Vampires and Other Stereotypes

Director - Kevin J. Lindenmuth (Rage of the Werewolf, Monstersdotcom)

Starring - Bill White (Heartwood), Ed Hubbard (Kissing Cousins Monster Babies and Morphing Elvis, The History of Everything Circa 1993), and Wendy Bednarz (There's Nothing Out There)

Release Date - 1994

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Vampirism... don't believe the hype"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I've been a fan of Wild Eye Releasing for damn near a decade now. I love the indie releases they put out on DVD. They get films that would normally be looked over by genre fans out there for people to discover. I'm a huge champion of indie cinema and love the indie releases they put out. Hell, even if I don't like the film I still have fun watching it. When Wild Eye announced the creation of their sister label Visual Vengeance, I thought they would be focusing on new indie horror titles like their Wild Eye line. I was wrong. What Visual Vengeance did was something I had hoped other boutique labels would do and bring us low quality indie horror films from the late 80s through early 2000s to bluray. While companies like Vinegar Syndrome do this with films from the video store era and before, VV delivers movies that these types of labels would often skip over due to the films being too goofy, amateurish, and far from perfect. I recently was sent their release of Vampires and Other Stereotypes for review and couldn't wait to dig into it. I want to thank Wild Eye and Visual Vengeance for sending this one over! 

      The film follows a man and his partner that fight supernatural creatures, so they don't wreak havoc on mankind. During a routine mission they find a man being held captive in an abandoned building. They save him but decide to interrogate him when they are interrupted by a man who brought three women there to party. The man is actually a demon and brought the women there to breed and when they crossed over into the building it was taken to hell forcing everyone inside to fight for their lives or die gruesome deaths at the hands and claws of hell spawn. 

      Vampires and Other Stereotypes is a film I was not familiar with prior to this release but the artwork fucking sold me on it. The movie itself is a bit of a low-quality film with not a lot of opportunity to restore it. Visual Vengeance did a great job with the film but the video is not the best quality. I can only assume they did the best with what they had and I'm grateful for it. The film was a lot of fun especially if you are a fan of shows like Kolchak: The Night Stalker and The X-Files. The acting in this one is inconsistent. Some of the cast delivers solid performances but the rest of the cast is extremely stiff and awkward to watch. Their dialogue delivery feels forced and they don't get into character like the rest of the cast. It's not the worst I've seen but some scenes were a little difficult to finish. The story for this one is very bold for a no budget S.O.V. horror flick but I loved it. A secret group of people fighting things that go bump in the night while the world's population is oblivious to the fact has always intrigued me. I also loved how the film is completely locked in this one location yet was able to progress the story. That is brilliant writing with budget in mind. I also loved the back story they established with hell, the demons, and how the building was taken to hell. We get something very different than what you would expect in hell from a Christian standpoint. With that being said, some of the scenes are a bit too long. Some trimming would go a long way. Finally, the film has a lot of fun practical effects. The wall of heads that is reminiscent of Coffin Joe was awesome to see along with the great make-up effects. We also get some fun deaths that are bloody with decent enough practical effects. The film clearly had a low budget, but the effects still find their mark. Overall, Vampires and Other Stereotypes was an awesome early 90s S.O.V. horror flick. The title does kind of suck but the film is well worth your time. Be sure to grab the blu from Visual Vengeance!