Vampires in Havana

Cuban director Juan Padron was the man who created the 6 first Caribbean animated feature films. He's the father of Caribbean animation.

Vampires in Havana which is considered as on one of his best work tells the story of international vampire gangs feuding over vamp sunblock during the 1930 uprising against Machado. Count Dracula is the president of the vampires, and invents an anti-sun vaccine called Vampisol.

The story gets interesting when rival vampire mafia gangs joins the show to steal the formula to live in the daylight, which will allow vampires to go out in sunlight. It's so Bizarre yet interesting with soundtrack from Cuban jazz legend Arturo Sandoval.

Fans of Ralp Bakshi, Michael Schaak (Felidae), Rene Laloux, Anders Morgenthaler, Lee Hardcastle and 70's euro horror will be entertained and amused as the plot is so fresh.

Juan Padrón was more than a master, now that you are all on a streaming binge, you should seek out his work. RIP Juan Padron.

I watched "¡Vampiros En La Habana!" by Juan Padrón when I was eight years old. This movie was something different from the Disney cartoons I used to watch. There was sex, good music, violence, and plenty of humor. A plot consisting in a mixture of vampires and mafia could be strange, but it worked perfectly well. This is the type of movie that you can hate it or love it! Yesterday Juan Padrón (the director) presented the second part: "¡Más Vampiros En La Habana!" in a theater in Madrid (Spain). I had great expectations with this movie. I couldn't resist comparing both of them, and in my opinion I think that the first part was less dynamic but much more funny. I'm looking forward to watching "Fritz The Cat" and comment it.

Juan Padrón's "¡Vampiros en La Habana!" ("Vampires in Havana" in English) has to be one of the funniest animated features that I've ever seen. It's a really clever mixture of horror with political satire. The movie focuses on Joseph, a trumpet player in 1930s Havana who is participating in a plot to overthrow Gerardo Machado, the country's dictator. However, he doesn't know that he's a vampire, the grandson of Count Dracula. His father developed an anti-sun formula that allows the creatures of the night to walk around during the day. But the Chicago mafia and a group of vampire businessmen want to get their hands on the formula, each side wanting to use it for their own ends.

You have to know some about Cuba's history to fully understand the plot. But aside from that, it's hilarious to hear the mafiosi speak Spanish with flat American accents. Not to mention that we get to hear some great music.

OK, so maybe we could be a little cynical and note that the movie serves as propaganda: the villains are corporations, the mafia and even a racist Englishman (he has nothing but scorn for anyone who isn't 100% white). So what? It's a really funny movie! The excess of vampires in pop culture during the past few years belies the really witty movies about blood-suckers out there. Definitely one that you're sure to like.

Trumpet playing revolutionary Pepito (Frank González) learns from his scientist uncle that he is a vampire and that he owes his ability to walk around during daylight hours to a special formula - one that two warring vampire mafia clans would do anything to get their hands on.

The tagline for Vampires in Havana compares the film to Ralph Bakshi's Fritz the Cat (1972) and it's easy to see why: both films feature subversive satire, social commentary and sexual scenarios, and the characters and animation style for Vampires in Havana are very much in the style of Bakshi. And like Fritz, Vampires left me distinctly unimpressed.

There are admittedly some fun ideas in this crazy Cuban cartoon - vampire nightclubs where they drink from unwilling blood donors, guns that fire stakes, vampire dogs - but the humour is so weak and the animation is so bad (crudely drawn and dated), that even at just over an hour long, the film is a chore to sit through.

This film is a great deal of fun, especially for anyone interested in either vampires or Cuban music. Some of the sight gags involving the vampires still crack me up even though it's been years since I saw this, and the use of music and just plain latin exuberance are both excellent.

(Wracking my brains for flaws) The animation looks a little primative (although one might also consider it "stylized"), and the pacing isn't always as snappy as it might be.

But all in all, it's great and there's really nothing like it. And I believe US viewers will be amused rather than put off by the rather obvious "Capitalists = Vampires" symbolism.