I saw a vampire movie when I was a young kid in the early 90s. I thought the movie was contemporary but it could be older. All I remember is that it had vampires, kids, dreamy window curtains, and a model of the town was featured. I brought this up before and someone suggested Salem's Lot (1979) and the window scene seems familiar, but I really thought it seemed more recent. Any other suggestions? Another vaguer memory involves prison bars or a jail cell. I remember it scared the crap out of me and I may not have even watched the whole movie.
-
1When you say "a model of the town was featured", do you mean there were special effects shots using a model, or do you mean the story involved a scale model of the town in some way?– N. VirgoApr 9, 2021 at 7:16
-
4Could it possibly be Beetlejuice you're thinking of (through the fog of memory)? It's not exactly on target, but it does feature "a model of the town" which certainly limits the number of possibilities.– workerjoeApr 9, 2021 at 12:14
-
2Another possibility might be one of the first 2 Addams Family movies - early 90's, not vampires explicitly, but generally ooky spooky people, some of whom look a bit vamp-ish, model of a town (Gomez's train set), jail cell (Fester was in a jail), kids (Wednesday and Pugsley, also some other kids at the summer camp in the 2nd movie). Not sure how "scary" this movie might be, but to a kid, maybe.– Darrel HoffmanApr 9, 2021 at 13:59
-
1960s vampire soap opera Dark shadows?– LexibleApr 9, 2021 at 18:05
-
If you're willing to change 'vampire' to 'ghost' you have, as workerjoe says, exactly described beetlejuice.....– AffeApr 9, 2021 at 18:30
Add a comment
|
5 Answers
Vampires, kids, and a model of the town seems like Lost Boys to me. Released in 1987, it would have been on TV or pay TV by the early 1990s.
The protagonists are two (I think?) young teen boys; one of the vampires (after a bit) is the big brother of one of the boys. Set in the fictional Santa Carla (California, judging by terrain and climate), the "Lost Boys" of the title are a gang of sorts who go out at night, get into trouble (and get out of it by being vampires -- they can fly, become invisible, etc.). The protagonists, on discovering that the big brother is being turned, set out to stop the process, which requires that they destroy the gang leader (played by Kiefer Sutherland).
answered Apr 8, 2021 at 19:42
-
Thanks, but I am very familiar with Lost Boys. The one I saw had a more somber and less stylized feel. The problem is that I don't know how corrupted my memory is. Apr 8, 2021 at 19:48
-
-
@ToddWilcox I seem to remember such, maybe, but it's been thirty years since I've seen it. Apr 9, 2021 at 15:36
-
1There's no model town in The Lost Boys. I've seen it many times, and as recently as a few months ago. Apr 9, 2021 at 20:25
Possibly My Best Friend Is A Vampire? It came out in 1987, involves kids, has a dream sequence with a "shower scene" with (shower, not window) curtains... can't remember if there was a model of the town in it or not though.
-
Unfortunately, this wasn't it either. Thanks though. It definitely felt more serious. Apr 8, 2021 at 20:09
I wonder if it was Fright Night (1985). It's been a while since I've seen it, but:
- There are definitely vampires
- The main characters are high school age but look pretty young
- A large plot point of the movie includes looking through the neighbor's window. I think this gets a bit NSFW, but if you YouTube "Fright Night Window," you'll see that it includes dreamy window curtain sequences, as you mentioned.
- Not sure about any model towns or prison bars, though... Again, it's been a while...
There was this series I saw as a teenager. It was a Canadian-German TV series from the mid-1980's originally called 'Der Kleine Vampir', and is about a 'normal' boy who meets a vampire boy of apparent similar age:
I vaguely remember the intro featuring curtains, possibly when the vampire boy flew in through the window.
Reading through the plot, it seems they regularly visit a crypt, which well might have featured metal bars or cells, and, as they have to face a vampire hunter, it seems - and I remember it - to be quite exhilarating, possibly a smidgen disconcerting.
-
1This reminds me of the film The Little Vamprie (2000) which is based on a series of books by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg titled Der Kleine Vampir or The Little Vampire in English. The books were adapted into a German-Canadian tv series The Little Vampire in 1986, the German tv series Der Kleine Vampir - Neue Abenteuer 1993-94, the 2000 movie, and the movie The LIttle Vampire 3D in 2017. Apr 9, 2021 at 15:44
Since comments can be deleted, I'll go ahead and answer Beetlejuice (1988), which is a comedy, but could seem scary to a very young child.
Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis) live in an old house in New England. In the attic, Adam has made a detailed scale model of the town and their house. Adam and Barbara die in a car accident and a new family moves into their house. But Adam and Barbara's ghosts don't want the new family in their house, so they try to scare them away. They call upon a ghost-for-hire named Beetlejuice (say his name three times to invoke him), played by Michael Keaton in white face paint, Joker-like hair, and black-and-white striped pajamas that look like an old-fashioned movie prison uniform. The new family isn't scared by Beetlejuice, though, and wants to make money off their "haunted house."
While trying to scare away the new inhabitants of their house, Adam and Barbara dress up like ghosts, and when that doesn't work, Barbara appears holding a bloody knife and Adam's severed head.
At one point, Adam and Barbara visit an underground Hell-lite that has an office receptionist and a waiting room whose inhabitants look like they've been waiting there for decades. It's not prison bars, but some aspects may look prison-like. Combined with the striped pajamas, this might put "prison" into your head.
One of the most memorable scenes occurs at the dinner table. The new family and their real estate agent (I think) are dining at a long rectangular table. The appetizer is shrimp cocktail. Suddenly the Banana Boat Song ("Day-O! Day-ay-ay-O!" and "Come Mr. Tally-man, tally me bananas...") bursts out, the shrimp cocktail turns into hands that cling Alien-like to the new family's faces, and the other dishes and furniture come to life. The new family are possessed and made to dance in silly ways.
You don't say exactly how old you were, but I could see the movie being scary to a preschool aged child.
Some images from IMDB:
The house:
Beetlejuice character:
The model town:
The office / waiting room scene:
The Day-O! scene:
