¡Vampiros en La Habana!
Tags: cult, avant garde, psychedelic, comedy

Plot synopsis:
History of the Vampires: In 1870, vampires began to get organized.
American vampires met in Chicago and founded the Capa Nostra Society,
making Johnny Terrori their president. European Vampires met in Dusseldorf
to create the Vampire Group and elected Count Dracula as their leader. One
of Dracula's sons, the scientist Werner Amadeus von Dracula, began working
on an anti-sun formula. In 1905, after years of testing his formula on
vampire dogs, Werner tried it on a vampire, but it failed miserably.
Werner was laughed out of Europe, so he took his young nephew Joseph and
moved to Cuba where he perfected a new formula based on rum and pina
colada that he called "Vampisol". Werner fed this formula to his nephew
and found it so successful that young Joseph, now known as Pepe, grew up
in the hot Cuban sun and had no idea that he was really a vampire. It is
now 1933. A cold war has broken out between the American Capa Nostra
Society and the European Vampire Group, both desiring world domination of
the vampire community. Cuba has its own problems, being ruled by a tyrant
named General Machado. Pepe, now a young man, plays trumpet at Club
Pepito's and has joined the Cuban Underground in their fight against
Machado. Pepe is also about to be drawn into the cold war between European
and American vampires.Werner von Dracula has contacted the European Vampire Group with an
offer to make Vampisol available free to all vampires. At the same time,
the American Capa Nostra Society, after developing a number of vampire
"beaches" in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago where vampires can swim
and surf shielded from the sun (for a pretty penny), has sent their
representative, Mr Goingdown, to approach the European Vampire Group with
a plan to open the first European vampire beach in Dusseldorf. Fearing
that Dusseldorf Beach will give Johnny Terrori worldwide dominance over
vampires (and their money), the Vampire Group denies the request. Instead,
they begin plotting to obtain the formula for Vampisol in order to market
it themselves. With exclusive rights to Vampisol, they figure that there
will be no need for vampire "beaches", which will effectively put the Capa
Nostra Society out of business. Unfortunately for the European vampires,
Mr Goingdown, who had been reduced to ashes and flushed down the toilet,
managed to get a phone call to Johnny Terrori...but not quite in time.Back in Chicago, Terrori has just made a deal with gangster Al Tapone
to fund Dusseldorf Beach, based on the success of other American vampire
beaches. Just after Tapone warns Terrori that, if he doesn't pay it back
in two months at 300% interest Tapone will "put the screws" on him,
Terrori gets Mr Goingdown's call and learns about Vampisol and how, if
Vampisol is distributed free to all vampires, it will crumble his domain
(and cost his life) as vampires will no longer use his protected beaches.
Vampires will now be able to hunt babes on the Riviera and give up having
to sleep in boxes during the day. Terrori's only out is to destory the
formula and stake Werner.Meanwhile, Pepe's mission in the Cuban Underground is to seduce
Machado's wife and learn when he sleeps. When Machado's wife opens the
special locks on the bedroom windows to let in Pepe, the plan is that his
three faithful Underground companions will also be able to enter the room.
Pepe's girlfriend Lola, after learning about the plan, is angry. Pepe
ensures Lola that he loves her, that he wants to marry her, and that his
trysts with Machado's wife are strictly business and involve no touching.
While Pepe serenades Lola with his trumpet and Lola dreams of the 14 kids
they're going to have, a freighter is arriving in the Havana harbor. A
truck marked simply "Flowers" embarks and drives away with Johnny Terrori
and his gang inside. At the same time, a shipment of boxes from Dusseldorf
has also arrived, and they are being transported to Werner von Dracula's
house.Werner is excited. Not only have the members of the European Vampire
Group arrived, but tonight he plans to tell Pepe about his vampire
heritage. Pepe has other plans, however, but he promises his uncle that he
will return later. Lola has obtained a position as a housekeeper for
General Machado, and tonight Pepe and his pals intend to raid Machado's
safe. As planned, Machado's wife opens the window for Pepe, Pepe keeps her
busy with his trumpet-playing, and his three pals sneak in, open the safe,
and steal some papers. Unfortunately, their escape plan fails when Machado
wakes up and starts firing at them. They manage to escape along with Lola.
