Vampire in Brooklyn is a 1995 American vampire horror comedy film directed by Wes Craven. It stars Eddie Murphy, who produced and wrote with his step-father Vernon Lynch and brother Charles Q. Murphy. The film co-stars Angela Bassett, Allen Payne, Kadeem Hardison, John Witherspoon, Zakes Mokae, and Joanna Cassidy. Murphy also plays an alcoholic preacher, Pauly, and a foul-mouthed Italian-American mobster, Guido.
Vampire in Brooklyn was the final film produced under Eddie Murphy's exclusive contract with Paramount Pictures, which began with 48 Hrs. (1982) and included the Beverly Hills Cop franchise (1984–1994).
Vampire in Brooklyn was released on October 27, 1995, and initially received mostly negative reviews, with critics citing its uneven mix of horror and comedy. The film struggled at the box office, grossing $19.8 million in the United States, but earned a total of $35 million worldwide against a $14 million budget. Over time, it gained a cult following, with critical re-evaluation praising Craven's direction, Murphy and Bassett's performances and chemistry, and its blend of horror and comedy.
Plot In Brooklyn, New York City, an abandoned, decrepit ship crashes into a dockyard. Ship inspector Silas Green discovers it is full of ravaged corpses and a wolf, which leaves the ship. His co-worker and nephew Julius Jones flees in terror, running into gangsters to whom he owes money. The wolf, in his true form as the powerful, millennia-old vampire Maximillian (Max), intervenes and is shot, but instantly heals from his injuries. After killing the gangsters, Max forces Julius to consume his blood, transforming him into a decaying, subservient ghoul. Seemingly the last of his kind, Max explains that a lone vampire is doomed and so he must find and fully transform the only known half-vampire woman to exist before the next full moon.
Unaware of her vampire heritage, NYPD Detective Rita Veder is struggling with the recent death of her mentally ill mother and is tormented by unexplained visions which cause her colleagues to ostracize and mock her. As she and her partner, Detective Justice, investigate the ship murders, Max enacts his plan to isolate Rita by seducing and killing her roommate Nikki, and convincing her that Nikki and Justice, for whom she has romantic feelings, were having sex. Max uses his transformative powers to kill and take the guise of her preacher and a criminal, further guiding her down his intended path while causing her to distrust Justice. Max later saves Rita from being run over by a taxi and she agrees to have dinner with him. He magically gives Julius' dilapidated apartment a luxurious appearance and successfully enthralls Rita, tearing off her crucifix necklace and biting her.
The next day, while investigating Julius's potential involvement in the ship murders, Justice learns that Rita spent the night with Max and is informed that Nikki's body has been found. Justice finds Rita in her apartment, having slept all day, and tells her that Nikki was found posed as in one of Rita's visions, suggesting they are prophetic. Rita reconciles with Justice but almost instinctually bites him before seeing her fading reflection in the mirror. She confronts Max about the changes occurring in her. Max reveals that Rita's father was a vampire and he had told him where to find her before his death at the hands of vampire hunters; his death was responsible for driving Rita's mother insane. Max encourages Rita to accept her transformation, demonstrating his vampiric abilities and reminding her that humans have mistreated her.
Justice seeks help from vampire expert Dr. Zeko, who knew Rita's mother when she was researching the vampires of the Caribbean Islands and met Rita's father; Zeko explains that Rita's transformation will be irreversible if she feeds on human blood. Max takes Rita hunting but she refuses to drink a victim's blood, causing her to grow weak, and she seeks divine help at a graveyard.
At Julius' apartment, Justice and Zeko intervene before Max can force her to drink Silas' blood. Max incapacitates Zeko and beats Justice, offering the almost fully transformed Rita his blood. Though tempted, and admitting the powerful connection between herself and Max, Rita refuses and impales Max through the heart, rejecting her vampiric half. Max's magic fades as his body turns to smoke and a bat-like spirit flies into the night. Rita is cured of her vampirism, recovers her necklace, and kisses Justice.
Outside, the thoroughly decayed and rotting Julius finds Max's ring and puts it on, instantly transforming him into a fully healed and restored vampire. Acknowledging that Julius is in charge, Silas drives him away in Max's limo to parts unknown.
Cast Eddie Murphy as Maximillian/Preacher Pauly/Guido Angela Bassett as Detective Rita Veder Allen Payne as Detective Justice Kadeem Hardison as Julius Jones John Witherspoon as Silas Green Zakes Mokae as Dr. Zeko Joanna Cassidy as Captain Dewey W. Earl Brown as Police Officer Simbi Khali as Nikki Ray Combs as Game Show Host John LaMotta as Lizzy
Production Development In 1994, Eddie Murphy had one film remaining on his contract with Paramount Pictures. His brothers Charlie Murphy and Vernon Lynch, had written a horror-comedy script titled Vampire in Brooklyn. Initially, Murphy had considered directing the film himself and reportedly envisioned rapper Flavor Flav playing the vampire’s ghoul companion. Paramount instead brought in director Wes Craven, best known for A Nightmare on Elm Street, whose involvement shifted the project toward a more serious tone.
