Vampire in Brooklyn

Vampire in Brooklyn is a 1995 American vampire comedy horror film directed by Wes Craven. It stars Eddie Murphy, who produced and wrote with his brothers Vernon Lynch and Charles Q. Murphy. The film co-stars Angela Bassett, Allen Payne, Kadeem Hardison, John Witherspoon, Zakes Mokae, and Joanna Cassidy. Murphy also plays an alcoholic preacher, Pauly, and a foul-mouthed Italian-American mobster, Guido, respectively.

Vampire in Brooklyn was the final film produced under Eddie Murphy's exclusive contract with Paramount Pictures, which began with 48 Hrs. (1982) and included the Beverly Hills Cop franchise (1984–1994).

Vampire in Brooklyn was released theatrically in the United States on October 27, 1995. It received mostly negative reviews from critics and failed to meet the studio's expectations, as it was unsuccessful at the box office. Despite this, Vampire In Brooklyn has become regarded as a cult classic and has been subject to critical re-evaluation especially towards Craven's direction, Murphy and Bassett's performances and chemistry and the humor.

Plot
In Brooklyn, New York, an abandoned, decrepit ship crashes into a dockyard. Ship inspector Silas Green discovers it is full of ravaged corpses and a wolf which leaves the ship. His co-worker and nephew Julius Jones flees in terror, running into gangsters to whom he owes money. The wolf, in his true form as the powerful, millennia-old vampire Maximillian (Max), intervenes and is shot, but instantly heals from his injuries. After killing the gangsters, Max forces Julius to consume his blood, transforming him into a decaying, subservient ghoul. Seemingly the last of his kind, Max explains that a lone vampire is doomed and so he must find and fully transform the only known half-vampire woman to exist before the next full moon.

Unaware of her vampire heritage, NYPD Detective Rita Veder is struggling with the recent death of her mentally ill mother and is tormented by unexplained visions which cause her colleagues to ostracize and belitte her. As she and her partner Detective Justice investigate the ship murders, Max enacts his plan to isolate Rita, seducing and killing her roommate Nikki and convincing her that Nikki and Justice, for whom she has romantic feelings, were having sex. Max uses his transformative powers to kill and take the guise of her preacher and a criminal, further guiding her down his intended path while causing her to distrust Justice. Max eventually saves Rita from being run over by a taxi and she agrees to have dinner with him. He magically gives Julius' dilapidated apartment a luxurious appearance and successfully enthralls Rita, tearing off her crucifix necklace and biting her.

The next day, while investigating Julius's potential involvement in the ship murders, Justice learns that Rita spent the night with Max and is informed that Nikki's body has been found. Justice finds Rita in her apartment, having slept all day, and tells her that Nikki was found posed as in one of Rita's visions, suggesting they are prophetic. Rita reconciles with Justice but almost instinctually bites him before seeing her fading reflection in the mirror. She confronts Max about the changes occurring in her. Max reveals that Rita's vampire father had told him where to find her before his death at the hands of vampire hunters; his death was responsible for driving Rita's mother insane. Max tempts Rita to accept her transformation, demonstrating his vampiric abilities and reminding her that humans had treated her poorly.

Justice seeks help from vampire expert Dr. Zeko, who knew Rita's mother when she was researching the vampires of the Caribbean Islands and met Rita's father; Zeko explains that Rita's transformation will be irreversible if she feeds on human blood. Max takes Rita hunting but she refuses to drink a victim's blood, causing her to grow weak, and seeks divine help at a graveyard. At Julius' apartment, Justice and Zeko intervene before Max can force her to drink Silas' blood. Max incapacitates Zeko and beats Justice, offering the almost fully transformed Rita his blood. Though tempted, and admitting the powerful connection between herself and Max, Rita refuses and impales Max through the heart, rejecting her vampiric half. Max's magic fades as his body turns to smoke and a bat-like spirit flies into the night. Rita is cured of her vampirism, recovers her necklace, and kisses Justice.

Outside, the thoroughly decayed and rotting Julius finds Max's ring and puts it on, instantly transforming him into fully-healed and restored vampire. Acknowledging that Julius is in charge, Silas drives him away in Max's limo to parts unknown.

