What could you do if you wanted to make a movie, but couldn’t afford to shoot on film? Making a movie on 35mm was an extremely expensive proposition. First you had to rent a camera. Then you had to buy film. Remember that only 10 minutes of film could fit in the camera at a time. You had to hire someone who could handle a 35mm camera and an assistant or two. You also have to rent a rather large light package so you can see things in the frame. After the film is shot, you’d have to pay to have a film lab develop the negative and strike a one light print so you can see what you really shot. This meant you had to rent a nearby movie theater to project the dallies. Can you hear the cash register dinging? You aren’t even in post-production which involves even more lab expenses including striking a print so you can attract a distributor. While standard definition video didn’t look as sharp as film, you could put more on a video cassette for a lot less. You didn’t have to spent most of your time raising money and having to explain your vision to people who will scoff. All you needed were a pack of likeminded pals who were eager to act, test out special effects, move a few lights around and had a few free weekends. Vampires And Other Stereotypes is a movie that would have never been made if writer, producer, director, editor and Swamp Monster Kevin J. Lindenmuth had to make a phone call to Kodak. He borrowed a video camera from his job, used two weeks of vacation and later used their editing equipment after hours to tell his story of a gateway to Hell located in New York City.
Ivan (Bill White) is getting dressed for a night out. His girlfriend Rosa (Laura Vale/Laura McLauchlin) isn’t happy that he has to go out another night and she’s not going out with him. But he has a mission with his longtime partner. He meets up with his pal Harry (Ed Hubbard) to go roaming around the less than happening night spots. They have a weird handheld device that leads them down the streets. What are they tracking? They enter a storage center and find an old guy hanging upside down with a woman in a cloak prepared to kill. She tells the duo to not tamper with the man’s destiny. They take her out cold blooded style and cut the old guy down. In what seems to be unrelated, somewhere else in New York City, three college girls are getting ready for a hot night on the town. They are already dancing around because Kirsten (Wendy Bednarz)’s new boyfriend Erik (Mick McCleery) has promised to take them to the hottest spot in the city. The girls are shocked when they end up in the same warehouse as Ivan and Harry. But it turns out to really be a hot spot since there’s a portal to Hell in the floor. Erik has a demonic side and he needs to use the girls to open the gaping hole up to bring on the end of humanity.
If you’re a fan of low budget horror, Vampires And Other Stereotypes is a romp. The film doesn’t deliver the usual stereotypes found in a portal to Hell movie. You get Elvis and Jim Morrison dining in Hell. While the film is rather amateur in many aspects, the special effects make the action look like it had a budget of a Troma production. The wall of demon faces is creative and a bit creepy. Scott Sliger and Scott Hart do a fantastical job coming up with demon faces and other creatures that crawl out from the portal of Hell. They even come up with a giant rat. Plus we see Elvis and Jim Morrison as undead demonic creatures. While so much of the film is about demons, there are vampires in the movie. This isn’t a misleading title. The movie at one point was put out on VHS as Hell’s Belles which sounds more like the college gals were more demonic than they really were. Kevin J. Lindenmuth was able to bring together a cast and crew to make his dream of a nightmarish movie. The being shot on video hasn’t hurt the film longevity. Here we are three decades later looking at the film on a Blu-ray disc. It’s as immortal as his characters. Vampires And Other Stereotypes does keep from being a stereotypical horror film.
The Video is 1.33:1 full frame. The movie was shot on standard definition video so there’ a fuzziness to the frame which adds to the dark shadowy nature of what’s happening in the warehouse. The Audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. You can hear things fine including the soundtrack. The movie is subtitled in English.
Commentary with Director Kevin Lindenmuth has him talk about how his day job at a video production house in Manhattan led to him to make his first movie. He points out the various locations. The most startling is his old apartment that’s used in the opening. Turns out that after he moved out, someone hung themselves in the bedroom doorway. I guess this is considered a cursed film.
Commentary with Actor Mick McCleery and Director Kevin Lindenmuth reunites the director and his actor who hooked him up with his main shooting location. The talk gets dark when Kevin tells Mick that while getting things together, he discovered both lead actors Ed White and Ed Hubbard have passed away. This just might be a cursed movie. Mick talks about how long after the shoot, he went out to California and ended up having brunch with Laura McLauchlin. They talk about the summer of 1991 when they shot the movie. They discuss how they didn’t know how to really hang someone upside down. They recount how they met each other on this project.
