Search - Tainted Vampires Collection: Troma Triple B-Header, Vol. 2 on DVD

Bleh

The Encyclopedia Tromatica | Fort Worth, TX | 07/31/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I once gave a glowing review to the first DVD release in this "Troma Triple Feature" series, but this one is a giant step backwards in terms of quality. Two, count 'em, two of the movies on this disc have already been released, in a much superior format. Further, the format of this release is different, with the intro by Lloyd Kaufman, the president of Troma Studios and brother/uncle of The Toxic Avenger (think about it) being repeated before each movie begins, rather than just being viewed once at the start of the DVD.

As for the specific movies:
1) Tainted. This is a surprisingly good film, one that has not been released on DVD before now. I'm only sorry that it's initial release had to come in such a shoddy format. This involves a couple of "film geeks" who stumble onto a plot to taint the local hospital's blood supply with the blood of vampires. A well done film all around. The quality of this is the only thing that prevents me from giving this DVD only one star.

2) Sucker the Vampire. This was one of my favourite movies, in it's original DVD release. However, the version that is on this one ispoorly done. The original had a great musical soundtrack, and also had an alternate audio track featuring a hilarious discussion of the film by the director and the lead actor, Hans Rodionoff and Alex Erkiletian. This version has none of that; Troma decided to change the music in the film, and also decided to remove audio track two. Apparently, Troma realized that these were entertaining, and so decided to exclude them. The movie, which involves a vampire getting AIDS from one of his victims, is just not the same.

3) Rockabilly Vampire. This is the least of these. A fairly good premise, involving an Elvis fan who was bitten by a vampire on his way to costume party that he was going to disguised as Elvis, falls apart in execution. The film looks quite dull and drab, and not even the talent of Steve Blackehart can save it. This was also previously released on DVD, and, although the previous release was not great it was certainly better than this one. For one thing, it had an alternate audio track, and a couple of extra features.

According to the Troma website, they are planning to soon release yet another rip off triple feature, that one much the same as this one. I am not looking forward to it, due to the fact that they are again planning to release it with one movie that is new to DVD, and two others that are currently available. In other words, they will not learn, they will continue to make the mistake they made with this one! It is my hope that the company will reconsider, and put a swift end to this triple-feature series."