Critic Reviews

• John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

  Cheesy but chipper vampire comedy has modest charms.

• John Anderson, Variety

  In an era transfixed by zombies and assorted other ghouls, Vamps is a refreshing change of pace.

• Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times

  "Vamps" is mostly a misfire, but Heckerling still shows enough flashes of wit and wisdom that she remains hard to entirely dismiss.

• Melissa Anderson, Village Voice

  Vamps sends up our pop cultural fascination with bloodsucking but is itself a bit stiff with rigor mortis.

• Rachel Saltz, New York Times

  Aging is probably the real theme here, but it's approached sidelong and has no punch. Still, only the nostalgia has any real conviction.

• Eric Hynes, Time Out New York

  The film's comedic potential is defanged by a pervading tone of embittered nostalgia. Goody doesn't mock our smartphone-loving society with barbed affection-she just wants it to go away.

• Todd Jorgenson, Cinemalogue.com

  At times, Heckerling's script feels as though it's been sitting in a coffin, as the film takes on a campy tone with its endless array of anachronistic sight gags and one-liners.

• Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

  A playful flick about two female vampires, city life and the huge role of screens in our lives.

• Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out Chicago

  A satire with much of the wit of her [Heckerling's] 1995 Clueless.

• Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media

  Vampire comedy has cute moments but lacks bite.

• Staci Layne Wilson, Horror.com

  While it did feel more like an extended sitcom to me than an actual film, I must say I found it fun.

• Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique

  In Amy Herckerling's film, being a vampire is ordinary rather than remarkable - which pretty much describes VAMPS.

• Eric Kohn, indieWIRE

  "Vamps" teeters on the brink of not quite working and yet still routinely lands its laughs.

• Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com

  Bold, ambitious, but it's rarely funny. Heckerling works to squeeze out a few laughs along the way, but the punchlines are soggy and the situations a little too cartoonish at times, resembling a sketch comedy show about vampires.

• Scott Tobias, AV Club

  [This] shambling little comedy never finds a consistent groove, but it's eager to please, and has the ancient gags to do it.

• Andrew Schenker, Slant Magazine

  A sense of anachronism is what provides the film with its melancholy heart.

Read all 16 critic reviews