Vampire Femmes (1999)

Vampire Femmes

produced by David Sterling

written and directed by Tim Sullivan

Vampire Femmes is a 1999 shot on video film written and directed by Tim Sullivan ( Eyes Of The Werewolf, Grave Vengeance a.k.a. Hunting Season).  An amazing noirish vampire film where the lives of a corrupt cop, a battered wife on the run, two mechanics, and three women with taste of blood intersect, culminating in a violent bloodbath.

 The film opens in near total darkness with a few specks of light in the distance, and as the camera pans there are two car headlights off in the distance.  As the camera continues to pan we see a sign that reads: FOR SALE, EVENINGS ONLY, Inquire Within.  The oncoming car headlights move closer and closer, until the vehicle stops near the sign.  A man named Frank ( Richard Marks ) gets out of the car, and walks up to the house.  Knocking on the door, he is greeted at the door by a mysterious woman named Madea ( Roxanne Coyne ).  She invites him in to show him the inside of the house.  Showing Frank the various rooms, Madea begins to hint at an intimate encounter asking, "Do you like games, Frank?".  To which, he replies. "Yes, I do. Very Much."  Entering what Madea calls ' the game room', Frank meets another woman named Persephone ( Popi Ardisson ).  Under the guise of a sexual three way, the woman reveal they are vampires and attack him.

In the next scene, we are introduced to Nacho ( writer / director Tim Sullivan ) and Ed ( fellow filmmaker Ron Ford ), two mechanics who run a chop shop. They are joking around and working on an engine, when a car drives up.  Out of the vehicle steps Danny ( Larry Richards ), an acquaintance of theirs that brings them 'hot' cars for money.  Feeling suspicious, telling Ed, "You know there is something funny about that guy.", Nacho searches the car, and finds a note with an address on it.  He pockets it.

Then the film cuts to a cop named Ken ( Randy Hunt ) entering a fortune teller's place of business.  Encountering the fortune teller ( Randal Malone ), the officer begins attacking in an accusatory manner.  Assuring the cop that he is running a legitimate business, the fortune teller persuades Ken to have his fortune read.  After making derogatory remarks about his wife, the police man is shocked by the psychic's prediction that his wife will leave him for another woman.  A woman who will as the fortune teller states: " A woman who will her special kind to bring her into a new reality. She will enter a world where night is day and day is night. Blood will be her destiny."

Ken begins having visions of a female vampire attacking, freaks out, and leaves in a fit of frustrated anger.  The fortune teller cackles at the cops sudden exit.

Back inside the house with the for sale sign posted out front, Danny is talking to Jezebel ( Heather Branch ), a Betty Page-esque looking woman, who is also a blood drinking room mate with Madea and Persephone.  He informs her that the car, which belonged to Frank, will be disassembled by Nacho and Ed.  Then Jezebel tells Danny to get some wood, and start a fir in the fireplace in order to get rid of Frank's personal effects.  During the process of accomplishing these tasks, the errand boy is seduced by the lascivious vamp.  Jezebel and Danny proceed to have sex on the floor in front of the fireplace.  Afterwards, when Danny has left, the three vampire women have a conversation about 'keeping Danny around'.  Ultimately, the trio decides to keep Danny alive, and to feed some more on Frank.

 Inside the bathroom of a house, a battered woman named Mary ( Michelle Bousquet ) contemplates the state of her existence, as well as her injury.  A voice calls out for her from another room, demanding that she 'get her ass in there, right now.'  She exits the rest room, and enters the bedroom, where it turns out that the voice calling for her is Ken, the cop.  He is drunk and aggressive, belittling his wife, and then, he attempts to force himself on her.  Mary quickly grabs the receiver of a phone on a nightstand, next to the bed, and knocks him out with a blow to the head.  She then hurries up, throwing her belongings in a bag, and leaves the house.

Driving on a road at night, trying to get as far away from her abusive hubby as possible, Mary hears sounds like wings flapping, and is startled by something or someone on her windshield.  She pulls her car over, and gets out.  At first she doesn't see anything or anyone, when suddenly she is surprised from behind with a tap on the shoulder.  Turning around, she looks into the face of Jezebel, who needs a ride.

Inside the car, Mary has a discussion with Jezebel about her situation.  Her lusty, blood drinking passenger tries to persuade the abused woman to leave the situation, and even suggests murdering the husband, as a solution.  After all possibilities of a solution are considered, Jezebel tells Mary that she can stay with her, and her room mates.  The fearful, desperate woman accepts the vamp's offer.   

Outside a building where an ATM machine is stationed, Danny is withdrawing money from Frank's bank account, unaware that Nacho has followed him, and is watching him. 

