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{{short description|1986 comedy horror film by Richard Wenk}}
{{Short description|1986 film by Richard Wenk}}
⚫
{{about|the 1986 film|the 2012 film with a similar name|Vamps (2012 film)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2014}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2014}}
⚫
{{about|the 1986 film|the 2012 film with a similar name|Vamps (2012 film)}}
{{Infobox film
{{Infobox film
| name = Vamp
| name = Vamp
Line 8: Line 8:
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = [[Richard Wenk]]
| director = [[Richard Wenk]]
| screenplay = Richard Wenk
⚫
| producer = [[Donald P. Borchers]]
| story = {{Plainlist|
| writer = Richard Wenk<br />[[Donald P. Borchers]]
* [[Donald P. Borchers]]
⚫
| starring = {{plainlist|
* Richard Wenk
}}
⚫
| producer = Donald P. Borchers
⚫
| starring = {{Plainlist|
* [[Chris Makepeace]]
* [[Chris Makepeace]]
* [[Sandy Baron]]
* [[Sandy Baron]]
Line 18: Line 22:
* [[Grace Jones]]
* [[Grace Jones]]
}}
}}
⚫
| cinematography = [[Elliot Davis (cinematographer)|Elliot Davis]]
⚫
| music = [[Jonathan Elias]]
⚫
| cinematography = [[Elliot Davis (cinematographer)|Elliot Davis]]<br />Douglas F. O'Neons
| editing = Mark Grossman
| editing = Mark Grossman
⚫
| music = [[Jonathan Elias]]
| studio = Balcor Film Investors<br />Planet Productions
| studio = {{Plainlist|
* Balcor Film Investors
* Planet Productions
}}
| distributor = [[New World Pictures]]
| distributor = [[New World Pictures]]
| released = {{Film date|1986|07|18}}
| released = {{Film date|1986|07|18}}
| runtime = 94 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 93:48--><ref>{{cite web | url=https://bbfc.co.uk/releases/vamp-1970-5 | title=''VAMP'' (18) | work=[[British Board of Film Classification]] | date=September 29, 1986 | access-date=November 25, 2014}}</ref>
| runtime = 94 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 93:48--><ref>{{cite web | url=https://bbfc.co.uk/releases/vamp-1970-5 | title=''Vamp'' (18) | publisher=[[British Board of Film Classification]] | date=September 29, 1986 | access-date=November 25, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115072859/https://bbfc.co.uk/releases/vamp-1970-5 |archive-date=November 15, 2019}}</ref>
| country = United States
| country = United States
| language = English
| language = English
Line 30: Line 37:
| gross = $4.9 million
| gross = $4.9 million
}}
}}
'''''Vamp''''' is a 1986 American [[black]] [[Horror comedy|comedy horror film]] directed by [[Richard Wenk]], co-written by Wenk and [[Donald P. Borchers]], and starring [[Grace Jones]] and [[Chris Makepeace]].
'''''Vamp''''' is a 1986 American [[black comedy]] [[horror film]] directed by [[Richard Wenk]], co-written by Wenk and [[Donald P. Borchers]], and starring [[Chris Makepeace]], [[Sandy Baron]], [[Robert Rusler]], [[Dedee Pfeiffer]], [[Gedde Watanabe]], and [[Grace Jones]].

In the film, three college students visit a [[strip club]] with the intention of hiring a stripper for a college fraternity. The stripper who impresses them turns out to be a powerful vampire, as do many of the other inhabitants of the part of town they find themselves in, and their carefree visit to the club turns into a struggle for survival.


==Plot==
==Plot==
Two college students, Keith and AJ, want to hire a stripper to buy their way into a campus fraternity. They borrow a Cadillac from lonely rich student Duncan, who insists on coming with them to scope out strip clubs in a nearby city. The three boys find themselves at a club in a shady part of town, and after being impressed by a surreally artistic stripper, Katrina, AJ visits her dressing room to try to convince her to come strip for their college party. Katrina seduces AJ, then pins him down – killing him with a fatal bite to the neck.
College students Keith and AJ want to hire a stripper to bribe their way into a campus fraternity so they can move out of their cramped, noisy dorm room and into the frat's house. They borrow a Cadillac from lonely rich student Duncan, who insists on coming with them to scope out strip clubs in a nearby city. The three boys find themselves at a club in a shady part of town, and after being impressed by the surreal and artistic performance of one stripper, Katrina, AJ visits her dressing room to try to convince her to come strip for their college party. Katrina pins him to her waterbed filled with blood and seduces him by massaging, licking, and gently biting his chest, before she transforms into a bestial vampire, breaks one of AJ's arms to keep him from fighting her off, and kills him with a deep bite to the neck.


