Leofwine_draca
I thought cheesy films went out of date in the early '80s, but this one was a surprise. The truth is, the film is totally atrocious, failing as a comedy. The PG rating eliminates any hint of gore or violence - nobody even gets bitten! Actually, the film is devoid of any horror moments, instead presenting the lead vampire of the title as a cool dude (with bushy eyebrows and pointed teeth).The film is interspersed with rock and pop scores, and even ropes in the "legendary" Bo Diddley for some of the 'hits'. The funniest of these pieces of music is 'Rapula', where the fanged dude wears a hat and shell suit and sings "He's the DJ, I'm the vam-pire." Unfortunately the rest of the film is full of lame jokes and stereotypical characters (e.g. a British bad guy) It's sad that a film which tries so hard fails so miserably. Why on earth does Rockula have a separate reflection with a life of its own? The funniest thing about this film is the video cover, a gem of cheesy delight.
Wizard-8
After producer Menahem Golan left Cannon Films, his cousin and former partner Yoram Globus struggled to keep the company alive, but awful efforts like "Rockula" doomed the company to eventually close its doors. It's a pretty cheap-looking affair, for starters, though I guess its look could have been more tacky by other filmmakers. A bigger problem with the movie is the script. There is not a lot of story here, in part due to the movie having important stuff happen offscreen or explained by characters in awkward exposition. Things are instead padded out by many musical numbers, but even if you have a love for popular music that came out around the time this movie was released (like myself), more likely than not you'll find the music in this movie to be absolutely terrible. The final stake to the heart is the fact that the vampire protagonist isn't sympathetic enough - you won't really care if he manages to lift the curse on himself or not. And his various acts in order to lift the curse, while supposed to be amusing, aren't the least bit funny. This is one of those movies where you can't help but wonder why nobody involved realized they were making a turkey.
insomniac_rod
The glorious 80's! Wait, ROCKULA came in 1990! You can say you can smell the 80's air when watching it. All of the elements that made the 80's a weird decade are present in here: horrible clothes, a cheesy soundtrack, and songs a la Rocky Horror Picture Show.This is by far one of the cheesiest movies ever made and that's something to say. To me, the best song on the movie is when this female vamp dances in front of the lead characters and sings "well you can say that the night is full of danger mmmh! but you know that in the night you're not a stranger , you know what I mean..." etc. Oh and the song ends with a rap.Late 80's stuff 100%. Unique stuff! Toni Basil is great.
The fat mad with the skirt always disturbed me, and the fangs the actors used are ridiculous, those are my memories about this movie. Man I wish I taped this strange movie.Watch it with low expectations and you might be entertained with an ultra cheesy movie. 6/10.
meryles
This is quite simply the single most entertaining and enjoyable vampire movie i have ever seen. I mean, REALLY. Toni Basil singing and dancing her little heart out in a fantastic array of bizarre costumes (corset with hula skirt?), Dean Cameron dueling with the reincarnation of a pirate with a rhinestone pegleg over a steaming cryogenic storage chamber? THOMAS DOLBY as a music video producer/coffin salesman who drives what appears to be a replica of the DRAGULA car? SUSAN TYRRELL, excuse me, in cowboy chaps and a funny hat playing the fiddle? BO DIDDLEY (i'm dying here, i really am) in SPANDEX with GOLD RECORDS around his NECK?????? This is as good as it gets, my friend. Whether you're looking for cheesy songs you can more-or-less sing along with by the second replay, snorkeling midgets in bubble baths, or, i'm sorry but i've got to say it again, TONI BASIL IN A CORSET AND A HULA SKIRT, Dean Cameron dressed like Elvis, one-liners a-plenty, intellectual references (what play does Dean Cameron go to see with Tawny Fere? "The Hands of Egon Schiele"????? I'm going to COMBUST, seriously!!!!!!) or love, romance, and "Bat-Dork," this is the ONE, the ONE, THE ONE. Despite-- or perhaps because of-- the fact that this film dates from 1990, it is a concentrated syzygy (the total is greater than the sum of its parts) of everything that was fun and great about 80s film. Surreal, macabre, bizarre, and hilarious, this is a MUST SEE for everyone who thinks fondly of yonder 20th century. Actually, it's just a must-see for everyone. I love this movie so much i actually go into withdrawal if i don't see it at least every six months. Even now, i suffer.