Rockula

Luca Bercovici was behind The Ghoulies and The Granny as well as this movie, where a 400-year-old vampire named Ralph Lavie (Dean Cameron). He lives alone with his mother Phoebe (Toni Basil!) and is suffering from a curse. It turns out that every time he falls for Mona, she's killed on Halloween by a pirate with a giant hambone. Now, he plans to stay locked up in his room so that his heart doesn't get broken again. Our hero is somehow friends with Bo Diddley and survives getting hit by a car driven by Mona (Tawny Fere), who in this lifetime is a singer managed by her ex-boyfriend Stanley (Thomas Dolby!). Ralph starts a band, called Rockula, falls in love again and has to save his love. Susan Tyrell shows up as a bartender, which should really be all the reason you need to see this movie. Well, that and the end, where an Elvis-dressed Ralph busts out of a mirror and performs. The song are pretty silly, the story is kind of dumb, but I still found myself enjoying this.

source: Rockula

My review was written in June 1990 after watching the film on Warner/Cannon video cassette. Music is welded to the horror genre for the umpteenth time with poor results in "Rockula", a marginal Cannon picture that went into release in February and recently played briefly on 42nd St. In Manhattan. More likely to find its audience among video fans, pic limns the uninteresting story of 400-year-old virgin vampire Dean Cameron, who every 22 years has been fated to meet his dream girl (Tawny Fere), only to lose her sans consummation when an evil pirate kills her each time on Halloween. Numerous songs and music video-styled interludes pad the running time of this innocuous exercise, which could have used a much stronger storyline. Several music industry personalities pop up, notably Toni Basil as Cameron's sexy vampire mother and Thomas Dolby as an English twit. Fere, previously unveiled in "Angel III", is most alluring as the heroine and belts a rock song well.

From writer/director Luca Bercovici, the man behind "Ghoulies" and "The Granny," comes another oddball horror/comedy. Dean Cameron, best remembered from the underrated 80s teen comedy "Summer School" as Chainsaw, plays an ancient vampire cursed to watch his lady love be reborn and then killed again and again every hundred years. This curse happened after Cameron stood by and did nothing the first time she was killed. Now in modern day 1990, Cameron has determined this time around is his last chance to save her. In order to gain her trust, he decides he must first become a rock star (perfect sense, right?). Rockula is then born, becoming a wildly popular act, and he then goes on to battle with the forces of evil, which includes sleazy businessman (and real-life 80s rocker) Thomas "She Blinded Me With Science" Dolby. The story is dumb and predictable, but then again, what romcom isn't? The film is greatly helped by it's likable cast, which besides a solid performance from Cameron includes mostly a likable cast of unknowns who all do quite well, but also small supporting parts for Toni Basil, Bo Diddley, Susan Tyrell, and future musical choreographer and director Adam Shankman playing a driver. It also helps that watching the film now provides quite a bit of late 80s nostalgia, which always goes a long way for me. I'd probably have been harder on this film back in the day, but now it's 80s hair, music, and fashion are all quite entertaining in and of themselves. Overall, "Rockula" is far from being a classic 80s musical or romcom, but it's watchable and makes no pretensions of taking itself too seriously. FUN FACT: This film was the second feature film by cinematographer John Schwartzman (half-brother to Jason Schwartzman, stepson of Talia Shire, and nephew of Francis Ford Coppola), who'd later go on to earn an Oscar nomination and work on major films such as "Jurassic World," "The Amazing Spider-Man," "The Rock," and "Seabiscuit."

Yes, it's cheesy. Yes, it's low budget. Yes, it's Dean Cameron, so you know we're not talking Citizen Kane here... But this is one of the funnest memories I have of movies in the early 90's. I mean, Bo Diddly dressing up in skintight spandex like some mutant bumble bee with a gold record as a belt buckle... Toni Basil as a vampire mother doing some really fun dancing while threatening the female protagonist with a song... Thomas Dolby as a bizarre undertaker... This was the epitome of some of those early 90's kind of cheese romances. But for me, the real enjoyment is all the little things... References to Van Helsing, the riot that was his mirror image, especially with the funhouse mirrors... The little seemingly throw-away lines that so many people missed that just gave it some bite and some depth... Tawny Fere - now Tawny Ellis apparently, she was stunningly gorgeous in this movie, wonderful voice, and just a joy to watch. Yes, acting was not anyone's best strength, but the joy here is that they weren't meant to be. I see some people deriding the music, but as a musician, I enjoyed the you know what out of it. First chance I had, I made MP3's out of them from the DVD so I could listen to them in my car. So don't listen to the haters. It's not a deep movie, it won't have twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat and sanity. What it has is some seriously cool musicians in a fun movie that is just a joy to watch and listen to...

