Review: Vampire Sisters (2004)

Director: Joe Ripple | 79 minutes | horror | Actors: Darla Albornoz, Leanna Chamish, Bill Debrason, Syn DeVil, Terry Frank, Jeannie Michelle Jameson, Kelly Klein, Mitch Klein, Mark Lassise, Steven Proz Prosser, Joe Ripple, Michelle Ripple, Daniel Ross, Isabelle Stephen, George Stover , Nathalie Taborda, James J. Waltz

Vampirism…. a favorite subject for many horror fans. When the vampires in question also look like lovely young ladies, it can be all the more intriguing for the enthusiast. In that respect, “Vampire Sisters” tries to serve the enthusiast at his beck and call. The start is promising enough when a man is running in the dark in front of two scantily clad ladies. He finds refuge in a house where he is tied to a bed. It turns out to be part of his sadomasochistic fantasies, but it unwittingly gets out of hand when three female vampires then take their bloodsucking activities on him. The house turns out to belong to the three vampires, and they have a habit of luring their victims into their own victims.

The approach that characterizes the opening scene is then maintained. The victims presenting themselves in various ways are killed in various ways to provide for the bloodlust of the vampire sisters. However, it soon becomes apparent that this film doesn’t have much more to offer than that for most of its playing time. In fact, it is not much more than a repetition of the same data in a different embodiment. The disadvantage is that the way things are portrayed is not convincing. Mediocre acting, some bad to at most mediocre special effects, an overly questionable course of various events and the quickly emerging routine character of this film quickly undermines the effectiveness of the various developments. It is true that the necessary pleasant moments pass when this and that is dealt with with the necessary morbid humor in an unexpected, sadistic and bloody way, but it is worked out too poorly to appeal enough to the imagination. Noteworthy tension is of little consequence and it does not take long before it gets boring and boredom sets in, also because the story plays slowly between the presenting victims. And the ladies’ chatter about luring their victims and how they gave birth is not enough to hold attention or make them seem scary enough.

Other parts in this film also seem rather questionable, to say the least. The three vampire sisters have locked up “our big brother” Iggy, a vaguely devilish creature, in a shed and are feeding him with the remains of their victims. Long statements are made about Iggy that raise the necessary expectations about his future appearance and performance. When a few undercover agents end up in the house of the vampires at a later stage, that is a good reason to let everything and everyone get mixed up and fight each other. Although this last stage offers some violent action scenes with several interesting possibilities, here too, the inadequate elaboration means that the developments cannot be taken in the least serious. There is humor here, just as in the earlier scenes in which the bloodsucking ladies took their unsuspecting victims, but mainly because the too amateurish design makes the events seem too laughable too often. Just as is the case with the unfulfilled expectations about the appearance and performance of Iggy.

In an apparent attempt to hone in on the shortcomings of this production, it was decided to lure the female vampires into their victims via an erotic website. A nice excuse, then, for numerous scenes in which the ladies parade through the screen in different outfits and in varying degrees of nudity, both to fulfill the fantasies of their future victims and to deceive them. They are images that fans of feminine beauty will appreciate, but they cannot compensate for the shortcomings in this production. Also because there is nowhere an improvement in the acting performances of the various actors, technical imperfections appear here and there and there are numerous illogicalities and holes in this already inadequate story. As a memorable high-flyer in the vampire genre, this low budget production will not exactly go down in history. However, it becomes clear that the makers of these ‘Vampire Sisters’ have also realized this and have no difficulty in announcing or admitting it in advance,Witness the filmed title B-Movie Horrors of the book that one of the vampire sisters is browsing. For lovers of pulp / crap films, this uninspired film with all its shortcomings can be recommended. For lovers of serious work, however, this film has some nice moments to offer, but more than that is not to be expected of it.