Vampira And Me

Released by: Cinema Epoch
Released on: October 8th, 2013.
Director: R. H. Greene
Cast: Maila Nurmi
Year: 2012
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The Movie:

The name Maila Nurmi may not necessarily ring any bells even to devout followers of quirky pop culture phenomena but the name Vampira probably does. Whether you know her from her appearance in Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space or just know the name from the Misfits song, while she may have passed on a few years ago the legend of Nurmi's alter ego continues to grow. Enter filmmaker R. H. Greene who interviewed Nurmi quite extensively for a documentary he was making called Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies. They got to know one another in the process and out of those interviews was born Greene's latest documentary, 2012's Vampira And Me, a posthumous love letter of sorts that does a fantastic job of letting Vampira's fans get to know the story behind the iconic TV horror hostess.

The documentary starts out with some background information on Maila, how she was born in Finland but grew up in Oregon before moving to California and working as a cheesecake model. There she met her husband and after developing an interest in The Addams' Family she went to a party dressed as a variation of Morticia. This proved to capture the attention of some of the people at the party and soon enough, she had created Vampira and had a gig working as a horror hostess doing introductions and setups for B-movies being shown on TV. Her popularity took off, and before she knew it Vampira was a hit.

Almost as soon as her popularity skyrocketed, so too would it fall. Disagreements with the TV channel showing her would come into play, she'd go through a divorce, and her closest friend, James Dean, would be killed in a car accident. The tabloids would pull her into the situations surrounds his death, she'd lose her job, and after moving to New York City for a while she'd be attacked by a crazed fan. When Elvira became a huge success in the eighties, she'd sue but the case didn't go the way she wanted it too and while her acting in Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space kept her in the public eye to an extent, it would be a rough few years toiling away at menial jobs before she'd start to get the recognition she deserved. But she did. The Misfits recorded a song in her honor, Tim Burton would resurrect Vampira in his take on Ed Wood, and Satan's Pilgrims would bring her out of retirement to get her to collaborate on two songs with them. Before Maila passed away in 2008, she'd even do a few fan conventions.

Since her passing, Vampira seems to be just as popular as ever, if not more so. Greene knew she wanted her story told, he'd even found some old tapes of her reading aloud some memoirs that she'd written, but he didn't get to it before she left. This documentary goes a long way towards correcting that, doing an excellent job of really bringing her personality to the forefront of the project. Throughout the interviews she pulls few punches, being upfront and honest about her connection with Dean, noting that it was basically otherworldly and spiritual, and making a few well deserved digs at the media and those who stabbed her in the back throughout her career. More interesting than the thinly veiled bitterness, however, is the sense of humor and intelligence that comes through in the interviews. This was a very bright, intelligent and creative woman and it shows. She was obviously comfortable enough with Greene throughout the process here that she was willing to open up to him to a certain extent and that allows a lot of her quirky personality to shine through, resulting in a movie that is more than just a series of facts about a woman with a ridiculously thin waistline and some piercing dark eyes.

As the movie comes to a close, we learn about how Maila had trouble separating herself from her character but also how that character would influence not only obvious choices like Elvira and The Misfits but goth culture as a whole. Her style of dress, her style of makeup, the way she carried herself - all of this would trickle down into punk and subculture and she really does deserve a lot of credit for starting what she started. Loads of archival photographs from throughout her career add some great visuals here and while only a few clips of Vampira exist anymore, what was able to be found is also used here, some of it seen for the first time in decades. The documentary is well paced and well edited with Greene's ability to share some personal memories of the time he spent with her adding some welcome personality to the proceedings. All in all, Vampira And Me proves to be a fascinating and very welcome examination of the life and times of one of modern counter culture's most enduring icons.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Vampira And Me is presented in 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen and for a low budget movie made up mostly of archival clips and photos and interview footage it looks fine. Of course, some of those older clips are a little worse for wear but all in all this is a fine transfer that seems to do as good a job as the various sources will allow for.

Audio options are provided in English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, and outside of the music being spread around more there isn't a whole lot of difference between the two mixes as this is a pretty dialogue heavy movie. Both tracks sound good though - no hiss, no distortion, good levels.

Extras are decent enough on this release, starting with an interesting deleted scene where Maila discusses her reaction to learning of James Dean's death. We also get some interview clips with the two members of Satan's Cheerleaders who discuss and reenact their collaboration with Vampira on two songs. Also found on the disc is an eight minute clip called Magic In The Air which is a vintage promotional short from the 1950s designed to introduce and sell people on the idea of this newfangled television - this doesn't have anything specifically to do with Vampira but it is an interesting artifact from the era in which she made her mark.

Additionally we get a featurette in which Greene receives and transfers into HD the kinescope featuring Vampira from her appearance on The George Gobel Show which is used in the feature movie itself. His enthusiasm is impressive. We also get a lengthy radio interview with Greene in which he talks about what went into making this documentary and a clip of him being interviewed about the movie on the red carpet at an awards show (at this point he had just finished it and he notes that he needs a drink!). A still gallery, some menus and chapter selection are also included.

The Final Word:

Vampira And Me does an admirable job on shedding some light on the woman behind the iconic character, serving as both a biography style documentary and an appreciation for the historical significance of what she did and how she did it. The end result is both illuminating and pretty interesting and as the documentary is well put together, it's also a lot of fun to watch.