Transylvania Twist

Asked to search for the mystical book of Ulthar by his uncle, Dexter Ward (Steve Altman; A Plumm Summer, Falling…) visits the only lead he has, a singer named Marissa Orlock (Teri Copley; New Year’s Evil, Brain Donors), the daughter of the man who took the book. In one of many coincidental moments in the film, she finds out about the death of her father at the same time Dexter talks to her. The two of them travel to Castle Orlock in Transylvania for the reading of his will.

They meet up and travel with vampire hunter Victor Von Helsing (Ace Mask; Not of This Earth, The Return of Swamp Thing). Arriving at the castle they also are introduced to Marissa’s uncle, Lord Byron Orlock (Robert Vaughn; Superman III, C.H.U.D. II), and his daughters who are also there for the book of Ulthar. Suspense, hijinks, and parodies follow in what develops into a fight between good and evil for the future of the world.

A corny comedy film, Transylvania Twist does hit some laughs, but misses a whole lot more. It never goes for more than a minute without at least attempting some kind of joke. While not at the same level as say Airplane or Hot Shots, it holds its own as a B-grade horror-comedy.

In fact, I found a few jokes that were “reused” in comedies that were released years later (at least two of which show up in Dracula Dead and Loving It). The comedy covers everything from puns to parodies to sight gags to slapstick. You’ll probably find something to laugh at while watching Transylvania Twist.

There will also be jokes that completely fall flat. The ones that irked me were the fourth-wall-breaking nods to the audience. Those have to be done just right to be funny and they did not accomplish them here.

Let me be clear, Transylvania Twist is a bad film that is a lot of fun to watch, especially with friends. I think that with some polish on the script and a bit better performances from the actors, Transylvania Twist could be one of the better horror comedies out there.

We meet our first lead at the funeral of his uncle. Dexter Ward spends pretty much the entire film making jokes at the expense of the scenes that he is in. Steve Altman’s performance was too hammy for the jokes to instill any laughter in me. However, while I thought it was done too many times in the film, he has some quality impressions of celebrities.

The chemistry between Dexter Ward and Marissa Orlock I attribute more to the performance of Teri Copley. Her portrayal of Marissa as a bubbly, nice, overly accepting character allowed the audience to believe that she had an instant friendship (and eventually relationship) with Dexter.

Also, why the hell didn’t Angus Scrimm (Phantasm, Subspecies) do more comedy? He was consistently one of the funniest characters in the movie. Even with his parody take on his iconic Tall Man character, I got chills when I heard the music cue and then shook my head in amusement as the bit played out. He was a gem in the film.

The other actors Robert Vaughn, Ace Mask, and Howard Morris were great in their portrayals and had some quality comedy bits (and some that didn’t hit the funny bone). There were also plenty of character and b-movie actors making appearances in Transylvania Twist including Kelli Maroney, Brinke Stevens, Clement von Franckenstein, Monique Gabrielle, and more. Even Forrest J. Ackerman has a non-speaking role in the film.

Transylvania Twist contains more than the normal amount of stock footage and re-used footage, especially from the Corman film The Terror. Half of the stock footage is used in the music video scene early in the movie called Just Give Me Action (mostly buildings exploding). There is also an entire scene played out between Dexter Ward and the long-dead Boris Karloff (again using scenes from The Terror) that is entertaining.

The song Just Give Me Action is quite catchy as is the ending song Caught in the Middle of Love. The third song sung in the movie is Think of the Royalties with a lead-in joke letting the audience know a song is coming and to go get snacks. Really. Go get some snacks during that one. It is not worth sitting through.

The production of the film is low-budget quality, but due to it being a comedy you don’t get too distracted by it. I particularly got a laugh at the monster used for The Evil One being the same creature from It Conquered the World. I could believe that some of the set pieces may have been used from other films, but they worked well enough together.

The special effects in Transylvania Twist aren’t worse than you would expect from a movie of this quality. The fire stunt at the end of the movie is impressive as is some of the make-up done throughout. I think more effort was put into Lord Byron’s demon makeup than I would expect, especially for it to only be seen for such a short amount of time.

There are definitely better horror comedies out there, but Transylvania Twist can get some laughs from its audience. The good bits in it help balance out the bits that aren’t executed well. So pop it in your player, relax on the couch, and save me some popcorn!

Rating:

Jack Savage:

“I insist you show us inside!” – Von Helsing

“There! That is what it looks like!” – Stefen

     

 

Trailer:

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