Well, we're in a new month, and I am starting fresh. Well, nothing too fresh, just back to basics, horror movie reviews. This time around we're looking at a modern blaxploitation film called Vegas Vampires. This film was directed by long time blaxploitation star Fred Williamson, and stars my favorite bad guy from yesteryear, Debo (Tom "Tiny" Lister). Vegas Vampires isn't going to win any major awards, and it really isn't all that scary, but it has a good amount of cheer to gore ratio, that will make you at least look up for a second. So to start this month, I'm reviewing the film Vegas Vampires!
Here is a trailer for the film Vegas Vampires:
The movie starts out with a couple of cops looking into a regular phone call. Things get out of hand and they immediately realize that they are fighting the macabre. This is where we see how low the budget is. We visibly see smoke machines, the guns are not police issue, and the vampire floats on what seems like strings. The computer graphics are awful, beyond amateur. Seriously, the computer graphics shouldn't even be called that.
The acting is terrible. The acting is immediately, flawed, and while these actors have been in other films, they are just not trying very hard. The film progresses in slow fashion with other story lines. The most memorable one starts Williamson, he and a partner are simply going to Vegas to blow off steam. They arrive and witness some vampires, so in classic blaxploitation film, they fight! This is where the BEST part of Vegas Vampires occurs. Williamson and his partner (another vet in Blaxploitation) fight these vampires bare knuckled and at one point Williamson kicks a vampires head off! I kid you not, he actually kicks the head off a vampire! This sole act of violence and gore is the GREATEST part of this film.
The rest of the film is really poorly constructed. The two police officers still pursue the head vampire, but it's a slow moving process. The movie really derailed in the third act when a vampire hunter shows up and plays both the supernatural and physical realm. She flirts with our main character, later even agreeing to going on a date, but also says she's from a fourth dimension of sorts and that she fights the undead.
Vegas Vampires is quite possibly one of the worst horror movies I've seen in a long time. The production is terrible, the music is worse, and it seemed like it was a made for tv movie for none other than BET or something along those lines. The greatest thing about this film is not so much the subject matter of horror, but more so the fact that this is a great example of modern day Blaxploitation film. Blaxploitation is a genre I love, and this is a good nostalgia piece of nothing more, it's nice to see Williamson is staying true to his film roots, but wow, it's just not the same. Vegas Vampires is NOT for everyone, but I think it's worth a look if you're a fan of the genre. It's not a scary film, but it's horror for sure, I liked it, just not THAT much.
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