In the nineties, vampires were exotic creatures, and few people knew that they would become a sensational breakthrough in modern cinema. Now these creatures appear in every movie/series, in all kinds of forms and forms. Now there are no standards and frameworks, vampires easily walk in broad daylight, look sexy and at the same time manage to engage in carnal pleasures with a living person, contrary to all the laws of nature. Gradually, we began to forget what a real vampire should look like. Not that handsome boy with white skin, but a real hunter who easily tears off his heads, sucks blood and tears the victim in half. This was in the movie Blade (1998). And before that time, the directors seemed to master a new landscape, which gave the impression that we were not the highest form of life in the food chain, but a shy boy, gently biting his victim, each time wondering if she was hurt.
"Vampirella" was born in 1996, passed the theaters and quietly went on video, without producing absolutely nothing. I’m a twenty-first-century man and I still don’t understand how people made pictures at a time when there were no modern cameras, big budgets and high-quality conditions to make it a reality. I tend to believe that at a time when technological progress was, to put it mildly, zero, the emphasis was on impeccable acting. In the same film about the acting to speak is not necessary, face its complete absence. The actors, not getting used to the role, just read their lines from a piece of paper, each time, naively looking through the camera at the director and as if asking: “Well, how?”
Talisa Soto many viewers remembered in the role of Kitana from “Mortal Kombat”. Yes, the same warrior who was ready to tear her opponent to dust. A fearless woman who was able to combine not only natural sexuality, but also the plasticity of a wild cat, ready at any moment to attack the victim. In Vampirell, she had the same fate, except that this time she had phenomenal power. I believe that behind all the acting failures, there is an “illiterate” directorial approach to the film. If in "Mortal Kombat" she was allowed not to show any emotions, then here touched on the sensitive theme of daughter and father, eternal life and death, which was completely ignored. As an actress, judging by her past work, she's zero. In this film, she proved it once again. All the signs of a facial fossil, a complete lack of desire to play on camera, squeeze tearful moments or at worst, make a frightening face. And even her revealing costume, red, didn't save the day. She is a slim, fit woman who is not deprived of roundness and lush forms by nature, but what was done to her in this film is worthy of a separate review. So much to spoil the figure, perhaps, could not be more than one tailor. Hanging cowards, awkward and unnaturally seated bra, in a word horror. The rest of the cast did not bring anything good to this picture. Each of them played mediocrely, and wanted to exclaim: “I do not believe!” On the other hand, this is not a drama where the hero has to squeeze tears from the viewer. This is an ordinary fantastic action movie, and for this genre, such a game is characteristic to this day.
Looking through the list of films that came under the hands of this director, I can only judge that he is not new to this business. He shoots constantly, always experimenting with something, looking for some technological moves, probing something new for himself. In this film, he showed raw material, from beginning to end. And it all started with a script that wasn't brought to gloss. Rewriting a comic book for a movie is a very painstaking work, which today not everyone succeeds. In 1996, not all writers could afford it, so it seemed so exciting. Fans were screaming, convulsing when they saw the revived character, who yesterday was dusting on the shelves of the bookstore. But from the point of view of the average viewer who sat down to watch this movie, I can safely say that the story is rough, assembled from individual pieces that were not properly edited. Because of this, all the smoothness of the narrative disappeared, and the picture turned into a puzzle that assembles as quickly as possible.
Subsequently, the director added too much water and too many scenes that dragged the narrative on. It seems that a person creates his work unpretentiously, somehow sluggishly. When he needs to be cheered up in a good way, add peppers, make the viewer fidget, realizing that such a fantastic story can actually happen. Therefore, in the film we see not vampires, but some punks who seem to bite their victims, but do it as if they themselves agreed and turned the collar away.
What's going on? It's a picture of time. When the technology wasn’t up to speed, and with a million-dollar budget, you couldn’t get anything done, people somehow managed to do it boldly and without conscience. That "Vampirella" at the time showed or did not show its best side does not make it any less remarkable. Although I’m sure if he had the opportunity to remake the film using all the means he had in 1996, he would have done it differently.