Vampire In Brooklyn on PAL Laserdisc

• Cat.no: PLFEB 35641
• Cert: 15
• Running time: 109 minutes
• Sides: 2 (CLV)
• Year: 1995
• Pressing: UK, 1997
• Chapters: 18 (8/9+1)
• Sound: Dolby Surround
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• Price: £24.99
• Extras : Trailers for Beverly Hills Cop 1, 2 and 3
  

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  Director:

  Wes Craven

  (Scream, Nightmare on Elm Street)

Producer:

Screenplay:

Music:

Cast:

Maximillian/Preacher Pauley/Guido: Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop 1-3, Trading Places, Metro)
Rita: Angela Bassett (Strange Days, Waiting To Exhale, What’s Love Got To Do With It)
Justice: Allen Payne
Julius: Kadeem Hardison (A Different World (TV))
Woman in Park: Jerry Hall (Freejack)

Vampire In Brooklyntells the story of Maximillian, the last vampirealive, and he’s come to Brooklyn. On his arrival he makes his mark in analleyway where he despatches of two thugs, one who ends up feeling more thana little cut up, and the other who is left intact apart from the fact that he’smissing his heart.

While in town he meets Rita, a cop who is falling for his attempts to make herhis mate for eternity, especially after some of the weird dreams she’s having,even though she knows his true identify courtesy of nightclub owner Dr. Zeko.

Along for the ride is Julius, Max’s sidekick, who was around at the timehe made his first appearance and now is also one of the undead, although forhim things are more drastic as he’s decaying with an ear dropping off here, anda hand there.

Also thrown into the mix is one of Eddie Murphy’s trademarks of playingdifferent characters, this time including Pauley, a paunchy preacher, and Guido,a fast-talking thug.

One of the good points this film has going for it is being helmed by thehorror-meister Wes Craven, currently back in the cinematic good bookswith his massive hit Scream, a sequel for which is already in productionfor release in 1998.

However, the film doesn’t have much else to recommend it. Eddie Murphyturns in a performance he could phone in, especially those which he dresses upas other people for as this has been done too many times already, especiallyin his directorial debut, Harlem Nights, and the 1996 remake of theJerry Lewis comedy, The Nutty Professor, the latter of which is due fora release later this year on Pioneer PAL Laserdisc. Eddie Murphy is alsoresponsible for not knowing when enough’s enough. While he directed HarlemNights, in that film, as with this he also co-wrote the story and producedit. If he’d just stuck to what he’s best at, which is turning in a good comicrole, we could have had something really worth checking out.

Angela Bassett, usually one for a drama role, doesn’t seem to warm well tocomedies, spending most of her time looking confused or anxious as Murphy turnsup wherever she is in one of his various incarnations. Meanwhile, KadeemHardison seems to be making the best of the bad script, and could probably dowell following fellow actors like Damon Wayans (Last Boy Scout)and Keenan Ivory Wayans (The Glimmer Man) into typicalwisecracking action films. There’s also a cameo frommodel-turned-Rolling-Stone-bimbo Jerry Hall, whose acting is asunworthy as it was in 1991’s sci-fi dumb-but-fun actioner, Freejack.

Chaptering is good with 17 spread out through the film, plus one at the end fortrailers of all three Beverly Hills Cop films, all currently availableon PAL Laserdisc. Picture quality is okay but nothing special with some of thecolours looking a little washed-out at times. However, the real gem of thepackage is the surround sound which kicks in with force at any time somethingsupernatural occurs (Rita’s bad dreams for example), or whenever Wes Cravenfeels like it.

Overall, given Murphy’s input, this film is probably more one for the die-hardMurphy fan rather than just the casual film viewer.

Film: 2/5
Picture: 3/5
Sound: 5/5

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1997.