Customer Reviews

Vampirella [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

If you like vampires you might like this movie. If you like morose, moody vampires verbosely brooding over deep, dark gothic secrets that they long to share with mortals, who would never understand them, then this movie probably isn't for you. If you like science fiction action/adventure, where a gorgeous female in a shiny red costume saves the universe from malicious destruction, then this is your kind of movie.

Alright, so Vlad only wants to destroy one planet. We've still got a good action/adventure story where the female is more than just a doll. The quality is much superiour to what one might expect, although the acting is a little uneven in places, the suspense does not build up as much as the concept would promise, and the special effects are a little on the economical side (better than BBC but nowhere near Babylon 5 standards.) The storyline is great, the dialog is well-written, and the actors are convincing most of the time.

This is definitely a science fiction movie, not a horror film. The other reviews show that people either like it or hate it. I'm one of those who really liked this movie, despite it's obvious flaws.

Only buy this movie if you absolutely LOVE the comic version (I do). This satisfied my need to see Vampirella in a film but that was about it. Talisa Soto as Vampirella was the only good acting in this whole movie. She really did a good job (but then she always does). The rest ranged from unbelievable. I really find it hard to believe that after spending several thousand years on earth the head vampires would be this stupid. Unless you have a penchant for Ms. Soto or the Original character this one isn't going to tak eyou anywhere, I wouyldn't even recommend it to general vampire movie fans.

Vampirella is far funnier than they wanted it to be and that makes it very entertaining.
This kooky campy comic-strip concoction might be up your alley if you love movies like Plan 9.
...

Having been a fan of the Vampirella magazine for many years, I was happy to see it renewed as a comic book. Imagine my joy to see it on the big screen! Unfortunately, that joy was short-lived because the movie is quite low budget with a simple screenplay.

As in the fanzine, Vampirella is from the planet Drakulon, and the movie covers here beginning there. The love between her and Van Helsing, as well as her use of a formula to avoid the need for human blood, is discussed as well. She even goes against her arch-nemesis, Vlad, who is played here by Roger Daltry.

The choice of Roger Daltry puzzled me. He seems to have been chosen so that the director can make Vlad a rock star, which is not from the Vampirella story, but from Anne Rice's Lestat. Why to producers of this movie wanted this in their adaptation is odd since there is only one scene where he sings.

There is brief nudity, but it seems more gratuitous than artistic or necessary. Moreover, one of the actresses baring herself has no use to the plot whatsoever than that one moment.

If you are a fan of Vampirella, I would recommend giving this movie a skip. If you are a fan of low-budget horror, then you might want to give this one a look.

Hey, I'm a big fan of bad movies, but this one was too bad to enjoy at all. The story was dull, the casting was misguided, and the "special" effects were dismal (although the spacecraft models actually looked ok, other aspects such as "morphing into a bat" were anything but special). This movie is listed at an unbelievably low 1 million dollar budget, and I suspect that 99% of this budget went to buy the 80 minutes worth of film stock and pay Roger Daltrey's retainer fees (by the way, Mr. Daltrey seems to be quite fond of singing about being "freed" in many of his movies...maybe this is directed at his agent!)

At first I thought this film would make great fodder for Mystery Science Theater 3000, but as the movie progressed, I realized that it probably would have led to mass suicide on the ol' Satellite of Love.

I can't guess who would actually enjoy this movie. Fans of the Vampirella comic series are sure to be disappointed by the changes (the costume alteration is the tip of the iceberg here). There's not much to appease fans of cheap horror flicks either. I'm dunno if even the hardcore collectors of all things vampire-related would be too pleased with this mess, except to fill a bit of space on their shelves.

Oh, I did like the fact that it has a very short running time.

I am a fan of vampires. I am a fan of vampirella. I like to try to convince myself that essentially awful movies about the things I like are still good movies. However, such action was utterly IMPOSSIBLE with this film. I cannot believe that some people have given this movie over one star. That's the truth. This is the most horrendously sickening movie ever to tarnish a video tape. The direction could not be worse. Ditto for the acting. I was tempted to hit myself for watching this movie. The plot SUCKS, and only an unseasones moviegoer (or a blind, deaf person) would say otherwise. ALL the actors sucked, even Miss Soto. Don't even get me started on Vlad. Avoid this at ALL costs. They should pay you for watching it.

What a disgrace to the Vampirella series. Check out a much superior female Vampire flick called Vampirina. EI Cinema puts it out. Much lower budget...much better movie.

