vamp

Horror-comedies were like the peanut butter-n-chocolate of the '80s: packaged for easy consumption, the two genres were a good match for a decade more interested generating laughs than genuine scares. An American Werewolf in London, Night of the Creeps, even the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre was sequelized (quite successfully) as a black comedy rather than a bleak slasher. Lost in the shuffle was Vamp (1986), produced under Roger Corman's New World banner, which took an almost impossibly puerile set-up - college kids, vampires and strippers - and whipped up something cutesy, colorful and unique.

Prospective fraternity members AJ and Keith (Robert Rusler and Chris Makepeace) head into a sketchy part of downtown L.A. to hire a stripper for an upcoming soiree, catching a ride with wealthy dork (Gedde Watanabe) who hires their friendship for the week. They quickly identify the club's main attraction, Katrina (Grace Jones), as their first choice. But Katrina and the rest of the on-stage talent, are actually blood-sucking vampires who feed on the dregs of humanity. Now our trio of horny college kids is worried not just about getting laid...but getting laid to rest!

Vamp's synopsis is wrapped in the dreck of '80s sex comedies, but in execution it's a much more romantic affair, focusing on a meet-cute relationship between Keith and one of the club's waitressess, Allison (played by a perky Dedee Pfeiffer, Michelle's sister), instead of the expected bumping and grinding. It's never scary, but there are a number of convincing make-up applications from Greg Cannon alongside some incredibly eye-popping lighting effects from director of photography Elliot Davis. The film is bathed in green and magenta highlights, inside and out, creating an otherworldly feeling during the club scenes and even on the city streets where our protagonists are pursued by a gang of albino street punks (you just had to be there).

But director Richard Wenk's biggest asset is his cast, including Seinfeld's Sandy Baron as Vic the nightclub manager, whose creatively vulgar stage introductions are delivered with just the right amount of world-weary cynicism, and, of course, Grace Jones who's like a brilliant piece of set design brought to life. At the heart of it all is Chris Makepeace (Meatballs, My Bodyguard), so comfortable as both the sidekick and a reluctant hero it's shocking he left the profession.

Vamp, like its cast of undead characters, has emerged from the coffin looking better than ever. Arrow Video's new hi-def transfer does wonders with the color scheme and extras include a comprehensive documentary that gathers all the principal cast and creative members (except for Jones, who we hear was a bit of a diva on set), plus a blooper reel, image gallery, trailers and Richard Wenk's 1979 short Dracula Bites the Big Apple, an amusing musical student spoof that repurposes "Dancing in the Moonlight" for a catchy new supernatural sing-along.