Winner of Best Feature at L.A.'s Vampire Film Festival, Ray Nomoto Robison's Vampire Camp is a feature comedy about a world renowned vampire fighter, Professor Bartholomew Dubbs (Scott Ford), who is giving a weekend workshop designed to teach common folk how to find and kill vampires. Unbeknownst to Professor Dubbs, his class has been infiltrated by actual vampires and the leader of their coven, Camelia Bumbescu (Cat Gould), is out to kill Dubbs under the red moon to avenge the centuries old killing of her lover by one of Dubbs' ancestors. Can Dubbs and his assistants, led by Samantha (Dani Kelly), stop Camelia and her vampires from causing havoc?

Does it even actually matter?

Actually, not much.

Vampire Camp is just about what you'd expect from an obviously low-budgeted indie comedy in the monster/horror genre. To his credit, Robison sets out early to establish a rather campy tone for the film so it's relentlessly campy nature is both intentional and occasionally quite successful. Ford's Professor Dubbs struck me as the kind of professor you'd expect to see hanging out during some midnight showing of some weird B-movie, though it should be noted that such a presentation actually works pretty well within the framework of the film.

It's also to Robison's credit that a good majority of the cast, at least the major players, seem to establish a consistent tone early on in the film. Cat Gould is a hoot as Camelia, while Dani Kelly's Samantha makes it apparent early on that she's going to have some sort of key role early on in this film even if we're not exactly sure what that role will be.

D.P. Levi Anderson lenses the film quite competently, alternating between a fairly traditional and contemporary look and, on occasion, giving the film a sort of Ed Wood feel.

Believe it or not, that's a compliment.

The script by Robison and Cathy Stadtfeld isn't, for the most part, laugh out loud funny but is quirky and offbeat enough to cause more than a few smiles and to generate enough positive cheer that it's unlikely you'll regret having spent 78-minutes with this offbeat little comedy.

For more information on the film, visit the Vampire Camp website linked in the credits to the left.


© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic