¡Vampiros en La Habana!, otherwise known asVampires In Havana!is a strange Cuban flick from 1985. The film was notably directed byJuan Padrón, a man with a long and illustrious career in cartooning and animation. Considered the father of Cuban film animation, he was famous for being the creator of a popular anti-colonialist comic strip calledElpidio Valdés, as well as the director behind the first three animated films produced by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry. Over his career, he’d go on to direct a total of six films, over sixty shorts, and a collection of minute-long adult comedy sketches. One of these films would beVampires in Havana!, an adult comedy which would go on to accrue international attention and a cult following among those who know of it.
The film presents an interestingly multilayered world in which its story takes place. A surprisingly well thought out vampire history and society gives the viewer firm ground to stand on when coming in to the movie, and, when mixed with knowledge of the 1970s-80s Cuban sociopolitical climate, it creates a rich, colorful setting for the plot to unfold in. The film’s exposition takes us through the history of vampires up to the 1970s, whenCount Draculaforms the first vampire coalition. Eventually, vampires all around the world form organizations, the most notable ones being a more bureaucratic representative based group from countries around Europe and a more irreputable Chicago-based crime syndacite with ties to the human mafia. The son of Dracula, Werner Amadeus von Dracula, has been using his time to develop a tonic that will allow vampires to withstand sunlight. After testing the formula on vampire dogs (yes, there arevampire dogsin this universe), he’s finally found success. Believing in it’s efficacy, Count Dracula takes the formula, but when he steps out into the sunlight he disintegrates immediately. Werner is laughed out of Europe for his failed experiments, escaping to Havana, Cuba with his nephew, Joseph Amadeus von Dracula. Intent on perfecting the tonic, Werner turns his experiments on Joseph and finally develops a formula that works. As a result, Joseph, or Pepe/Pepito as his friends come to call him, grows up in the sun, assimilating into human society without any knowledge that he’s actually a vampire. But, Cuba is under the militaristic, police-backed dictatorship of Gerardo Machado (who seemingly shares only a name with the real Gerardo Machado, who was a general during the Cuban War for Independence and Cuba’s 5th president), and Pepe quickly becomes involved in¡Viva la Revolución!escapades, involving, among other things, sleeping with Machado’s wife for information that would bring about his downfall.
RELATED:Why ‘The Vampire Dies In No Time’ Has the New Animal Companion You’ll Be Falling In Love With
At the same time, Werner has sent a message to Düsseldorf, informing the European vampires of his experiment’s success. They in turn develop a plan to patent and monopolize the distribution of the formula under the name ‘Vampisol’, unbeknownst to Werner, who wants to distribute the formula for free over the Vampire International Radio. During this, the vampires in Chicago are buying up land to create underground beaches for vampires that use a fake sun and water pumped directly from the ocean. The head of this organization, Johnny Terrori, cuts a deal with the head of the human mafia, promising him 3x his investment in two weeks. Unfortunately, one of his crew’s members, Smiley, just got news that Werner’s newest formula works. The distribution of Vampisol would render their entire underground beach racket obsolete, so they set out to steal the formula and supress it. As the Europeans are making their way to Havana, Pepe, his friends, and his girlfriend, Lola, are planning to break into Machado’s mansion, but Pepe becomes sidetracked when Werner reveals to him that he’s a vampire, and so is Pepe. Pepe is obviously stunned by the news. He can’t be a vampire, after all, he doesn’t drink blood and he goes out in the sun so often he’s become tan. But, it’s true, and Pepe is brought along to meet the now arriving European vampires. However, upon learning that he won’t be able to distribute his formula freely, a fight breaks out between Werner and the vampires, and Werner is killed. Pepe manages to grab the formula before escaping, and a complex chase ensues in which the Europeans, the mobsters, and Machado all converge to try and capture Pepe for their own gains. Eventually, Pepe and Lola are cornered, about to be executed by Terrori and his men when Pepe is given a cup of O positive blood as his last drink. Pepe drinks it, but is unable to swallow and quickly coughs it back up, finding it disgusting. The vampires are stunned, as O positive is apparently the most delicious variety of blood. They realize that between the blood and the damage Pepe sustained from an earlier wound caused by a lead bullet that he was no longer a real vampire. Having taken a full cup of the formula every month since he was ten, most of Pepe’s vampiric traits were gone, rendering him basically human. The mob loses all interest in Vampisol and releases Pepe and Lola, no longer believing that they’re a threat.
Two weeks have passed, and the head of the American mafia shows up to collect the tripled investment he was promised. Terrori, having spent the last two weeks not setting up new underground beaches and instead trying to catch Pepe, has no money to give him. So, he’s iced the only way you could expect the mob to ice a vampire: with a comically large wooden stake simply called ‘The Big Stake’. The Europeans, attempting to salvage what they can of their Vampisol plans, make a deal with the human mobster: they can distribute small doses of Vampisol so that vampires can go out during the summer, and during winter they’ll be able to go to the mob’s underground beaches.
Just as this deal is complete, Pepe comes over the radio. As it turns out, he’d transcribed the formula into song lyrics, and he sings it for everyone listening, effectively distributing it as his uncle had wanted. As the song plays, we see the deal between the Europeans and the mob fall apart and the American and European vampires falling from grace and working new jobs. We also see Pepe opening his own successful club and having a son with Lola. As the movie draws to a close, a vampire addresses the audience directly, saying “Be careful, because that guy next to you on the beach… might just be avampire!”
Vampires In Havana!is odd, that goes without saying, but in the same way it’s odd, it’s also a fantastically done film. The story and world, though complex and fast paced, never feels too fast. The characters are able to hold their own, and the world is explained well enough that there’s a wonderfully concrete life to it. There’s clearly a lot of care given to the vampire mythos, though that doesn’t stop the movie from having fun with it. Classic vampire ideas, such as the weakness to sunlight, are obviously important plot points, but lesser thought-of powers, such as teleportation and the ability to transform into a large black dog are also used to great success. The humor is played fast and loose, raunchy, with some tongue-in-cheek jabs at sociopolitical issues and government corruption. The art is exaggerated, expressive, and coloful, with a decidedly older cartoon feel to it. The film, being directed by Mr. Padrón himself, has many of his signature flairs in both the narrative and visual elements, and its easy to hear his voice carry through the story. Anti-dictatorial and anti-colonialism sentiments lace the story and its characters, and the kind of fun, refreshing storytelling with which he created his most celebrated works is part of what makes this film as special as it is.
Perhaps one of the most impressive technical elements of this movie has to be its score, though. Pepe is a trumpet player, and as such, the film heavily features trumpets in both solo and ensemble. So frequent is the instrument that its player, Arturo Sandoval, is credited for his contribution. The music complements the visuals and story perfectly, having a bold, individualistic, at times almost celebratory passion behind it, a passion that can be felt throughout from the entire crew on this film. It’s strange, exciting, and ultimately far too obscure than it deserves to be outside of it’s home nation.
¡Vampiros en La Habana!is simply something you can’t miss. Though a DVD copy is relatively difficult to find outside of Cuba, it can befound for free with English subtitles on YouTube.
KEEP READING:The Thief and the Cobbler: The Greatest Animated Movie Never Made
