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The Vampire and the Vigilante: A Tale of Undying Action and Adventure · Cinema Yūgen

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  G'day. That's right. It's that time again. Time for Cinema Yogan.
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  Music.
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  Yes, welcome back Yoganites. In this episode we're talking about the vampire
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  and the vigilante. That's right, The Vampire and the Vigilante starring Michael
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  Paré, Emily Whitcomb, Joseph Camilleri, Tony Jackson.
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  It is the very, very cool little vampire film that I wrote way back,
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  2020, co-wrote with René, back in 2020 before COVID, before all the strife.
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  But now, finally, it's here.
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  It's out on blu-ray dvd vod out
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  now check the links in the description renee perez
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  back in 2019 gave me gave
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  me a shot gave me a chance to to write movies with
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  him this was one of them i can't wait to
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  see it mine's still on order but you don't have to wait in
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  the states it's out now blu-ray dvd and
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  vod the vampire and the
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  vigilante and now welcome to the show the director of
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  the havoc series death kiss once upon
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  a time in deadwood righteous blood and
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  now the vampire and the vigilante the one-man
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  movie making machine renee perez well
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  thanks for having me on your show kent i'm very happy to be here
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  mate it's great to talk to you again after so long we had uh we had such a long
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  and lovely collaboration lots of films righteous blood which of course is already
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  out the legend of horse and finally actually the one we did before both of those
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  which was the fire and the vigilante which which was.
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  One of the, was actually probably one of the, I think it was actually one of
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  the second, I think it was like the second movie I ever wrote for you.
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  The one was a horror movie that we didn't actually do.
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  And then the vampire and the vigilante came up next.
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  Oh, we saved the best for last, I guess.
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  Totally. It was coming out in the last order.
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  I don't know why, but yeah. Oh, well, look, you know, no one could have foreseen
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  what was going to happen that year.
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  I mean, I remember you telling me you got within four days of filming it before
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  the lockdown actually occurred the first time. Oh, yeah. We didn't really stay locked down.
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  We didn't really obey any of that. Right. So we just filmed,
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  you know, and no one died.
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  I remember way back when we started working on this, I thought it was interesting
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  for the audience to know that this began its life, but you originally saw this
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  as a graphic novel, The Vampire and the Vigilante. True?
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  Well, I always see everything as a movie, But in some cases,
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  I didn't think it would ever come to fruition. And it's something that's been
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  bouncing around my head since I was probably a teenager.
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  So I probably just went ahead and made it into a failed comic book at some point.
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  But I'm happy it's a movie now, for sure.
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  And looking at the trailer and the footage that I've seen, you always manage
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  to get a really big look for the micro budgets that you work with.
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  It looked like in some of those shots you yeah you caught
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  the last of of like seasonal snow up
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  there in in the background because there's a couple of shots where
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  the uh the master yeah there was a couple
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  of shots in the snow that's right we had a really pretty princess i
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  wanted to see her in the snow and the monster look
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  you know the vampire looked great in the snow so yeah
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  it's just luck but most of the movie is is
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  not during the snow but it's a great way to show the passage
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  of time sure totally and and you you have some great great looking natural locations
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  to add production value i like the look of those caverns that you filmed in
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  up there i remember you saying you went to these natural that's where the vampire lives yeah and.
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  That's actually where he lives that's a that's a national park
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  up there or something is it where you where you live yeah it's it's
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  a big tourist destination it's just
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  these big beautiful shasta the cavern if you're
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  ever in northern california i suggest you go it's
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  it's pretty amazing i mean i capture it on film as as much as i can but i i
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  have to stay within a story i'm not doing a travelogue you know for for a traveling
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  channel or something so i can't i can only show it within the context of the
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  story but it's it's pretty amazing of all the natural uh,
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  and waterfalls and all the beautiful things I've seen in my life,
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  that one really stands out.
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  So I'm happy to film there whenever I can. It's a perfect fit for the vampire.
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  Oh, totally. Totally. You know, it's dark and dank, and there's little to no
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  sunlight, which is always good when you're a vampire.
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  Of course, Michael Parade. No sunlight at all in there. No sunlight, oh, yeah.
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  And lucky he's got some steps to get up there.
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  Otherwise, I can see getting in and out would have been a bit of an issue. but
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  and and you actually yeah michael pare i
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  remember it was a different there was a when we were writing the
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  script there's a completely different actor but michael pare eventually well
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  i guess we got lucky yeah michael pare yeah whenever you can have michael pare
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  you're lucky so he's just a great all-around actor one of the leading men from the 80s that i think,
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  they missed the mark on him
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  yes and he was capable of so much more
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  yes especially in the 80s and 90s he
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  was all his prime in those days but you know he is just a guy that just looks
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  amazing at all times always in 80s action hero shape and the the crazy thing
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  is that he's a real actor yeah He's a real actor and can give a little – even in my little B-movies,
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  he is A-list.
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  So I'm glad we got him.
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  No, I actually ended up last year when I started the show, I got to finally
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  talk to Michael and Emily and even –.
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  What was the young fella's name who was in The Legend of Paul's?
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  I can't think of his name.
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  But, yeah, it was great to finally talk to Michael because he also did,
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  of course, Righteous Blood, which we worked on together, which is hanging up
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  there in the background.
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  Nice. Yeah. Yeah, I've had a couple of showings for that movie recently just locally.
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  It has – people watch that one and they just – there's something about it.
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  It really likes so just i
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  i hardly ever attend showings or anything but these
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  have been with some nice groups you know nice people
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  so i go and attend
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  the showing and it's been uh nothing but good things about righteous blood so
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  we did a good job on that one well that's good that's good i i look i enjoyed
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  i enjoy working on i enjoy working
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  on any movie But the chance to work on genres that you actually like,
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  and as I was saying.
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  Meeting up and getting to write movies with you, I was very extreme privileged
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  to come off this little horror movie and then straight into one of my absolutely
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  favorite genres is the vampire movie.
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  And yeah, what a treat. What a treat.
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  And so we should mention a moment to the audience to check out the links in the description.
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  The Vampire and the Vigilante VOD Platforms is coming to DVD and Blu-ray too, is it, René?
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  Or is it just- Yeah, it already is. Yeah, DVD and Blu-ray.
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  Yeah. Cool. Well, there you go. There's absolutely no excuse.
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  Check out the links in the description.
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  VOD, DVD, and Blu-ray, The Vampire and the Vigilante, starring Michael Paré,
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  Emily Wickham, and Joseph Camilleri.
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  Is it Camilleri? Is that how you pronounce his?
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  Camilleri. Camilleri. Well, in America, we say Camilleri. I don't know how he
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  would say it in Spanish or Maltese.
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  Those are his – I don't know. I think I'm saying it right. Joseph Camilleri.
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  He's never corrected me.
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  He's always – he plays – He's the vampire's butler, would you say?
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  Butler, I guess, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the butler.
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  Does Joseph actually tell you he likes, does he like to play these?
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  I mean, when you're going through the script, you say, oh, yeah,
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  I'll be the vampire's butler or something like that, you know?
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  Well, I'm sure he'd like to play the hero and kiss the girl and all that stuff. We all would.
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  Everyone has to be put in the roles that they fit for, you know?
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  So I thought he was a really good fit for that character and he played it well.
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  So I think it turned out as, as good as you could hope for. Oh, absolutely.
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  And another big, another big could, are you got big production values in this
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  too? Is there's a, there's a big sequence at the beginning that,
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  is all in a castle that's also up there. Is that the castle?
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  I was looking it up online, the different castles that are around there.
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  Is that the one that's also a winery, or is that a different one?
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  It is, yeah. That's Castillo de Amarosa in Calistoga. It's beautiful.
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  It's just, you know, there are no real castles here, but that is a brick-by-brick
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  recreation of a castle, of a medieval Italian castle.
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  So it's just filming there
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  is like filming in a piece of art itself oh it's
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  such a beautiful construction it's so amazing i mean
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  i could film a whole movie there if i ever get assigned to do
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  a a castle movie i've you know
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  please do i'd love to film there i'm sure they'd have
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  me back and i just did a documentary for
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  them so we're we're friends you know the owners are really
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  great really great guy and the manager is also.
