My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1987) Reviews

• The Vampire Hunting Business Bites!

  vertigo_142004-03-07

  My Best Friend is a Vampire follows a long line of fun films about supernatural occurences disrupting an already awkward period of teenage development just as it did in My Mom's a Werewolf (teenager's mother turns into a werewolf), My Boyfriend's Back (girlfriend's dead boyfriend rises from the grave), and I Was a Teenaged Zombie (teenager's friends turns zombie to fight zombie drug dealer), and the list goes on. This was surprisingly a very entertaining film about a young boy who, upon almost losing his virginity to a strange older woman is a strange old house, is given the bite that turns him into a vampire. Now a professor and his idiot assistant, vampire hunters, want to kill the vampire that is on the loose. The only problem is, they've mistaken his friend as their undead target. The funniest parts of the movie involve a lot of great slapstick humor between Ralph, the vampire's best friend, and the vampire hunters who seem to follow him at every turn, although he can't figure out why. Even more amusing is the vampire teenager learning to cope with being a vampire thanks to the help of an older man, an English vampire mentor. With the help of dark glasses and a large stock of pigs blood, maybe life as a teenaged vampire won't be all that bad. It just makes shaving a little hard when you can't get your reflection in the bathroom mirror. And even more amusing than that is the misconception that the vampire's parents have about him. I would've guessed that they would have thought their little Johnny was on dope, but their mistake is actually much funnier. Plus, you have a pretty good soundtrack to boot with the dominating song being Timbuk 3's "The Future's So Bright." If this is your forte of films, the 80s horror/comedies, you should likely enjoy this one. It doesn't bite!

• A cute, campy, fun movie to watch if you are into vampires

  Smells_Like_Cheese2002-07-28

  Ah, our precious 80's, a time of great music, interesting taste in fashion, action movies and goofy teen horror films. During this time we had films like: Teen Wolf, Once Bitten, Teen Witch, movies that involved our classic horror stories with the world of a teenager. What would happen if a teenager was a werewolf, zombie, or even a vampire. So I was watching TV and came across My Best Friend is a Vampire, don't know why, just figured I would check it out, actually I seemed to like it. So I went out and bought it and watched the unedited version of course and still actually found myself having fun watching this movie. While it's not exactly the most original idea and there are some really silly moments, I think My Best Friend is a Vampire is a small little gem. Jeremy Capello is a typical American teenager fighting with the usual problem of getting himself a girlfriend. Although he has someone interested in him, he has his eyes on his classmate Darla Blake, but she in turn is unnerved by his constant staring at her. Recently, Jeremy has been having some weird nightmares about a strange woman trying to seduce him, and later he actually encounters that woman named Nora, who makes an obvious invitation to him, while delivering groceries. His skirt-chasing friend Ralph convinces him to take up the opportunity for a first erotic experience. But the encounter goes badly: first the woman bites him in the neck, then two strangers burst into the house, forcing Jeremy to run for his life. Next morning, Jeremy looks pale and does not feel well. Also, over the day he notices a strange man observing him. This man pops into his bedroom the very next night, introduces himself as Modoc and carefully attempts to relate to Jeremy that he is now a vampire. Jeremy of course is at first skeptical, to say the least, but a sudden aversion to garlic, an increasing sensitivity to sunlight and a craving for blood slowly convince him otherwise. His new vampire "life-style" hampers his attempts to start a relationship with Darla, who has finally become interested in him; otherwise Jeremy begins to adapt to the minor impacts the change has brought to his life. I think the reason I loved this film was because of it's camp value and the actors that seemed to enjoy making this movie. I nearly died laughing when the vampire slayers that are supposed to be after Jeremy think that his best friend, who's mortal, is the vampire they want to slay. They finally capture him and are just so over the top with it, all the times they think he's a vampire, he just thinks that they're perverts. I also loved how Jeremy's parents are trying to figure out what's wrong with their son, they come to the conclusion that he is gay. Plus you gotta love how it's awkward enough being a teenager, imagine going through your teen years as a vampire. I'd recommend My Best Friend is a Vampire, it's nothing too special, but it's a funny little movie that was over looked at a time of teen witches and werewolves. 8/10

• School, girls, parents and… fangs?!.