Pepe also escapes, minus his clothes and trumpet mute. He returns to his
uncle but announces that he's in trouble with the law and must lay low
lest he get shot. Uncle Werner informs him that bullets won't hurt him,
because he's a vampire. Pepe doesn't believe it until Werner transforms
and shows his fangs. Then Pepe tries, and it happens to him, too.Just as Pepe is trying out his new vampire wings and bemoaning the
probable end of his life with Lola, the Group from Dusseldorf arrives. As
Werner prepares to read the formula over Radio Vampire International, the
Group suddenly turns on Werner and demands the formula. Pepe attempts to
burn it just as Johnny Terrori and his boys break in and Terrori grabs the
formula from Pepe. Meanwhile, Machada has tracked down Pepe, and his
police force breaks down the front door. Placing all hope on his nephew,
Werner grabs the formula from Terrori, tosses it to Pepe, and breaks open
a window so that Pepe can escape with it. Werner is promptly burned to
ashes along with some of the vampires, but Pepe escapes and is picked up
by his pals who have been waiting outside.While the vampire underground attempts to raise a yacht so that Pepe
can escape Havana, Pepe goes in search of Machado. He finds him having
drinks with his wife in the bar, so Pepe transforms himself into a
vampire. Unfortunately, Machado puts a bullet in Pepe's shoulder. Pepe
runs outside where he is immediately captured by the European Group who
demand the formula, but Pepe distracts them long enough to escape. He runs
to Hideout 2 where he's been told that Lola is hiding. Pepe explains to
Lola about being a vampire, but she doesn't care. They run away with the
Underground but find that they're being pursued by Machado and the police.
Pepe and Lola duck out in a theater. Also in the dark moviehouse are the
European vampires. They notice Pepe and the chase is on again. As Pepe and
Lola had for Hideout 3, they are spotted by Terrori who joins the pursuit.
Pepe and Lola duck out in a motel, then escape through a window while the
vampires are looking for him outside and Machado is distracted when he
finds his wife in bed with another man.Pepe and Lola make it to Hideout 3. Thinking Lola will be safe, Pepe
goes to the bar looking for his pals. While he is gone, one of the
Dusseldorf vampires finds Lola and turns her over to the Group. They force
Lola to telephone Pepe so that they can demand the formula from him. When
Terrori finds out from his werewolf spy that the Dusseldorf Group has
Lola, they head over but cross paths along the way with Pepe who is
speeding on a motorcycle, hoping to save Lola. When Pepe arrives, they
hold a knife to Lola's neck, forcing Pepe to hand over the formula...just
as Terrori arrives. Terrori wants the formula burned, but it gets tossed
back and forth between Pepe, the Group, and Terrori. Terrori ends up with
the formula and starts to burn it while offering one last drink of O+ to
Pepe. Pepe takes a sip and spits it out.Terrori realizes that Pepe has been taking the formula for so long
that he hates blood and is basically human. Disgusted, Terrori heads for
his car...and runs into Al Tapone, who is mad as hell that Terrori hasn't
paid up. Tapone has Terrori staked, while Tapone strikes a deal with the
European Group to market Vampisol. Everyone departs together, leaving Lola
and Pepe to be rescued by the Underground, who announce that Machado has
been toppled.While Tapone and the Underground congratulate themselves for
obtaining the world market of Vampisol, they are surprised to hear Pepe on
Radio Vampire International singing out the formula for Vampisol."On the night of the full moon, measure carefully, I beg,
2 ounces of mint in a spoon, and add a chameleon's egg.
3-1/4 ounces you must add of brown sugar, and no default!
A lizard's heart must then be had.
50 grams must be obtained of hummingbird's bleed, yes
And lots of pina colada (pineapple that's strained) and a pinch of
pepper, I guess.
Take shark extract that's rather thick and pour it in without delay
Add some rum, a swizzle stick and blend and blend away.
Take some tulle to strain it through and set it to cool until it's blue."Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.

Review: The best animated movie I've ever seen in my life!.
I watched "¡Vampiros En La Habana!" by Juan Padrón when I was eight years old.
This movie was something different from the Disney cartoons I used to watch.
There was sex, good music, violence, and plenty of humor.
A plot consisting in a mixture of vampires and mafia could be strange, but it worked perfectly well.
This is the type of movie that you can hate it or love it!
Yesterday Juan Padrón (the director) presented the second part: "¡Más Vampiros En La Habana!" in a theater in Madrid (Spain).
I had great expectations with this movie.
I couldn't resist comparing both of them, and in my opinion I think that the first part was less dynamic but much more funny.
I'm looking forward to watching "Fritz The Cat" and comment it..
Thanks all the comments!.
Thanks to everybody in behalf of all the artists who worked on the film.
We were very amazed with how the public received it.
We worked hard with a lot of difficulties against us for more than a year.
