Vampirella (1996)

   

Produced & Directed by:

Written by: Gary Gerani
Forrest J Ackerman (Comic Book)

Starring:

Talisa Soto .... Vampirella
Roger Daltrey .... Vlad / Jamie Blood
Richard Joseph Paul .... Adam Van Helsing
Brian Bloom .... Demos
Corinna Harney .... Sallah
Rusty Meyers .... Quinn
Lee de Broux .... Lt. Walsh
Tom Deters .... Traxx
Jack Zavorak .... Captain Stryker

Release Date: Direct-to-Video: September 28, 1996

 

 

 

Rating:

 

Centuries ago on the planet of Drakulon an evil head vampire named Vlad (Roger Daltrey) escapes his cell while being on judgement day as he kills the jury and escapes the planet to head to Earth.
Then it's present day in Los Angeles, California as a sexy warrior named Vampirella (Talisa Soto) tries to avenge her father's death by tracking Vlad down with some help with the hand on one of the leader of a high-tech, globe-trotting, anti-vampire squad members named Adam Van Helsing (Richard Joseph Paul) by chasing him around the city where he wrecks havoc and plans to take over the planet and the entire galaxy.

 

We spot quite a corny beginning with a brief narration revealing outer space as the effects looked mildly cheesy to spot however it seem seem entertaining to b-film fans and then we spot a corny situation with Vampirella talking to her father on a planet while going on a mission which looked unnatural and too set out. The scene for sure wasn't meant to be taken seriously at all.
There's situations with two prison guards taking Vlad out for judgement in which this looked awfully silly to watch as well. Plus we spot his villain friends coming in to shoot everyone which seemed a bit slapstick but yet cheesily adventureous and fun to watch if you were in the mood for something like this. Also we spot Vampirella acting upset when she sees her father dying as this was supposed to look like a sad scene but doesn't do the trick at all with the cheesy situations that we spot here.
Then there's scene's that happen way too fast on planet Earth present day with scene's like a vampire mafia happening centering around a character named Carlos as this was laughable to watch in a bad way but yet things look impressive when we see him tied upside down like a crucifix when he's forced to talk as well as having some sunlight frying on him which looked pretty amusing on aq vampire torturing another vampire.
In the middle of the story there's a moment when we spot a nerd carrying a computer in an alleyway with two thugs trying to mug him which looked awfully sloppy and over the top but yet a nice presence on Vampirella coming out from the shadows to save the day as there's fun cheesy moments on her taking on these two thugs so at the same time this scene looked fairly entertaining.
There's some cheesy writing with this nerd inviting her to his home with his lines tripping over telling her he has nothing to drink in which can be memorable on how he says it to feed a vampire's appetite. Also more cheesy liners when he tells her she needs something else to wear due to her hot uniform which is a typical one liner for a Wynorski flick.
We do spot a good strong scene between Vampirella and Vlad near a hillside with good close up shots on them about to bite one another on the neck and then the army of people come in the bust him as well as good one liners with Vlad realising that he was set up which often works well in a film. Plus there's some good discussions with Vampirella and Adam Van Helsing in a vehicle while being driven away. There's also nice effects on some vehicles wiping out and exploding.
Some nice effective moments with Vlad getting cocky towards Vampirella while discussing a situation after a vehicle accident as this is what we'd spot reading a comic book or a Saturday morning cartoon by how this was all set out.
A nice setting on Vlad standing on a tower calling out to others on judgement day and raising his arms out which showed an interesting horror moment on what the plan is to conquer the world and other situations like this on what he is discussing and good lighting and camera work within all of this.
Some interesting situations with Vampirella against some vampire thugs while getting demanding on them to release Adam with nice shots on all of this and some of the battling moments too.
Then there's great action sequences with a chase between Vampirella and Vlad along with spotting them fighting to the death which seemed to be perfectly set out on what we spot here but yet when we keep watching it turns out to be pointless at the end of the battle.
Bottom line is that this looks like a children's horror by how it was wrote out and performed but it's not yet based off a popular comic book series and looked clever as we saw how cheesily it looked like reading it off a comic with the writing that we spot here. However the movie was terribly rushed and hard to follow and ended too soon so making this movie was a bit of a waste of time and not entertaining like it was meant to be.

The acting is very over the top and cheesily performed. It was hard to review most of these cast members but will do my best here.... Lead actress Talisa Soto (Vampirella) seemed very wooden in alot of spots as she was supposed to act emotional when she spots her onscreen father dying and this looked very rough and unconvincing big time. I was thinking that she desperately needed to take lessons a great deal. Also at times she's sloppy with her fighting scene's but does pick up the pace a bit. Seemed to do okay when she spoke firmly while about to perform a battle though and seemed to get into her discussions not too shabbily. However she's a mediocre actress.
Roger Daltrey (Vlad / Jamie Blood) really got carried away with his villain role and seemed way too hyper and more comedic than intimidating into what he was doing by acting crazy and ruthless. Yet her seemed to study a comic type character more so than being in a serious type of film. He does do an impressive job by acting cocky when he makes out that he's indescructable showing some good energy here. Does well announcing a judgement night acting powerful while calling out his announcements. Also seemed to do an okay job with his blocking while striking someone or going into battle. It's interesting to see a legendary rock musician like him take a stab at acting.
Richard Joseph Paul (Adam Van Helsing) seemed to have a good sharp type of behavior as well being convincingly serious in what he does. He had the perfect good looks for his role as well as showing some nice energy and effort while going into battle or having a strong conversation too. He can pass by being a character actor here.
Corinna Harney (Sallah) wasn't too bad playing a groupie type of vampiress who goes into battle as well she seemed to add some good wicked spunk into her character too with her high pitched type of speaking as well as having a nice mocking type of attitude too. Comes across nicely as one of those nasty girls along with her looks seemed to have a good sharp appeal to all she did in the story a fair deal here.
Rusty Meyers
(Quinn) wasn't too bad at all portraying a vampire thug in which he drew in strongly by having a tough and serious aattitude as well as show a no nonsense behavior too. All of this looked great on what he did onto the screen especially with his powerful looking presence as well. He seemed to pull his weight pretty okay here.

Someone pulls down her top and breast is revealed.
Two topless vampiress' are revealed as groupies.

Mild bloody neck bites and other scene's of blood but nothing too gruesome.

The music tried it's best to sound mainstream classical with the violin sounds and trombone playing but yet you could tell that it was done on a synthesizer. It sometimes doesn't sound all that bad though. There's also heavy beats along with metal clanging too. We also hear the odd nmale chanting for the real showdown on two vampire's battling. All of this was averagely put together by Joel Goldsmith.

Vampirella: You are much stronger than I am.
Vlad: At the risk of sounding egotistical, I am stronger than anyone.