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Chad 09-23-13 02:41 AM
"Vampires in Havana" Reviews/Discussion - 2013 Horror Challenge: Day 20
 
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Vampires in Havana (1985)

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psdb1dec03.jpg

Selected by Dimension X

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IMDB ENTRY

NETFLIX WATCH INSTANTLY
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These "October Horror Movie Challenge" threads are for the discussion of the films in the 31 FILM SUBSET list.

The plan is for everyone to watch this film on the October day in the thread title, and to start discussing it the morning of the following day.
You may start discussion early if you want, but the preferred plan is for this to be as much of a group exercise as possible, with all of us viewing it "together" and discussing after.

Of course, you are totally encouraged to participate in these threads even if you haven't watched the movie on the designated day.
Even if you haven't watched it in years, or are not participating in the Horror Challenge, please feel free to chime in.


Spoiler tags are unnecessary in here, so if you have yet to see the film BEWARE OF SPOILERS.
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MAIN THREAD | LIST THREAD
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Undeadcow 10-16-13 09:25 PM
Re: "Vampires in Havana" Reviews/Discussion - 2013 Horror Challenge: Day 20
 
Neither edition is stellar but in this case my perception is that the YouTube edition bests Netflix's horribly washed out transfer of Vampire in Havana: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFTWbnf4MEk

Undeadcow 10-18-13 02:55 PM
Re: "Vampires in Havana" Reviews/Discussion - 2013 Horror Challenge: Day 20
 
I really enjoyed Vampires in Havana, it's a zany and frantic adult cartoon. It seems rich with political subtext but I don't know much about Cuba. I assume the vampires represent the cuban people who are free spirited but torn apart by conflict between Europe, nationalists, commercialism/crime, and communism (?). Kudos to Dimension X on selecting Vampires in Havana.

cproaps 10-20-13 02:04 AM
Re: "Vampires in Havana" Reviews/Discussion - 2013 Horror Challenge: Day 20
 
An interesting look at how something that can better the masses is fought over by corporate factions, only to be foiled when the knowledge is given to everyone for free. Take that you greedy American and European corporations!

This had the look and sound of the Pink Panther cartoons from the '60s, so I was surprised to see that it was 1985.

Dimension X 10-20-13 04:11 AM
Re: "Vampires in Havana" Reviews/Discussion - 2013 Horror Challenge: Day 20
 
Originally Posted by Undeadcow (Post 11876454)
I really enjoyed Vampires in Havana, it's a zany and frantic adult cartoon. It seems rich with political subtext but I don't know much about Cuba. I assume the vampires represent the cuban people who are free spirited but torn apart by conflict between Europe, nationalists, commercialism/crime, and communism (?). Kudos to Dimension X on selecting Vampires in Havana.
Glad you liked it. I can't say I really liked it (but I didn't hate it either). I think I'd have liked it more if I had more understanding of the subtext, but it wasn't too bad as just a cartoon.

If you hated this one, pretend I picked Vampires (2009) (also available on Netflix) instead, and check it out for today's theme.
Originally Posted by cproaps (Post 11877954)
This had the look and sound of the Pink Panther cartoons from the '60s, so I was surprised to see that it was 1985.
I was getting an Underdog vibe myself.

rbrown498 10-20-13 03:02 PM
Re: "Vampires in Havana" Reviews/Discussion - 2013 Horror Challenge: Day 20
 
I thought that it was an adequate time-waster, but it had WAAAY too much plot for only a 70-minute running time. The music was great, however.

indiephantom 10-20-13 04:01 PM
Re: "Vampires in Havana" Reviews/Discussion - 2013 Horror Challenge: Day 20
 
It was refreshing to watch something with 2D animation for a change and this was a nice pick for today's theme. Maybe I'll make room for another adult cartoon before this challenge ends, but now back to the vampires.

Mondo Kane 10-20-13 04:05 PM
Re: "Vampires in Havana" Reviews/Discussion - 2013 Horror Challenge: Day 20
 
Originally Posted by cproaps (Post 11877954)
This had the look and sound of the Pink Panther cartoons from the '60s, so I was surprised to see that it was 1985.
Yeah, the animation looked exactly like Dirty Duck. Which was made a decade earlier.

Originally Posted by rbrown498 (Post 11878297)
but it had WAAAY too much plot for only a 70-minute running time.
Agree.

And one last thing I agree on:

Originally Posted by rbrown498 (Post 11878297)
The music was great, however.
Can't say that I'm a fan of that type of music, but I was super impressed by that horn blowing!

Spiderbite 10-20-13 06:29 PM
Re: "Vampires in Havana" Reviews/Discussion - 2013 Horror Challenge: Day 20
 
I didn't like this move but I didn't hate it either. Some of the humor was pretty good but there was a lot of tedious action as well. I was in the same boat as another above poster. I don't know much about Cuba but I figured there was a lot of political subtext there that I just didn't completely understand.

The shrieks made by the vampires was especially bloodcurdling.

My rating: **1/2 out of *****

What's up with Netflix showing movies with transfer from 4:3 VHS rentals???

DaveyJoe 10-20-13 11:58 PM
Re: "Vampires in Havana" Reviews/Discussion - 2013 Horror Challenge: Day 20
 
Wasn't this a subset pick last year?

DaveyJoe 10-21-13 01:19 AM
Re: "Vampires in Havana" Reviews/Discussion - 2013 Horror Challenge: Day 20
 
I've seen less offensive black stereotypes in a Birth of a Nation.

I still have no idea what anybody said in the last ten minutes of the movie because everybody was wearing white suits which completely blew out the white subtitles.

Trevor 10-21-13 09:57 AM
Re: "Vampires in Havana" Reviews/Discussion - 2013 Horror Challenge: Day 20
 
I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if I was in a 'thinky' mood to appreciate the communism/capitalism stuff, but it a decent enough viewing. Should have tried the YouTube link as the Netflix stream was pretty crappy.

clckworang 10-21-13 10:24 PM
Re: "Vampires in Havana" Reviews/Discussion - 2013 Horror Challenge: Day 20
 
I had almost watched this one a couple of times on Netflix but never had. I actually was surprised it was animated. Yes, I know the picture it had on Netflix, but it wouldn't have been the first time that a live action movie used a cartoon image as its cover. Anyway, I thought it was OK, but despite the very short runtime, I did feel like it started to drag toward the end when it felt like an endless chase. As others have said, I do think there was more social commentary that I might have missed, but it didn't really grab me.

Originally Posted by DaveyJoe (Post 11878831)
Wasn't this a subset pick last year?
It was not.

ntnon 10-27-13 04:04 PM
Re: "Vampires in Havana" Reviews/Discussion - 2013 Horror Challenge: Day 20
 
I enjoyed it. More because it was different than because it was 'good', but it certainly wasn't awful.

To me it looked exactly like the (UK-only?) adverts for Red Bull. With hints of some of MAD's better artists and Hunt Emerson. Which definitely added something for me.

Originally Posted by rbrown498 (Post 11878297)
..it had WAAAY too much plot for only a 70-minute running time. The music was great, however.
It seemed to me that they'd decided to make a cartoon about vampires with as much trumpeting as possible... realised they needed a plot and over-compensated! ;)

I did like that they killed off Dracula as an opening gambit, however.

Originally Posted by indiephantom (Post 11878370)
It was refreshing to watch something with 2D animation for a change...
Definitely.


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