed a generation of young people. Like Bettie Page, Vampira became strong iconic figure with a look nobody could forget. The camera caught images that never aged and continues until today to attract peoples attention. "Vampira and Me" is like an unholy grail must see for anyone who love the character Vampira and the woman behind her creation. A story told with love and compassion from her number 1 fan and also supported by all the people who loved her image and kept her underground fame alive. It is especially interesting to see unseen and rare footage of Vampira that proves she also was a great comedienne. Also fun to the see images of her early days as a pin-up model. This documentary has much heart and at times you can not help feeling sad, her career and life deserved much better. But once you adventure into the road towards Hollywood in search for fame there is no telling of the outcome, everything is at risk, especially your life. Maila Nurmi was a woman with talent and intelligence, a survivor. This documentary tells her strange tale of the unexpected, almost like it was meant to be. See it, you will love it!