Vampire Zombies…from Space is a cult 2024 retro sci-fi/horror/comedy film from writer/ director Michael Stasko (Boys Vs. Girls, Things to Do and The Bird Men). The film stars Troma legend Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger, Troma’s War and Class of Nuke ‘Em High), Judith O’Dea (Night of the Living Dead, The Pirate and October Moon), Jessica Antovski (The Unbelievable with Dan Ackroyd, The Dread and Dreamcrusher), Craig Gloster (Depraved Mind and The Eternal Present) and Oliver Georgiou (Helltown, Cam_Girlfriend and The Haunted Museum).

Vampire Zombies…from Space is set in 1957 in the quiet rural town of Marlow where nothing much ever happens. However, that’s all about to change when Dracula (Gloster) shows up with a host of ghastly zombies in tow. Dracula has been to Marlow before; he wiped out most of Roy McDowell’s (Erik Helle) family, framing McDowell in the process. When Roy’s daughter ends up murdered everyone thinks Roy is the guilty party, except for his other daughter, Mary (Antovski) who must try to convince the local sheriff,  Ed Clarke (Andrew Bee) that vampire aliens really exist. As the vampire zombies continue to spread throughout Marlow, Mary must team up with police officer James Wallace (Rashaun Baldeo) and local greaser Wayne (Georgiou) to try to save the town.

Shot entirely in black and white, Vampire Zombies…from Space is Stasko’s homage to B-Movie legend Edward. D Wood Jr. The movie looks like the bastard son of Plan 9 from Outer Space mixed with lots of splashy gore, deliberately awful special effects and campy comedy. The wonky flying saucer effects are some of the funniest I’ve seen since Plan 9 from Outer Space, with wires showing everywhere you look. On top of that there are a number of easter eggs dotted throughout the movie, like the vampire council made up of Vampira, Coppola’s Dracula and Nosferatu , Ed’s Wood and Hardware store, Dracula covering his face with his cloak like Bela Lugosi in Plan 9, all while Troma empresario Lloyd Kaufman turns up as the public masturbator, a man who seems to thrive on knocking one out in front of anyone he can. 

Vampire Zombies is good campy fun, but there’s enough quality on show to prove that Stasko is a genuinely talented director with a promising future. He has chosen to make a future cult classic that works as the perfect homage to Ed Wood Jr. A feat that is probably quite difficult, when you consider that Ed Wood was making what he felt were good movies. The new Blu-ray from Cleopatra features a nice-looking print of the movie, alongside an audio commentary, deleted scenes, promotional clips, a slideshow and trailers.

Overall, Vampire Zombies…from Space is loads of fun. Michael Stasko manages to succeed where so many others have failed over the years. Much like the legendary Lloyd Kaufman he has intentionally created a movie that’s so bad it’s good, and I loved it.