Sunday, 1 December 2013

The Vampire Witch of St Albans Way (2004)

D. Simon Olson
Colour



Someone should turn Kelly Brook’s life story into a movie. An enterprising filmmaker should take the phenomenon that is Kelly Brook and forensically examine just what the hell is going on. Why is it that this pretty girl with large breasts has been taken into the collective hearts of the British public? There are after all so many other pretty girls with large breasts, so many other pretty girls with large breasts who strip to their underwear for newspapers and magazines and would die for this kind of public adulation, but would never in their finest dreams get a whiff of it. (Okay, there was Jordan, but her relationship with the British public is a lot more – how should I put this? - estranged these days). What’s more Kelly Brook has managed to retain this affection even though her limitations have been exposed again and again and again. She is a terrible TV presenter, there are hours and hours of footage to attest this. She is a godawful actress, there are masses of both cinematic and televisual evidence to this effect. Furthermore there’s plenty of written testimony as to how poor she has been in her stage roles. She isn’t getting better, there are no lost gems, she just stays the same abysmal level and fails time after time. And the thing is she is never chastised for this, she seemingly never loses the public’s affection. Of course, you will say, the tabloids love her because she is a pretty girl with large breasts who is frequently seen in her underwear, but then there are lots of pretty girls with large breasts who are frequently seen in their underwear, and none of the others are treated like this. How is this happening? Is she some kind of modern day Helen of Troy who bewitches all around her with her heavenly beauty? Well, maybe – but then there are other girls prettier than her, who also have large breasts. Is it then some mass hypnosis she is working on the masses? Bending our minds so that we forget her many failings and instead love her always as that pretty girl with the large breasts who looks so fetching in her underwear shots. Or maybe – and I’m thinking way outside the box here – is it some extra-terrestrial plot to lull us into complacent acceptance of mediocrity and soften us up for ultimate invasion? I honestly don’t know the answer and outlandish and insane theories are the best I can come up with. I’ve no idea how this particular pretty girl with large breasts, who is really at her best posing in her undies in still photographs for calendars each year, has managed to create this on-going career, to achieve this level of fame. It truly baffles me. And that’s why some enterprising director/producer/screenwriter combo has to get to work to explain how this phenomenon is happening. But of course if ‘The Kelly Brook Story’ was filmed, you’d have to find another actress to play the lead part, as I guarantee that if she plays herself we’re in for a very stilted performance.


This modern day Hammer Horror knock-off (bright red blood in the Home Counties) really amplifies Kelly Brook’s flaws as an actress. Here she is essentially asked to play two parts, when most films realise that she is stretched in one. Firstly she is a virginal school teacher (for virginal, see wears a cardigan, a buttoned up shirt and unflattering glasses); then – thanks to being possessed by her ancient witch ancestor – she becomes a bloodsucker in a leather swimsuit and cape. It’s that part, with the curves, the naked legs and the cleavage that’s supposed to bring in the paying punters. Kelly Brook does know that her best assets have to be front and centre. Unfortunately she fails to be even remotely convincing in either role. As a schoolteacher her performance consists solely of a worried look and the occasional frown of frustrated disappointment. While as a vampire she does little more than – well – vamp. There is a lot of standing with her hands on her hips, her thighs slightly apart, pouting at the camera with a wind machine behind her – as if this was a Halloween themed shot for October in this year’s calendar. None of this adds up to acting, none of it adds up to much more than decoratively posing.


Around her the cast of drama school grads runs about and acts scared and gets killed, and its either the case that none of them are any good either or they’ve lowered their level of performance to fit in with the star. There are attempted shocks and thrills, gore by the bucketload, but only the occasional hint of nudity – as clearly the pretty girl with the large breasts wasn’t ready for that at this point in her career, and if the main draw won’t get down to her drawers, then what’s the point?


So the question remains….


How does Kelly Brook’s career survive terrible and almost unwatchable films like this and stand pert and untarnished to this day?

The phenomena needs to be investigated and we must be told the truth.

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