Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)

A ship sails into Brooklyn with all its crew dead. But something gets off and the killing continues on land. The vampire is looking for a specific woman - half-human, half-vampire. Rita's the cop detective investigating the many killings.

Director:

Wes Craven

Writers:

Eddie Murphy (story), Vernon Lynch (story)

Stars:

Eddie Murphy, Angela Bassett, Allen Payne

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eddie Murphy	...	Maximillian / Preacher Pauly / Guido
Angela Bassett	...	Det. Rita Veder
Allen Payne	...	Detective Justice
Kadeem Hardison	...	Julius Jones
John Witherspoon	...	Silas Green
Zakes Mokae	...	Dr. Zeko
Joanna Cassidy	...	Capt. Dewey
Simbi Kali	...	Nikki, Rita's Roomate (as Simbi Khali)
Messiri Freeman	...	Eva, Julius' Girl
Kelly Cinnante	...	Policewoman Photographer
Jsu Garcia	...	Anthony (as Nick Corri)
W. Earl Brown	...	Thrasher
Ayo Adeyemi	...	Bartender
Troy Curvey Jr.	...	Choir Leader
Vickilyn Reynolds	...	Mrs. Brown

Storyline

Maximillian is the only survivor from a race of vampires on a Caribbean Island, and, as a vampire, he must find a mate to keep the line from ending. He knows that a child had been born to a woman who had a vampire father, and he searches for her in Brooklyn. Rita's mother, who has died in an asylum, was that woman and Rita has nightmares that she does not understand. Not knowing that she is part-vampire, Max woos her and attempts to bring her to her bloodsucking destiny. Even though Rita has strange dreams and actions, Justice, her partner, has feelings for her and does not want her involved with this stranger Max. But it is Rita who must decide her destiny.

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Plot Keywords:

vampire | yellow eyes | african american | brooklyn new york city | heart ripped out | 

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Taglines:

A comic tale of horror and seduction.

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Horror | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language and vampire violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the opening narration, Maximilian indirectly references the character of Dracula when he talks about how the Nosferatu were originally from Egypt but were expelled thousands of years ago. Many of the vampires relocated to the Carpathian Mountains in eastern Europe. It doubles as somewhat of a "take that!" when he smugly mentions that "others of better taste--including myself--settled in a part of the Caribbean known as The Bermuda Triangle." Dracula lived in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania.

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Goofs

In the scene where Rita is running across the street outside her apartment after realizing she is a vampire, there is a Subway entrance visible. On the sign it says the A, E and F trains stop there although no station name is visible. However the E train stopped running into Brooklyn in 1976 and service ended at the World Trade center in lower Manhattan.

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Quotes

Julius Jones: Hey, man, my pops always said the quickest way to a woman's heart - the church.
Maximillian: It's actually through the ribcage, but that's a bit messy.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: The Worst Films of 1995 (1996)

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Soundtracks

No Woman, No Cry
By Vincent Ford
Performed by Hugh Masekela
Courtesy of The RCA/Novus Label of BMG Music

User Reviews

The Bottom of the Pit for Both the Star and Director

Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)

* (out of 4)

They say sometimes great artists must hit an ultimate low before they can fully bounce back and that has never been more true for both director Wes Craven and star Eddie Murphy. In the film Murphy plays Maximillian, a Caribbean vampire who comes to Brooklyn in search of a woman to carry on his race. He finds the beautiful Rita (Angela Bassett) but his plan isn't going to be as simple as he thought. It's worth noting that Craven's next film was SCREAM and Murphy followed this up with THE NUTTY PROFESSOR so it's easy to see that both of them were just at the bottom of their careers here. The shocking thing revisiting this film for the first time since it was released is that it's actually gotten much, much worse. For the life of me I can't understand what the two were trying to do here but I'm guessing they wanted to take both of what they were great at and put it together but the end result is just a complete disaster. The comedy is so forced and uneven that it's never once funny. The horror elements are just so silly that they're never scary and when the gore does happen it just seems out of place. The entire film has a very ugly pacing and a lot of the blame has to go to Craven for not pulling the picture together but I'd still place more blame on Murphy, the producers, for hiring him. I'm not sure if Murphy and John Landis had a falling out on BEVERLY HILLS COP III but it's clear that he would have been much better with the (bad) material. The performances are all pretty weak with Murphy leading the way in an embarrassing piece of work. Allen Payne is wasted in his supporting role and Kadeem Hardison is just so in-your-face that the entire act just falls apart. VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN is a perfect example of something that has talent but it just never came together for anything.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 October 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Wes Craven's Vampire In Brooklyn

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,045,379, 29 October 1995

Gross USA:

$19,751,736

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$19,751,736

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eddie Murphy Productions, Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1