Heading back to the vampire women's house, Danny proceeds to tell Madea and Persephone that Frank's card didn't work, and the machine ate it.  The two female vampires are incredulous, demanding that he give them the money. Tiring of  Danny's insistence that there is no money, Madea and Persephone grab him, and rough him up.  He tells him it is in his car, under the seat.

Meanwhile, outside the house, Nacho creeps up to Danny's car, and takes the money, fleeing the scene.

 Madea and Persephone tell Danny to go out to the car, and bring them the money.  He exits the house, just as Jezebel and Mary are walking up the front door. Jezebel says, "Hi, Danny. Loser", as her and her new friend go inside.

Out in the car, Danny discovers that the money is gone.  He takes off in a panic.

Sitting on the in the living room of the house, Madea, Persephone, and Jezebel converse with Mary about her living situation.  They try to convince her to leave her husband, Ken, and offer to kill him themselves.  Mary's incredulity leads the trio to reveal that they are vampires.   

 

 In fear for his life, Danny's car is pulled over by Ken, for driving through a stop sign.  The cop recognizes Danny, and asks him if he has seen his wife.  Out of nervousness, Danny inadvertently blurts out, "You know. I think I saw her."  Ken demands to know where she is.

Back at the vampire's abode, Madea sits with Mary in the guest bed room telling her to think about her decision to be turned into one of them, as they don't want to change make anyone a vampire against there will.  She tells the abused woman how she was once like her, but through vampirism she has become empowered.   Assuring Mary that everything will be alright, Madea walks back out to the living room.  After inquiring about Danny's whereabouts, Madea and Persephone inform Jezebel that Danny tried to steal the money from them. they come to an understanding that their errand boy must be taken care of.

In the interim, Danny calls up Ed, asking if he can borrow a couple thousand dollars, promising to pay it back.  Ed tells him he doesn't have that much money, but suggests that they go to Nacho's place to see if he can help out.

                                                                                                                                                                    Mary's husband, Ken, the police officer walks up to the vampire woman's residence, and knocks on the front door.  Madea answers.  The cop tells her that he was informed that a missing woman was seen entering this house.  Assuring Ken that he is mistaken about a missing person in her home, Madea asks him if he has a warrant, and shuts the door in his face.  The lawman leaves angry. 

 Inside the house, Madea checks in on Mary, who expresses her concerns that Ken will come back and search the house.  The female vampire assures her that they can handle anything her cop husband tries to do. They begin discussing the benefits of being transformed into a vampire.

Meanwhile at Nacho's,  his marijuana session is interrupted by a knock at the door.  Ed and Danny enter, with the latter asking Nacho if he can borrow two thousand from him.  The mechanic tells him no.  Danny leaves in a hurry, leaving Ed to share some of the 'Italian bud' with nacho.

Looking hopeless and desperate, Danny is driving in his car, when all of the sudden Jezebel pops up in his back seat.  Frightened by her abrupt appearance, he is surprised when the amorous vamp orders him to get in the back seat, and have sex with her.  Here the film cuts back and forth between Jezebel and Danny's sex scene, and Madea changing Mary into a vampire. The sex scene ends with Jezebel, post coitus, snapping Danny's neck, while the transformation scene has Persephone walk in on Madea turning Mary. Persephone asks if maybe it is too son, and Madea hisses her disagreement.

At Nacho's residence, both he and Ed decide to go out for a late night meal of tacos.  Driving along to their destination they are stopped by Ken, who accuses them of throwing a joint out of their car window.  The hot tempered cop pulls Nacho out of the car to search for drugs, and begins punching him in an attempt for him to comply.  During the search / assault Ken finds the post it note with the address of the vampire women.  The same house that he visited earlier, based on the info he received when he stopped Danny.

 The frustrated and angry cop decides that he needs both Nacho and Ed to see what's going on at the house.  The two mechanics and the wife beating police officer head to the vampire women's residence.  Sitting out side in the car, it is decided that Ed should walk up to the front door, and knock to see what is going on inside.  Reluctantly, Ed goes up to the house, under the guise of a landscaper looking for business.  Persephone answers the door, and invites the nervous mechanic in.  While being shown around the house, Ed is persuaded to enter the 'game room'.  Inside the lo lit room, Ed notices empty coffins, and then he sees one in particular.  Laying inside is Mary.  Persephone goes on the attack, when Ed shouts out Mary's name in terror.  "You Know her?" she says before she attacks. The two struggle with the vampire ultimately knocking Ed into a pile of  lumber.  He also sees the hanging dead body of Danny, and the barely alive Frank.  freaking out he grabs a sharp ended piece of the wood, Ed kills Persephone with a thrust through the heart.  Attempting to leave, he runs into Jezebel.

