Okay, this is what I was waiting for. I Kissed A Vampire steps up the game with episode 2.
In case you missed episode 1, episode 2 finds Dylan (Lucas Grabeel *so cute*) upset over his emerging vampire-hood and wimping out over telling his best friend/crush Sara (Adrian Slade). The episode ended with the grand entrance of DREW SEELEY (aka Mr. Selena Gomez) playing an evil vampire.
Episode 2 picks up with Drew – we find out his name is Trey, Trey Sylvania – encouraging Dylan to turn to the dark side.
This little conversation between Dylan and Trey is a delight. I mentioned this in my review of All the Best: Fun Begins, but there is something so satisfying about watching two professionals do what they do best. Even though the material is (deliberately) a little cheesy their give-and-take is a lot of fun. Lucas bats his big blue eyes with all the earnestness of a, well, Troy Bolton and Drew Seeley has a lot of campy fun in his black eyeliner.
The song this week is the catchy “Love’s in Vein,” in which Trey explains the perks of vampirism backed by a bevy of vampirettes.
The rock video concept works perfectly here as Trey is trying to glamorize the vampire lifestyle for our young Dylan. Using the rock video format for this song expresses exactly what the dramatic purpose of the song is – Trey thinks being a vampire is awesome and sexy. Since Trey is the obvious kind of vampire, he enjoys the obvious kind of being awesome and sexy – guitars, hot chicks, and hot cars. Perfect.
We leave things with Trey charming Sara into going to a vampire party…
My verdict: Watch this one! And download “Love’s in Vein.”
POSTED BY FILMI GIRL
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Right now … I am writing twelve songs… in 6 weeks.. that’s two songs a week to write, program, record vocals and mix. I’m loving what I’m coming up with.. but it’s both daunting and amazing to try and write this quickly. All for the love of it…very little time to edit… it’s pretty much free flow.. I Kissed A Vampire.. finding the more revealing side of these characters.
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Hi Everyone,
This is a big week for me… the premiere on iTunes of my New Musical… “I Kissed A Vampire”. It’s cool, it’s fresh, and it’s funny! It stars High School Musical alumni Lucas Grabeel and Drew Seeley as well as terrific newcomer Adrian Slade. Check it out and then give us a FIVE STAR rating. This is a grass roots movement! Tell your friends!
You can download it on iTunes NOW!!!!! Both the Album and the Video are available:
“I Kissed A Vampire” on iTunes
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I Kissed a Vampire is a musical take on what it’s like falling in love when you’re in the middle of turning into a vampire! I always wanted to know what it was like, the stuff teenagers go through. The series stars High School Musical alumni Lucas Grabeel and Drew Seeley, along with newcomer Adrian Slade.
Dylan (Grabeel) is terrified when a nasty bat bite transforms him into one of the living dead. His world is turned upside down, and he has to figure out how to balance his budding romance with Sara (Slade), the girl next door, and the bloodthirsty desires his magnetic vampire mentor Trey (Seeley) is constantly urging him to give in to.
The iTunes musical looks kind of silly but fun in a bloody way.
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Culture Monster
October 1, 2009 | 7:00 am
Capitalizing on the success of “Twilight,” “True Blood” and other blood-sucking entertainment, two prominent alumni of the “High Scool Musical” franchise are embarking on a new song-and-dance project titled “I Kissed a Vampire.”
The rock musical is set to debut on iTunes on Oct. 13. Starring Lucas Grabeel and Drew Seeley, both of whom were in the “HSM” movies, the show is pitched somewhere between a parody and a full-on sincere take of the vampire angst genre, based purely on the footage we saw in the trailer, which is available for viewing above.
From a theatrical perspective, “I Kissed a Vampire” is certainly venturing into shaky territory as far as musicals are concerned. Broadway is littered with the undead carcasses of such flops as “Lestat,” “Dracula, the Musical” and “Dance of the Vampires.” (The latter was based on the 1967 Roman Polanski film “The Fearless Vampire Killers,” which the controversial director himself adapted for the stage in the musical’s European incarnation.)
One wonders whether Grabeel and crew are taking a page from the career playbook of Neil Patrick Harris, whose Internet musical “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” helped to exponentially increase the size of the TV star’s fan base.
In any case, “I Kissed a Vampire” seems poised to capture the hearts — and necks — of adolescent girls and gay men all over the Web.
– David Ng
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iTunes Trailer
I have written a musical about Vampires.. actually it’s about vampires that don’t want to be vampires.. what to do? Check out the trailer. Great dancing and singing.. funny and fun
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Go to the iTunes store, click “TV Shows” then on “I Kissed A Vampire” and download the trailer. It’s cool.. you’ll see all about my new musical … plus I’m in the trailer!!!! Check it out!
