Movie poster for I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle, taken somewhere in the London Underground in 1990
Someone recently brought up this movie in Reddit’s r/motorcycles forum and the memories came back immediately: I photographed the poster advertising this film in a Tube station in London years ago. Amazingly enough, I not only still had the print but was able to find it in my archive. Thus, I present it to you in all its glory. IMDB says it was released in 1990, which matches with my records for this batch of photos. It seems to have been taken in one of the deeper and grottier Tube stations but I don’t have a clue which one.
Although this was clearly a very low-budget film, I seem to recall seeing these posters all over the Underground that summer. Perhaps there really weren’t that many of them but they stood out because… well, just look at it. So they might have given the impression of being more numerous than they really were. Good advertising’s supposed to work like that, isn’t it? Though I never saw the film, I was much relieved to discover from imdb.com that it’s classified as horror/comedy: Somehow I feel better knowing the comic aspect of this idea was intentional, rather than an accidental side effect of the whole concept. I enjoy a "so bad it’s good" movie every now and then, but I can never help but feel a little sorry for its makers if they took it seriously.
In the name of expediency, I just scanned the drugstore-processed 4×6" print on my flat-bed scanner. When time permits I’ll run the negative through a proper film scanner and upload a better version. For now, just enjoy this piece of 1990’s ephemera in all its appropriately faded glory.
P.S. You have to love the fact that the only review quote shown on the poster is "It’s really horrible"
LATE-BREAKING ADDITION:
I put up a message about this post on the Pentax mailing list and within a few short hours received this reply:
I know the guy who made this movie – I used to work with him in the
1980s. He’s a good friend and ABSOLUTELY does not take himself seriously.
The film itself is a schlock-horror comedy with ridiculous throwaway
lines, and a grizzly plot. The stars in it were current TV stars at the
time and could be seen in high-profile UK prime time comedy and drama
shows. They all agreed to take part in Vampire Motorcycle for the simple
reason that it was a favour to Mycal, the director, who was a full time
film editor working on said programmes. They did it because they liked
Mycal, and no mainstream studio would make such a movie!
There are various clips on the internet, search the title and have a look.
I believe the bike was a Norton…
I subsequently exchanged a few emails with Mycal Miller, one of the two writers of this cinematic masterpiece. He informed me that, despite my impression that I’d seen them all over the place, they only had this poster in one tube station!