Keith becomes concerned at his friend’s delay and gets help from a waitress named Amaretto, who keeps insisting (to his confusion) that she knows him. They search the neighborhood, and Keith is separated from her while trying to escape from both a psychotic albino street gang, as well as from vampires throughout the area. While hiding in a dumpster, he finds AJ's discarded body, but when he calls the cops and returns to the club to accuse the owners, the vampires have preempted him by bringing AJ back to the club as undead. AJ confesses to Keith that he's now a [[vampire]], and after realizing that Keith will not kill him and is willing to die for him, AJ stakes himself with a piece of broken furniture.
Concerned about AJ, Keith gets help from a waitress named Amaretto, who keeps insisting that she knows him, to his confusion. They search the neighborhood, and Keith is separated from her while trying to escape from both a psychotic albino street gang and local vampires. While hiding in a dumpster, he finds AJ's discarded corpse, but when he calls the police and returns to the club to accuse the owners, the vampires have preempted him by bringing the undead AJ back. AJ confesses to Keith that he is now a vampire, and after realizing that Keith will not kill him and is willing to die for him, AJ drives a piece of broken furniture through his own heart.


Keith, Amaretto, and Duncan flee the club, but their car is rammed by vehicles driven by vampires. After escaping, they realize that Duncan has been turned to a vampire, and they abandon him in a burning car. The pair attempt to escape through the sewers, as Amaretto breaks down and tells Keith that her real name is Allison, and she knows AJ from a game of [[spin the bottle]] when they were classmates in fifth grade. While they flee through the sewers, they discover and burn a nest of vampires, but Allison is grabbed and held hostage by Katrina. After an arrow to the face and being staked in the chest with a pipe fail to stop Katrina, Keith kills her by opening a grating, allowing the sunlight to destroy her. Before they can escape to the surface, they are trapped by Vlad, Katrina's vampire consort, until Vlad is staked from behind by a revived AJ, who sheepishly notes that the stake he tried to kill himself with turned out to be [[Formica (plastic)|formica]].
Keith, Amaretto, and Duncan flee the club, but their car is rammed by vehicles driven by vampires. After escaping, they realize that Duncan has also become a vampire, and they abandon him in a burning car. While attempting to escape through the sewers, Amaretto tells Keith her real name is Allison, and she knows him from a game of [[spin the bottle]] in fifth grade. While they flee through the sewers, they discover and burn a nest of vampires, but Allison is grabbed and held hostage by Katrina. After an arrow to the face and a pipe impaling her through the chest fail to stop Katrina, Keith kills her by shooting arrows through a covered grating, allowing in sunlight which destroys her. Before they can escape to the surface, they are trapped by Vlad, Katrina's vampire consort, until Vlad is staked from behind by a revived AJ, who sheepishly notes that the stake he tried to kill himself with turned out to be [[Formica (plastic)|formica]].


As Keith and Allison climb to the surface daylight, AJ remains in the sewers calling out to him his ideas to go to night school, or work a job on a [[Shift work#Graveyard shift|graveyard shift]].
As Keith and Allison climb to the surface daylight, AJ remains in the sewers, making plans for how he can remain roommates with Keith by attending night school, or working a job on a [[graveyard shift]].


==Cast==
==Cast==
* [[Chris Makepeace]] as Keith
* [[Chris Makepeace]] as Keith
⚫
* [[Sandy Baron]] as Vic
* [[Robert Rusler]] as AJ
* [[Robert Rusler]] as AJ
⚫
* [[Grace Jones]] as Katrina
* [[Dedee Pfeiffer]] as Allison/Amaretto
* [[Dedee Pfeiffer]] as Allison/Amaretto
* [[Gedde Watanabe]] as Duncan
* [[Gedde Watanabe]] as Duncan
⚫
* [[Grace Jones]] as Katrina
* [[Billy Drago]] as Snow
* [[Billy Drago]] as Snow
⚫
* [[Sandy Baron]] as Vic
* [[Lisa Lyon]] as Cimmaron
* [[Lisa Lyon]] as Cimmaron