Cast

 * Eddie Murphy as Maximillian / Preacher Pauly / Guido
 * Angela Bassett as Detective Rita Veder
 * Allen Payne as Detective Justice
 * Kadeem Hardison as Julius Jones
 * John Witherspoon as Silas Green
 * Zakes Mokae as Dr. Zeko
 * Joanna Cassidy as Captain Dewey
 * W. Earl Brown as Police Officer
 * Simbi Khali as Nikki
 * Ray Combs as Game Show Host
 * John LaMotta as Lizzy

Production
Stunt performer Sonja Davis was fatally injured performing a 42 ft backward fall.

According to Charlie Murphy, the movie was originally going to be a straight horror film with no laughs but Wes Craven brought a different focus to it. He also said: "Maximilian wasn't going to have any redeeming qualities. But Wes taught us that we must get the audience to care about our characters. And even if they didn't know any vampires personally, they would at least have to identify with the type of person he was."

About the movie, Eddie Murphy said: "I've always wanted to do something where I was the villain in the movie. I love horror pictures and I was a big fan of Wes Craven. This movie started out as something small, this was a movie my company was just going to produce and the screenplay came together so well that I thought it will be a fun role to play. Because I got to do something kind of scary and had a safety net because the vampire can turn into other peoples. I get to be funny when I'm the preacher and I get to be funny when I'm the Italian guy. And the vampire is pretty straight and I got all these funny stuff happening around me. I felt it was a unique piece to do."

Filming lasted for 55 days, of which three were spent on location in New York City and the rest were spent in Los Angeles.

Critical response
Vampire in Brooklyn was released to coincide with the Halloween season. The film received mostly negative reviews, and was considered at the time as a lesser film of both Murphy and Craven. In the next year, 1996, Craven moved on to begin the hugely successful Scream franchise, while Murphy began concentrating on more family-friendly movies, with his remake The Nutty Professor. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 11% based on reviews from 35 critics, and the site's consensus is: "Neither scary nor very funny, this misguided effort never lives up to its premise." On Metacritic, it has a score of 27% based on reviews from 17 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave the film 1 star out of 4, saying: "The movie is unpleasant to look at. It's darker than Se7en, but without sufficient purpose, and my overall memory of it is people screaming in the shadows. To call this a comedy is a sign of optimism; to call it a comeback for Murphy is a sign of blind faith." Variety wrote, in a positive review, "Helmer Wes Craven keeps the action moving despite some detours allowing Murphy to play other characters as he did in Coming to America. Murphy proves effective and menacing as the vampire in a rather brave departure from what might be expected. Bassett looks great once she gets vampired-up. The vampire effects and makeup are also impressive." Australian film critic Adrian Martin also gave Vampire in Brooklyn a positive review especially for Murphy's performance and Craven's direction - which he considers is his best film since Shocker -: “Craven balances Vampire in Brooklyn judiciously between vulgar, shambling hilarity and straight-faced gothic horror. He juices up the dramatic tension and gory thrills, creating a particularly intense romanticism.“ About Murphy he said: “The role (partly scripted by the actor) allows him to explore a sinister, dramatic side of his persona, to great effect. His range is considerably extended by this film.“

Box office
Vampire in Brooklyn was released in the United States and Canada on October 27, 1995. During its opening weekend it grossed a total of $7   million from 2,307 theaters—an average of $3,053 per theater—making it the third-highest-grossing film of the weekend, behind Get Shorty ($10.2    million) in its second week of release, and the debuting Powder ($7.1    million). In its second weekend, Vampire in Brooklyn fell to the number 5 position with a $4.4   million gross—a 37.6% drop from the previous week—placing it behind the debut of Fair Game ($4.9    million) and ahead of the debuting Home for the Holidays ($4    million). By its third weekend, Vampire in Brooklyn fell to the number 9 position with a $2.3   million gross, placing it behind Seven ($2.5    million), in its eighth week of release, and ahead of Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain ($1.6    million), in its second. Vampire in Brooklyn left the top ten highest-grossing films by its fourth weekend with a gross of $1   million.

In total, Vampire in Brooklyn grossed $19.8   million, making it only the 82nd-highest-grossing film of 1995 in the United States and Canada. Outside of the United States and Canada, Vampire in Brooklyn is estimated to have grossed a further $15.2   million, giving it a worldwide total gross of $35    million.

Critical reassessment
At the time of its release, Vampire in Brooklyn was seen as one of Murphy and Craven's lesser films, something Murphy acknowledged in a 2016 interview: "Well, I don't think The New Yorker will be singing the praises of Meet Dave. 'That was a gem!' I don't know if there's some Pluto Nash Appreciation Club out there. The Friends of Holy Man Group. The Vampire in Brooklyn Club."

