Fridae

I suppose the secret to Twilight’s success is its cheese factor. It’s so cheesy that fans will lap it up and haters will pay money just to heckle at it. It’s so cheesy that Twilight fans and haters will pay money to watch a spoof of it. It’s highly probable that there’s a huge backlog of outtakes where the stars of Twilight make comic improvisations on their lines, enough to make a special DVD spoof feature or that MADtv will eventually spoof the entire Twilight series on its completion.

But until the day, Vampires Sucks is the best spoof we have of the Twilight Saga. Directed and written by the duo that brought us numerous spoof movies (Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, Disaster Movie), Vampires Sucks is mostly on target with its spoofing of the first two Twilight films (Twilight and New Moon). I suppose the reason why it works is because it’s very hard to go wrong when you actually have a subject to parody – one that is huge and juicy enough for its directors to actually stick to without too many irrelevant distractions, pop culture references, midget and scatological gags that plague the Friedberg/Seltzer movie franchise.

For what it’s worth, we do get some spot-on jokes about Twilight and some funny sight gags in the film’s send-up of key scenes in Twilight and New Moon. The film is at its best when it deconstructs the premise of Twilight, mocking at the characterisation of its protagonists and their casting (Jacob even explains he’s contractually obliged to appear topless every 10 minutes). Even at its worst, the unexpected slapstick violence is entertaining, recalling old school Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes cartoons.

I suppose we can safely say that Friedberg and Seltzer do have some writing talent, and that Vampires Suck is probably the best of their spoof films, next to the still superior Scary Movie. Note however that this isn’t exactly a MADtv spoof and that the jokes aren’t written by the cast of Twilight – who would still have a better idea just what to spoof about Twilight or what makes it truly funny. This is Friedberg and Seltzer making a good spoof at their own level. Given the subject of their spoof, it may be good enough.