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I was fortunate enough to do orchestrations for the great Oliver Stone’s new movie “W”… featuring the music of the very talented composer Paul Cantelon. What a privilege to work on this film. Go see it!
October 17th
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Lost Cure
Someone took a song I wrote and produced from a film called “Cabin By The Lake” and set it to this footage from ‘Lost’. The song is sung by the great Angela McClusky of ‘Telepopmusic’ and ‘Wild Colonial’ fame. Enjoy!
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J.F. Lawton’s JACKSON is exactly the kind of movie one hopes to discover at a film festival. It takes chances without being self-consciously edgy, it makes you look at at least one familiar actor in a whole new way, and most of all it ENTERTAINS. All too often we in the press cut too much slack to indie festival films, and I’m certainly guilty of that; realizing that something is a first-time project on zero budget, we’ll say that at least it was a good try. Lawton doesn’t need or deserve that excuse, having directed such movies as the above-average Christopher Lambert vehicle THE HUNTED and the cult Bill Maher comedy CANNIBAL WOMEN IN THE AVOCADO JUNGLE OF DEATH. He also wrote PRETTY WOMAN, DOA: DEAD OR ALIVE (my favorite PG-13 T&A jigglefest of the past couple years) and episodes of the Pamela Anderson TV show VIP. So he’s no rookie, but he clearly needed a creative outlet to do something without ass-kicking or silicone boobies. He has passed the test, and then some.
Two homeless guys, one white and one black, are testy buddies. When the white one, Donald (Barry Primus) manages to successfully badger a wealthy businessman (Steve Guttenberg) into giving him twenty dollars, a.k.a. a “Jackson,” he decides that he and his kinda-sorta pal Sam (Charles Robinson, who’ll always be “Mac” from TV’s NIGHT COURT to me) are going to have the best day ever. It starts with alcohol, but Donald’s plans get ever more ambitious even as Sam becomes more and more aggravated that they don’t simply go for the easy pleasures. With Donald periodically vomiting up blood and Sam suffering from war-wounds, it’s almost like a twisted version of THE BUCKET LIST if both characters were totally broke and living on the streets instead of rich and jet-setting. And I don’t mean that as in insult.
In between scenes of our protagonists, Lawton has shot sequences of other homeless characters lip-syncing to opera that is sometimes augmented with electric guitar or even rap. It’s an interestingly Brechtian touch, and may allow viewers who are not opera fans (like me) a chance to appreciate the material anew.
Though much of the banter is comedic, there’s a dark undertone that really comes to fruition later in the story, with non-stop racial tensions – Sam is mad that he is always subject to more suspicion than Donald, and opines that while black homeless people are all war veterans, the white homeless are “crazy-ass losers that went nuts.” For Robinson, this is the role of a lifetime, and he gives it everything it needs; we know he can handle the comedy, but finally allowed to pull off a multidimensional lead role, he truly rises to the occasion.
I’m not sold on every single thing Lawton does here – he frequently uses frames and filters, again in a possibly Brechtian style to emphasize the artifice, but it doesn’t always work. Sure, when the characters are in a cafeteria and mini-frames of desserts spin around, that works. But when they’re just walking down the street and random parts of the screen become sepia? I don’t get that. And some of the opera scenes are overlong. Additionally, the title doesn’t do the movie any favors. Even though the “Jackson” is the key to the movie’s plot, it’s a title so vague that it doesn’t tell a casual filmgoer anything. I realize there have already been movies with titles like DEAD PRESIDENTS and 20 BUCKS, but something that hints at the subject matter more would be more effective. JACKSON: A HOMELESS OPERA, perhaps?
But with that said, I think this is nonetheless the best homeless-guy-semi-opera-race-relations-dramedy Ever Made.
I can’t say that if I ran a studio, I’d want to pick this up, as I don’t know what its commercial prospects might be. But I will tell you, the reader, that it’s well worth seeing.
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Steve Guttenberg, lert, hands Barry Primus, right, a $20 bill in “Jackson.”
The SoCal Independent Film Festival concluded its fourth annual gathering on Sunday, and yes, you weren’t the only one to miss it.
In any case, the Huntington Beach film fest has announced winners. “Jackson,” which opened the fest and had its world premiere there, took home the best feature award, as well as best actor forBarry Primus and J.F. Lawton for best feature director.
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The “Jackson” screening and performances are tonight. It’s going to be a blast!!!!!! See you there.
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September 10th is the world premier of “Jackson”, a great film by J.F. Lawton, featuring the music of Frankie Blue (as well as seven opera vignettes featuring well known arias presented in unusual musical settings.)
This moving and original film will screen at the SoCal Independent film festival at 8:15pm. (Huntington Beach Library Theater) there will be a reception at 7pm with a live opera performance.
I hope you can make it.
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