Just when you thought it was safe to go to the theaters again, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer have returned with another one of their "oh-so-funny" spoof films.
The writer/directors of Epic Movie, Disaster Movie and Date Movie will release their latest film -- Vampires Suck, a take-off of the popular Twilight saga and a smattering of other pop-culture potholes.
While I have not yet seen Vampires Suck and, for all I know, the movie could be a prize-winning comedy of Oscar caliber, my previous experience with the duo's films leaves me to believe that the movie won't be anything to write home about -- unless the letters consist of whimpering and the occasional plea to end one's life.
It's unfortunate that Friedberg and Seltzer had to make Vampires Suck because society could really use a quality vampire comedy to poke fun of the pomp and self-serious ridiculousness that has plagued most recent vampire movies, television shows and novels.
Vampires, much like zombies, are really in right now. You can't swing an undead cat without hitting some new source of blood-sucking entertainment. Most of it, frankly, is quite terrible. A good comedy could have really reinvigorated the genre -- letting audiences laugh and cleanse their body of all the bad toxins pumped into their system by films like Twilight and shows like The Vampire Diaries.
Because laughs will probably not come from Vampires Suck, here are some other films you can turn to to give yourself a vampire-sized enema.
* Suck, a 2009 Canadian film, will receive a nationwide one-day screening in theaters on Sept. 2 before being released on DVD and Blu-ray on Sept. 28. The film stars Jessica Pare as a rock 'n' roller who, after being bit by a vampire, infects the rest of her band. Soon, the rockers are on a road trip through America, enjoying the new fame and fortune that comes with being a vampire rock band.
Part musical, part comedy and featuring a whole heaping of blood and guts, Suck has an all-star list of cameos from rockers suck as Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Henry Rollins and Moby. Dave Foley also appears as the band's slimy manager.
Writer/director Rob Stefaniuk throws everything but the kitchen sink into Suck. It has animation, musical numbers, slapstick humor and even Malcolm McDowell as an incompetent vampire hunter. Suck is highly recommended.
* Vampire Killers, or Lesbian Vampire Killers as it was originally titled, is a 2009 English film. It's a film cut from the same cloth as Shaun of the Dead. While not quite as funny as Edgar Wright's zombie send-up, Vampire Killers does provide quite a few laughs and a unique visual style that's reminiscent of Sin City. James Coden and Mathew Horne, the stars of the popular BBC show Gavin and Stacey, star as Fletch and Jimmy, two bumbling brosefs who embark on a road trip and wind up in the heart of vampire country.
A quiet village has been beset by a curse that turns every young woman of a certain age into a lesbian vampire. It's up to Fletch and Jimmy to save the village by becoming lesbian vampire killers -- as in killers of lesbian vampires, not lesbian vampires who kill.
The movie falls weak in comparison to any of Edgar Wright's films, but seen in its own light Vampire Killers provides a few hearty laughs and enough gross-out humor for your average horror fan. Plus, it has a killer punchline that has to be seen to be believed.
* E-mail Robert Saucedo at robertsaucedo2500@yahoo.com.
RSS
Mobile
Daily Emails
Twitter
Facebook
