Vampire Zombies… from Space! will be coming to WIFF 2024

By Kenneth Pastushyn

Local award-winning filmmaker Michael Stasko’s latest creation is the Vampire Zombies from Space!  which will be appearing at this season’s Windsor International Film Festival. (WIFF). 

 Stasko billed it as an “over-the-top-R-rated-comedy” paying tribute to the double creature-feature, drive-in horror films of the 1950s. 

 “It’s been a fun couple of years making this movie,” said Ted Bezaire, director of the 2013 Canadian comedy The Birder and co-producer of Vampire Zombies with Stasko. “And we really are excited that the world is finally gonna see it.” 

 The first release will be on Oct. 4 at Erie, Pennsylvania’s Eerie Horror Fest. 

 Vampire Zombies is one of the headliners of their “Eeerie ’24 Screamings” along with Killer Klowns from Outer Space, the Black horror-comedy Tales from the Hood and Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. 

 Another critically acclaimed film by Burton is the biographical comedy-drama Ed Wood starring Johnny Depp as the titular director. Among some of Wood’s films being satirized in Ed Wood include Glen or Glenda, Bride of the Monster and Plan 9 from Outer Space. 

 Plan 9 remained in relative obscurity until movie critic Michael Medved, one of the authors of the 1980 book The Golden Turkey Awards declared it the “worst movie ever made.” Since then, it has gained a cult following and regular fare for Saturday “so-bad-it’s-good” midnight-movies. 

Plan 9 and Ed Wood were both inspirations for Stasko. Stasko also cites other 1950s classics like The Blob and Forbidden Plane as inspiration. 

“My goal is to create a hilarious satire of a 1950s drive-in horror film,” wrote Stasko, in a statement on Pasching, Austria’s Fright Nights Film Festival web site. He wrote, directed and co-produced the 2020 comedy Boys vs. Girls with Bezaire and won the Best Feature award at the Chicago Comedy Film Festival.  

“To do this effectively, it needs to play the part and look the part and turn each scene on its head.” Stasko compares it to Mel Brook’s 1974 parody Young Frankenstein. 

 “If you look at it from a visual style, the production design is fun, but beautiful,” wrote Stasko on the Fright Nights website. “And the black and white cinematography is gorgeous,” which is why thinks the  comedic performances in his parody work so well. 

Comedic performances in Vampire Zombies include cult icons like Night of the Living Dead’s Judith O’Dea, Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman and Tim & Eric’s David Liebe Hart. All three parodied the actors Vampira, professional wrestler Tor Johnson and Bela Lugosi respectively in Wood’s film Plan 9. In turn Vampira, Johnson and Lugosi were parodied respectively by Lisa Marie, professional wrestler George “The Animal” Steele and Martin Landau in Burton’s film Ed Wood. 

 Prior to Austria’s Fright Nights, Vampire Zombies will also be screening at Stockholm’s Monster of Film festival. After Fright Nights, Vampire Zombies… will be shown at Thunder Bay, Ontario’s Terror in the Bay Film Festival on their “OH, CANADAHHHHH!” day of Canadian horror films. This is Vampire Zombies Canadian premiere. 

 Vampire Zombies will be premiering at WIFF on Sat., Oct. 26 at the St. Clair Centre for the Art’s Chrysler Theatre. It will be shown at 8:30 p.m.

 “Joyous, funny and ridiculous,” is how Vincent Georgie, the executive director and chief programmer of WIFF describes this film. “A sell-out for sure.” 

 Make it a double feature and stick around at the Chrysler Theatre for WIFF’s annual screening of the 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show which follows at 11 p.m. You can also see Vampire Zombies on Oct. 31 at 8:30 p.m. It will be shown at the Capitol Theatre. For a complete list of WIFF films and screening times, visit windsorfilmfestival.com.