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  So i've become friends with them over the years but yeah
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  that place is just it's just
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  a work of art that place yeah so yeah we have a
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  big long sequence at the beginning showing the how long
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  the vampire has been around yes totally yes
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  the the history i i like i like how
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  you kept in there the that he's knight of
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  the vampire because that was the i was looking back at
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  at some of the uh the multiple drafts of
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  it and and a lot of the drafts had night of the vampire as the
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  title but it obviously went back to to the
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  vigilante and the vampire i was just looking back through the old like emails
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  and then i found the one where it says you email me says how do you like the
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  title the night of the vampire and i said well that sounds cool so i like i
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  like the fact that that sort of stayed in there that he's a he's a it's well
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  at least it says in the uh the the information.
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  That the master is a knight of the vampire. So that's – I didn't know that they
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  did that, but, yeah, cool.
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  Yeah. That was pretty nice. But so we should talk a little bit about the vampire,
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  Tony Jackson, who's been in – well, he's usually the heavy or the – he's usually
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  the heavy or the – Yeah, Tony, yeah.
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  He seems like a vampire. He must love to get in. He loves playing monsters.
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  Because he's a monster in the legend. Well, he's really good at playing monsters.
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  So I ask him to do it because he's got a great physicality.
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  Also, he's a martial arts master. So I know he could, if anyone could throw
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  a punch or a kick without hitting the other actor with all this stuff on him
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  and all this costumes, it's going to be Tony.
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  So it's just great to have an expert inside the suit and a man tough enough
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  who could be inside the suit.
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  Because it's really hot and uncomfortable in these costumes.
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  I can only imagine with that mask on, you know, that's a thick latex mask, is it? Yeah.
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  I can only imagine being in the mask plus the suit.
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  Yeah, I mean, it's like another 100 pounds worth of suit on top of you when
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  you can't even breathe with the mask. So, yeah, it's pretty crazy. Only he could do it.
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  Look, him just going up and down those stairs.
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  I know that you don't waste time or resources, so I can't imagine you had him
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  walking up and down those steps too many times, but that must have been a challenge.
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  He could have sprinted up those. I told him, you're an old vampire.
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  You're not a sprinting vampire. So he was taking it. Okay, well,
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  there you go. That's how tough Tony is. He was taking it slow on purpose.
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  Right, yeah. He was just acting there because he could sprint in that thing. Wow.
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  Like I say, only he could do it, but he's good at it. So, yeah, lucky for me.
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  That's impressive. My hat's off to him. Anyone that can sprint around in – because that suit does –,
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  Does not look like the suit that you would want to go for a run in the morning.
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  It's even heavy to carry it to set.
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  I have no idea. We keep them in tubs, and you've got to carry that thing.
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  It's really heavy. You've got to two-man them.
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  So he puts it on and then runs around in it. So, yeah. That's incredible.
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  Incredible stuff. Yeah, I mean, it's great that it's finally seeing the light of day.
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  I mean, there were quite a lot of films due to the backlog that were made during
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  2020 that are now finally seeing the light of day, which is good.
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  I mean, sometimes good things take time, eh?
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  Well, that movie got finished in the same amount of time. It just sat completed for a little while.
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  But, you know, it's really good, and I'm really very proud of it.
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  And, you know, Michael Paré did such a great job. Emily did such a great job.
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  I mean, they are both really A-list type performances in a silly,
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  you know, vampire movie with me running around with a camera trying to capture
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  the great performances.
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  Yeah. It came out very well.
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  Well, look, I mean, I always come at it from a different side because I love
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  B-movies and straight-to-video movies.
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  That was my youth.
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  So, I mean, I don't see any disparity in them.
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  I think that I always and continue to believe that B-movies were always.
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  While they follow, as most of them do,
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  all of the genre tropes that exist, they still have they're still the last vestige
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  I feel of some originality because even though okay this is something that you've
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  thought about for a long time.
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  But it's not based on anything.
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  It's not like the IP machine that exists in Hollywood.
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  Yeah, we have a very strange time in human history where Hollywood only makes
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  prequels, sequels, remakes, and based on existing properties.
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  That's their formula now.
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  Yeah. So the thing is B movies are not regulated as much.
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  No, no. Like, they're not going to shut off my electricity and take my kids
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  away because I don't follow the woke edicts. My movies are too small.