Commentary with Tony Strauss of Weng’s Chop Magazine points out cool things in the opening credits. He goes into the director’s background and how his grandmother took him to slasher films. What a great grandmother. Strauss goes deep into the subject of Hell.
Director Kevin Lindenmuth Interview (25:22) has him discuss how the movie came together from him hanging out with a group of creative folks. He talks about using the production company’s video equipment to pursue his dream of movie making. He had access to a great camera for 1990. He ran into special effects artists at horror convention. He was able to get to use garage space in Cherryhill, New Jersey. He discusses how it took a bit more time to make a movie in the pre-internet time especially for the casting. He goes into what it took to shoot the movie. This includes his belief that cameraman Tullio Tedeschi might not have read the script since he was Italian. He gets into the long hours editing the film after work which is why it took so long to get released. There are photos from the production so you can see what the sets looked like.
Actress Laura McLauchlin Interview (3:20) has her talk about how she was doing a lot of theater and was eager to do a film. She enjoyed how the film let her show her creativity. She plays the girlfriend in the opening scene. Afterward, she went out to Los Angeles and worked on two Clint Eastwood films including Midnight In The Garden of Good And Evil. She also did sitcoms afterward.
Actor Mick McCleery Interview (9:56) gets into how he ended up as an actor and set designer on the film. He had access to the Garage where they shot the film. He talks about playing the evil boyfriend.
Actress Suzanne Turner Interview (3:01) has her admit that she had forgotten about the movie when they contacted her through Facebook to be interviewed. But she remembers going through the ads in Backstage and sending in her headshot. She offered up her apartment to shoot the “dorm” scene. This was her first feature film. She does remember being scared by the special effects make up.
Actress Sally Narkis Interview (7:18) has her get involved in the film because of a friend. She enjoyed the cast and crew as she played the Waitress From Hell.
Makeup Effects Artist Ralis Kahn Interview (17:31) has him remember going to the Fangoria convention in New York City and meeting Scott Sliger. He was thrilled to meet someone who worked with the stuff. He showed off his portfolio and Scott gave him the effects company’s phone number. They had him work on the Vampires shoot for free. But he ended up getting paid for later gigs with them.
Special Effects Artist Scott Sliger Interview (7:23) has him recall working on the film with his crew. He gets him to talk about working on the film with a small budget. He gets into the giant rat puppet.
Photographer Sung Pak Interview (9:09) has him talk about working in Manhattan. He was hired by Kevin for freelance gigs at the production house. He enjoyed taking photos on the set and the comradery of the crew.
Publicist Joe Mauceri Interview (23:46) has him talk about how they publicized the movie through various horror fanzines. He brings up an important point that since rarely does any major movie shoot on film anymore, a film like Vampires And Other Stereotypes was the future of filmmaking.
Behind the Scenes Image Gallery (2:01) show off the special effects of the film.
Kevin Lindenmuth Early Super 8 Films (26:26) were made in the ’80s. There’s a commentary track so Kevin can let you know what’s happening and who are the actors in the films.
Original Trailer (2:18) includes the videobox. They show a lot of biting happening in the film.
Visual Vengeance Trailer (1:09) goes straight for the demonic carnage.
Six-page liner notes by Tony Strauss of Weng’s Chop Magazine gives background on the production.
‘Stick your own’ VHS sticker set includes a “Not For The Kiddies” Sticker.
Collectible Folded mini-poster is suitable for framing.
Visual Vengeance and Wild Eye releasing present Vampires And Other Stereotypes. Directed by Kevin J. Lindenmuth. Screenplay by Kevin J. Lindenmuth. Starring Bill White, Ed Hubbard, Wendy Bednarz, Rick Poli, Anna Dipace, Suzanne Scott, Laura McLauchlin, Monica Batavanis, Bean Miller, Mike Memphis, Kevin J. Lindenmuth, Fia Perera, Sally Narkis & Mick McCleery. Running Time: 87 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: October 24, 2023.