Vampirella tells the tale of the planet Draculon where the entire population are vampires. The rivers on the planet are filled with biomatter aka blood so Draculon is a peaceful place. Ella is the daughter of the planet's leader, unfortunately he get murdered when Draculon's worst criminal Vlad escapes from the courtroom and then run off in a space ship, Ella swears revenge and follows Vlad and both parties end up on Earth. Most of the movie is about Ella or Vampirella as she begins to call herself trying to track down Vlad to put an end to his evil schemes, to do this she join forces with a vampire hunter organization. The plot itself is rather ok, it is rather cheesy and campy but it is still good. However this movie do have some problems.

Problem A, the acting. I have never seen such horrible acting in any movie I have ever seen. Half the actors sound like they are reading things off a script, and the other half overdo it so it becomes completely ridiculous. Talisa Soto do an ok job as Vampirella but most of the acting is abysmal.

Problem B, Vampirella's costume. You know in modern comic book movies they do not just copy a character's outfit from the comic but rather designs something which fit on a 3D real human body, well they did not do this here. And while Vampirella's red bathing suit might look ok in the comic, it looks just horrible on a real woman on film. The costume look so cheap it is hard to take any part of the movie where it is shown seriously at all. It is not sexy, it looks stupid, like a 5 dollar Halloween costume. And to be honest the other costumes in the movie is not so good either.

Problem C, the characters seam to have read the script, not the actors, the characters. The movie beings with Ella and her father discussing Vlad and Ella expressing disgust at the notion he might receive the death penalty. Later when the older vampire is murdered his last words to his daughter is that she must not let revenge consume her. How do he know she will seek out revenge. Later when Ella have come to Earth she meets a geek, first of all the man do not blink when she tells him she is a vampire, he just takes it in one stride as if she had just told him she was from Texas, like ok, nothing strange here. Laster after Ella has left the geek stand smiling over the kiss she gave him and he is the one who names her Vampirella, something he whispers to himself. Later Ella begins to use that name, but where did she come by it, she was not around when the geek said it. I could go on and on with this, there is countless instances where the characters react to or seam to have information they could not possible have unless they had read the script.

All in all Vampirella is a cheesy film which do not do the comic book justice but which possesses it's own kind of charm. If you like me like B horror and science fiction movies then you might like this one. In a way it is so bad that it is good. I know I enjoyed watching it despite all the flaws it has.

Now just a reply to those who have given the movie a negative score because of the price. This movie have become collectible. It is not the movie's fault that few copies of it was printed so it fetches a high price. You have to decide for yourself if the movie is worth it. But why give the movie a lower review score because it is collectible. That is just as stupid as those I sometimes see who give a book or a movie for example two or three stars and then explain, the product was wonderful but it took a long time shipping. This is meant to be reviews of the actual items, not comments on shipping or collectors value.

Back in the 1970's, I was obsessed with Vampirella magazine. Many of the stories were well scripted with stunning visuals. A Vampi movie was promised, but never came. So imagine my excitement when I found out in the 1990's that a Vampi film had finally been made. Then imagine my horror, disgust, and mild amusement once I saw this load of guano. The most horrifying thing about the flic was the acting. Oh, and the script...and the not-so-special effects. The bat transformation is one step above a novelty rubber bat on a string. Sample scene: Vampi is prepared to reveal her true self to her would be suitor. "There's something you don't know about me," she says and turns away from the camera. There's a sudden jerk (when they stopped the film so she could slip in her cheap red contacts and retail plastic fangs), then she turns around and HISSSS!!! Suitor: "Oh, really? What don't I know about you? That you stopped at H*t T*pic on your way here?" Okay, he doesn't say that, but he should have. That scene has become a long-running joke between me and a friend who had the misfortune of watching this poop pile with me. If you're looking for a movie that's so bad it's funny--no, even then I can't recommend it. If you're a person who gets a canker sore and then has to keep touching it with your tongue to make sure it still hurts, then this IS the film for you. Ouch! Yup, it still hurts. NOTE: I didn't want to give this ANY stars, but the format required me to give it at least one. That one's for cheese/camp value only.

Vampirella was a rush!!!Talisa Soto as Vampirella made mesquirm. I really liked the costumes and the story line was verygood. I especially liked the revenge theme. I tkought this was a great film and one any Vamprella fan should see and/or collect.