==Reception==
==Reception==
Reviews were mixed to negative. [[Roger Ebert]] gave the film 2 stars out of 4, writing that there were "some funny lines, and the relationship between the human kid and his best pal the vampire is handled with a lot of original twists. But the movie finally descends, as so many films do these days, to one of those assembly-line endings made up of fights and chases."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/vamp-1986 |title=Vamp |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=July 18, 1986 |website=[[RogerEbert.com]] |access-date=October 30, 2018 }}</ref> [[D. J. R. Bruckner]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called the writing and direction "weak" and the story "so confused, that 'Vamp' often seems as silly as the films it tries to ridicule."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bruckner |first=D. J. R. |author-link=D. J. R. Bruckner |date=July 25, 1986 |title=Screen: Grace Jones Stars in Wenk's 'Vamp' |journal=[[The New York Times]] |page=C10 }}</ref> A positive review in ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' praised the film as "extremely imaginative" with a "very good" cast, and referred to Grace Jones' dance number as "an outré showstopper."<ref>{{cite journal |date=June 18, 1986 |title=Film Reviews: Vamp |journal=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=18 }}</ref> [[Patrick Goldstein]] of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' wrote, "Despite a few delightfully grim comic touches, 'Vamp' never really captures the spirit of light-headed horror needed to propel this kind of macabre mayhem. Writer-director Richard Wenk has a real flair for offbeat humor ... but we find ourselves much more enchanted by the film's kooky peripheral characters than by its plodding storyline."<ref>[[Patrick Goldstein|Goldstein, Patrick]] (July 18, 1986). "Anemic 'Vamp' But Hot-Blooded Cast". ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. Part VI, p. 6.</ref> [[Paul Attanasio]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' panned the film as "stupid and crude."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Attanasio |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Attanasio |date=July 23, 1986 |title='Vamp': Tooth & Consequences |journal=[[The Washington Post]] |page=C3 }}</ref> Sid Smith of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' gave the film 1.5 stars out of 4, writing that "the laughs are strained, and many of the effects are ludicrous. The filmmakers couldn't come up with enough good plot and dialogue to fill in the gaps between their little satirical stabs."<ref>Smith, Sid (July 18, 1986). "Grace Jones is the chief victim as 'Vamp' tries to spoof vampires". ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''. 7A.</ref> A review by [[Mark Finch]] in ''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' was generally positive, finding that although the concept of a club where the strippers possess authority could have been explored more, "the film remains confident and agreeably scary without becoming lost in a swamp of movie-buff jokes or out-and-out campiness."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Finch |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Finch |date=January 1987 |title=Vamp |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=54 |issue=636 |page=28 }}</ref>
Reviews were mixed to negative. [[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave the film two stars out of four, writing that there were "some funny lines, and the relationship between the human kid and his best pal the vampire is handled with a lot of original twists. But the movie finally descends, as so many films do these days, to one of those assembly-line endings made up of fights and chases."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/vamp-1986 |title=Vamp |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=July 18, 1986 |access-date=October 30, 2018 |via=[[RogerEbert.com]]}}</ref> [[D. J. R. Bruckner]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called the writing and direction "weak" and the story "so confused, that 'Vamp' often seems as silly as the films it tries to ridicule."<ref>{{cite news |last=Bruckner |first=D. J. R. |author-link=D. J. R. Bruckner |date=July 25, 1986 |title=Screen: Grace Jones Stars in Wenk's 'Vamp' |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=C10}}</ref> A positive review in ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' praised the film as "extremely imaginative" with a "very good" cast, and referred to Grace Jones' dance number as "an outré showstopper."<ref>{{cite magazine |date=June 18, 1986 |title=Film Reviews: Vamp |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=18}}</ref>
[[Patrick Goldstein]] of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' wrote, "Despite a few delightfully grim comic touches, 'Vamp' never really captures the spirit of light-headed horror needed to propel this kind of macabre mayhem. Writer-director Richard Wenk has a real flair for offbeat humor ... but we find ourselves much more enchanted by the film's kooky peripheral characters than by its plodding storyline."<ref>[[Patrick Goldstein|Goldstein, Patrick]] (July 18, 1986). "Anemic 'Vamp' But Hot-Blooded Cast". ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. Part VI, p. 6.</ref> [[Paul Attanasio]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' panned the film as "stupid and crude."<ref>{{cite news |last=Attanasio |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Attanasio |date=July 23, 1986 |title='Vamp': Tooth & Consequences |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |page=C3}}</ref> Sid Smith of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' gave the film 1.5 stars out of 4, writing that "the laughs are strained, and many of the effects are ludicrous. The filmmakers couldn't come up with enough good plot and dialogue to fill in the gaps between their little satirical stabs."<ref>Smith, Sid (July 18, 1986). "Grace Jones is the chief victim as 'Vamp' tries to spoof vampires". ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''. 7A.</ref> A review by [[Mark Finch]] in ''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' was generally positive, finding that although the concept of a club where the strippers possess authority could have been explored more, "the film remains confident and agreeably scary without becoming lost in a swamp of movie-buff jokes or out-and-out campiness."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Finch |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Finch |date=January 1987 |title=Vamp |magazine=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=54 |issue=636 |page=28}}</ref>

