20 Films That Prove The 1990s Was The Worst Decade For Horror

In another instance of something which must have seemed a great idea at the time, one of the biggest comedy stars of the 1980s teamed up with one of that decade's most successful horror directors to take on that most timeless of monsters, the vampire. However, the results... look, there are innumerable 'sucks' jokes which can be made in relation to vampires, and any one of them would doubtless apply here.

Eddie Murphy (who also co-wrote the story) goes before Wes Craven's camera as Maximilian, a Caribbean vampire who heads into Brooklyn in search of Angela Bassett's Rita, a cop who, unbeknowst to her, has that spiritual link thing that vampires always seem to have to very good-looking women.

Horror and comedy can be a tricky combination at the best of times, and Vampire in Brooklyn struggles to get the tone right. Murphy plays things uncharacteristically straight as Maximilian, yet also does his signature move of playing a couple more comic relief characters in heavy make-up, whilst Kadeem Hardison and John Witherspoon ham it up around him.

The comedic scenes feel goofy, the horror scenes feel dry and lifeless, and the two never successfully merge.