Vamps - Film Review

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Goody was turned into a vampire in the 1800s by her 'Stem', Ciccerus. She lives in modern day New York with Stacy, a more recently turned vampire, feeding only on rats' blood and mingling with mortals, or "day players". When Stacy meets a man she actually cares about they learn that it might be possible for her to turn back into a mortal if Ciccerus dies.





Vamps (2011) is a horror comedy directed by Amy Heckerling (director of Clueless). It stars Alicia Silverstone (from Clueless and Senior Year) as Goody. Krysten Ritter (from Veronica Mars and Jessica Jones) is Stacy, and Sigourney Weaver (from Alien, Ghostbusters, and Gorillas in the Mist- honestly if you haven't seen any of those go and watch them before wasting time with Vamps) as Ciccerus.

It also features Wallace Shawn (Vizzini from The Princess Bride) as Dr Van Helsing.





I'm a big fan of Krysten Ritter and Sigourney Weaver, so I was a little surprised and disappointed that a movie with a cast like this could be as unfunny as this one was. If I had been aware that the director's previous work included Look Who's Talking, National Lampoon's European Vacation and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, I'd have had a better idea what to expect. It's just not my type of humour, but it must be a lot of people's (or at least it used to be, in the 80s). That's what I get for choosing movies to watch more or less at random.

I know I shouldn't expect historical accuracy in a vampire rom-com, but I'm going to have a little nitpick here. There is a scene where Stacy has finally figured out that Goody is actually much older than she was led to believe. Goody responds by saying "who names their child Goody any more?" Nobody, does because that was never a thing. The writer here has made the same mistake as the writers of Wednesday in thinking that 'Goody' was a name, when it was actually a title, short for 'good wife'.

There were a couple of funny lines, mainly from Sigourney Weaver, who seemed to be really enjoying herself. I'd rather watch a film just about her character, an ancient vampire obsessed with a young Spanish pop star. She could be chased around Europe by Wallace Shawn, who is also largely wasted in this movie.

There are worse movies to watch than Vamps ( Shark Exorcist comes to mind), but there are also a lot of better ones. It's probably one to skip unless you're stuck on your couch unable to reach the remote, or maybe in a remote cabin with no wifi or TV reception, only a TV, DVD player and 6 DVDs and you've already watched the other five. Even then you could maybe just practice flipping Malteasers into the air with a teaspoon and catching them in your mouth, which will at least give you an icebreaker for parties.




#comedy
#humour
#arts_culture
#film_tv_reviews
#romantic
#horror
#vampires
%wneverywhere

More articles by Jennifer Muirhead:
5 Films About Ghosts
Malevolent - Film Review
5 Vampire Movies From the Last 20 Years
5 Spooky Horror Comedies to Watch For Halloween