To me, this movie is perfection.

hyped garbage

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Essentially, all through the movie, fun is being made of the "vampire movement", but, not in a spoof kind of way. That is, there are no explicit spoofs of "Twilight", "Underworld" or any other vampire movie or show. This is, of course, good, as the "movement" is so silly and worthy of reproach.In all that, some things work, while others don't. Of those that do work, a few are _great_ - for example, the one at the dinner with the Van Helsings. But, just a few.The other problem is that with all that trying, there's no real reproach of the "vamp movement", which is a lost opportunity. Also, there's no real story here, it's mostly a bunch of sketches.Krysten Ritter is playing a role that is great fit for her acting skills, Alicia Silverstone, not so much, but, is well cast as a middle- aged woman (turned-vampire) who used to be hot. Sigourney Weaver is a misfire, her playing the "crazy, horny, vampire boss" should have worked, but it didn't: by the end, when she's being beheaded, you're neither happy nor sad it has come to that.It is worth to watch the whole thing (except maybe the very end) to get those few great jokes that only work in this context, but, don't expect anything more.

What is wrong here? Why does a good try still come across as kinda lukewarm? I like this flick, but perhaps it is because I like the idea of it, the DVD is nicely presented with that glossy box cover design, and the movie reunited Amy Heckerling with Alicia Silverstone and I say MORE POWER TO THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT US C L U E L E S S ! I revere that title, Alicia as Cher is one of my main muses for the novel I am currently writing, so to me CLUELESS + Amy Heckerling + Alicia Silverstone is heartland country, and I will only say one thing, thumping my heart - "Respect!"But here, Amy, you have made a mistake. I have found that I often watch movies with the nagging feeling Something Is Wrong But I Cannot Say Exactly What. Here, though, it would instantly have helped if your gross-out unfunny gags (girls drinking rat's blood from the dead rats with straws = unfunny Yuck = intended audience (girls) might just puke) would have ended up on the cutting room floor. There were several, but I singled out the worst one. Come on, those scenes were poorly executed, lame, and since they're just yucky, to be dumped!Of course, there are so many other things. The terminally ill patient does pan out very well with Marilu Henner, but just doesn't fit with the idea of this being a fun movie. Also, I thought to myself, 'written and directed by Amy Heckerling'. Somebody like me could only dream about having such power. Okay, perhaps she'd smirk at my use of the word 'power' here, but influence... My point being, if you could film something, and we are in the fantasy realm here with VAMPS, make it a good one. This is, like so not a good one. Krystin Ritter's character Stacy has to age twenty years. Gee, where's the fun in that? And the aging scene with Alicia Silverstone as Goody? Come on, even if it furthered the story... Write a better story. A fun story. Something that lived up to the pretty box cover of the DVD throughout the movie, not just in some scenes.I have to say I absolutely adore Krystin Ritter. I wish I knew where Hollywood finds these people, I'd like to go there. (Just my little joke, I know about casting agencies) But Krystin is marvelous, and I thought the part must have been written with her in mind. Confirmed that on Wikipedia this morning.Alicia, nicely done. Took well care of herself. This comes two decades after CLUELESS, almost.(It is currently my honor to be doing the synopsis here on IMDb for this title in response to a five-year old request (??? Can't be, but it is, click the Revert button and see for yourself) to update the incomplete entry. Check it out. Right now, 8 Dec. 9:46:32 AM still just In Progress)Nerdy fact. An obsession with Adolf Hitler throughout the movie, the initials AH also references Audrey Hepburn, what's the point? Amy Heckerling is the self-contemplating director & writer.

If Vamps was released in the mid 1990s it would had been a big hit. This independent film has known stars and a named director but could not get a cinema release and went straight to DVD and pay TV.Alicia Silverstone who was in her mid 30s when she made this film plays a vampire (Goody) who turned in the mid 19th century and has found a reason for her continued existence with her much younger friend (Stacy) who only turned into a vampire in the early 1990s. The two socialite vampires live the good life in New York CityThey are good vampires as they do not bring human blood but rat's blood instead. They were turned into a vampire by Sigourney Weaver who still has homicidal lusts and attracts the attention of vampire hunters such as Wallace Shawn who plays Van Helsing.Stacey and Goody regularly attend a Vampire's Anonymous type organisation as a social gathering and support. One of their members played by Malcolm McDowell is Vlad the Impaler who has now taken up knitting.Complications arrive as the vampires are being pursued and bought out to the open, not helped by Weaver's antics. Stacey falls in love with Van Helsing's son and becomes pregnant, Goody becomes reacquainted with an ex-boyfriend from 30 years ago who has gone older but she has not. Goody decides things needs to be resolved.The film is supposedly a comedy/horror but outside of a few scenes there is very little horror and can easily pass as a Sex in the City type comedy with Vampires.There are a lot of references to history and archive footage of old films as Goody recalls her live for over 150 years and all the social and technological change since then.The film actually zips along pretty well. The special effects were rather ropey here and there, in fact there were a throwback to another era. There were some laughs and a few visual jokes. the actress keep things ticking along nicely but it looks too much like a chic rom-com with fangs.The main problem is who is this film aimed at? As I said twenty years ago it would had been a big hit but Silverstone is not a big star anymore. Wallace Shawn, Malcolm McDowell and even Sigourney Weaver would only be appreciated by an older audience. There is even a brief cameo from Marilu Henner which only Taxi fans would appreciate.There is an appearance from Dan Stevens now better known for Downton Abbey who plays the love interest for Stacy but aside from him younger audience might not be too interested it in people talking about the 1960s counter culture or voting for Dukakis.

