With 80s horror remakes being sooooo hot right now - we personally CANNOT wait for the Evil Dead in April - it's a good time to revisit Richard Wenk's kinky and cult Vamp. It's essentially a vehicle for the amazing body of Grace Jones. She doesn't speak a word in Vamp, although there's some mean snarling, a few of her tracks are played, and she gets her kit off with a ferocious intensity. She sucks the blood out of a man and pulls the heart out of a poor girl. There's nothing here NOT to like! It's as worthy for a reboot as any of the other 80s horror classics.
Vamp stands up on its own against other cult classics like The Lost Boys, with its witty dialogue and likeable lead characters - we follow three college students on a quest to hire a stripper for their college frat party. Keith (Chris Makepeace) is a ringer for an older Corey Haim, and has the one liners and snappy comebacks to fit Haim's Sam in The Lost Boys, whilst Robert Rusler's AJ is turned into a confused vampire, similar to Jason Patric's half-vampire Michael. The boys, along with loner student Duncan (Gedde Watanabe), visit a seedy nightclub on the wrong side of town to find their lucky lady. It's really just a simple cash-in on the popularity of the 80s vampire movie, with the added incentive of showing some boobs. Grace Jones' Queen Katrina is the star attraction for the club, which operates to her demands and vampiric whims. All the other strippers, and even the management, are blood suckers - a direct influence for Tarantino and Rodriguez's 1996 From Dusk till Dawn perhaps?
After AJ is turned into a vampire, Keith, Duncan and kind non-vampire waitress Amaretto (Dedee Pfeiffer) quickly realise they have to get out of the club fast; it's all good fun, inoffensive (yes, even with the stripping; Keeping Up With the Kardashians is more erotic) and played out with a great sense of humour. And for someone who doesn't talk, Grace Jones is a captivating and memorable vampire queen; you can't take your eyes off her.
If there was a remake, who'd play Queen Katrina in the new Vamp? We can think of only one candidate - Gaga. Now, HOW amazing would that be?!
3/5 fangs for the memories
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