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  If you do that in a Star Wars or Avengers movie, I'm sure that they'd have me assassinated.
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  But since it's just B movies, I have a lot of freedom.
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  As long as you get past the producers and the distributors who want to obey
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  all those edicts, you're free and clear.
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  You know so yeah it's an original work of
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  art it's passion project it's something
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  a lot of people worked on including you and myself and
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  we all just try our best it's not
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  a movie made by a committee everything in hollywood's made
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  by a committee of people who don't have any
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  artistic ability they couldn't they couldn't
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  draw you a picture of a puppy that's they
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  couldn't play you know twinkle twinkle little
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  star on the piano they couldn't write a
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  two-sentence poem they have zero
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  artistic integrity at all and yet
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  they're in charge of making the biggest and most sophisticated works of art
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  known as movies so we b-movie people are we have more freedom than say in avengers
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  or star wars which have been totally corrupted and we are giving it our best.
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  And sometimes it comes out really good like i think in the case of the vampire
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  and the vigilante comes out really good so,
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  I hope it does well and we'll continue doing what we do.
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  But I think you are correct about your observation.
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  There's a lot more artistic integrity here than there is in the big,
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  you know, machines that they put out, the big table.
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  I mean, you're not – I mean, while, yes, you have to do – in some ways you do
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  have to think commercially. I mean, you always have to think that an audience
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  is going to sit and watch this at some point.
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  So you do have to have – That's all I think about.
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  All I think about is audience satisfaction.
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  Yeah. Mind satisfaction in the audience are the only two people that I care about.
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  Yeah. Well, as I say to people who ask me for advice on writing movies,
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  I said, well, would you watch it? You know?
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  I have always thought when I write, whether it's working with someone else or
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  writing a spec for myself, I tried to sit down and write a film that I would go and see.
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  That's step number one. It's got to be something that you wish the world already had.
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  Every piece of music I make, every movie I make, it's something I wish that
• 18:40
  existed so that I could enjoy it.
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  So you're absolutely correct about that too. yeah and
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  you know and if and if it really takes off and and
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  and people like it you know i was looking back through
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  all of our stuff and i found that when we started working on
• 18:55
  a on a sequel there so if people really like it we've
• 18:57
  already got like the sequel mapped out here i didn't
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  realize that but that sounds great yeah be happy
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  to do it yeah no i don't know if everyone's available still after so much time
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  but i'd be happy to yeah to make it happen one way or the other now i found
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  like an outline because you got an email saying oh would you come up as it says
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  here it says would you come up with an outline for a sequel so we got as far as an outline and,
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  There's a draft here, too. I wrote a draft of it.
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  So, yeah. So here's hoping it takes off because, yeah, back then we were already
• 19:33
  thinking about the sequel and the first one wasn't even finished.
• 19:36
  Yeah. Well, you know, I have two series of movies that all have sequels.
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  Like the Dead and the Damned zombie movies have three in that series.
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  And the Havoc movies, there are four of those.
• 19:53
  Yes. So, yeah, I mean, sequels are not, you know, the distributors love when
• 19:58
  you make sequels because they can get all the data from the first one and figure
• 20:02
  out how they're going to market the second one or the third or whatever.
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  So, yeah, that would be wonderful. But it all depends if people like it.
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  Hopefully they'll watch it.
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  You know, sometimes people are used to getting everything for free.
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  So when they see that they have to pay two or three dollars for something, they don't want to.
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  But, you know, here's to hoping for people who really want to give something
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  individual and made with a human spirit, as opposed to the petri dishes of advertising
• 20:31
  that they use in Hollywood movies. That's true.
• 20:33
  You know, I think they'll get a lot out of it. It's a very good movie.
• 20:38
  Nothing woke in it. Anti-woke, if anything.
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  And just really interesting story.
• 20:44
  Like I said, I watched a few minutes. I would just brush up for our call earlier
• 20:49
  this morning, and I couldn't.
• 20:51
  I had errands to run, but I didn't want to turn it off.
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  I was like, man, we made this? It was really capturing my interest,
• 21:00
  so I'll probably watch it again soon.
• 21:02
  That's awesome. And as everyone will
• 21:05
  be able to, follow the links in the description, VOD and Blu-ray and DVD.
