Vampires Vs. Zombies
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| Vampires vs. Zombies | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Vince D'Amato |
| Produced by | Rob Carpenter Damien Foisy |
| Written by | Sheridan Le Fanu Vince D'Amato |
| Starring | Bonny Giroux C.S. Munro Maratama Carlson Brinke Stevens Peter Ruginis Melanie Crystal |
| Music by | Mikael Jacobson |
| Cinematography | Damien Foisy |
| Editing by | Vince D'Amato Nicole Hancock |
| Distributed by | The Asylum |
| Release date(s) | April 13, 2004 |
| Running time | 85 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Official website | |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Vampires vs. Zombies is an indie horror movie, loosely based upon J. Sheridan Le Fanu's classic 1872 novel Carmilla. Unlike Le Fanu's story here, however, most of the action takes place in a car. Vince D'Amato is the director and screenwriter of this film. In the UK it is rated 18; in the U.S. it is rated 'R' for horror violence and gore, sexuality/nudity and language.
Tagline: The battle between the living dead and the undead has begun.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Nightmare
The movie begins with a scene showing a sleeping girl being menaced by a female vampire in her bedroom. The dream is abandoned when the sleeping girl wakes up screaming in the front seat ("shotgun") of her father's Forest green Jeep Cherokee. She then relates to her father that she has had "the same dream again".
[edit] Speeding
Jenny and her father, Travis, who is at the helm of said Forest green Jeep Cherokee, are driving at a steady 5 miles per hour, to an as of yet undisclosed location. Suddenly there is an incident. Jenny yells out "DAD!" as the Jeep Cherokee proceeds to plow over a zombie dressed up like a roadside construction worker. The zombie's head goes flying skyward immediately following the impact, though its body still shows a head visibly attached. This is most likely in part due to the directors nuance towards depicting characters, antagonists mostly, with multiple sicknesses at once, conveying a possible link to this world, and the underworld. The audience is then treated to a techno rave ballad as the Forest green Jeep Cherokee fades from view, and the beginning credits roll.
[edit] Zombie Hell
Once the credits are finished, A radio newsreporter describes a recent and horrific epidemic of zombiedom that has swept the calm countryside of the once peaceful set of woods with one road and a gas station. The reports as they are handed in to him indicate that a symptom of said outbreak is "murder". They then pull up beside a stalled car with three occupants: an older woman and two younger - one of whom is bound and gagged. Ignoring the bound and gagged girl Travis gives the other girl a lift. This girl is possibly a vampire named Carmilla, or possibly not. This is followed by a very long sequence at a roadside gas-station in which a strange woman in gothic make-up (who is possibly a witch or sorceress) hands them a necklace.
[edit] Checking into the madhouse
As the gas-station attendant (played by producer Rob Carpenter) gets sucked into an orgy of violence at the hands of vampires/zombies, Travis, his daughter and Carmilla drive off, only to break down further down the road. They are stranded for hours until a guy in a yellow Land Rover drives up. As the driver is turning into vampire, Travis kills him and uses some of his supplies to fix the Jeep and then lets Jenna and Carmilla steal the Land Rover. As Travis drives ahead in the Jeep Carmilla and Jenna indulge in lesbian sex in the commandeered Land Rover. The destination of the two female leads is the original crypt Carmilla had been buried in. Flashbacks of a madhouse emerge, where Carmilla is revealed to be a nurse, and Jenna her insane patient. Later they make their way to the crypt, where they encounter more zombies/vampires, some of whom are dressed as schoolgirls. After the true reality of the situation is revealed in the twist leading up to the finale, they check into a motel. Lots of bright-red stage blood flows in these latter gory and surreal scenes, which could indeed be delusional or possibly flash-backs. Also in the film is a vampire-hunter known as 'The General', who may be pursuing them, or possibly, arranging a rendezvous: due to his daughter being kidnapped by a female colleague of Carmilla. The film ends with a spinning book and the words, "The End."
[edit] Critical reception
- According to 'Dr Gore' the film demonstrates "Grade-Z incompetence". He gives it a "Landfill" rating.[1]
- 'Wooden Spoon' describes the film's script as "abominable" and opines that it is "worse than Troll 2".[2]
- 'Movie House Commentary' reflects that "the actors deliver their lines with the unnatural inflections of small-time appliance store owners doing their own local TV commercials".[3]
- According to Something Awful's Movie Review, director "Vince D'Amato took a premise that was basically guaranteed to make his movie an instant hit with the indie horror crowd in spite of his nonexistent budget, and he fucked it until it bled. The resulting wretched, scarred, abused, tortured rape victim of a movie is an unwatchable seventy minutes of shattered homes and broken dreams." [4]
- Yet, there are still positive reviews of the film: Horror Express stated that "what we have is a film that purports to be based on Sheridan Le Fanu's short story, 'Carmilla.' I've read that story more than once, and although this is a loose adaptation, it's more faithful than some other filmmakers who adapted Le Fanu's work, seemingly without reading it."[5]
[edit] Trivia
- The picture design on the cover of the DVD is very reminiscent of the one on the cover of Freddy vs. Jason. Reportedly the filmmakers signed over creative control to the DVD company, which changed the title from Carmilla in an effort to cash in on the Freddy vs. Jason target audience ("Asylum," the distribution company, is notorious for releasing low-budget straight-to-dvd cash-ins of major Hollywood films.)
- At no point in the film do vampires combat zombies (though at certain intervals they do "eat" each other).
- The film was cut by over three minutes in North America to obtain an R-Rating by the MPAA. The original version was rated "X" -- mostly for comic bloodshed and one shot of oral necrophilia; none of the sex or nudity was cut.
- Original title: "Carmilla".
- Though internationally known as an American film, the movie was actually produced in Canada. The global distributor was an American company (The Asylum, 2004 - 2007). The Asylum also distributed Creepy Six Films' follow-up feature, a serial killer movie titled "Human Nature" (2004).
[edit] Memorable Dialogue
- Travis: "I better get some gas."
- (Long pause)
- Jenna: "That's a good idea."
- Travis: "We need gas."
- Tessa: I'm NOT Carmilla!
- The General: SHUT THE FUCK UP!
- Travis: "Get this stake out of me! It's the only one we've got left!"
- Jenny: "Oh no....I got my period."
- Female Officer: "You got any engine fluid?"
- Tessa: "You broke my fuckin' tooth, man!"
- The General: "Well that makes us even... You broke my fuckin' C-gar!
