Vampyre (Vampire) Rock in the Papers in 1999

Strangely, I, apparently, have only ever mentioned the project that launched my entire career here on the blog. I shared the trailer and a few thoughts and details in 2017. To catch you up to speed: In the summer of 1999, which was also the second to last semester for me at university, a low-budget vampire movie was filmed here in Tallahassee, FL, mostly using students from the film school as crew and a little bit of money from Roger Corman (yes, that Roger Corman). The writer and director of this vampire movie was Andy Ruben, who had recently begun teaching at the university in the film department. Andy has made films of varying notoriety. He brought in a couple of people from LA, whom he had previously worked with, and that included the person handling the special effects makeup for the film. After a series of perfectly timed events, I found myself working for free on a movie making monster effects and drawing some storyboards. One thing led to another, and when I graduated, I left for LA and did my time in the industry. And we know how that turned out.

"Vampyre" Rock in the papers with zombie face in the upper left by me.

Jump ahead twenty-six years, and over the weekend, two copies of the local newspaper's coverage of the film's production came into my possession. I swore I had one around here somewhere, but I haven't seen this in many, many years. A strange time capsule and a reminder of the unlikely beginning of over two decades of making monsters. While I was not mentioned in the article (because why would I be?), the face next to the title of the article is the very first piece of makeup effects I ever created. The face cast was brought from LA as a raw foam cast. I added details, texture, paint, and finish to the face, and I think that I may have made it into the film. Which, by the way, I finally saw, for the very first time, earlier this year. Andy gave me a copy of the movie in 2017 after we reconnected online after I tracked down his YouTube account. Eleven days after he gave me the movie, he passed away suddenly. Needless to say, it took a little while to get around to finally watching it. It was an amazing time capsule and reminder of that wild summer. I am so glad to have finally watched the results of all of our work.

Some of those mentioned were missnamed - oops!

I often wonder where everyone who worked on Vampire Rock ended up. How many are living the LA dream still? Who have we lost? What new adventures did they make for themselves in the last twenty-six years? I know the answers to a few from that summer of vampires. I hope everyone found what they were looking for, because I know I did. It just took a few twists and turns to get there.

That's all for another exciting Wednesday on the blog. See you back here on Friday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability, head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com