• 21:11
  You can enjoy action, excitement, adventure, and a great, above all,
• 21:18
  forget all this. It's a great vampire movie.
• 21:20
  It's a great action movie. It's got Michael Paré.
• 21:23
  I mean, come on, the Philadelphia Experiment, Streets of Fire.
• 21:26
  Righteous Blood, The Great Ruddston, directed by Rene Perez and written by Rene
• 21:31
  Perez and Kent Hill, as this was as well.
• 21:34
  It's an awesome experience, and you don't have to wait any longer.
• 21:39
  Go and get to the links in the description and check out the vampire and the vigilante.
• 21:45
  The more you support independent cinema, the better it gets and the better it
• 21:50
  gets, the bigger it gets and the bigger it gets.
• 21:53
  We take on the big guys and we, uh,
• 21:56
  We restore a little bit more balance, which used to exist before they started
• 22:02
  throwing hundreds of millions and billions of dollars at it and just push all the little guys out.
• 22:09
  But I am one of the people that have been maybe screaming into an echo chamber,
• 22:14
  Rene, but I'll keep on screaming to the day I die.
• 22:18
  I love independent cinema. I love B movies.
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  And I'd like everyone who listens to Cinema Yugen to get out there and support
• 22:25
  and continue to support independent cinema in all its forms,
• 22:29
  genre movies, independent documentaries.
• 22:33
  Some of the best films I have seen this year have not come out of a Hollywood
• 22:38
  studio. They have all come from filmmakers and talented artists like yourself.
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  And I'm very privileged to have worked alongside you with these films.
• 22:50
  Oh, I'm the lucky one. And I look forward to- You made working very easy.
• 22:55
  I look forward to everything you've got next And I know that you've always got
• 23:01
  something on the boil Do you want to share with the audience,
• 23:04
  if you can The genre that you might be turning to for your next project?
• 23:08
  Oh, well, I just finished a couple of movies And they're both in the action genre.
• 23:17
  Yeah, and then you could always look at all my blacklisted movies On rebellionflix.com
• 23:24
  If you really want to catch up in a way that actually benefits me,
• 23:29
  going to rebellionflix.com is the
• 23:32
  best way, and that's Rebellion Flicks is with an X at the end. With an X?
• 23:38
  Yeah, Rebellion Flicks. We'll put a link to rebellionflix.com also in the description
• 23:44
  with the vampire and the vigilante to help support independent cinema in all
• 23:50
  its forms because when you do,
• 23:52
  it restores a bit more balance and
• 23:56
  you realize that if you're only watching
• 23:59
  the movies that are at your local multiplex you're
• 24:02
  not seeing some of the best movies and you're not certainly
• 24:05
  seeing original pieces of art made by people who actually care about what they
• 24:10
  do rather than simply caring about the bottom line art should never be about
• 24:16
  the bottom line it should be self-expression and experience and sharing what we love most.
• 24:23
  And that's a love of movies and a love of genre cinema.
• 24:28
  As I love genre cinema, I love vampire movies, The Vampire and the Vigilante,
• 24:35
  starring Michael Paré, Emily Whitcomb, Joseph Camilleri.
• 24:39
  Directed and co-written by the mighty one-man movie-making machine,
• 24:45
  And Rene Perez, Rene, thank you as always for being a collaborator and for being
• 24:51
  my guest here on Cinema New Guinea.
• 24:53
  Oh, thank you for having me. And yeah, all your words are, two words have never been spoken.
• 24:59
  Everything you just said about checking out indie films. I agree with you 100%.
• 25:04
  So well said. Thank you for saying that.
• 25:07
  Yes. Thank you, Rene. God bless you, mate.
• 25:10
  Rene Perez, The Vampire and The Vigilante, out right now, DVD, Blu-ray, VOD.
• 25:17
  Links in the description, ladies and gentlemen. Don't wait.
• 25:21
  Check out the awesomeness great vampire movie cool vampire movie for halloween
• 25:25
  get into it now and as always my little yugenites thank you for listening to
• 25:32
  us on spotify or wherever you choose to listen to your favorite podcasts i'm
• 25:37
  ken hill and until next time you've been listening to cinema.
• 25:43
  Music.