Cover Art

Credits

Director: Lee Bennett Sobel Starring: Stephen Blackehart, Paul Stevenson, Margaret Lancaster, Valentine Miele Screenplay: Lee Bennett Sobel, Paul Gambino Country: USA AKA: Burnin' Love; Rockabilly Vampire: Burnin' Love

The Rockabilly Vampire DVD begins with an intro by Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma and creator of the Toxic Avenger. Lloyd claims the two bands with live footage in the extras are 'many bands.' Lloyd also refers to one of the bands as the 'Amazing Crowns,' which is also what they're called on the DVD menu. A discrepancy arises when you actually select their live video, where they appear to be the Royal Crowns.

Anyway, Rockabilly Vampire is the story of a young man who was turned into a nosferatu by his brother in the 50s. This leaves him saying things like 'make like an Eskimo Pie and cool it,' because evidently vampirism freezes your vocabulary as well as your physical appearance at the time of the bite. So, Mr. Rockabilly meets his soul mate, a bookworm lady stuck in the 50s (despite being too young to have lived in them). She is an investigative author wanting to prove that Elvis is alive, yet doesn't seem to realise that the biggest proof is that his name is an anagram for 'lives.' She initially falls for Mr. Rockabilly because he looks like Elvis, and immediately accepts he's a vampire. Unfortunately for the would-be happy couple, Mr. Rockabilly's bro is still tracking him down, and traces him to the lady somehow.

An obvious comparison for this film is Rockula, but I'm not sure which film comes out ahead. While there are some oddly funny things, like menacing toenail clippings, the general storyline isn't ludicrous enough to be humorous, or even engaging, on its own. This leaves Rockabilly Vampire as just a slow movie where not much happens. The film tries to be funny, but the pacing is off, and the film is just too slow. The dialog can be trying, even more so than the Eskimo Pie line, and the acting, well, actually the acting isn't bad at all for the budget.