Since its release, Vampire in Brooklyn become a cult classic. In the retrospective book Wes Craven: The Art of Horror, author John Kenneth Muir praised the film especially Murphy and Bassett's chemistry, the comedy, the special effect sequences, the score and the "overall 1930s–'40s mood" which he called "charming". Charles Pulliam More of Gizmodo touted Vampire in Brooklyn as one of the most "underrated horror movies of all time" and praised it as "one of the most unique films in its genre—and one of the best." Monique Jones from Shadow and Act stated that Vampire in Brooklyn is one of Murphy's most interesting films due to how much of an outlier it is in his filmography." Andrew Shearer from Online Athens singled out the movie as one of Murphy's most underrated performances. Stephanie Williams of Syfy Wire considers the film a "spooky-time favorite" and praised Bassett's performances, the humor (especially from Hardison and Witherspoon) and adds that "infusing Caribbean culture into the traditional vampire lore was an excellent choice for obvious reasons." Cinema Blend's Rich Knight considers the film an "underrated classic", writing: "I don't care what anybody says, I love this movie." In 2021, Kisha Forde of Essence also acknowledged the movie's status as a "cult classic" and how it "has gone on to be an outlier of typical horror-comedy plots". She also singled out Maximilian as one of the "15 most iconic roles" of Murphy. In 2022, Vampire in Brooklyn was listed among some other "underrated" vampire movies by Sara Century of Collider, who praised Murphy and Bassett's performances and the humor. On a retrospective article about Wes Craven, Chris Catt from Creepy Catalog praised the movie and considered it as "one of his more underrated movies." In 2022, Hal Young from Senses of Cinema wrote a Craven's retrospective and praised the film: "Along with Hills II, Deadly Friend, and My Soul to Take, it has long been considered one of Craven's worst. Yet, of these films, Vampire in Brooklyn is easily the least deserving of its negative reception. It has aged far better than many of Craven's other works, whilst also being an intriguing outlier in Murphy's filmography as one of his few dark, villainous roles." He concludes by saying: "It deserves praise for its fascinating evocation of nocturnal Brooklyn, its charismatic performances, and for having one of Craven's best endings." Although he ranked Vampire in Brooklyn as one of Craven's worst movies, Ty Weinert of Collider praised Craven's direction and Murphy-Bassett "fantastic" chemistry. In 2022 the Blackbusters Podcast singled out Vampire in Brooklyn as one of Murphy's most enjoyable films and praised Angela Bassett's performance. In 2023, Dolores Quintana of Fangoria praised Murphy's performance: “It's a horror comedy, so it isn't a particularly subtle film, but it is one of Murphy's most charismatic and unselfconscious roles.“ Also in 2023, Dani Philips of HotNewHipHop praised the movie: “Vampire in Brooklyn holds up, with hilarious jokes, over-the-top performances, and a great cast.“ In 2024, Jesse Hassenger from Decider compared the movie to Murphy’s previous movie, Beverly Hills Cop 3: “It’s much funnier, more interesting, and more engaged than anything in BHC3. (Honestly, I’d take it over Beverly Hills Cop II, too.) Vampire offers a glimpse of an Eddie Murphy who’s less interested in playing the brash comic hero, but still knows how to use his charisma and presence to command the screen.“

Angela Bassett's performance was particularly praised. Danielle Kwateng-Clark of Essence singled out Vampire in Brooklyn as one of the best movies starring Angela Bassett and simply said about it "Every actor plays a cop at least once in their career, and Bassett was great alongside Eddie Murphy in this film." Jake Dee from Screen Rant considers Rita Veder, Angela Bassett's characters, as one of Wes Craven's strongest female characters. Chris Sasaguay of Collider also considers Vampire in Brooklyn as one of Bassett's best movies and said she's the “anchor to her male co-stars“. Fiona Underhill of /Film ranked Vampire in Brooklyn as one of Bassett's best films, writing: "Vampire in Brooklyn is a fun horror-comedy, but Bassett's acting is as impressive as ever, even while things around her are so chaotic and a mixture of tones". Andscape's Marcus Shorter also praised Bassett: "Murphy's name appears first on the poster, but narratively, Vampire in Brooklyn is Bassett's movie."

