Vampire on Bikini Beach (Video 1988) Poster

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1/10
This is...
mcbare14 August 2009
...the worst movie I've ever seen.

It's not even mock-worthy.

The bad music, bad sound, bad singing, bad dubbing, bad acting, bad storyline, bad sets, embarrassingly bad dialogue...who ever thought this should be made?

I've always been a connoisseur of bad movies (Caged Fury, Vampire Lovers), and I thought this would be good for laughs. As we watched it, my husband leaned over and said - for the first time after eight years of watching bad movies with me - that I owed him big for this one.

This is the first comment I've ever posted on IMDb, and I am doing it specifically to warn people not to waste their time. There are dozens of fun B movies that are a blast if seen with the right people - this is not one of them.
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3/10
Watchable for 1980s nostalgia and nothing else
a_chinn26 November 2017
Well, there were vampires and there were plenty of bikinis, so I suppose the film did deliver what the title promised. If you are not into 80s nostalgia, you'll find this tale of teenagers finding a "Book of the Dead" and uncovering a vampire cult ridiculous and unwatchable. The film did capture the vibe of the 1980s pretty well, with tons of 80s hair, music, fashion, and, as you'd expect, bikinis, so I did enjoy the film for nostalgia value and that's really the only reason to watch. Overall, as a proud member of gen-x, the retro nostalgia was enough to hold my interest in this amateurishly made low budget horror/comedy, but certainly do not go into this film expecting "The Lost Boys."
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3/10
If the sound production is any hint...
dwebbieappleton20 July 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I'm pretty sure that, in the scene near the very end where the house is burning down, a slightly slowed-down recording of someone passing gas is played. About 60% of the dialog is voiced-over, even when it would appear to be unnecessary to do so. The voice acting is at least as bad as anything else in the movie, and the soundtrack can scarcely be taken seriously.

Overall, the movie is only redeemed by how terrible the production is. I found the movie on a list of free films OnDemand, and the version shown to me was actually pre-censored, even though it was supposedly rated R. Trust me, watching this movie with the nudity edited out is quite an empty experience.

If you liked this movie, you might also like Robot Holocaust.
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This movie REALLY needs Gibert Gottfried
lazarillo25 November 2013
I saw this movie twice. The first time was on "USA Up All Night" when I left my friends at some bar where the girls weren't biting and went home to watch TV, still more than a little drunk. The second time was more recently, middle-aged like I am now and stone-cold sober.

The movie itself is nothing to write home about. Like a lot of "USA Up All Night" movies, it is very, very low-budget. It is a complete failure as a vampire movie and only a little better as a bikini movie (there is some nudity, but precious little, and it would have been edited out on "USA Up All Night" anyway). The best part of the movie though was when "USA Up All Night" host Gilbert Gottfried did a fake commercial for an album of the "Greatest Hits of Bob's Band". "Bob" is the completely untalented boyfriend of the lead bikini-clad bimbo in this movie. His band has all of two songs (both awful) and the commercial just scrolled these two songs over and over while "Bob's Band" plays them "live" in scenes from this dumbass movie. I fell out of the chair laughing. It was the best time a young guy could possibly have in the early 90's all by himself on a Saturday night with all his clothes on.

Seeing this movie later, eh. It's not really worth it. It REALLY needs Gilbert Gottfried.
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1/10
Dreadful Vampire Movie That Should Be Avoided At All Costs
tomjeffrey200119 July 2009
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is recommended only for those who feel they MUST see every vampire movie ever made. I've seen a lot of comments on this website to the effect that "(such and such) is the worst movie I've ever seen." In that case, the reviewer has obviously not seen THIS MOVIE. It's totally bottom of the barrel in terms of plot, direction, acting, and utter lack of scariness or suspense.

The plot, such as it is, involves a vampire cult in Venice, California, led by some vampire in a cheesy rubber mask and another vampire given to making long-winded and boring speeches. They are assisted by various other vampires in cheap-looking robes, a human servant, and assorted biker-type humans. The long-winded vampire wants to find his true love so that she can drive a stake through his heart (!), while his rubber-faced second-in-command wants to rule the world through an army of the undead brought to life by the "Book of the Dead." The book falls into the hands of this surfer dude and his bimbo girlfriend, who show it to a priest recommended by the local bookseller. Before the priest has time to completely decipher the book and learn its meaning, he is murdered by one of the black-robed guys. Instead of calling the police, surfer dude and girlfriend decide to get back the book themselves so that their friend Weird Harold (who apparently is a computer whiz along with being a musician and surfer) can complete the deciphering with the help of a partial translation that the priest left behind. Or something like that.

