''Outback Vampires'' is a 1987 Australian

comedy horror Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary genre, literary, television genre, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three ty ...

film directed by

Colin Eggleston __NOTOC__ Colin Richard Francis Eggleston (; 23 September 1941, Melbourne – 10 August 2002, Geneva) was an Australian writer and director of TV and films. He began his career making police dramas for Crawford Productions. Select credits *''A ...

. It features Richard Morgan, Angela Kennedy, Brett Climo and Richard Carter. It was written by Colin Eggleston and David Young. It was filmed in

Yarralumla, Australian Capital Territory Yarralumla () is a large inner south suburb of Canberra, the capital city of Australia. Located approximately south-west of the city, Yarralumla extends along the south-west bank of Lake Burley Griffin from Scrivener Dam to Commonwealth Aven ...

, Australia. In the film, a trio of travelers are stranded in a strange small town. They are instructed by the locals to visit the mansion of a local

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...

. The visitors discover that the house is occupied by a family of

eccentric Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off-center, in geometry * Eccentricity (graph theory) of a v ...

undead The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if alive. Most commonly the term refers to corporeal forms of formerly-alive humans, such as mummies, vampires, and zombies, who have been reanimated by super ...

people, that the mansion's design keeps changing, and that the

haunted house A haunted house, spook house or ghost house in ghostlore is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were otherwise connected with the prope ...

is seemingly celebrating a never-ending

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

Plot

Whilst on their way to a

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...

festival, Lucy (Angela Kennedy), Nick (Richard Morgan) and Bronco's (Brett Climo) car breaks down, leaving them stranded in a small town. The odd-ball locals send them to Sir Alfred's

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

on the top of hill. Once inside the mansion, things become even weirder. Sir Alfred's wife seems quite deranged, his daughter almost

psychotic Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior ...

and his son is extremely eccentric. After becoming separated, Lucy, Nick and Bronco are taken on a surrealist journey through the mansion, which is still decorated with Christmas decorations. The scenes in the house are shot in blue-tones, characters are able to climb on walls, people are told to "follow the bouncing ball", doors suddenly vanish and there is a music-video style performance by a band at one point. The three friends must band together to find a way out of this

and rid the town of this

family once and for all.

Production

The film was also known as ''The Wicked'' and ''Prince at the Court of Yarralumla''. The film was not released in cinemas and aired on TV 18 June 1988.Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p117

References

External links

*
''Outback Vampires''
at

AustLit AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (also known as AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway; and AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature), usually referred to simply as AustLit, is an internet-based, non-profit collaboration betwee ...

''Outback Vampires''
a
The Cinerarium
1987 comedy horror films 1987 television films 1980s English-language films 1980s Australian films 1980s Christmas comedy films 1980s Christmas horror films Australian horror films Films directed by Colin Eggleston 1987 films Australian comedy horror films Vampire comedy films Films set in the Outback Films shot in Australia Films set in country houses Haunted house films Christmas horror films Films about families {{1980s-Australia-film-stub