At the same time, Murphy expressed interest in casting Jada Pinkett as the female lead. The role eventually went to Angela Bassett, who had previously worked with Craven on the short-lived NBC series Nightmare Cafe. Paramount also hired young writers Michael Lucker and Chris Parker to revise the script. According to the pair, their pitch was quickly approved by Craven, Paramount executives, and Murphy himself, with the film greenlit “in less than four weeks.”
Direction and tone The production was shaped by conflicting visions. Paramount wanted the film to be primarily a comedy, while Murphy viewed his role as a chance to take on a more dramatic character. Craven sought to strike a balance between horror and humor, explaining: “I wanted Eddie to be essentially a serious character. I wanted the humor to emerge from the plot rather than his performance.” Charlie Murphy revealed that the film was initially going to be a straightforward horror movie, but Craven changed the focus to make the characters more relatable. He explained, "Maximilian wasn't going to have any redeeming qualities. But Wes taught us that we must get the audience to care about our characters." Cinematographer Mark Irwin later stated that balancing horror and humor proved to be a persistent challenge. Craven explained that he wanted the audience to “care about the characters even within a supernatural story.”
Filming Although originally set to begin filming in January 1995, principal photography for the film began in November 1994 and lasted for 55 days. Three days were spent filming on location in New York City, while the majority of the shoot took place on the Paramount backlot in Los Angeles. A large-scale action sequence originally set on the Brooklyn Bridge was abandoned after budget cuts, with the climax relocated to the vampire’s apartment. Production was also affected by delays. Murphy was reportedly reluctant to film certain scenes for religious reasons, and at times Angela Bassett was forced to perform opposite Murphy’s stand-in. According to Irwin, the star “would sometimes remain in his trailer for hours, leaving the crew waiting.”
During filming, Clifton Powell abruptly quit a role in the movie after an unnamed sound operator was allegedly racist toward him and the film's producers - who were informed about the incident - chose not to do anything about it.
Technical aspects The visual effects were produced by Hammerhead, then a new studio. Early digital tools were used for morphing sequences, glowing eyes, and vampire transformations. Animator Larry Weiss recalled that much of the work focused on “Eddie’s teeth, his morphing into and out of animal forms, and his glowing eyes.” Visual effects supervisor Thad Beier noted the challenges of limited computing resources, saying: “We had to buy four-gigabyte drives that cost $1,400 each — that was all the money we had.”
The wig Although Murphy later said he disliked the long-haired wig, cinematographer Mark Irwin explained that “it was really hard to do close-ups on Eddie and not show the hairline,” noting that the shiny synthetic texture often reflected studio lights and complicated the lighting setup.
Makeup artist Toy Van Lierop, who created the look, defended it as a deliberate choice, while crew members joked that Murphy resembled “Nick Ashford” or wore a “Rick James wig.
Stunt accident On November 3, 1994, stunt performer Sonja Davis, who doubled for Angela Bassett, was critically injured while performing a 42-foot (13 m) fall in Los Angeles. She struck a wall during the stunt and missed the safety airbag, dying from her injuries eleven days later.
Davis’s mother, who was present on set, told the Los Angeles Times: “The last words I heard my baby say was when she yelled down to the stunt coordinator, ‘Are you sure?’”
Her family later filed a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit against Paramount Pictures, Eddie Murphy Productions, Wes Craven, and stunt coordinator Alan Oliney. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health investigated the accident, citing Paramount for four violations and fining the studio $29,000. The outcome of the lawsuit remains unclear.
Score The score for Vampire in Brooklyn was composed by J. Peter Robinson, who had previously worked with Wes Craven on the television series Nightmare Café (1992) and on Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994). Robinson explained that his collaboration with Craven originated during Nightmare Café, which Craven co-produced and partially directed, adding: “It seemed natural that when New Nightmare and Vampire in Brooklyn came up, I was chosen as composer.”
Reception Critical response Vampire in Brooklyn was released to coincide with the Halloween season. The film received mostly negative reviews and was considered at the time as a lesser film of both Murphy and Craven. The next year in 1996, Craven moved on to the hugely successful Scream franchise, while Murphy began concentrating on more family-friendly movies, with his remake The Nutty Professor. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 14% based on reviews from 36 critics, and the site's consensus is: "Neither scary nor very funny, this misguided effort never lives up to its premise." On Metacritic, it has a score of 27% based on reviews from 17 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.