The Little Vampire
Germany/Netherlands/UK 2000
Reviewed by Christopher Hawkes
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
Tony Thompson has recently moved with his parents from America to Scotland. Friendless, bullied and troubled by strange dreams, he becomes fixated on vampires. One evening a young vampire Rudolph flies into Tony's room; after hiding him from vampire hunter Rookery, Tony befriends Rudolph.
The following night Rudolph introduces Tony to his family. Their initial suspicions dissolve when Tony shares a vision with Rudolph's father about the whereabouts of an amulet which can lift the curse of vampirism when held up to a comet due to pass Earth in the next week. After saving the family from two attacks by Rookery, Tony hides them in his cellar.
Rookery presents proof of vampirism to Lord McAshton, owner of the estate where Tony's father works, and both men visit an ancestral tomb in search of the amulet. Rookery then locks Tony, who has followed them, inside the tomb. Tony calls for Rudolph and his sister Anna with a whistle and the children search another tomb. The amulet, though, is missing. During a second vision, Tony realises the jewel is hidden in his bedroom. The two boys, and the eavesdropping Rookery, race back to the house. Tony discovers the amulet but he is captured by Rookery. Rudolph rescues Tony with the aid of a herd of vampire cows and they race to the cliff top where the vampire clans have convened for the comet's passing. After Rookery is dispatched by his parents, Tony wishes for the curse to lift and the vampires disappear. Soon after Rudolph and his family - now human - move in next door to Tony.
Review
In adapting German novelist Angela Sommer-Bodenburg's The Little Vampire novels, director Uli Edel (Christiane F) and screenwriters Karey Kirkpatrick and Larry Wilson have created a brisk children's adventure detailing a vampire family's quest to become human. This approach forfeits one of the chief pleasures of the books in that the vampire children are no longer empowered by their condition, free from overt parental influence. In the film they're part of a closely knit family, driven underground by the prejudice of humans - only with the assistance of an innocent little boy can they lift the curse and become human themselves. As such, the film adopts a much more moral tone, promoting tolerance ("I bet they're foreigners," says Tony's father of his son's disruptive friends) and the power of imagination. These moral greens may be somewhat difficult to swallow at times (the preview audience became fidgety during the parental lectures), but for the most part The Little Vampire is very palatable fare, thanks to some accomplished action scenes and a likeable line in mischievous humour.
The performances are uniformly well executed. The adult parts are pantomimed for laughs: the parents are worrisome and clueless; the fearless vampire killer gets battered and outdone; and the stuffy English aristocrat is eventually dispatched by the Scottish crematory watchman-turned-vampire. The young vampires, Rudolph and his sister Anna, are played charmingly, but most of the film rests on the performance of Jonathan Lipnicki (Jerry Maguire) who stumbles endearingly through his part as the vampire-fixated Tony.
Evocative of Tim Burton's work, the Scottish locations appear as a kind of ghoulish theme park full of ancient stately homes and mouldering, curse-ridden crypts. The special effects emphasise this enjoyably creaky atmosphere: the flying scenes provoke a nostalgic twinge for the pre-CGI days of blue-screen work and there's a neatly sustained visual gag in the form of a digitised herd of cows which turn into red-eyed vampires - first shuffling away from sunlight, later swinging upside down from the barn roof.
The Little Vampire is also warmly allusive. The story of a little boy who befriends and protects an alien recalls E.T., especially in the penultimate scene where Rudolph disappears into the ether; and the influence of The Neverending Story is apparent when Tony revenges himself on the school bullies with help from his supernatural friend. There are also more knowing references: Anna declares her affections to Tony by adapting Lauren Bacall's famous line in To Have and Have Not, 1944 ("You know how to whistle, don't you? - you just put your lips together and blow"); and in those scenes where he experiences visions, Tony does a hilarious imitation of Danny Torrance's psychic seizures in The Shining.
