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- DVD: Bonnie and Clyde VS. Dracula
- Rating: Not Rated
- Starring: Tiffany Shepis, Trent Haaga, Jennifer Friend, Russell Friend, Allen Lowman
- Written By: Timothy Friend
- Directed By: Timothy Friend
- Distributor: Indican Pictures
- Original Year of Release: 2008
- Series:
Bonnie and Clyde VS. Dracula
A grind house mash up? By
Robert T. Trate
April 22, 2011
Tiffany Shepis and Trent Haaga in Bonnie and Clyde VS. Dracula
© Indican Pictures
The opening title sequence of Timothy Friend’s Bonnie and Clyde VS. Dracula has the look of being a gothic horror film. Joseph Allen’s score delivers a low budget Bram Stoker’s Dracula fare while providing enough mood to set the proper tone. Unfortunately, outside of a quick flash of our villain, the next several scenes are such a contrast to the opening music that it breaks said mood. One could argue that this clash of famous characters might need that. This would give the audience a quick jump between a gothic of horror nightmare and the gangster world of the 1930’s; that in front of us now is the epic battle between two famous bank robbers and the prince of darkness. What we get instead is Bonnie and Clyde VS. Dracula and we barely get even that.
Bonnie (Tiffany Shepis) and Clyde (Trent Haaga) are on the run trying to figure out their next move. Clyde notices that Bonnie is starting to go too far with their killings. He tells her that they are thieves and must never cross a certain line. Reluctantly Bonnie agrees, but deep down she has already gone too far. A short distance away, Dr. Loveless (Allen Lowman) and his sister Annabel (Jennifer Friend) have revived the remains of Count Dracula (Russell Friend). It is the hope of Dr. Loveless to find a cure to his own disease and that the count is a creature of reason.
This is a low budget horror film. If that type of film earns a certain consideration from the viewer, then you’ll be able to get through Bonnie and Clyde VS. Dracula. If story, historical accuracy, and good acting rein supreme, then Bonnie and Clyde VS. Dracula won’t last very long.
The film takes place during the early 1930’s (well before Bonnie and Clyde died in 1934 anyway) and is riddled with technology that is years ahead of its time. Perhaps, in the written script, Dr. Loveless was an inventor as well as a doctor. However, reel to reel tape recorders, shock collars, and a home intercom seem incredibly out place. A more steam punk like appearance could have helped, but instead these items distract from the story at the end. The audience should not dwell on a device, but rather just accept it and move on. Another distraction, though at times a welcome one, is Annabel. Jennifer Friend looks and channels a young Shelley Duvall providing the audience with its only release from Allen Lowman’s Dr. Loveless. Her child like character is contrast to his mad scientist but her acting is also leaps and bounds over Lowman’s voice over’s (Dr. Loveless wears a bag on his head the whole time). Being that this film is titled Bonnie and Clyde VS. Dracula, I kept waiting for Dracula to take center stage and Dr. Loveless and Annabel to fall to the wayside. Dracula instead is reduced to a bit player and Dr. Loveless remains the main villain.
Director Timothy Friend makes great use of his locations and budgetary constraints when Bonnie and Clyde are on screen. At times the violence is over the top but since this is in the vein of a grind house film one has to ask why it wasn’t shot that way. It looks like digital and lacks the depth of real film. This can all be faked with computers today anyway but Friend’s vision lacks any real style. He shoots his actors in the standard three set ups (close up, medium, and wide) and never gives us anything interesting to look at. If Friend would have ripped off Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's modern grind house style, that would have been at least something. Perhaps making it in the vein of a Universal Horror film would have been better. Perhaps shot it in black and white with heavy shadows and a gothic setting. Instead, it looks as if we are watching a college senior’s final film project.
Bonnie and Clyde VS. Dracula could have been so many things. Universal Horror films mashed up with classic Warner Brother’s gangster films would have been a great start. Perhaps a modern grind house film exploiting both the genre and the absurdity of the main characters meeting. When the versus moment does happen don’t blink because it doesn’t last very long. Much like the drawn out story it simply wasn’t worth it.
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Sounds like an interesting story .