Outside in the car, Ken starts to get impatient, suggesting that he and Nacho go inside and check things out.  The two men enter the house to find Mary and Ed.  I won't give away the ending, except to say the conclusion is a violent bloodbath where only one comes out alive.

This film was written and directed by Tim Sullivan, who is also responsible for writing several excellent micro budget films such as 'Eyes Of The Werewolf'' (1999), Grave Vengeance a.k.a. Hunting Season (2000), V-World Matrix (1999), and Demonicus (2001).  He has acted in several of these films including this one, as well as many of Ron Ford's films.  He first acted in fellow writer S. P. Somtow's The Laughing Dead, a film I did a write up for the Theater Of Guts Site here:http://www.theaterofguts.com/2017/10/the-laughing-dead.html .  In addition Mr. Sullivan is a novelist who has written the novels Lords Of Creation and Destiny's End. I am a huge fan of Mr. Sullivan and always know I will be watching a great film when I see his name in the credits.

One of the many things I enjoyed about Vampire femmes is it's noirish feel.  Several film noir tropes are present such as femme fatales ( the 3 vampire women), and the corrupt cop / jealous husband (Ken).  For the most part all of the characters are morally questionable, and very flawed.  The cop Ken abuses his wife, the three vampire women kill for blood,  Danny, the vampire's errand boy steals and lies.  Even the two mechanics Nacho and Ed engage in dishonest behavior by running a chop shop.  Another aspect that I found fascinating about the moral ambiguity is that there is no clear cut protagonist to root for.  The vampire women commit murder, but are willing to take in a battered woman, and protect her from the abuser.  While the cop Ken treats his wife horribly, but enforces the law, and seems to care for Mary towards the end of the film.  In addition, the two mechanics Nacho and Ed don't seem as bad as the other characters, but are still dishonest.  This creates uncertainty for most people, especially those used to the clear cut hero from most of Hollywood films.  These characters all embody the films themes of corruption, and secrets.  The theme of corruption is evident in the dishonesty of  the characters.  Examples would be the  vampire women's deception of putting up a for sale sign out in front of their house in order to lead their victim inside, Danny trying to keep Frank's money from the ATM machine, Nacho stealing that money from Danny, and the various interactions Ken, the cop has when dealing with someone.  Secrets are very much a theme in such examples as Mary's secret plan to leave Ken, the vampire women's efforts to conceal what they really are, and Danny, as well as Nacho not letting anyone else in on the money.

Another underlying theme was sex and death.  This was made explicit, especially in two scenes.  The first one is towards the beginning of the film when Madea and Persephone are attacking Frank.  The attack has strong sexual connotations.  Beyond the obvious idea of a threesome, Frank's legs tremble, as if in orgasm.  Madea's face and mouth are sprayed with spurts of blood, very much resembling the act of ejaculation.  The second scene is later in the film, where the film cuts back and forth between Jezebel and Danny having sex in the back seat, and Madea biting Mary in order to change her into a vampire.  Little touches like this in the film were simply genius.

The gore effects were well executed, such as the spurting blood scene mentioned above.  A lot of blood during the vampire attacks, and a gory staking / beheading scene, complete with blood spurting from the neck stump.

I also thought it was interesting that Tim Sullivan gave his vampire women some interesting names.  Madea is a of a character from a Greek tragedy by Euripides, who wronged by her husband Jason takes vengeance.  Persephone in greek mythology was the daughter of Zeus and the harvest goddess Demeter. She was married to Hades, king of the underworld,  making her queen of the underworld. She was abducted and raped by Hades  Jezebel is a biblical character who became associated with false prophets, having persuaded her husband King Ahab of Israel to turn away from Yahweh and embrace Baal and Asherah.  A scene between Madea and Mary even makes reference to the vampire women being like goddesses.

The lighting and camera work in Vampire Femmes was extremely impressive.  The film's is filled with chiaroscuro lighting, and colored lighting.  The combination of the two was fantastic.  The light and shadow added to the film noir feel of the picture, as well as, the theme of the darkness / light of the flawed characters, while the colored lighting made it a color expressionistic film.  One example of a scene is where Ken and Nacho enter the front door of the vampire women's house. The two men step into pinkish lighting, when turning the corner they end up in a wash of green light.  The camera compositions were artfully framed, and along with the lighting created some exquisitely beautiful images.  I've included many screen caps throughout this write up, just look at some of those beautiful images above.  One of my top vampire films, Vampire Femmes is a great noir vampire art film.  I highly recommend it.  That's my opinion, yours may differ.