Vampire Zombies …from Space!
directed by Mike Stasko
starring Andrew Bee, Judith O’Dea, Jessica Antovski
Cleopatra Entertainment
Parody is always an inexact science. Attempting to parody low-budget 1950s sci-fi, a film genre that so often lapses into unintentional comedy, is an even dicier proposition. Mike Stasko’s 2024 film Vampire Zombies …from Space! attempts to do to the films of Ed Wood what Mel Brooks did to the Universal Frankenstein cycle with his 1974 classic, Young Frankenstein, in delivering a film that both skewers and reveres its inspirations. While Vampire Zombies …from Space! never reaches the heights of the Brooks film, it does deliver a funny and loving film that celebrates the maverick spirit of micro-budget film making.
Space vampire Dracula and his son, Dylan, have discovered an antidote to the effect of the crucifix (the “t” necklace in vampire parlance). A side effect of the antidote causes the victims of vampire bites to turn not merely into vampires, but into vampire zombies. They plan to use this new-found immunity to conquer the Earth by creating a vampire zombie army to aid the UFO takeover of the small town of Marlow, U.S.A.. In the end, the cops and the greasers have to work together to convince the townspeople to fight back and repel the invaders.
In addition to lampooning films like Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space, writer/director Mike Stasko and team also drop film and cultural references ranging from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace to The X-Files and even In the Heat of the Night, all through warped comedy stylings clearly filtered through too many viewings of The Naked Gun, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, and far too many Troma films. The latter influence was punctuated by the inclusion of Troma mastermind Lloyd Kaufman as the town’s trench-coat-clad public masturbator. If the film’s humor seems a bit too broad and sophomoric, the original script for the film was literally written when the filmmakers were sophomores in high school. It is certainly a comedy-by-volume approach that guarantees laughs but also delivers a fair share of clunkers. It is refreshing, in this post-_Family Guy_ world, that the film doesn’t just reenact scenes from movies, but creates its own warped comedic language. The film is buoyed by a sci-fi plot we all wanted to see on The Late Late Show as kids.
Following a successful film festival run, Vampire Zombies …from Space! comes home on a loaded Blu-ray from Cleopatra Entertainment. The disc includes a filmmakers’ commentary, cast and crew interviews including Lloyd Kaufman and Judith O’Dea (Barbara from Night of the Living Dead), deleted scenes, and a short sizzle reel documenting the film’s premiere at the Windsor International Film Festival.
Your mileage may vary, but if you’re down for an homage to ’50s sci-fi and horror films laced with absurd humor and have a broad tolerance for masturbation jokes, then Vampire Zombies …from Space! might just be the guilty pleasure gem you didn’t know you needed in your life. Make no mistake, it is a guilty pleasure, and it knows what it is guilty of.