On the [[review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds an approval rating of 40% based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/vamp | title=Vamp | website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]}}</ref>


==Influences==
==Influences==
Many viewers argue that ''Vamp'' heavily influenced [[Robert Rodriguez]]'s ''[[From Dusk till Dawn]]'' (1996); from the setting of a strip club, to the sexy dance/performance put on by the lead female characters in each respective film. ''Vamp'' tells the story of two fraternity pledges looking to find a stripper at the "After Dark" club, which so happens to be home to a group of stripper vampires, whereas ''From Dusk till Dawn'' tells the story of two fugitive bank-robbing brothers who are fleeing the FBI as well as the Texas police and end up at the "Titty Twister", a strip club in the middle of a desolate part of Mexico which, in comparison to ''Vamp'', happens to be home to a group of Aztec stripper vampires.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.horror.land/before-the-dawn/ | title=Before the Dawn| publisher=Horror Dot Land | access-date=2017-01-30}}</ref>
Many viewers argue that ''Vamp'' heavily influenced [[Robert Rodriguez]]'s ''[[From Dusk till Dawn]]'' (1996), from the setting of a strip club to the sexy dance performance put on by the lead female character in each respective film. ''Vamp'' tells the story of two fraternity pledges looking to find a stripper at the "After Dark" club, which is home to a group of stripper vampires, whereas ''From Dusk till Dawn'' tells the story of two fugitive bank-robbing brothers who are fleeing the FBI as well as the Texas police and end up at the "Titty Twister", a strip club in the middle of a desolate part of Mexico which, in comparison to ''Vamp'', is home to a group of Aztec stripper vampires.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.horror.land/before-the-dawn/ | title=Before the Dawn| date=February 18, 2015| website=Horror Dot Land | access-date=2017-01-30}}</ref>


==Release==
==Release==
''Vamp'' was released theatrically in the United States on July 18, 1986 and grossed $4,941,117 at the box office.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/id=vamp.htm | title=Vamp | publisher=boxofficemojo.com | access-date=2011-03-31}}</ref>
''Vamp'' was released theatrically in the United States on July 18, 1986, and grossed $4,941,117 at the box office.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0092147/ | title=Vamp (1986) | website=[[Box Office Mojo]] | access-date=July 19, 2024}}</ref>


Arrow Video released ''Vamp'' on Blu-ray/DVD in the US on October 4, 2016 and the UK Blu-ray/DVD release on October 3, 2016. This version of the film features a high definition digital transfer along with special features.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://hellhorror.com/article/10042/Arrow-Video-Releasing-VAMP-Blu-ray-Release-Date-Details.html | title=Vamp| publisher=HellHorror.com | access-date=2017-01-30}}</ref>
Arrow Video released ''Vamp'' on Blu-ray and DVD in the US on October 4, 2016, and the UK Blu-ray/DVD release on October 3, 2016. This version of the film features a high-definition digital transfer along with special features.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://hellhorror.com/article/10042/Arrow-Video-Releasing-VAMP-Blu-ray-Release-Date-Details.html | title=Vamp| website=HellHorror.com | access-date=2017-01-30}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
Line 70: Line 83:


