My Best Friend Is a Vampire *½ (1987, Robert Sean Leonard, Cheryl Pollak, Rene Auberjonois, Cecilia Peck, LeeAnne Locken) – Classic Movie Review 5647

Robert Sean Leonard stars as Jeremy Capello, a high school boy who becomes a vampire after a night with a female vampire, and attempts to adjust to his toothsome new way of living. But then a vampire hunter tries to hunt him down, in director Jimmy Huston’s daft, air-headed 1987 teen comedy that starts brightly enough but soon wears very thin.

Leonard makes a cute young vampire, but Tab Murphy’s script lets him down, and, Leonard’s game turn apart, some of the other acting isn’t very distinguished either. However, to be fair, it is a mixed bag of performances and other exceptions are the good turns from Evan Mirand as the loutish Ralph, Cheryl Pollak as the geeky Darla Blake, Fannie Flagg and Kenneth Kimmins as worried parents Mrs and Mr Capello, Rene Auberjonois as Modoc, Cecilia Peck (Gregory Peck’s daughter) as Nora and Kathy Bates as Helen Blake.

And the bright Seventies/Eighties pop soundtrack is another asset, including One Way Or Another (performed by Blondie), Heartbeat Getting Stronger (performed by Nicholas Tremulis), Sex As A Weapon (performed by Tom Kelly), Don’t Follow Me (performed by Shari Saba) and Same Man I Was Before (performed by Oingo Boingo).

Also in the cast are LeeAnne Locken, Michelle La Vigne, Harvey Christiansen, David Warner as Professor McCarthy, Paul Willson as the professor’s bumbling assistant Grimsdyke, Erica Zeitlin as Gloria, and John Chappell.

Fannie Flagg, who plays the hero’s mother, is the author of the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. And Kathy Bates, who plays Darla’s mother, starred the in 1991 movie of it.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5647

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