TRANSYLMANIA (2009)

Transylmania (2009)
Directed by: David Hillenbrand, Scott Hillenbrand
Written by: Patrick Casey, Worm Miller
Starring: Irena A. Hoffman, James DeBello, Musetta Vander, Oren Skoog, Patrick Cavanaugh, Tony Denman

TRANSYLMANIA (2009)
Directed by David Hillenbrand and Scott Hillenbrand

A group of American students head to the Razvan university in Romania as part of their international studies, expecting to party on down and have plenty of sex. What they don’t expect is to be cooped up in the home of a powerful vampire named Radu and his harem who’s intent on resurrecting his lover, Stephania, who’s spirit is trapped inside a music box… a music box which ends up in the possession of the American students.

If you mixed American Pie and Scary Movie but tone down the sex references (not completely) and inject some humour, you’d have Transylmania. That’s not to say it will have you laughing your socks off, but it will give you the odd chuckle and is actually quite fun to watch if you’re into teen spoofy comedies.

The film focuses on a group of American students led by Rusty (Oren Skoog) who can’t wait to get to Romania to meet his online girlfriend for the very first time. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that she won’t be quite what her online persona appears, but in a way you won’t necessarily expect. Rusty is joined by ditzy Lynne (Jennifer Lyons) and her overly polite bowfriend Newmar (Tony Denman), best mates and potheads Pete (Patrick Cavanaugh) and Wang (Paul Hansen Kim), twin sisters Lia (Natalie Garza) and Danni (Nicole Garza), and friends sexually-confused and visually impaired Mike (Patrick Casey) and nerdy Brady (Worm Miller). The friends get up to various mischief whilst they’re on study vacation, but with Count Radu haunting the castle hallways, it’s a good job the teens have a vampire hunter looking out for them, in the shape of Teodora Van Sloan (Musetta Vander), who acquires a little helping hand from faux hunter Cliff (James DeBello, who you may recognise from Cabin Fever). Unfortunately for hornball Rusty, he’s the spitting image of Count Radu which quickly causes complications for comedic effect.

TRANSYLMANIA relies on slapstick, one-liners toilet humour and general tomfoolery to garner laughs, but the cast look as though they were having a blast creating the film. The script isn’t great but it is funny in parts and has a lot of fun elements to the movie that will get a giggle.

The film is shot rather well with clear visuals and steady angles and also features an entertaining opening credit sequence. Additionally, the film features some really cool songs including Gary Glitter’s Rock n Roll Part 2, a favourite at American Football matches, among others.

If you like a bit of light entertainment with a thin horror theme, then TRANSYLMANIA does an adaquate job and surpasses the likes of Scary Movie in my opinion.

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