==External links==
==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0092147|Vamp}}
* {{IMDb title}}
*{{mojo title|vamp|Vamp}}
* {{AllMovie title}}
* {{Mojo title}}
*{{rotten-tomatoes|vamp|Vamp}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}
* {{AFI film}}
* {{TCMDb title}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Vamp}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vamp}}
[[Category:1986 films]]
[[Category:1986 films]]
[[Category:1986 horror films]]
[[Category:1986 black comedy films]]
[[Category:1980s comedy horror films]]
[[Category:1986 comedy horror films]]
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[[Category:1986 directorial debut films]]
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[[Category:1980s American films]]
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[[Category:1980s buddy comedy films]]
[[Category:1980s English-language films]]
[[Category:American black comedy films]]
[[Category:American buddy comedy films]]
[[Category:American comedy horror films]]
[[Category:American comedy horror films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:American vampire films]]
[[Category:English-language comedy horror films]]
⚫
[[Category:Films about fraternities and sororities]]
⚫
[[Category:Films about striptease]]
[[Category:Films directed by Richard Wenk]]
[[Category:Films directed by Richard Wenk]]
[[Category:Films scored by Jonathan Elias]]
[[Category:Films shot in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Films shot in Los Angeles]]
⚫
[[Category:Films scored by Jonathan Elias]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Richard Wenk]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Richard Wenk]]
[[Category:American vampire films]]
[[Category:New World Pictures films]]
[[Category:Vampire comedy films]]
[[Category:Vampire comedy films]]
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[[Category:New World Pictures films]]
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[[Category:1986 comedy films]]
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[[Category:Films about striptease]]
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[[Category:1986 directorial debut films]]

Latest revision as of 06:54, 19 July 2024

This article is about the 1986 film. For the 2012 film with a similar name, see Vamps (2012 film).
Vamp
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRichard Wenk
Screenplay byRichard Wenk
Story by
Produced byDonald P. Borchers
Starring
CinematographyElliot Davis
Edited byMark Grossman
Music byJonathan Elias
Production
companies
  • Balcor Film Investors
  • Planet Productions
Distributed byNew World Pictures
Release date
  • July 18, 1986 (1986-07-18)
Running time
94 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.3 million
Box office$4.9 million

Vamp is a 1986 American black comedy horror film directed by Richard Wenk, co-written by Wenk and Donald P. Borchers, and starring Chris Makepeace, Sandy Baron, Robert Rusler, Dedee Pfeiffer, Gedde Watanabe, and Grace Jones.

In the film, three college students visit a strip club with the intention of hiring a stripper for a college fraternity. The stripper who impresses them turns out to be a powerful vampire, as do many of the other inhabitants of the part of town they find themselves in, and their carefree visit to the club turns into a struggle for survival.

Plot

[edit]

College students Keith and AJ want to hire a stripper to bribe their way into a campus fraternity so they can move out of their cramped, noisy dorm room and into the frat's house. They borrow a Cadillac from lonely rich student Duncan, who insists on coming with them to scope out strip clubs in a nearby city. The three boys find themselves at a club in a shady part of town, and after being impressed by the surreal and artistic performance of one stripper, Katrina, AJ visits her dressing room to try to convince her to come strip for their college party. Katrina pins him to her waterbed filled with blood and seduces him by massaging, licking, and gently biting his chest, before she transforms into a bestial vampire, breaks one of AJ's arms to keep him from fighting her off, and kills him with a deep bite to the neck.

Concerned about AJ, Keith gets help from a waitress named Amaretto, who keeps insisting that she knows him, to his confusion. They search the neighborhood, and Keith is separated from her while trying to escape from both a psychotic albino street gang and local vampires. While hiding in a dumpster, he finds AJ's discarded corpse, but when he calls the police and returns to the club to accuse the owners, the vampires have preempted him by bringing the undead AJ back. AJ confesses to Keith that he is now a vampire, and after realizing that Keith will not kill him and is willing to die for him, AJ drives a piece of broken furniture through his own heart.

Keith, Amaretto, and Duncan flee the club, but their car is rammed by vehicles driven by vampires. After escaping, they realize that Duncan has also become a vampire, and they abandon him in a burning car. While attempting to escape through the sewers, Amaretto tells Keith her real name is Allison, and she knows him from a game of spin the bottle in fifth grade. While they flee through the sewers, they discover and burn a nest of vampires, but Allison is grabbed and held hostage by Katrina. After an arrow to the face and a pipe impaling her through the chest fail to stop Katrina, Keith kills her by shooting arrows through a covered grating, allowing in sunlight which destroys her. Before they can escape to the surface, they are trapped by Vlad, Katrina's vampire consort, until Vlad is staked from behind by a revived AJ, who sheepishly notes that the stake he tried to kill himself with turned out to be formica.

