When a horror movie is great, it is always a fun ride: heart-racing, adrenaline-inducing and mind-twisting. But when it’s bad it can be just as fun: silly, ridiculous, and schlocky. 1990’s comedy horror, I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle, manages to be both.
Starring the Stafford-born Neil Morrissey, I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle is about – if you haven’t guessed already – a motorcycle possessed by an evil spirit, which drives around killing people. When a fight breaks out between Satanists and bikers, they create a motorcycle that runs on blood…
Inspired by Sam Raimi’s film The Evil Dead, the movie was filmed in Birmingham. And while these days, a great deal of movies are shot in Brum, they often do their best to disguise the fact. Not so this one, where the gritty and grimy sides of 90s Birmingham are often on display and West Midlands accents pop up everywhere.
From the industrial back streets of Digbeth to Noddy’s home in Smethwick, Birmingham is everywhere. Other locations include the motorcycle shop in Sparkbrook and The Country Girl pub in Selly Oak. Speaking to Monthly Film Bulletin in 1990, director Dirk Campbell said: “I wanted the film to have the look of a serious horror movie, a dark gritty realistic look that used the decaying back streets of Birmingham, so there’s nothing that jumps out at you to tell you it’s a comedy.”
Star of ITV’s Boon, Michael Elphick, also plays Inspector Cleaver, who is trying to investigate the murders. While Anthony Daniels AKA C-3PO plays the priest who tries to exorcise the bike’s evil spirit. The horror movie also uses motorbike gangs from Aston and Redditch as extras.
I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle premiered at the Odeon on New Street, but was criticised at the time for its “leering” portrayal of women and “adolescent tone” – one of the oddest scenes involves a talking turd. But if you’re after something stupid and gory to watch this Halloween, stay in Birmingham with I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle.
You can rent I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle on Amazon Prim for £1.99