In any event, surfer dude and girlfriend are captured by the vampires who for some reason don't kill them like they've done to everyone else in the movie. Probably because they're the "stars." By means that must be seen to be believed, they get away from the vampires, alert Harold, his girlfriend, and two other bimbos. Then they go back to the vampires' secret hideaway one or two more times, get captured, escape, get re-captured, and finally kill all the vampires and associates with the help of this other black-robed dude whom they conjure up with the "Book of the Dead."

Although I've added a "spoiler alert" in order to avoid being added to the blacklist, there is really nothing here to spoil. The characters, good guys and bad guys alike, are all so completely uninteresting that their fates are of no concern to us. The movie is NOT redeemed in any way by the T&A, of which there is precious little in the possibly bowdlerized version that I watched. In fact, the entire bikini beach motif disappears about halfway through the movie, the remainder of which takes place indoors, primarily in the vampires' secret lair (which is shrouded in smoke so that it doesn't look so much like it was shot in someone's basement).

I've seen a lot of cheap-looking horror movies, but I don't remember one quite as cheap or amateurish as this one. It was originally shown on the USA network's "Up All Nite" and has recently re-surfaced in the "on demand" section of our local cable network. Not recommended.
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1/10
Horrible....simply horrible
Sandoz19 December 2011
First off, I don't know what film "Brandon Sites" is talking about, but it's not this one because there's no supermodel T&A or even regular gal T&A (ok, maybe one brief "A" shot) anywhere to be found in this movie...that would at least make this somewhat redeemable.

Instead, this is a done on the cheap effort, with lots of master-shots and actors who were probably attending those kind of acting classes that met in vacant storefronts at strip-malls. The film tries to be a slightly-comedic horror beach-blanket-teen flick, but managing to blend all those genres' together successfully is far beyond the talents on display here. This particular kind of comedy melding teen humor and horror wouldn't be perfected and come to fruition for another decade or so, until Buffy The Vampire Slayer (the TV series) finally figured out how to make it work without causing unintended laughter and cringe-worthiness.

About the only positive thing I can say about this is it does have a few nice beach scenes, if that's what you're looking for. Also, it has some really atrocious 80's pastel clothing and big hairstyles on display, so that's worth a few guffaws right there. But if it's horror, comedy, or anything else (like decent T&A) you're after, you'll be sorely disappointed. I usually say any film is deserving of a release on DVD, but in this case I'll make an exception and say don't waste a disc on this.
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1/10
Do movies get any crappier? NO
qormi11 January 2021
Unbelievably bad beyond comprehension. Plus the movie is infested by weird and obnoxious young people from the 1980s with their stupid hair and clothes. I was blown away by the stupid plot, script, acting, and even sound effects. In one scene, a collapsing building sounds exactly like a person with long, drawn out flatulence, and there are birds chirping nonstop at night for no apparent reason. Quite possibly the worst movie I have ever seen except for "Us" (2019).
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5/10
Wow! Kids Who Actually Have Lives! And Vampires!
vnssyndrome898 September 2023
I totally agree with another reviewer that said this a fun, yet sad watch, for the nostalgia alone. Why sad? Because I was a teenager in the '80's, and we had lives, like the kids in this movie. Kids worked to get cars, or worked on cars, had friends who were in bands (I'm remembering you, 'Obscene Jester') and had a fun and satisfying existence, WITH NO PARENTS ANYWHERE. We were out every night, having fun, solving our own problems, and living lives, instead of fake posting the lives we wished we had. We also had music, decent TV, hanging out, and even falling in love (like the two new lovers in this movie), instead of PornHub. Kids also had enough internal fortitude to solve their own problems, like ya know, vampires. That's why this movie doesn't suck (pun intended). And for those of you that think '80's fashion is stupid, I'll say, at least we took time to care about our appearance, and had a STYLE. That ended with the '90's. Now everyone's a fat slob, who thinks it's ok to be George Costanza, and go out in sweat pants. We had a lot of art in our lives back then, look at all the art in this movie, the outfits, the music, the car, the bar decorations, even the graffiti is cool. So I don't hate on the haters of this movie, instead I feel horribly sad for them. They don't even realize, they missed the party...
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2/10
There's nothing to see here
kevin_robbins10 April 2023
Vampire on Bikini Beach (1988) was available on Tubi last month. The storyline follows a group of teenage friends in Southern California who accidentally discover the book of the dead. Unfortunately for them, a cult of vampires are after the book to open a gate and take over the world. Can the teenagers stop them?

