VAMPIRES ANONYMOUS is the story of Vic (Paul Rudd lookalike Paul Popowich), a 500+ year old vampire who decides to kick the habit. This leads him to the titular support group where he meets a variety of weirdos, including his sponsor, mobster Geno (the scene-stealing Michael Madsen). After Vic's placement exam, it's determined that he is best suited for sheep's blood, so he's relocated to a sleepy North Carolina town with sheep farms. It's there that he makes friends, falls in love, terrorizes the farm animals and is hunted by a slayer.Popowich is quite charismatic in the role, which works in the film's favor -- with a lesser actor, the movie certainly could have been disastrous. Madsen devours the scenery and manages to upstage his costars at every given opportunity. Steve Monroe also deserves a mention for his charming characterization of the (possibly mentally challenged) drunk who Vic befriends . The premise is pretty original, the direction's quite good, the locations made for some nice visuals and the acting far surpasses what one would expect from a no-name film. Okay, now that the praise is out of the way...There'e some unevenness and serious errors in logic, and I can't quite figure out if it was in the script or a result of the editing. I tend to think most of it's the latter. SPOILERS AHEAD. In addition to the sheep, Vic relapses and kills several people. Yet through the rest of the movie, these missing persons seem to go unnoticed by the townsfolk -- and trust me, these are the kinds of people who you'd notice were absent. Instead we're treated to insert after insert of missing sheep posters. I might be okay with that if not for the discovery of the bodies. It's not suspending disbelief to think that Vic could dump the sheep where he did, but I have a bit of trouble believing he could have dragged the people -- and a totaled vehicle -- to this location. Next up, after one date, we keep seeing Vic in his girlfriend's bedroom fighting off the urge to bite her. It's unclear if he sneaked in or if he was bedding there, though one would would assume it's the latter when he handcuffs himself to a chair opposite her bed. This seems hard to believe considering she lives with her overprotective father. The finale of the film is perhaps the most illogical. Vic is impaled, but miraculously he's undead and well in the next scene. No explanation. The rest of the film is riddled with Vic's narration but here, where we could truly use it, nothing. Also, there's a shift in tone during the transitions from support group to N.C., and it's never quite clear why V.A. members are showing up in N.C. (though according to an extra who posted on the message boards here, a huge chunk of the footage that was shot with the V.A. members in N.C. wound up on the cutting room floor). Sadly the DVD features no extras whatsoever, so if there's any explanation to these inconsistencies, it remains a mystery.Despite the handful of problems I had with the logic (or lack thereof), I was entertained by the movie and found myself liking the characters. That's more than I can say for a lot of no-name indies.

After giving up his cravings and murdering his own girlfriend, Vic joins Vampires Anonymous to try and kick the habit. He relocates, goes through a 12-step program, and survives off sheep blood. Things get complicated when the locals complain about their dwindling sheep flocks. A would-be cop named Diesel starts investigating the strange occurrences, while a corporate vampire hunter closes in on Vic as well.Generally, I do not like vampire films because they seem to copy one another and are rarely ever scary. And while this one wasn't scary by any means, it was at least interesting by putting a new spin on an old subgenre. This featured a clever script with many in-jokes. I particularly liked the parallels of Vic's hunger for blood and Diesel's need for alcohol. These urges hold back both characters in different ways. Whether either character can overcome their flaws affects the outcome of the film.There is a lot of fun to be had here too. Michael Madsen plays Geno, Vic's program partner and confidante. Neil D'Monte plays Juan Rodrigo, a lovelorn vampire, doing a spot-on impression of Antonio Banderas. Small animals are "snack food" at the VA meetings, Vic reads "CosmoVamp" magazine, vampires get silicone poisoning after biting Swedish Bikini girls with breast implants, and while attempting to bleed a sheep, Vic is mistaken for a sheep f*cker by a redneck farmer.The ending culminates into a cool showdown with Vic, his lady, and the vampire hunter running through a haunted house. It was pretty funny watching them push around the clueless people that mistook them for either employees using fake scare tactics or customers looking for some scares.The sound and film quality were pretty good. They used several real animals like mice, birds, and sheep. The SFX were good when used. However, this was a comedy, so there was minimal gore. The vampire teeth looked realistic as opposed to the plastic ones I have seen used in other films.Favorite Quote: Vic to Maggie, "It's because I'm a vampire, isn't it? Are you afraid they won't let you in the sorority? Afraid they'll whisper, There goes the vampire-f*cker?" DVD Extras: Sadly, there were none! Only Scene Selections all by it's lonesome. I suggest a Special Edition re-release featuring commentary and Behind the Scenes footage.Bottom Line: Refreshingly original take on the Vampire subgenre. Huge on laughs, but lacking in scares.Rating: 7/10 Molly Celaschi www.HorrorYearbook.com

Put yourself in my shoes. You're walking through your local Blockbuster. You've gone through all the new releases, not finding anything worth watching. Finally, you get to the V's. Sitting there is a movie called Vampires Anonymous. Always a fan of a camp fest, you pick it up. But who is it on the cover? Why it's one of your favorite under-appreciated actors Michael Madsen sitting on a motorcycle. You read the back of the box that says the movie is about a 12 step program for Vampires. Low budget. Little known. This has to be bad.Then you watch it. And to your delight, it's surprisingly good. Has a good amount of dark humor. Really original story. Some fun action sequences. Only gripe is could have had a little more Madsen. But that's alright. Because the movie was still enjoyable without him.All in all, this is a good film. Nice to see an original take on the vampire theme. Sometimes that can blow up in your face like the Dracula musical on Broadway at the moment that's bombing hard. But this film has just the right mix of action/drama/humor to keep you interested.

I just saw this movie as part of San Jose's Cinequest Film Festival, and I must say it is very well done considering the budget they had to work with. The storyline is brilliant, and the dialogue is hilarious. The main character, Vic, is tired of always succumbing to bloodlust and killing the people he loves, so he enrolls in a 12-Step program called Vampires Anonymous which tells him that he should switch to sheep, and move to North Carolina. Here he meets the girl of his dreams, and much humour ensues. According to the filmmakers, they are attempting to get it out on video by the end of the year, so if you didn't get a chance to see it in the theatres, you will get your opportunity. I highly recommend this movie as a break from some of the normal Buffy-esque vampire lore (which is fantastic in its own right) that is so common these days. I give it 10 Stars!