Maximillian (Eddie Murphy) is a vampire from the Caribbean and he has come to Brooklyn to find his mate. He knows she is here somewhere; he just has to find her. He arrives on a ship full of dead men and encounters Julius Jones (Kadeem Hardison), who he makes into his servant ghoul. Julius will show him around town, get him acclimated to Brooklyn, a place Maximillian has never been to. Meanwhile, Detective Rita Veder (Angela Bassett) has been assigned a new murder case to solve: two dead mobsters (killed by Maximillian early on in the film). Her inquiries bring her close to the vampire, who discovers that she is his lost, promised love, a half-human/half-vampire who only needs her blood to be awakened to find her true potential. Maximillian begins his courtship by insinuating himself into her life and ruining her relationships with those around her. Soon he seduces her, and she gives over to the dark side, if only for a moment. Rita must fight back and find out who she really is, and in the end, this puts her in direct conflict with Maximillian.
Here is a Wes Craven movie that no one talks about much. It came out in 1995 and flopped horribly at the box office. It received bad reviews and was generally dismissed as the product of two talents from the 80s (Murphy and Craven) who had lost a step and were out of touch. It certainly felt that way at the time, but I remember having a bit of fondness for this flick. I didn’t think it was as bad as they made it out to be. Upon revisit, I feel that I was right, although to be fair, this is no genre classic. The humor lands better now than it did when it was released. Back then it just felt tired, a rehashing of stuff Murphy had been doing for years. In fact, even today it’s hard to shake the feeling that this movie is simply Coming to America, with vampires. But here’s the secret to the whole thing: it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The jokes are constantly flowing, the blood is crimson and plentiful, and there’s lots of cool eye candy going on. Yeah, it’s nothing special, but it also isn’t some dud, either. I’ve seen bad Wes Craven movies (I’m looking at you, Shocker) and this most certainly isn’t a bad Wes Craven movie. It comes across as a group of creative people with some money to spend who wanted to make a fun, all-black vampire flick. And in this, they succeeded. The African-American cast all kill it here, and setting this tale of the undead in a thoroughly black world offers a unique and interesting twist on the vampire genre. Yeah, it’s been done before, but here it is in the 90s, and it’s pretty good. This won’t steal the crown from Blacula’s head, but it certainly attains prince hood.
In any case, if you want to see a vampire movie that’s a bit different, with a unique perspective and great cast, you have a winner here. We could go into themes and the underlying social concerns in the movie (how the black bourgeois tries to impose its will on poor and working-class blacks, gentrification, etc.) but mostly it’s a movie to have a few laughs to, and see some cool set-pieces. This one doesn’t drag on your brain, for the most part, it’s just good, breezy fun. Give it another look.
★★✮☆