VAMPIRELLA (1996)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, psychological*

Where does one even start with a train-wreck like VAMPIRELLA?

First, even though director Jim Wynorski called it his least favorite picture, it's not dull enough to be his worst-- and while I'm sure I'll never subject myself to his entire inventory, I did see the tedium of the KOMODO films, and those are much worse.

Gary Gerani's script is a mess, which is surprising since his previous film-credit-- and the only other one that most fans will recognize-- is the tightly-conceived 1988 PUMPKINHEAD. Wynorski asserted that Gerani was selected because he was a Vampirella fan, and this is evident in that he centers the film around the conflict of the heroine with Dracula, both of whom are bloodsuckers from the alien world of Drakulon. Gerani seems to have taken a few elements from the first comics-crossover of Vampirella and Dracula and crossbred those motifs with the plot of the 1986 SUPERGIRL, wherein the heroine leaves her Kryptonian colony to chase down an artifact on Planet Earth. Here Vampirella (Talisa Soto) pursues Dracula (Roger Daltrey), the slayer of her stepfather, to Earth. (Why Gerani made the victim a "stepfather" rather than a father will probably never be known.) Oh, and on Drakulon the heroine's actual name is "Ella," and she's dubbed "Vampirella" by an Earth-dude.

The film had a short shoot-time in very hot weather, and its low budget is evident in the chintzy look of Vampirella's attire. While the original comics-costume is designed to show off feminine attributes, the comics-character often looks fairly regal in the outfit, and that might have been possible with a design that didn't look like that of a cosplay B-girl. Lead actress Talisa Soto probably could not have pulled off regality, though, much less the physical skills needed for the fight scenes. During said combat moments, Wynorski resorts almost exclusively to quick cuts, and I would tend to think that this was because she didn't know how to block fights adequately. On the other hand, Soto looks okay if not exceptional in both MORTAL KOMBAT and MORTAL KOMBAT: ANNIHILATION, both filmed in the same period as VAMPIRELLA, so it's also possible that the quick-cut style was chosen to simplify Wynorski's job.

Vampirella's quest for vengeance is needlessly complicated. Dracula leaves Drakulon with Vampirella in hot pursuit, which means that she has to get arbitrarily delayed so the villain can get properly set up on Earth. While Vampi is delayed, Drac manages to create a vampire cabal so extensive that a paramilitary police group, Purge, is created to fight Drac's power. (The leader is given the name of Vampi's comics-boyfriend Adam Van Helsing.) In addition, Drac finds time to pose as a grunge-rock singer named Jamie Blood (he sings one number in a club, where Vampi-creator Forrest J. Ackerman has a cameo). AND he develops an orbiting satellite-system to block sunlight from the planet so that vampires will be able to rise to dominate humankind.

Like many a Bond-imitator before her, Vampirella is able to find her nemesis by just pointlessly wandering around while clues drop into her lap. Despite being motivated by vengeance, Vampirella as acted by Soto often seems tentative and uncertain, which seems not an intentional choice but merely reflective of Soto's inability to project a strong personality. (FWIW, I don't think Wynorski's avowed choice for the role, Julie Strain, would have been any better.) Soto often has a deer-in-headlights look to her and she's not even forceful in her few bloodsucking scenes. She and Richard Joseph Paul (playing Adam) have a couple of romantic encounters but don't manage any chemistry, not even when Adam chains up Vampi to keep her from fanging him, and she breaks free and does so anyway.

Daltrey is the only actor who's having fun with his super-villain role, but no one would claim that he's trying to put forth a considered take on the master vampire Dracula, even in an alien incarnation. Hard to say if this DTV's existence has kept investors from attempting a better take on comics' favorite lady vampire, since her costume would not be very politically correct today.