For the film's 25th anniversary, Rotten Tomatoes released a podcast titled "Rotten Tomatoes score is wrong about Vampire in Brooklyn" that attempted to justify why "Vampire in Brooklyn" should have received a higher score calling it a "cult classic" especially for the "under-appreciated sense of the bizarre, a killer score, and some serious chemistry between Murphy and Angela Bassett". They also added: "Look closely, and there are glimmers of Craven's keen sense of the horror-comedy mix, and Murphy's natural-born charisma."

The cast and crew's thoughts on the film
In a 2011 interview with Rolling Stone, Murphy gave a reason Vampire in Brooklyn was a failure: "The only way I was able to do Nutty Professor and to get out of my Paramount deal, I had to do Vampire in Brooklyn. But you know what ruined that movie? The wig. I walked out in that longhaired wig and people said, 'Oh, get the fuck out of here! What the hell is this?

In a 2012 interview with The A.V. Club, John Witherspoon stated Vampire in Brooklyn was "one of my favorite movies. I had the chance to holler and scream." In September 2014, Kadeem Hardison responded to a fan on Twitter who enjoyed the movie and said: “loved it too. got to work side by side w/a genius/comic god (ed), my boy (al p.) & wes craven (aka "good, now make it funnier!")“. In an interview with Shadow and Act, Hardison also singled out Vampire in Brooklyn as his "favorite" works: "I had so much fun doing this. This was probably the most fun—I'm Gonna Git You Sucka was close. Damon Wayans was my comedy guru. But Ed was some kind of Jesus, he was a god."

Speaking with director Mick Garris in 2014, Craven reflected than Murphy wanted to show off his dramatic acting chops: "He didn't want to be funny at all. He wanted to play it totally straight so I couldn't get the humor into it that I wanted to get into it. But it was an interesting experience." About the final product, he said: "I thought it was a fun little film and it was nice to get a chance to do comedy, but I think the script really hampered it". Craven's longtime collaborator and fellow producer Marianne Maddalena also shared similar thoughts about the film: "It was just a strange movie. Strange studio movie with Eddie Murphy not wanting to be funny so that already was not a good move [...] It was not the most pleasant experience". Cinematographer Mark Irwin also said than making the movie was a “true nightmare“ and blamed Murphy’s reluctance to do the film: “Poor Wes (Craven) was stuck with Eddie (Murphy) who didn’t want to be there. It was his last film for Paramount and he did everything he could to kick holes in the whole movie. Wes felt that this was his break into the studio world from New Line to Paramount but it didn’t happened.“

In 2015, co-writer Chris Parker said: "I don't want to disparage Vampire in Brooklyn. I love it. I'm so glad it happened." Co-writer Michael Lucker is happy about the legacy of the film: "What's strange is as the years go by, no matter where I go, there are people who love this movie and know lines from it. I live in Atlanta, and whenever it comes up with people in the community it's met with such a positive response and wide grins."

In 2021, editor Patrick Lussier said:"There were all sorts of challenges with making that film, including the death of a stunt woman early on in the first week of photography. Her name was Sonja Davis and there was a lot of weight on that film because of it. It was a pretty awful thing and then after that, the combination of Eddie Murphy wanting to make a movie that was completely in the vein of The Serpent and the Rainbow, which is one of Wes's best films, and the studio Paramount wanted them to make essentially a sort of horror version of Beverly Hills Cop. The original drafts of the script were much darker and much, much more Brooklyn centric and very, very cool. I think the original ending had an oil tanker truck hanging off the side of the Brooklyn Bridge and this sort of fight with Eddie, Angela Bassett and Allen Payne all in is this thing. I remember him telling me one day that the head of the studio at Paramount had dragged him in after seeing some of the dailies and was yelling at him that it needed to be funny. It needed to be funny the way Jack Nicholson was funny in The Shining, when he says, 'here's Johnny', and Wes's response was, 'Do you hear yourself? You're saying this needs to be funny, like The Shining'... so I think it was a brutally hard experience for so many reasons."

In 2023, Bassett received the Montecito Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where she acknowledged Sonja Davis's performance and how she lost her life during the film. The festival's executive director, Roger Durling, singled out Vampire in Brooklyn as one of the most underrated movies of Bassett's filmography.

References in movies
Vampire in Brooklyn was one of several of Craven's movies referenced in the subway scene of Scream VI (2023). The directors, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett revealed in an interview with Variety that they include people dressed up as famous Wes Craven characters including Preacher Pauly and Detective Rita Veder from Vampire in Brooklyn.