Vampirella (film)

Vampirella is a 1996 American film which was part of the Roger Corman Presents series. It was based on the Vampirella comic book.

It was directed by Jim Wynorski who in 2013 said it was the one movie of his he regretted making. "I can look back on it today and just say 'Oh well', but back when the memories were fresh and the blood on the floor was yet to dry, it was painful to even edit," he said. "What went wrong??? Wrong choice for the star, massive union problems in Vegas, studio interference, theft, accidents, 112 degree heat, you name it, we had it happen. But as least I got to see Soupy Sales perform."

Plot
Vampirella travels from Drakulon to Earth to seek revenge on the vampires who murdered her father.

Cast

 * Talisa Soto as Vampirella/Ella
 * Roger Daltrey as Vlad
 * Richard Joseph Paul as Adam Van Helsing
 * Lee de Broux as Lieutenant Walsh
 * Brian Bloom as Demos
 * Corinna Harney as Sallah
 * Tom Deters as Traxx
 * Angus Scrimm as High Elder
 * David B. Katz as Forry Ackerman

Development
A Vampirella film project had been in development for a number of years. Hammer Films came close to making one in the 1970s starring Barbara Leigh; Christopher Wicking wrote a script and John Hough was to direct. The film was going to be a co production with American International Pictures but then head of production Samuel Z. Arkoff decided not to make the film.

In the early 1980s Peter Guber and Jon Peters had the rights when they were at Polygram.

Film rights passed to Roger Corman and Jim Wynorski. Leigh says that Wynorski wanted to cast Paula Abdul in the title role.

Wynorski had a friend, Gary Gerani, who was a Vampirella aficionado, and hired him to write the script.

Shooting
Jim Wynorski later called the film "a mess... a film I cannot watch. Everything went wrong. Everything!"

His main concern was the casting of Talisa Soto. Wynorski said, "She’s very pretty and she’s very sexy. But she’s not Vampirella. They forced me to use her. She just didn’t have the body for the costume....I should have had Julie Strain. But they didn’t think Julie Strain meant anything. So they put somebody wrong in the role."

Wynorski later said he should "have stopped and said let’s just not do this. But, I was going to lose the rights in 6 months, so I did what I had to do. At least, I got the film made. But I should have said no."

"It would have been so simple to cast the latest Baywatch bimbo in this part," said Gerani. "So now she's a vampire wonder woman from outer space with a Puerto Rican accent. What more could you ask for?"

The director thought Roger Daltry "was great... the actors were fine".

Filming took place in Las Vegas. "It was 110, everyday," said Wynorski. "Everybody was gambling, everybody was up all night. Everyone was blurry eyed. There was a thief on set who was stealing money. It was awful."

"When you see how lousy those bat transformations are," said Gerani, "you'll realize that we're just a hip little million-dollar drive-in movie."

"It was really a nasty, nasty picture to work on," said Wynorski. "And it came out badly, too... I wish I could go back now and redo it with the CGI of today. But even then, I just don’t ever feel like going back to that.... It’s got a good Joel Goldsmith score."

"Given how absurd anything called Vampirella would be, the movie certainly doesn't insult your intelligence," says Gerani. "I think there's a nice emotional depth to the piece."