I remember background artist painted the backgrounds in the back of revolutionary ads welcoming president of Angola in those days, and so.
I also remember walking down the streets in Havana hearing people around me repeating phrases of the film like "dame un cigarrito ahi, Rey del mundo".
What surprise me most is when I traveled to other countries or meet people from different parts of the world and they remember all that.
We all love this film.
It's a great one, more of all because of the great talent of Director Juan Padron.Mario Garcia-Montes, key animator, Vampires in Havana.
Very funny unique animated film.
This film is a great deal of fun, especially for anyone interested in either vampires or Cuban music.
Some of the sight gags involving the vampires still crack me up even though it's been years since I saw this, and the use of music and just plain latin exuberance are both excellent.(Wracking my brains for flaws)  The animation looks a little primative (although one might also consider it "stylized"), and the pacing isn't always as snappy as it might be.But all in all, it's great and there's really nothing like it.
And I believe US viewers will be amused rather than put off by the rather obvious "Capitalists = Vampires" symbolism..
An Interesting Cartoon About Vampires and Organized Crime.
A vampire family from Cuba is preparing for a showdown between the American vampires and the Eastern European vampires.
But with the aid of a scientist, they need a type of vaccination where they can live in daylight.I thought the only film about vampires and organized crime was "Innocent Blood" (1992).
Turns out that the Spaniards beat the Americans to the punch by a few years.
Of course, beyond that, the films have absolutely nothing in common.Although my Spanish is very spotty, I still enjoyed this film.
It was clever, a bit funny, and not at all as cheesy as I might have expected.
The animation is not going to impress anyone, but sometimes that is not important.
I am curious about the sequel....
*Awesome* movie.
This is my favorite animation movie.
Better than Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Shrek or Chicken Run. Juan Padrón is simply a genius: the story is really great, and the script is terribly funny; but I'm afraid you'll need to know some Spanish to enjoy it 110% :-).
Good Movie.
Vampiros en la Habana is a film directed by Juan Padron.
Padron was born on January 29th, 1947 in Matanzas, Cuba.
He studied art history in the University of Havana, and started working as a photographer for FAR (Fuerzas Aereas Revolucionarias).
He also worked with the worldwide known Argentinean writer Quino.
But it wasn't until 1985 that he made his most famous work: Vampires in Havana.
This movie entails a story of vampires caught up in the Cuban revolution of the 1930's.
Von Dracula, a mad scientist residing in Havana, Cuba, found a cure for vampires and enabled them to be under the sunlight with no worries of diminishing into the atmosphere.
This new formula was later called Vampisol.
When vampire leaders from Europe, with primary location in Düsseldorf, heard the news, they wanted to get a hold of the formula so they could sell it and make profit out of it, as opposed to Von Dracula, who wanted to announce how to make the drink, free of charge, through radio vampire.
Vampires from United States, with Johnny Terrori as leader, had a business of making underground beaches for vampires all over the United States, and wanted to extend their empire to Düsseldorf.
The problem laid in the fact that Johnny Terrori could not let vampires from Europe to get a hold of the formula, or else he and his group would go bankrupt.
Von Dracula's nephew Joseph, also known as Pepito (the movie's protagonist), was found fighting in the battle between vampires from Europe and United States.
He was also complotting against the governmental procedures of General Machado.
Pepito's heart belonged to Lola's hands, who helped Pepito and his friends by spying inside the house of the Captain, which worked for General Machado and made sure that everything went with the flow of democracy.
This movie reflects, in specific scenes, how Padron felt about the democratic oppression on the Cuban citizens from the government.
By watching the movie, it can be deduced that Padron was against the tyranny and for the revolution.
He showed his biased preference over political ideas.
Throughout the film, cops and, basically anything that has to do with the government, is depicted as negative.
The vulgarity of the Captain; he, as a leader, should have portrayed himself as an educated individual who respects everyone.
On the other hand, the Captain treated his subordinates like the inside of an empty cup; the detective who was spying for him (the little guy with the mustache), was blamed by the Captain to have been plotting against democracy along with Pepito, when the only thing he did was work diligently on catching revolutionists.
When the Captain caught his wife cheating on him with Pepito, his first reaction was to hit her and tell her that he hated her, and one should never lay a finger on a woman no matter what.
Another scene in the movie, was at the bar, after Pepito and his friends had stolen the papers from the Captain's house.
The Captain' wife smiled at him and he put his arm up as if he was going to hit her.
