Vampires Suck
(Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer, 2010)
Now, going off on a rant isn't usually MY forte (my wife, however, is quite talented at it, as you can find out here) but I just need to make a point here. I just sat through 82 minutes of Vampires Suck, the latest parody film. Parody films get a bad rap, though most of them truly do deserve it. Why is it the latest crop have been...well...crap?
Ok, now it's time for a bit of parody history...or at least some critique. Why are some parody films (oh, I don't know...Airplane, Kentucky Fried Movie, Naked Gun, Not Another Teen Movie, Kung Pow: Enter the Fist, and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka...to name a few) better remembered than others? Well, it comes down to HOW you parody. The better movies take a genre and, using the norms of said genre, point out just what is ridiculous in those genres. They celebrate while they eviscerate.
Vampires Suck has its funny moments...but in about two years, it won't be as funny. The pop culture jokes will be staler than they already are, or unremembered. The true laughs from this movie come from the real jokes, mostly made by Diedrich Bader and Ken Jeong. Both men take what they are given and steal the show. Another note for the directors: Why is it in all the films I've seen by you two, someone is always getting repeatedly struck in the head? It's just a lazy gag, and needs to go.This movie could have been so much more. Personally, I loved the scenes when they explained the character motivations in the voice of a professor of passing fad trash literature (Which, I hate to break it to you, Twilight fans, is what the thing you love is. Most teen girls have moved on to other authors and genres. Zombies are in now, I'm waiting for Frankensteins to be in so my neck bolts look fashionable and not offputting).
Anyways, what can I say about Vampires Suck? How about 'so does this movie?' It's a definite watch once and forget about it...or turn it off halfway through and...neck.
Please forgive me for that awful pun.
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