Yea, I like to mix it up a little with my movie choices. Although I love seeing new horror flicks, it's rare nowadays that I find a good one, so I toss in a few oldies but goodies here and there. There was so much on TV today, it was hard to pick a choice of what to watch. I was going to review a flick on Syfy, but I was busy having pizza, so I missed the whole beginning. And, as you guys probably know by now, I won't review a movie I haven't just watched. Just to let you know, both Syfy and AMC are getting into the horror movie feel of things, so between now and Halloween, you're probably going to see a lot of horror on those channels. I'd spend all my spare time watching Chiller, but those movies aren't the best horror movies you've ever seen, and there's commercials, and they cut out all the nudey bits. :-( Of course, there's always Netflix, which has its own horror section. That's where I found Vampire in Brooklyn.
Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) is about a Vampire. In Brooklyn. In case that wasn't clear from the title. Detectives Justice (Allen Payne) and Veder (Angela Bassett) are called to a murder scene down at the docks. It appears an old cargo ship has come in, loaded with bodies, but no crew. All the bodies seem drained of blood, and have horrible throat wounds. Detective Veder is exploring the cargo hold when she runs into an old, bejeweled coffin, a coffin that suddenly disappears. The night watchman down at the docks reports seeing a big black wolf leave the ship, and then seeing it turn into a man. Two bodies are found a few blocks away, one with his heart missing from his chest...
Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, it is. Eddie Murphy stars as a Bermudan Vampire named Maximillian who makes his way to Brooklyn. The last of his kind, he is searching for a half-vampire known to have ended up there, to end his loneliness and replenish his dying race. Angela Bassett is the unknowing half-vampire, who paints her nightmares, nightmares that haven't happened yet. Kadeem Hardison is Julius Jones, Maximillian's ghoul, who begins rotting the minute Maximiliian finds him. Zakes Mokae is Dr. Zeko, a refugee from Bermuda who has faced the vampires before.
I may be considered odd for saying this, but I think Eddie Murphy is an excellent actor. He started out as a comedian, went into acting, and not only did a fair number of entertaining action movies, but has starred with some of the hottest actors and actresses in Hollywood. His career has taken a downturn lately, but I think that's because he has been trying to make a mainly unsuccessful foray into children's movies, and I don't think they really suit him very well.
I like this movie. Eddie Murphy acts the shit out of it, Angela Bassett is hot, and there's some humor in it. Of course there's humor. It's Eddie Murphy. I don't think there's any nudity in it, but a little gore, and some decent special effects. There's also some good horror in it, and some genuine scary parts, and some sad ones. Maximillian is the last of his kind, after all. Sure, maybe that's good for humans, but bad for vampires, and aren't vampires people too? Or at least, sort of?
There's a part in this movie where Maximillian assumes the form of the local preacher, preacher Pauley. He's trying to sway Detective Veder to go ahead and break away from her old life, and go over to the dark side, as it were, but he gets roped into doing a sermon for the congregation before he can get away. Since he can't actually go into the church (he is a vampire, after all) he does the sermon outside, and the sermon is one of the most delightfully zen, interesting and funny sermons I have ever heard in my life. I think it goes something like...
"Necessary Evil. Those words don't even go together, do they? Like plaids and stripes. But evil, is necessary. Like light and dark, you can't have one, without the other. If every day is a sunny day.... then what's a sunny day? Evil... is necessary. And if it's necessary, then Evil... must be good. That's what I think. Evil... is good. Say it with me. Evil is good."
See, now if my priests had ever done sermons like that, I'd probably still be going to church. Makes perfect sense to me. Sure, we're all supposed to be good and all, but how do we know what's good, if we don't have something to compare it to? If there weren't criminals and serial killers and whatnot, to demonstrate for us one end of the spectrum of human behavior, then how would we know where the other end was? How would we know where we fall in the spectrum? How would we know what not to do? Exactly.
Sigh. My review has gone past midnight again, and I haven't managed to post on time. Oh well. Much like the vampires in this movie, I have often preferred the quiet of nightfall, if only as a good contrast to the sunny daytime. :-) The midnight hour. Time to watch another horror movie...
That's all for tonight. Catch you guys tomorrow night!
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