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Released by: Eclectic DVD
Released on: January 28, 2003.
Director: Lee Gordon Demarbre
Cast: Phil Caracas, Josh Grace, Jeff Moffet
Year: 2001
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The Movie:
This movie makes me proud of my Canadian heritage. Filmed on the wild streets of Ottawa and the surrounding area, Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter is one of the more unique independent films I've had the pleasure of watching in recent memory.
The story is pretty simple. Basically, Jesus is back and this time he's ready for action. It seems that a clan of vampires are feeding off the local lesbian population. When the Catholic Church is made aware of the issue, Jesus is called in on the scene to take down the vampires and save the lesbians from eternal darkness. To help him in his quest, he enlists the aid of a masked Mexican wrestler named El Santos (sic), a hot chick in a red leather cat suit named Mary Magnum, and a few other oddball characters.
Short on story but chock full of goofball fun, the film features everything from musical numbers to kung-fu scenes. Highlights include a knock down drag-out fight between Jesus and a gang of recently converted lesbian vampires on the waterfront that, intentionally or not, reminded me of the ending of Bloody Beach (but that's probably just because I like that movie and this film happens to have a kung-fu scene on a beach so take that as you will).
The humor isn't for everyone and some of the jokes fall flat on their face, but the movie had me laughing pretty consistently and for that reason alone, I can recommend it for those with a tolerance for stupidity. Besides, isn't it true that any movie with a masked Mexican wrestler is worth watching?
Video/Audio/Extras:
The fullframe transfer, unfortunately, isn't too hot. There are more than a few times where some ugly artifacts rear their head and there is grain and print damage evident for the duration of the film. It's watchable, but don't expect anything too exciting here. A lot of the problem is just that it's a low budget 16mm production and unfortunately, it shows.
The Dolby Digital Stereo track is luckily cleaner than the video on this release. Dialogue and music come through nice and clear, though there's little in the way of channel separation. Oddly enough, the films seems like it was pretty much entirely dubbed in post production, as quite a few times the lips don't match up at all with the dialogue. This doesn't really detract from the movie at all though and somehow, it almost seemed appropriate.
There are quite a few decent extras on this disc. First up is a feature length audio commentary track with the director, writer, and a few cast members thrown in for good measure. It's pretty easy to listen to and the guys who made the movie seem to have had a fun time making it. Next up is a forty-minute featurette consisting of cast and crew interviews and behind the scenes footage. The third main extra is a series of outtakes and deleted scenes, included for posterity's sake. Some of these are pretty entertaining, some aren't needed, but it's nice to see them included. Other smaller bonus features include a trailer for the film, a trailer for another spoof film called Harry Knuckles, and a still gallery. The only thing worth complaining about as far as the extras are concerned is that the video is really hampered by compression artifacts.
The Final Word:
A flawed but funny low budget spoof with plenty of extras makes this a worthwhile rental but you're probably not going to want to buy it sight unseen.