In what’s fang-tastic about Canadian styled science fiction cinema is that fans don’t know what to expect. With Vampire Zombies from Space, Jakob Skrzypa dreamed up more than just another satire about an alien invasion from terrors birthed from Western European and Haitian folklore. Although ancient alien conspiracists may say otherwise, it’s safe to say in our world, they have earthly origins!
This comedian, actor and producer has a wicked sense of humour to which those familiar with the works from the Toronto sketch comedy duo Fun Uncle (YouTube Channel) will recognize. And for those who haven’t seen his works before, there’s a good chance they’ll want to investigate his back catalogue of works!
In part one of a two-part interview series, I’ve chatted with him and director Michael Stasko about this excellent tribute to the B-Movie multi-genre film. A pitch meeting for another project brought them together; however, their shared love of everything from Mel Brooks to South Park shenanigans proved that their partnership was destined to happen.
But first, I had to ask how the idea came about:
JK: The story was something I wrote in high school and tried to shoot. I wrote it in the style of an Ed Wood film, making it easy to parody. It’d get a rewrite with my current writing partner Alex Forman and when we brought it to Mike, I was pitching another idea. He didn’t like that and asked what else I got. I showed him the dumb vampire script I had, and we worked together to refine it.
How much would you say has changed between what you had written and what’s filmed?
JK: I think 70 to 75% of it is the same. Before, there were a lot more jokes, and we added a bit more heart to the whole thing.
Was the idea of having different “types” of vampires your idea?
JK: Yeah. I had that in the original draft. We wanted to make a fun, cult film for Midnight Madness and we had to acknowledge Nosferatu, Elvira, and Coppola’s version of Dracula. I thought it’d be funny to see the most iconic vampires represented as a council. Craig Gloster played Dracula, and he did a fantastic job. We didn’t have to really direct his performance much at all, he just got the part. He brought a softness to the role. I don’t know if that was his intention to draw upon Nick Cage in his.
As for making all those ideas come together, when did everything come together?
JK: We originally targeted 2020, over the summer. Of course, the pandemic happened and that gave us a year and a half of tightening the script and refining it even more. We went through 25 drafts to make Vampire Zombies this goofy thing.
If you wanted to change anything, what would it be?
I would want it much more gory with practical effects, but honestly, I wouldn’t alter anything. We swung for the fences and told a ton of funny jokes and made a movie that people seemed to really like. So I’m very happy with how it all turned out.
Vampire Zombies From Space Trailer
In part two, I’ll be shifting gears to venture into minor spoiler territory with Michael Stasko about some details regarding the making of this film.
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