Padron also showed a really strong comment about the way he felt towards the cops back then; he shows a scene where Pepito comes out of the bar and asks a cop on a motorcycle to get up and leave and, without hesitation, the cop runs scared from him saying "arriba la revolucion, abajo con el tirano." I believe that Padron tried to emphasize that even Machado's own military and cops were tired of him and were also scared for their life.
Padron's concept of revolution against Machado was also represented with Pepito's friends.
Even though their names are not revealed throughout the whole movie, they play a very important part in the movie, literally and symbolically.
Literally, they aid Pepito by protecting him from the police and by taking care of Lola; they also are the ones that planned the robbery of the safe.
Within the movie, they are just Pepito's friends, but symbolically they represent something far deeper.
The three friends come from the three socio-economic levels: lower, middle and high class.
I think Padron emphasized the fact that everyone in the country, not just the poor, was against democracy.
Dario Zambrano.
blood-drinkers go conga.
Juan Padrón's "¡Vampiros en La Habana!" ("Vampires in Havana" in English) has to be one of the funniest animated features that I've ever seen.
It's a really clever mixture of horror with political satire.
The movie focuses on Joseph, a trumpet player in 1930s Havana who is participating in a plot to overthrow Gerardo Machado, the country's dictator.
However, he doesn't know that he's a vampire, the grandson of Count Dracula.
His father developed an anti-sun formula that allows the creatures of the night to walk around during the day.
But the Chicago mafia and a group of vampire businessmen want to get their hands on the formula, each side wanting to use it for their own ends.You have to know some about Cuba's history to fully understand the plot.
But aside from that, it's hilarious to hear the mafiosi speak Spanish with flat American accents.
Not to mention that we get to hear some great music.OK, so maybe we could be a little cynical and note that the movie serves as propaganda: the villains are corporations, the mafia and even a racist Englishman (he has nothing but scorn for anyone who isn't 100% white).
It's a really funny movie!
The excess of vampires in pop culture during the past few years belies the really witty movies about blood-suckers out there.
Definitely one that you're sure to like..
Never Gets Huge Laughs but Has an Energetic, Anarchic Tone.
This is one I've been meaning to get to for years.
I remember first hearing about it on a list of "Cartoons for Grown-Ups." Along side "Heavy Metal" and a bunch of Bakshi was "Vampires in Havana." The title always stuck with me though I never had much desire to actually seek the flick out.
Hey, look at that, there it is on Netflix Instant.The plot is surprisingly complicated.
Dracula, after forming a European union of vampires, orders his mad scientist son to create a formula to allow vampires to walk around in the daylight.
It doesn't work at first.
Later, in 1930s Cuba, he has perfected the formula and raised Dracula's grandson on the juice.
Because of this, young Pepe doesn't know he's a vampire and spends his time playing jazz and seducing babes for the revolution.
(To the protest of his girlfriend.) Meanwhile, a cartel of Chicago vampires want to buy Dracula's castle and make it an in-door beach.
In-door beaches are apparently quite the revenue stream for vampires.
The councils come after the formula while local criminal elements are also after Pepe.
Got all that?
Despite being released in 1985, I suspect the movie was in development for a long time.
The animation is loose and sketchy, like a (more) demented version of "Rocky and Bullwinkle." It would have been fine in the 1970s but probably looked very dated in 1985.
Which isn't to say there aren't stand-out moments like when Lola imagines her married life with Pepe.
There are a couple of clever sight-gags, like a vampire bar built under a hospital, blood on tap straight out of patients' arms.
The movie never gets huge laughs but has an energetic, anarchic tone that I like.
The jazz score is good too.The movie might be the first time some vampire tropes were presented on-screen.
Silver bullets harming vampires?
Okay, probably not.
Vampires from different social backgrounds coming together to form a council?
Hmm, I'm not sure.
Guns loaded with wooden stakes?
Okay, "Vampires in Havana" had to have done that one first.
It's an entertaining enough comedy and over quickly at only 80 minutes.
For the perverts, yes, there are animated boobs in though whether the character designs will do it for you is a matter of taste..
Just saw this.
I just saw this flick.
The sound quality was horrid at best.
The dialog was hilariously stupid, no depth to the story at all.
I've lived in Miami for over 25 years, so most of the irrelevant dialog must be cultural.Aside from that...
watch it with low expectations.
I haven't seen the a dubbed version, but if there is then I hope it has a better story line than the original Cuban version, at least better dialog in the very least.
For a Spanish animated film from the 80's...
it's pretty cringe worthy.
If you can understand Spanish, prepare to laugh for 10 minutes, followed by confusion, followed by being uncomfortable with the dumb dialog.