Boil It Down: A French horror comedy full of sly winks to the audience to justify its zany premise.
Three friends-all film stereotypes in one way or another-finagle themselves invitations to a swanky, secretive party in Vampire Party. It seems as though the three have heard of the event, but never seen an invite or heard from a guest. There's a reason for that: the "party" is a way for a slew of vampires to get what they want, namely their life-sustaining blood. The chief conceit here, though, is that Vampire Party isn't played for the horror or thriller aspects. Rather, this is a spoof, a parody, a comedy designed to poke fun at the genre. Take, for instance, the lead male character played by Patrick Mille. His name is Sam...Sam Polisatokoniminsky. Surely there's a joke in there somewhere, perhaps even in France, where the film originated. To see all those letters sprawled out across the bottom of the screen is comical in and of itself. And when you think about growing up with that name...well, let's just say it's more than amusing. (No, the rest of the film doesn't require a mental stretch like that for the jokes to work.)
Of the three friends, there's Sam, the party animal; Alice (Frédérique Bel), a blonde, squeaky-voiced aerobics instructor; and Prune (Julie Fournier) the straight-laced responsible one. Yes, they're all stereotypes...but that's the point here. A quote from Quiet Earth reinforces that fact on the front cover with a mention of the seminal spoof Airplane. When the film devolves into sheer lunacy-a sex toy touted as a way to kill the vamps-we're not supposed to take it seriously. The characters have to because, in their world, their lives are hanging in the balance. But for us, we see the tongue firmly planted inside the cheek with a knowing nod and wink, allowing everyone to be in on the joke at the same time.
At the same time, Vampire Party is a straight forward film without many unforeseen twists and turns. The characters are in a situation they need to get out of. In that sense, the nearly committee-written script (there's four credited writers) is economical, relaying just enough information to get the audience invested in the situation. That's exactly why the listed running time is 1:25:11, yet with a solid seven minutes of end credits, the actual film is considerably shorter. The terrible "killer Tooth Fairy" film Darkness Falls tried to follow this same paradigm with a listed running time of 86-minutes with 11 minutes of end credits. A key difference between the two films is the content. Vampire Party largely works since the participants know it is supposed to be over-the-top; Darkness Falls had no notion of being anything but legitimate.
There is a downside to the short running time and the desire to get through the story quickly. Vampire Party has an almost whip-lash feeling to it, as if events are happening entirely too fast without space to breathe. It's called pacing, giving a story the opportunity to come off as natural instead of an artificial construct. The Book of Pacts, the object of the film, lists the names of every "collaborator" the vampires have in the human world. Sam and his group get a hold of it, leading the vamps on a chase around the party mansion. From the way they get their hands on the book to the sheer incompetence of nearly everyone involved, Vampire Party could have used an extra 10 minutes or so of "padding" if only to better simulate the passage of an entire night.
But that's a quibble with realism, something we know from the beginning will be thrown out the window with the film. Each of the actors, those playing humans and those playing the blood suckers, completely buy into the premise to such an extent they're quite willing to do anything for the story. Escapee's continually light matches while hiding, throwing them to the ground when the flame gets too close to their fingers only to light another one. Alice lies motionless on a gurney under a sheet as a vampire tries to make sure she's actually "dead" by telling her jokes. People get hit in the head with guns thrown as weapons, incantations transform both Sam and Prune into all manner of personalities and animals...actors don't convincingly go to these places unless they implicitly trust the filmmakers behind the camera. And this film is directed by two first-time helmers, Stephen Cafiero and Vincent Lobelle, at least according to their IMDb credits. Perhaps they and the writers don't know any better, opting to throw everything they've ever wanted into a movie to see what works and what doesn't.
What works? Of course, the humor does, most of the time. When doesn't it? Well, when the characters try to use tried and true anti-vamp gimmicks like crosses and garlic to no effect. With Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a slew of other related works, this tactic simply isn't new or fresh anymore. Know what would be? If either of those things actually worked. (To their credit, one vampire eating an entire clove of garlic causes an allergic reaction, though it seems to be quickly forgotten about.) The aforementioned actors are also a pleasure since they seem to be in on the joke. It would be one thing for Vampire Party to be a laughable film everyone took seriously; it's another to be laughable content in the knowledge everyone on set was laughing at it too. Much like Airplane, Spaceballs or Blazing Saddles, there's really little reason to try to make sense of the plot or what these people do. There aren't many films which get that big of a pass.
THE LOOK
Vampire Party is presented in anamorphic widescreen format. The transfer handles a wide array of dark colors rather well; the steel blue look in the basement presents a stark contrast to the looming darks which pervade the rest of the film. Blacks are reasonably deep with decent enough detail in both the foreground and background. Day scenes seem a touch too bright when compared to other films, with the brightness threatening to blind the viewer just a bit. This is a foreign film, remember, resulting in a grittiness throughout the picture designed to be there.
THE SOUND
I will admit to being more than a little surprised with the French 5.1 audio track (a 2.0 version is also available). It is unusually aggressive, especially in the bar or party scenes. The cumulative effect of strong bass coupled with the forceful dancing music is making the audience feel like they're actually in the location. Later on, dialogue echoes help to reinforce the "hollow" feeling of the basement. Generally speaking, the soundtrack doesn't overpower the dialogue, though it does happen from time to time. Some sound effects are directional in nature-like the helicopters which transport the partiers to the mansion-though they won't blow the doors of the proverbial barn. A set of English subtitles is also included. They are easy to see against the dark locations, considering the words are presented in bright yellow type.
THE STUFF
Packed in a clear keepcase without insert, the film is broken down in 15 chapters. The only extra is the theatrical trailer.
Vampire Party is available on DVD.
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