  lost-in-limbo2007-01-15

  Jeremy Capello is a teenager who has dreams about the gawky Darla Blake. A girl who doesn't think that highly of him, but there's also a beautiful Barbie-like cheerleader named Candy who's actually keen on him. So his best friend Ralph suggests that he should seek out someone unknown for a one-night stand to get this get his mind thinking straight. While, doing his job he encounters the mysterious Nora, who invites him over for the night. So Jeremy with little help from Ralph meets her, only to be bitten by her and a crazed loon (possibly the husband) break in. The day after Jeremy goes through some minor changes and finds out that Nora's place has been burnt down. Through the course he learns that these are vampire hunters after them, but they seem to think that Ralph is the vampire. The mid-to-late 80s was a time for vampire films (and even teenage monster themes too). This pleasant little romp is the standard mould of these monster comedies (maybe one of the lesser ones), but surprisingly it makes for a decently breezy time-waster if you're looking for a little 1980s nostalgia in your viewing. It has some generally amusing moments, especially from Rene Auberjonois' sneaky vampire mentor role as Modoc and you can see David Warner is having a ball in his ripe crack-ball role of Prof. Leopold McCarthy, vampire hunter. Most of the performances are reasonably charming. Robert Sean Leonard ("Dead Poet's Society" and who would probably be best known for the recent TV series "House") is delightfully good as Jeremy and Evan Mirand turns in a joyful performance as the loutish Ralph. A fetching Cheryl Pollack is fair as the geeky Darla. Fannie Flagg and Kenneth Kimmins trump in with marvellously tuneful performances as Jeremy's overly worried parents. Paul Wilson makes solid of Prof. Leonard's bumbling assistant Grimsdyke. Let me not forget the minor role of the seductively alluring Cecilia Peck (Gregory Pecks' daughter) as Nora. Oh and look out for a slender Kathy Bates. The variable cast had a witty script to play along with and most of it was quite satisfying when it came to the punch. Director Jimmy Huston does a competent job without doing anything overtly special, but he gets a lot spirit and odd developments running through some humorous situations. It can get corny in parts and extremely sappy when it comes to its closing moral. A trailblazing 80s pop soundtrack (notably Blondie and Oingo Boingo) features strongly in the film's make-up with the utterly hip and catchy title tune, "The future's so bright (I've got to wear shades)" by the TIMBUK 3. The stereotypically lucid premise (which shares similarities with the Jim Carrey vampire flick, "Once Bitten") is routine and derivative, but still it has some nice touches and diverting trivia on the vampire mythology. None of this should sideswipe your entertainment of it, unless you're looking for something with more aggression amongst its bite. I guess you'll know if you're going to like it after the first 15 minutes. It might be far from revolutionary (just look at the title and you should know what to expect), but there's just something endearing about this campy lightweight piece.

• This comedy has bite

  Tenchi645892006-09-19

  For some strange reason, I've always liked a good vampire flick... especially when there's some humor thrown in. This movie satisfied that need perfectly, although I shave a few points off because there's a better one of these 80's horror-comedies out there. (Once Bitten) At first this movie was hard for me to start. I kept wondering if this would turn out to be any good... especially considering the opening with the whole castration thing. I learned to just move through the movie and give it a chance. Granted that the other posters are correct; there are a few similarities between this movie and Once Bitten, (A teen slowly turning into one of the undead, teen's friend taking aforementioned teen out to get laid, etc.) but so what? Simalarities to Once Bitten aside, this movie is an alright watch. 8/10

• This wraps up 80's teen movies up

  orisons12004-04-22

  I couldn't believe the rating this movie got here so I had to write, this was a movie that opitimised every aspect of the eighties (including really bad dress sense)from the troubled/angst teenager, to the mad thinks he's doing-good scientist and put it all togother in a fun relaxing and romantic teenage movie(no shlock horror typical of the era). I honestly think that anyone sits down and watches this movie for what it was and is "a rom/com" they will enjoy, even now when it looks a bit dated.......Honestly go rent buy scrape this movie up or out of the cupboard and put your feet up grab some popcorn or beer or possibly pigs bloods (sorry couldn't help a reference to the movie) and enjoy.................