This movie is written and directed by Mark Headley, in his only directorial project, and stars Jennifer Badham (Men at Work), Stephen Mathews (The Lost Boys) and Jennifer Jostyn (House of 1000 Corpses).

This has a classic 80s feel to it with the hairstyles, attire, slang, soundtrack and cinematography. The best part of the entire movie is the book and the special effects they use to show it's power. Everything else is awful - the dialogue, storyline, kill scenes and villain are all disappointing. There isn't even any nudity in this, maybe a butt shot or two, but no nudity and the female on the poster definitely isn't in this. 😂 Even the love story in this is annoying.

Overall, there's nothing to see here. I would score this a 2/10 and recommend skipping it.
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7/10
You've read the negatives, now here's some positives.
TonyB259416 February 2023
Vampires on Bikini Beach (1988) - This is a low-budget horror movie that flew so far under my radar when it was made I don't remember even hearing or seeing the title. I must have been on a date or sleeping when Gilbert Gottfried showed it on USA's Up All Night in the early 1990s.

I totally stumbled across it last night by surfing on Tubi. TV, and figured it was worth a whirl.

And it was. Seriously. You can believe all of the scathing reviews and warnings to "avoid it at all costs." Or you can check it out for yourself on Tubi. TV for free. For me, it was just fine.

Cinematic brilliance? Hey, come on. We're talking a micro-budget horror film from the 1980s involving a vampire and a beach filled with girls in bikinis who have never acted before.

Let's just say, I found it likeable, from the goofy-looking vampire and his cohorts, to all of the main characters. Especially one. But I'll talk about her in a few... The gist is that a group of fun-loving girls meet these guys in an 80s rock band that plays in a nightclub.

The lead singer, Bob (Stephen Matthews), hooks up with Kim (Nancy Rogers), while the drummer, known as Weird Harold (Todd Kaufman), digs Judy (Jennifer Badham). Clarke (Amanda Hughes) and Wynette (Jennifer Jostyn) are two other chicks in their group who don't have guys, but they hang around a lot.

These are not good times in this Venice, California. There have been killings of young girls, who are found with bite marks on their necks and their bodies drained of blood. Naturally, the rumor is that there is a vampire on loose.

It's not a rumor. It's true.

Falto (Mariusz Olbrychowski) is an ancient vampire who has a coven of cultists, led by bizarre-looking Demos (William Hoo). Falto is tired of eternal life, and wants to find a girl who will love him for eternity, and drive the stake of love through him. Weird concept, but whatever.

When our likeable young friends randomly come into the possession of a manuscript the cult had called "Book of the Dead," it brings them all together in a crazy concoction of music, drinking, bikini wearing, flirting, love making, demonology, blood sucking and murder.

I'll admit, it's a messy story. I kind of lost track on where A was supposed to lead directly to B. But I really didn't care. There is a basic plot that you can follow, and it has a satisfactory ending.

Plus, it has Nancy Rogers.

Who is Nancy Rogers? I had no idea until I watched this movie. And sadly, I'll never see her again, because this is apparently the only film she ever appeared in.

Rogers reminded me both facially and vocally of an actress from the early 1970s named Joy Bang. Joy Bang did some TV work, before hitting the silver screen. She was in eight movies, only two of which can be described as "horror" movies - Night of the Cobra Woman and Messiah of Evil. But she knocked me out in both of them with her cuteness and quirkiness.

Joy Bang's movie career lasted just four years, before she went on to other things. It's too bad. I think she could have made a memorable screen queen.

As for this movie, I'm good with it. If you love low-budget, probably flawed, but enthusiastically-acted movies, I'm sure you'll be fine as well.
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Where's the beach?
supermandisco19 February 2017
This movie not only looks dated, but it actually looks older than 1988 considering Star Wars was made a decade earlier back in late 70s. And the beach sequences are far and too few in between with most of the action happening in clubs, restaurants, clothing stores, and dark hallways. It is easy to see why these kids are frustrated since they are left with the lame music to listen to in an era rich in music legends. This movie would have been better titled "Beach kids go to Halloween."
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* out of 4. What did you expect from a movie with that title?
brandonsites198117 September 2002
Group of super models mixing business with pleasure on a tropical island fall prey to vampires who stalk and kill the models in between hot photo shoots. A " USA Up All Night" favorite, this so called vampire movie is just really an excuse to showcase beautiful women in certain state of undress. It is rather cheap looking and this production leaves much to be desired, but there is a good amount of T & A which should keep you more then entertained.

Rated R; Violence, Nudity, Sexual Situations, and Profanity.
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