Some time after the events of the first film (horrible as it was, you probably need to see it before watching the sequel), and our returning characters have gone through significant changes. Paul Morris, who played the B-movie loving priest who fell for vampiric stripper Jennifer Huss in the first film, has now been defrocked and is a more interesting, brooding presence than he was in the first flick (He even has one of those creepy goatees you only see in porno‘s, usually). Meanwhile, Huss has been morphed (don’t ask) into the far more attractive (but hopeless) Glori-Anne Gilbert, and poor Morris has trouble dealing with her eating cats and strange men (There‘s an hilarious spin on the usual argument couples have over the woman being ogled by or sleeping with other men). Also returning is my favourite character from the first one (i.e. one of only two interesting characters in that film), the likeably sleazy Rob Calvert as likeably sleazy comic book guy Larry. In the first film he was just Morris’ sleazy buddy who liked strippers, but here he has become the MC at the strip joint, and his banter with Morris gels quite a bit better.
After a gap of eight years, writer-director Mark Burchett gives us the sequel to his vampire stripper flick, “Vamps”. And thank god it’s a much better film, though I’m not exactly recommending it.  Unlike the first film, this one even has a bit of a plot, though perhaps spending too much time on plot and characters (though it meanders a bit in the middle) and not enough on the exploitation content. Amber Newman, the best thing in the first film (a pretty good actress for this sort of thing, I also saw her in the not-too-shabby softcore flick “Sexual Magic” a while back) returns as the twin sister of the evil vampire character she played in the first film. She sets about exacting revenge on the people responsible for the demise of her sister, i.e. Morris and Gilbert. Helping her out are a trio of rather goofy aides; a Russian-accented, hulking bald guy and a pair of rather unattractive strippers who might be sisters…or lesbians…or both (One of them gets the film‘s best line; ‘Mistress, his head came off…Can I keep it?’ Well, it made ME laugh anyway). A nice addition is Ernie Rowland (who I swear looks exactly like veteran character actor Keenan Wynn), as an age-old vampire whose character, whilst fun, admittedly serves no real purpose other than to explain the rest of the plot, something involving a prophecy and a pregnancy- I won’t spoil it for you.
Admittedly I don’t get much enjoyment from films about strippers…I mean, all they do is get naked, and I can get that in practically any film. I actually liked the vampire lore explained in this film, it was quite interesting. It’s quite a sad story overall, actually (one character‘s demise actually got me a little teary towards the end…well, not really), and this made it much more interesting for me, though after about a minute of mopey Morris walking the streets at night, I kinda got the point. Technically it looks better than the first film, the strippers look a little classier (they were a bit too skanky in the first one, I felt), and it actually has a plot. Newman, when on screen (which sadly, isn’t much) is great fun, a definite scene-stealer. Perhaps you’re easier to please than me, and like boobs and blood, you might like this one more than me.  I have a feeling Burchett’s next film might actually be pretty good. But if he insists on making “Vamps 3”, how about making it with an all-girl cast? (Yeah, I know, I got issues, so sue me!).

ei Independent Cinema (the company behind the Shock-O-Rama label) have again gone that extra mile to gather some top treats to pack out their disks with. Vamps actually comes in dual DVD form with the first disk not only containing the latest in the Vamps series but also contains the complete 1996 'Vamps: Deadly Dreamgirls' film as well. Accompanying these two movies is a short film called 'Portal' which seems very out of place amongst the fangs and boobs of the main feature but still packs an entertaining punch all the same. Moving to the second disk, the many features are shared between both Vamps movies with the lions share going rightfully to Vamps 2 including behind-the-scenes documentaries, cast and crew interviews, bloopers, trailers and several extended dance sequences all of which offer a fun, light hearted distraction from the feature presentation.