By Melissa Antoinette Garza
“Something is happening to my town.” – Sheriff Blake (Tom Stephan)
I reviewed this movie awhile ago, but as there is so much hubbub about the Twilight franchise which I don’t get, I wanted to revisit a cult classic teenage vampire story that is nothing short of brilliant.
Jeff (Matthew Jason Walsh) is a good-hearted vampire who works the night shift at a convenience store. He comes home after work one night, to find his mother (Cherie Petry) has broken her promise and killed yet again. This time her victim was a young girl scout selling cookies. The overbearing insistent woman forces her son to clean up the grizzly mess in the kitchen. He, unlike his mother, has a conscience and begs her to stop. She insists it is nature and reprimands him for disobedience. After he brings the body to the shed, he can’t help but drink her blood. He feels immediate guilt, yet couldn’t help the temptation.
When he arrives back at work, Nina (Shannon Doyle), a regular customer who fancies Jeff, asks him out. He agrees and they begin a sweet romance. He walks her home and is a complete gentleman which makes her fall for him even harder. She’s sweet, understanding, and attempts to help him cope with all of his pain. Jeff who has kept himself closed off, begins to open up and nearly tells her about his secret.
Jeff attempts to keep everything together and remain an introverted, respectful young man, but he too slowly descends into madness. When hoodlums get rough with him outside of the store and try to strong-arm him into opening it, he kills them. The only light in his darkness is Nina, and he can’t help but grab hold of that small bit of happiness in his otherwise awful existence.
The final showdown occurs as Jeff is forced to choose between his mother and his ladylove. It’s a strong ending to a strong film that delivers on every level.
Petry is wonderful as the villain. Not only does she kill little kids and force her own child to partake, but she feels no shame in it. Mother could have come across too over-the-top to hate but Petry kept it convincing. When she would yell, she would use a forceful authoritative tone that would bring a level of truth to the words, regardless of how outrageous her demands were.
Doyle also does well as the always supportive girlfriend. She has a great deal of chemistry with Walsh and plays well off of him. The dialogue they share comes across realistic and helps make Jeff the dark hero that the film needs.
Finally, Walsh does amazing in the lead. Even when his reactions are overly dramatic, he keeps the viewer interested. Whether Jeff is covering up for a crime committed or participating, Walsh still invokes sympathy, simply because he constantly brings out the many facets of Jeff. On the outside, he looks like the average teen (well, if it were still 1991). He has long black hair and sports a black leather jacket. He was Goth before Goth was cool, but it isn’t just the outward appearance or the fact that he’s a bloodsucking vamp that makes the character captivating. More than anything else, he’s a confused beaten kid without an escape. The only memories he has of his father are ones where he is hit. His mother is mentally damaging and physically abusive. He has no friends and lives in constant regret. Good old mom forces him into situations that he doesn’t want to be in, and when he tries to make a stand, his mother goes crazier. She refuses to take ‘no’ for an answer; and because of it, one cannot help but root for Jeff to find someway out.
This isn’t the typical vampire film which is what makes it so great. It isn’t an attempt to recreate “Dracula” or “Nosferatu” and so many others claim to do. Instead, “Kingdom of the Vampire” stands on its own as a great production. The vampirism is just a side-story. Sure it’s the reason that there is a death count, but the film is so much smarter than blood, guts and gore. It’s a psychological battle between two distinct forces, neither one particularly being ‘good’. In fact, if one were to compare it to anything it would have to be Hitchcock’s classic “Psycho.” Jeff is a lot like Norman Bates and amazingly is able to capture the same amount of understanding with the audience.
In the end you can’t help but root for Jeff and Nina. The love story plays out perfectly. It begins subtle and sweet, and the relationship intensifies and grows as the characters learn more about one another, therefore the audience is drawn in. They invest in the well-being of the characters. That is no small feat for a film to accomplish.
The pace, dialogue, casting, and setting were fantastic. Of course, budget limitations put restraints on the make-up and lighting, but the production is so good that it remains unaffected by those small shortcomings.
There was a remake which when I originally reviewed, I said it wasn’t as good as the original but still worth a watch. Though, I wouldn’t completely go back on that I will say that since then, I’ve only watched the remake that once. The original I’ve watched about 50 times. There is something amazing about the movie and I share it as often as I can. I’m actually just about to share it with my husband which is what made me think to put this review up.
I have had the opportunity to befriend Matthew Jason Walsh in other forums. He is an amazingly talented individual and I really would love to see his work on the big screen. He has an original mind that Hollywood so desperately needs. He wrote and directed another one of my favorite cult classics called “Bloodletting” which I most highly recommend.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10 Far superior to Twilight as it has talent, chemistry, an interesting plot and a dark setting that screams to intelligent horror fans
