Fred Olen May: BEVERLY HILLS VAMP (1989)
Move over BEVERLY HILLS COP—BEVERLY HILLS VAMP is here! One of Fred Olen Ray's finest films as a director, BEVERLY HILLS VAMP was shot in 1988 and released around Halloween of 1989. Fred had already made a dozen films, including the likes of ARMED RESPONSE, THE TOMB, and CYCLONE. He was honing his craft and able to shoot faster and cheaper as time went on.
For his latest motion picture, he decided to give goofy character actor, Eddie Deezen, a starring vehicle. He was overdue for one, having proven himself in classics such as CRITTERS 2 and GREASE. His trademark glasses and nerdy voice make him a likable leading man. Fred had already brought COUNT YORGA star Robert Quarry out of retirement with a few roles and enjoyed working with him so much that he cast Quarry as a priest here. Fred would refer to him over the years as "Uncle Bob" and the two would remain close friends for the next 20 years until Quarry's death.
What the hell is this movie about you ask? It's three stooges (well, not THOSE stooges) who trek to Hollywood to make it in show business.
They decide to hit up a brothel for some sexy time with some of the hottest broads in the business.
Britt Ekland, Jillian Kesner, Debra Lamb and Michelle Bauer. Also watch for the then-Mrs. Fred Olen Ray, Dawn Wildsmith, as the secretary.
This is an excellent example of what you can make on a six-day schedule. Ernest Farino, who had done effects on THE TERMINATOR, fleshed out an incredibly funny and entertaining screenplay. I'd love to see this movie on the big screen at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles just to see how it plays out with a crowd. There's a laugh a minute!
Now let's talk about one of my favorite scenes. The Michelle Bauer sex scene. Yowza! This was Michelle in peak form, perfect tan and about 8% body fat. Very toned. The scene almost feels out of place and that's because it literally is. The scene was originally shot for THE TOMB four years earlier and was removed due to Trans World Entertainment finding it too racy. She tears the heart out of her victim and it's the bloodiest scene in the film and easily one of the most memorable.
The other ladies really ham it up and have fun with their scenes. You can tell everybody knows exactly what type of film they're doing. Jillian Kesner was married to Gary Graver, who worked a bit on the film. She passed away too young. Debra Lamb keeps active in films these days. Britt Ekland has been retired from show business for 15 years now. They all look fantastic in this film. Cleavage everywhere!
I personally haven't even seen the film in a good five years and can still instantly hear Chuck Cirino's energetic, memorable theme song. If his name sounds familiar, he also scored CHOPPING MALL. Fred always puts together the best crews. You even got editing by Christopher Roth (KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE) and the DP was Stephen Ashley Blake, who lensed quite a few of the late 80's AIP Home Video productions.
Jay Richardson just about steals the film with an excellent performance and went on to be in more Fred Olen Ray movies than any other actor! Tom Shell has also appeared in some of Fred's other movies and is now a successful director/producer.
The film generally is tame in terms of language and violence. In fact, if you took out the nudity, it would probably be PG-13. It's a great party movie that can be enjoyed by both horror and comedy fans. It almost plays out like a modern-day Bowery Boys movie!
Flash forward to 2013 and producer Grant Austin Waldman hired yours truly to pen a sequel called BEVERLY HILLS VAMP: BLOOD DRIVE. We decided to keep it campy and even tamer in terms of violence and language. It would easily have garnered a PG-13.
Alas, we never could get the financing and the project was never made. It was going to be shot in Florida, where there also happens to be a Beverly Hills.
Eddie Deezen and Jay Richardson were slated to return with a different actress playing Madam Cassandra this time around.
I love the fact that the characters are very likable; you even root for the bad guys. The film happens to only be available on VHSand laserdisc. It never made it to disc as the rights are held by Lionsgate, who acquired it from Vidmark/Trimark. Let's pester them until they give it a nice release with commentary, interviews, and bloopers!
(Editor’s Note: You can buy it on Amazon digital but it is literally missing an entire audio track where the score and sound effects are supposed to be. It makes for an eerie and fairly awful experience. Don’t buy that version until it is corrected!)
When I first came to Hollywood in May of 1999, my friend Dave DeCoteau knew I was a huge fan of Fred and arranged for me to go to the Ray’s house. There I met him alongside his wife, Kim Ray. He'd just done ACTIVE STEALTH (one of his best) and launched Retromedia shortly after. Fred was over dishonest distributors who weren't paying up or giving him timely reports. So he solved that problem by cutting out the middleman as well as now having a way to release films from his friends and the films that he grew up on. Retromedia has released several hundred films and continues to this day.
If you enjoyed this one, I also recommend these other fine Fred Olen Ray classics: DINOSAUR ISLAND, MOB BOSS (another Deezen movie), HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS, and BIKINI DRIVE-IN (perhaps my personal fave).
