Vampirella

This had all the elements of a cult classic but was ruined by the makers of this film. Film starts off with a rogue vampire named Vlad (Roger Daltrey) who is about to be sentenced by the high council but his cohorts bust him out and kill all the high elders. They jump on a ship and head to Earth. The stepdaughter of one of the elders seeks revenge and makes her way to Earth also. Vampirella is played by Talisa Soto and she runs around in a fairly skimpy red outfit and tracks down Vlad and the other vampires that were involved. She meets Adam Van Helsing (Richard Joseph Paul) who works for PURGE that is an outfit that combats vampires and at first he is not sure if Vampirella is working with Vlad to infiltrate their unit. This film just doesn't capture what the comic book had done successfully. First, the outfit that Soto wears in the film is not as skimpy or revealing as the one in the comics. So they have her wear more clothing! Secondly, there is very little blood shown which is surprising since more than 50% of the characters are vampires. The sets are cheap and they just don't have any scenarios that make the film stand out. Its so run of the mill! Their is only two quick scenes where two female vampires get topless so cult status is pretty much out the window. Here's a film made by the Roger Corman group and directed by Jim Wynorski so you would think that some sort of bloody and sexy exploitation film would have been made. But no! For you trivia nuts out there, a young man is named Forry Ackerman and of course he is named for the creator of the comic book and also "Famous Monsters of Filmland". The real Forrest J. Ackerman makes a cameo in a bar. Director John Landis plays an astronaut and actor Angus Scrimm (Phantasm) plays Vampirella's stepfather and high elder. Film had real potential for cult status but for some strange reason the makers decided to ignore that and go the extremely safe route. What a shame!