Review of Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009) by Sol H — 08 Nov 2011

When this film came out, it drew a lot of comparisons to 'Shaun of the Dead'. I thought this was unfair because 'Shaun of the Dead' isn't the only horror comedy although for a while, it seemed impossible to make a film in both of those genres without it being compared to that masterpiece.

However, upon seeing this film, it's apparent why. Everything about the film seems like a poorly thought-out attempt to reconstruct the magic of that film. It's centred around two TV personalities - but we're already off to a bad start as where 'Shaun of the Dead' had Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, 'Lesbian Vampire Killers' has Matthew Horne and James Corden. Matthew Horne being an utterly untalented actor and comedian and James Corden being an extremely aggravating tosspot. The film picks and chooses its imagery from 'Shaun of the Dead', trying to pass it off as homage to classic B-movies, and worst of all, every aspect of the direction is shamelessly ripped off. I know that Edgar Wright will openly admit to ripping off Martin Scorsese, but there's a difference between borrowing techniques, learning from others and ultimately creating something with its own voice and what this film did which is say "Shaun of the Dead was well directed, let's direct a film exactly like that except not wquite as well because we're less talented". To put it in its simplest terms, whilst 'Shaun of the Dead' was directed by Edgar Wright, 'Lesbian Vampire Killers' feels like it was directed by Edgar Wrong.

Of course, one should push past these comparisons and judge the film on its own merits... and that's when the film's credibility jumps out of the frying pan and into the fire. It's just plain awful. A hokey and cliched storyline, stilted performances, awkward pacing and scope, ridiculous immaturity and worst of all, an abysmal lack of laughs.

'Lesbian Vampire Killers' is a film that presumably only got funding because somebody owed someone a favour and 'Shaun of the Dead' made money. It epitomises everything wrong with the British film industry - stuff that 'Shaun of the Dead' had fought so hard against. It's a depressing film to sit through - more than anything for me as an aspiring film-maker because I could honestly make a better film in a week on a shoe-string budget with the level of experience I have now (which is next to none).

2/10.