As Keith and Allison climb to the surface daylight, AJ remains in the sewers, making plans for how he can remain roommates with Keith by attending night school, or working a job on a graveyard shift.

Cast

[edit]

Reception

[edit]

Reviews were mixed to negative. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two stars out of four, writing that there were "some funny lines, and the relationship between the human kid and his best pal the vampire is handled with a lot of original twists. But the movie finally descends, as so many films do these days, to one of those assembly-line endings made up of fights and chases."[2] D. J. R. Bruckner of The New York Times called the writing and direction "weak" and the story "so confused, that 'Vamp' often seems as silly as the films it tries to ridicule."[3] A positive review in Variety praised the film as "extremely imaginative" with a "very good" cast, and referred to Grace Jones' dance number as "an outré showstopper."[4]

Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Despite a few delightfully grim comic touches, 'Vamp' never really captures the spirit of light-headed horror needed to propel this kind of macabre mayhem. Writer-director Richard Wenk has a real flair for offbeat humor ... but we find ourselves much more enchanted by the film's kooky peripheral characters than by its plodding storyline."[5] Paul Attanasio of The Washington Post panned the film as "stupid and crude."[6] Sid Smith of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 1.5 stars out of 4, writing that "the laughs are strained, and many of the effects are ludicrous. The filmmakers couldn't come up with enough good plot and dialogue to fill in the gaps between their little satirical stabs."[7] A review by Mark Finch in The Monthly Film Bulletin was generally positive, finding that although the concept of a club where the strippers possess authority could have been explored more, "the film remains confident and agreeably scary without becoming lost in a swamp of movie-buff jokes or out-and-out campiness."[8]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 40% based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10.[9]

Influences

[edit]

Many viewers argue that Vamp heavily influenced Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk till Dawn (1996), from the setting of a strip club to the sexy dance performance put on by the lead female character in each respective film. Vamp tells the story of two fraternity pledges looking to find a stripper at the "After Dark" club, which is home to a group of stripper vampires, whereas From Dusk till Dawn tells the story of two fugitive bank-robbing brothers who are fleeing the FBI as well as the Texas police and end up at the "Titty Twister", a strip club in the middle of a desolate part of Mexico which, in comparison to Vamp, is home to a group of Aztec stripper vampires.[10]

Release

[edit]

Vamp was released theatrically in the United States on July 18, 1986, and grossed $4,941,117 at the box office.[11]

Arrow Video released Vamp on Blu-ray and DVD in the US on October 4, 2016, and the UK Blu-ray/DVD release on October 3, 2016. This version of the film features a high-definition digital transfer along with special features.[12]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Vamp (18)". British Board of Film Classification. September 29, 1986. Archived from the original on November 15, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
  2. ^ Ebert, Roger (July 18, 1986). "Vamp". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved October 30, 2018 – via RogerEbert.com.
  3. ^ Bruckner, D. J. R. (July 25, 1986). "Screen: Grace Jones Stars in Wenk's 'Vamp'". The New York Times. p. C10.
  4. ^ "Film Reviews: Vamp". Variety. June 18, 1986. p. 18.
  5. ^ Goldstein, Patrick (July 18, 1986). "Anemic 'Vamp' But Hot-Blooded Cast". Los Angeles Times. Part VI, p. 6.
  6. ^ Attanasio, Paul (July 23, 1986). "'Vamp': Tooth & Consequences". The Washington Post. p. C3.
  7. ^ Smith, Sid (July 18, 1986). "Grace Jones is the chief victim as 'Vamp' tries to spoof vampires". Chicago Tribune. 7A.
  8. ^ Finch, Mark (January 1987). "Vamp". The Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 54, no. 636. p. 28.
  9. ^ "Vamp". Rotten Tomatoes.
  10. ^ "Before the Dawn". Horror Dot Land. February 18, 2015. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  11. ^ "Vamp (1986)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 19, 2024.
  12. ^ "Vamp". HellHorror.com. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
[edit]
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