"Vampires Suck" Cements Importance of Twilight in Pop Culture

With all this success it's inevitable that for every person who loves the series, there's someone who makes fun of it. This month (August 2010) a new movie opened in cinemas: Vampires Suck. This movie attests to the overwhelming presence of Twilight (and all forms of vampire entertainment as a result) in popular culture. Vampires Suck is a comic spoof of the Twilight movies.

In fact, I've never seen a parody stick so closely to one source before. I had expected Vampires Suck to make fun of more films and TV shows. Although references were made to a few other things (including "freaky" Lady Gaga), it pretty much followed the story line of Twilight. In fact it was at times almost exactly the same. Some of the soundtrack was the same, some of the shots and sets were almost identical, etc.

They did a great job of getting the cast to look like the Twilight cast. Jenn Proske (as Becca Crane aka Bella Swan) particularly stood out. She did a great job of imitating Kristen Stewart, and copied her mannerisms fantastically. This was Proske's first movie, but I would definitely watch out for her in the future. Other members of the cast were instantly recognizable as who they were supposed to be as well.

In fact, the jokes were almost always based firmly in Twilight. In fact, Vampires Suck probably wouldn't make any sense if you hadn't seen Twilight. It would just seem really lame and random. Well, I suppose it was still kind of lame and random, but only for the purposes of copying Twilight. If you are familiar with Twilight, it is actually pretty funny.

That's the key to this movie. You have to already be familiar with Twilight. As opposed to many spoofs, where the audience is made up of people who wouldn't see (or at least wouldn't admit to seeing) the brunt of the jokes, the people watching Vampires Suck are mostly the same people who went to see the new Twilight movie earlier this summer. It's not just a different crowd. Even Twilight fans are seeing both. Perhaps that's why Vampires Suck is doing so well. It was #2 at the box office last weekend (even beating out Hollywood heavyweights like Julia Roberts).

Yes, there are a few moments were the jokes go too far. Overall, though, there are quite a few cheap laughs in the movie. It's light-hearted entertainment with no purpose other than to make you laugh. Yes, it seems like you're watching a really long You Tube clip. It's also a piece of satire that cements Twilights position as one of the definers of this decades pop culture.

Sources:

"Vampires Suck Opens Second At Box Office", by Lisa Stauber, BSC Kids