Why So Blu?

Vamps (Blu-ray Review)

Goody (Alicia Silverstone) and Stacy (Krysten Ritter) are addicted to the night life, clubbing, hooking up and always looking for the next thrill, all the while keeping a big a secret-they happen to be modern-day vampires. But even with lifetimes of dating experience behind them, the duo realizes they still have a lot to learn about love when Stacy unexpectedly falls for the son of a vampire hunter, and Goody runs into the man of her dreams from decades earlier.  With their destinies at stake, the girls are faced with a difficult choice; give up their eternal youth for a chance at love, or continue to live their uncomplicated fabulously single lives forever.  Vamps also features an all-star supporting cast, including Sigourney Weaver, Richard Lewis, Dan Stevens, Justin Kirk, Wallace Shawn, Marilu Henner, and Kristen Johnston.

Film  

Goody (Alicia Silverstone) and Stacy (Krysten Ritter) are best friends, roommates and vampires. They like to go clubbing, sleep in coffins and have a good time hitting the town. A vampire’s appearance is set when they are turned so although Goody and Stacy look somewhat similar in age (within 10 years) Stacy doesn’t realize that Goody is much, much older. One thing that differs from the standard vampire lore is that vampires can’t be made by just anyone. It takes a “stem” to do it. The stem that created Goody and Stacy, Cisserus, is played by Sigourney Weaver.

Many things change when Stacy falls for the son of Van Helsing the Vampire Hunter (Wallace Shawn) and Goody runs into the love of her life, Danny (Richard Lewis), also a human.  Goody discovers Danny is married and his wife is dying of a terminal illness.  To connect with him again, Goody initially pretends to be her own daughter, explaining why she has not aged a day since Danny loved her.

Goody shows the depths of her friendship for Stacy after Stacy becomes pregnant.  They are told the baby will die unless Stacy is turned human again.  The only way to do that is to kill the stem.  Unfortunately when a stem dies, her sires return to their natural age, which is bad news for Goody, as she’s lived well beyond a natural lifespan. Determined to give one last gift to Danny and his ailing wife, Goody prepares herself to meet whatever fate will befall her.  If she’s successful, Stacy will have her own challenges as she will become a new mother in her forties.

Vamps starts out cute as a couple of roommate vampires hitting the town is funny at times.  The film discusses unique details that most vampire flicks overlook like what to do about jury duty in the daylight, and how much one would miss their own face when they no longer have a reflection.  Vamps is very much done with the same sense of humor as Clueless.  For about three quarters of the movie I thought it was pretty silly, but entertaining.  When they get to the end, and the attempted assassination of the stem it get’s downright stupid.  I really can’t believe Sigourney Weaver took this role.  I thought this might be a light-hearted chick flick that I would watch and enjoy like Clueless, but having seen the entire film now I know that’s not going to happen.  It’s a shame because if this movie had finished as strongly as it started it could have been a lot of fun.

Video  

Vamps is presented on Blu-ray with a wide-screen 1.78:1 ratio.  As you would expect, the film has many night scenes, and it looks adequate on the streets of the city and the interior of the night club.  This transfer is pretty good but it does suffer from some excessive noise during certain scenes and sometimes colors appear overly bright.  Skin tones look consistent throughout and black levels are fairly solid and dark.

Audio  

The Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation of Vamps contains even and consistent dialogue levels.  There is absolutely nothing spectacular about the audio quality but nothing worth complaining about either.  This is not one of those movies that offers an immersive surround experience but the music sounds fine and the the sound effects are decent too.  While I’m not about to sing this mix’s praises, it’s not terrible either but rather fairly average.

Extras  

Every Blu-ray, even the bad ones deserves special features.  Anchor Bay Films didn’t bother to add a single one on the Vamps Blu-ray.

Summary  

I often assume that because the studio bothered to put a film on Blu-ray it’s going to be a decent film.  Vamps started off interesting but seriously disappointed me by the end.  There are many good actors that I’m amazed signed on to this project.  I watched Vamps and Snowmageddon (my next review) and I’m amazed to say that Snowmageddon was the superior film.  I could go on all day about what I would have done differently with this movie. Some of the roles in Vamps could have been cast a lot better, especially Richard Lewis. His character should have been an attractive older man, not a sloppy mess.  The film tried to be a dark comedy but failed.  If you’re looking for a dark vampire comedy I would suggest Dark Shadows over this Vamps.

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