First of all most of the stars from me are for Toni Basil as Mom. She gave the best acting performance for the film. I was also happily surprised that Bo Diddley was the cigar box guitar playing blues/rock guy in the band. Then the rest of the film: Perfect example of all the things someone that was teens or twenties in the eighties to make them embarrassed. Embarrassed as we are for it it is the way things were. I only just now in 2020 watched it on television mostly because, as television is great for, it simply was on and running. At first I was thinking okay lunch is over can I shut it off. Just then It got better when I got to see what the kids real look was. I laughed and finished watching it with a good boost.

In what has to be one of the dopiest vampire comedies of them all, Dean Cameron of "Summer School" fame stars as Ralph, a centuries old vampire who doesn't suck blood or shun the daylight or anything like that. He just doesn't die. But he's living with an additional curse: every 22 years, he loses the love of his life, Mona (the adorable Tawny Fere) to a pirate sporting a rhinestone-encrusted peg leg and wielding a hambone. Seriously. This time, he's determined to break the cycle instead of being idle. He has the help of people like Chuck (cult icon Susan Tyrrell, "Forbidden Zone"), the Axman (Bo Diddley), and a barfly (Kevin Hunter), while the death-obsessed creep Stanley (a priceless Thomas Dolby) tries to play Van Helsing. You know with a cast like that - with another music star, Toni Basil, playing Ralphs' mom Phoebe - that this merits a viewing on that basis alone. The material is often unbelievably lame and stupid, yet at the same time it's so utterly goofy that it's hard to resist. It's often styled just like a musical, with people like Cameron, Basil, and Fere belting out numbers; and the songs can be dumb, but like the movie itself, they can be catchy and still inspire some amused chuckles. As a plot point, Ralph and his friends form a band that doesn't adhere to one style - first, they're "Rockula", then they're "Rapula". A recurring gag is to have Ralph play off a mirror image of himself (another cliche of vampire lore is dispensed with here) that regularly goads and mocks him. Co-written and directed by Luca Bercovici ("Ghoulies"), whose brother Hilary composed the score, this does generate some good vibes, punched across by an enthusiastic cast. Cameron is a likeable hero, Fere a sexy and endearing leading lady, and Basil is a hoot as the mom. Other familiar faces like Tony Cox ("Bad Santa"), Rick Zumwalt ("Over the Top"), and Bill Brochtrup ('NYPD Blue') turn up, but it's a crying shame that Diddley doesn't get more interesting things to do. All things considered, "Rockula" has enough quirks to qualify it for some sort of cult status. Six out of 10.

I thought cheesy films went out of date in the early '80s, but this one was a surprise. The truth is, the film is totally atrocious, failing as a comedy. The PG rating eliminates any hint of gore or violence - nobody even gets bitten! Actually, the film is devoid of any horror moments, instead presenting the lead vampire of the title as a cool dude (with bushy eyebrows and pointed teeth). The film is interspersed with rock and pop scores, and even ropes in the "legendary" Bo Diddley for some of the 'hits'. The funniest of these pieces of music is 'Rapula', where the fanged dude wears a hat and shell suit and sings "He's the DJ, I'm the vam-pire." Unfortunately the rest of the film is full of lame jokes and stereotypical characters (e.g. a British bad guy) It's sad that a film which tries so hard fails so miserably. Why on earth does Rockula have a separate reflection with a life of its own? The funniest thing about this film is the video cover, a gem of cheesy delight.

Recently saw this on cable, kind of a time-capsule of late 80's cheese. It's not a great movie by any means, I had to fast-forward all the musical sequences except Toni Basil's. She is great in this, by the way- love her costumes, and her dancing. The main character is a lameass virgin vampire, who's fated to keep meeting his murdered lover over and over again until he stops her from getting killed with a hambone by a pirate. Stupid, but the pirate is played by Thomas Dolby, who also has a couple of good moments. I liked his holistic cemetery commercial, with the coin-operated flowers and coffin-on-a-spit so you can roll in your grave. What else... Mona, the big-haired heroine of the story has a really hot dorky friend with cats-eye glasses and a pageboy haircut. So if you like gothy girls, heads up.

Excellent songs with ("Oh Mickey your so fine...") Toni Basil and Bo Diddley. Lots of fun.