Requiem for a Vampire

It's fitting that this film was made during The Sopranos initial run because if Chrisopher Moltesanti was real, this could be his follow-up to "Cleaver" - a slice of north Jersey culture that rivals "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" for epic B movie indulgences. Ed Wood? Fuhgettaboutit!

Why do I love this movie? Let me count the ways... First, there's more sheer entertainment in the first fifteen minutes than in the last two Jurassic Park films combined, from the entrance of the lead vampire, with a hairstyle that gives him the square-headed appearance of a squat Frankenstein monster... to the sick mom in bed, who's dressed in a nightgown and bonnet like Little Red Riding Hood's grandma in a 1930s cartoon and whose "doctor" daughter inexplicably lapses into (Pennsylvania Dutch?) German throughout the film.

But the awesome sauce is just starting to percolate. On an acting scale of 0-10 we get the full spectrum, thanks to a huge cast of amateurs with a few pros sprinkled in. There's also a fairly decent Goth garage band, a bagpiper, a pantie-sniffing lesbian couple, and a bi-sexual vampire top.

A few musical interludes are thrown in here and there with no apparent purpose other than to showcase the actors' talents as part of the deal. One headscratcher has a woman singing a Celtic ballad while two beautiful teen girls in white robes do an improvisational dance on the lawn.

Especially notable is the crucifixion scene where a Christ who resembles Sam Kinison in a diaper comes down off his cross while the two babes crucified on either side of him also come down, strip off their biblical gowns and do a hot full frontal dance, immortalizing their amazing bodies in cinematic history.

The film feels longer than its 93 minutes not because it's boring, but because the script is lush with plot points that track in a surprisingly cohesive manner, despite every scene petering out in a fade to black, as if to say "okay enough of that, move on".

NJ should be proud of director John Orrichio. IMHO he is truly a national treasure. Seriously. I am now commited to tracking down every last one of his movies and having a feast.

Check out Tony Attrino as the mugger who gets slaughtered by Mona Sethi's vampire. Great scene! Attrino wrote one part of a three-part horror trilogy Petry had produced a year earlier. TRIVIA: Requeim For A Vampire was filmed in the driveway of Petry's home in Northern New Jersey -- Kearny, to be exact. Petry works well with Orrichio, who seems to have some experience at video editing using the Avid software. The film was shot mostly low-budget with the actors working for free. Key scenes were shot in Bloomfield. One in particular was shot in the Bloomfield Public Library. The movie's premiere was held in Dec. 2004 inside the auditorium of Bloomfield College.

A really good friend of mine had this film and we watched it. I am really not into independent films, but I thought this film was really good. I was very impressed by the film's quality and acting performances. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Requiem for a Vampire. It's a shame that they don't make mainstream films like this. The performance I liked particularly was the performance of reporter Phyllis Cooney. Her character was interesting. I wish I could have seen her death on screen as opposed to just hearing about it. I hope more people get a chance to see this film. The storyline, the actual film's quality and the acting are really good. If you get a chance to check it out, it is well worth the time.

The film was very well done. It was an intriguing storyline that contained good acting, excellent cinematography and terrific music which certainly enhanced the film.

I would highly recommend this movie to not only fans of the horror genre, however to anyone who enjoys quality films will definitely like this unique well made movie. One can readily see the production value in this movie is extremely high with all of the various sets and locations utilized in the making of this film. This movie will keep you interested and riveted from beginning to end.

In terms of vampire movies this particular film brought something different and unusual to the table regarding the premise of the story that depicted the main characters in a specific way which worked incredibly well. These vampires desired to be like ordinary mortals and blend into society while being provided with blood in order to sustain their existence through a bloodbank directed by an unscrupulous doctor who is on their payroll but has also become a good friend to the vampires as well.

Oh my God! I was in my local video store and seen just about everything and I heard the clerks talking about this really weird vampire movie they just got in. They said it was the weirdest vampire flick they ever saw. What the heck, I bought it for $6.00, what did I have to lose. Well, let me tell you, it was very good and creative. I rent tons of low budget stuff and never saw the quality in any of them that this movie has. The camera work is good and the music is fantastic. The acting is OK with some fine performances by the lead, Mat Locker, the main vampire and Bob Smith who plays a health dept. inspector. Tony Rugnetta who plays a doctor and Cathy Loch who plays somewhat of a vixen sings a beautiful song with women dancing under a moon lit sky in the background. I found that there are some other films made by these guys, John Orrichio and Karl Petry which available from the same distributor or on their film site. I plan on getting them all. It's nice to see a gem in all those low budgets movies being produced. These filmmakers will one day make it big because they have the talent. I highly recommend this movie if you like movies in the vein of The Wicker Man (Old version not the new one)or if you like to read Ann Rice and Stephen King. Bravo Guys!! Keep making movies.