Credits
- Director
- Uli Edel
- Producer
- Richard Claus
- Screenplay
- Karey Kirkpatrick
- Larry Wilson
- Based on the novels by
- Angela Sommer-Bodenburg
- Director of Photography
- Bernd Heinl
- Editor
- Peter R. Adam
- Production Designer
- Joseph Nemec III
- Music
- Nigel Clarke
- Michael Csányi-Wills
- ©Vampire Productions BV
- Production Companies
- Cometstone Pictures presents in association with Comet Film/Avrora Media/Stonewood Communications
- A co-production of Comet Film GmbH and Stonewood Communications
- BV in co-production with CV The Little Vampire in association with Avrora
- Media FGmbH and Propaganda Films
- Produced by Vampire Productions BV
- Executive Producers
- Alexander Buchman
- Anthony Waller
- Larry Wilson
- Co-producers
- Klaus Bauschulte
- Carsten Lorenz
- Associate Producer
- Daniel Musgrave
- Production Supervisors
- Chris Brouwer
- Arnold Heslenfeld
- Production Co-ordinators
- Germany:
- Elke Sasserath
- Scotland:
- Rachel Kinnock
- German 2nd Unit
- Co-ordinator
- Martin Dietrich
- Unit Production Managers
- Scotland:
- Chris Wheeldon
- Germany:
- Michael Stritzel
- Location Manager
- Mark Mostyn
- Producers' Consultant
- Angela Sommer-Bodenburg
- 2nd Unit Director
- Jan Pester
- Assistant Directors
- Marc van der Bijl
- Barrie McCulloch
- Zoe Rohde
- Myrna Selling
- German 2nd Unit:
- Mark Needham
- Scotland:
- Drew Cain
- Scotland 2nd Unit:
- Mark Layton
- Script Supervisors
- Els Rastelli
- Visual Effects:
- Nicholas Waller
- Casting
- Director:
- Joyce Nettles
- Associates:
- Louise Cross
- Mary Jane Fendler
- US, Additional:
- Johanna Ray
- UK, Additional:
- Suzanne Crowley
- Gilly Poole
- Additional Camera
- Scotland:
- William Wages
- 2nd Unit Director of Photography
- Jan Pester
- Camera Operators
- Michael Edison Satrazemis
- Scotland:
- Gary Spratling
- Steadicam Operator
- Germany:
- Jörg Widmer
- Visual Effects Supervisor
- John Grower
- Visual Effects
- Digital Renaissance
- Digital Cow Development
- Santa Barbara Studios
- Special Effects
- Die Nefzers
- Art Director
- Nick Palmer
- Set Decorator
- Jille Azis
- Draughtsmen
- Scotland:
- Keith Pain
- Tom Still
- Scenic Artist
- Howard Weaver
- Storyboard Artist
- Adolfo Martinez
- Additional Storyboards
- Kevin Farrell
- Steve Werblun
- Costume Designer
- Jim Acheson
- Costume Supervisor
- Martina Schall
- Make-up
- Artists:
- Leendert van Nimwegen
- Katja Reinert-Alexis
- Germany, Additional:
- Doris Königstein
- Silvia Bussmann
- Hildegard Winter
- Sandra Stehmann
- Vivian Kollen
- Scotland, Additional:
- Kathleen Mackintosh
- Prosthetics
- Crawley Creatures
- Titles
- Thomas Wilk
- Opticals
- Norbert Keil
- Music Performed by
- Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor
- Robin Page
- Orchestrations
- Daryl Griffith
- Nigel Clarke
- Music Supervisor
- Sally Connolly
- Music Co-ordinator
- Paul Reeves
- Orchestral Manager
- Elena Chouchkova
- Original Score Producers
- Daryl Griffith
- Robin Morrison
- Score Recordist/Mixer
- Gerry O'Riordan
- Soundtrack
- "Trisch-Trasch Polka";
- "Daylight"- The Bulbs
- Sound Design
- Solid Sound
- Hubert Bartholomae
- Sound Mixer
- Roberto van Eijden
- Re-recording Mixer
- Hubert Bartholomae
- Dialogue Editor
- Margit Pfeiffer
- Sound Effects Editor
- Andreas Musolff
- Foley
- Artist:
- Joern Poetzl
- Editor:
- Pit Kuhlmann
- Balloon Operator
- Erich Zander
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Tom Delmar
- Rat Wrangler
- Dunja Klimkeit
- Cow Wrangler
- Scotland:
- David Stewart
- Cast
- Jonathan Lipnicki
- Tony Thompson
- Richard E. Grant
- Frederick
- Jim Carter
- Rookery
- Alice Krige
- Freda
- Pamela Gidley
- Dottie Thompson
- Tommy Hinkley
- Bob Thompson
- Anna Popplewell
- Anna
- Dean Cook
- Gregory
- Rollo Weeks
- Rudolph
- John Wood
- Lord McAshton
- Ed Stoppard
- Von
- Jake D'Arcy
- Farmer McLaughlin
- Iain De Caestecker
- Nigel
- Scott Fletcher
- Flint
- Johnny Meres
- teacher
- Georgie Glen
- babysitter Lorna
- Elizabeth Berrington
- Elizabeth
- Harry Jones
- caretaker
- Certificate
- U
- Distributor
- Icon Film Distribution
- 8,588 feet
- 95 minutes 25 seconds
- Dolby Digital
- Colour/Prints by
- Geyer Werke, Berlin
- German theatrical title
- Die kleine Vampir