We don't drink…Mojitos.Clever vampire comedy, using the tropes of vampirism, intermingled with pop culture and modern technology, for the ipod age, set in NYC, has centuries-old vampire, Alicia Silverstone, and younger "bestie" Krystan Ritter (of Modern Family fame) trying to exist and maintain a level of secrecy within society, among humans, with a "stem" (Sigourney Weaver, an absolute blast) overcome by her overwhelming voracious appetite for human blood, her feasting becoming too out of control, certain to ruin any sort of anonymity successfully held over time. A stem is the "chief" vampire who feeds from certain humans, allowing those infected to live, "summoning" them when she so demands because of the control that comes with such power.Regarding plot, that's about it. This is more about Silverstone and Ritter's episodic adventures in NYC, with a wealth of talent in the cast, such as Wallace Shawn (My Dinner with Andre & The Princess Bride, reuniting with director Heckerling from Clueless (1995) as a Van Helsing, no less!), Dan Stevens (as Shawn's son, falling head over heels for Ritter, and vice versa), Malcolm McDowell (as Vlad the Impaler!), Richard Lewis (as an old love of Silverstone's from the 70s), Kristen Johnson (Shawn's wife and Stevens' mother), Kak Orth (as Renfield, quite buddy-buddy with our leading ladies, always hoping they will turn him vampire) and Justin Kirk (as Vadim, a Ukrainian vampire always mistaken as Russian, much to his chagrin).Weaver just gets lost in her part as a self-absorbed diva, totally irresponsible when it comes to not calling attention to "her kind", and her inability (she just doesn't care, to tell you the truth) to cease from drinking human blood (Silverstone and Ritter, along with many others attending a "Sanguinary Anonymous" meetings, feed from rats!) is becoming a nuisance to all vampires who want to co-exist with their mortal counterparts in the big city. Silverstone's adorable and recalls her old part as that cute (but pampered and oblivious to the hardships of the common man due to her affluence) princess in Clueless, except this time here she's an older woman in a lovely thirty-year old's body, from before "progress" and technology revolutionized America, living through it all and seeing such drastic change while generations lived and died, but unable, it seems, to keep up with the speed of the technological advancements such as computers and iphones.There's a sense of Sex & the City fashion, with clubbing, importance in looking your best, and that search for romance here in the film, but Vamps has vampires occupying the city and follows how they inhabit the night-to-night (they can't very well inhabit "day-to-day", now can they?) social scene. While I love Silverstone in the film, Ritter is the real surprise as a zesty, fun, spirited, energetic, very sexy gal-pal totally involved in the happening night activities and social networking, her relationship with Stevens disrupting the usual animosity between vampire hunter Van Helsing and bloodsucking Nosferatu. Heckerling loves to have Silverstone nostalgically looking back in the past with an affection no longer felt in the current time she lives, pining for when life moved at a slower pace. Old movies and 80s references find their way often into this vamp comedy, much appreciated by me. It was nice to see Silverstone again with a comedy centered around her, even if she had to share the spotlight with the eye candy Ritter. NYC comes alive (well, mostly Detroit filling in for NYC) thanks to Heckerling's direction, and the film can be a bit violent (however, the CGI is terrible, especially Weaver's "chainsaw incident", along with a head on the skeletal remains of Ulysses Grant (!) coming after Wallace Shawn), containing dialogue in tune with the times (and characters).The rat blood drinking is equal parts off-putting and absurdly comical. McDowell as a rehabilitated Vlad Tepish, and a voice of comfort to Silverstone and Ritter because of his experience as a vampire "down through the ages", is another brilliant piece of casting. The eclipse allowing the vampires to escape required day time commitments as "registered citizens" (jury duty, meeting with the IRS, etc.) by using ACLU attorney Lewis (who discovers that his former flame, Silverstone, is a vamp when she interrupts a robbery in a music store) accompanying them in order to help is also a really nicely cunning piece of comedy. The vampire tropes (garlic, crucifix, stake through the heart, thirst for human blood, etc.) are all gleefully usurped by Heckerling, especially when Silverstone and Ritter must inform the Van Helsings that they have it all wrong when it comes to successfully harming the undead. I have to admit this is probably about as guilty pleasure to me as possible because when you say "Sex and the City" to me, I cringe, but because I have a soft spot for Silverstone (and now Ritter), this was more easy to digest and enjoy.