...(...read in the extremist, boisterously word-punching, albeit humorously redundant verbal styling of The Great Criswell...) "Greetings, my friends. We are all interested in finding out the truth, for that is where the truth lies waiting. And remember, my friends, such past events such as these, will unveil unto you all, such past events, which have transpired. You are interested in the unknown. The mysterious. The darkly secretive and unexplained. That is why you are here. And now, for the first time, we are bringing to you, the full story of what happened, during those fateful times. We are bringing you all the evidence, based only on the secret testimony, of the ever-enduring soul, who survived this arduous, yet amazing ordeal. The incidents, the places. My friends, we cannot keep this a secret any longer. Let us finally raise the curtain. Let us finally inform the masses. My friends, can your heart...even your very mind, stand the shocking facts of...the true story of the legendary Vampira??"...
...it's sort of a love/hate thing, ya' know...thinking that you know a person of certain mystery...are respectfully content with having certain and limited level of knowledge about that person, as the result of an established and juxtapositioned air of mystery...and yet, at least unconsciously, want very much to know more about that mysterious person. And when that person, perchance, finally chooses to reveal his or her self, you are taken aback in realizing that you never really knew this person, at all...or you are instead, happily elated in the revelation, that there was so much more to that person, than meets the eye. In equal parts, such is the case with actress and renowned nostalgic pop icon, Maila Nurmi...known to most, as the '50's gothic personality and premiere broadcast horror movie hostess, Vampira...in this fascinating, captivating, and quite candid, revealing & personal expose the character, as well as an intimate look at the woman behind the character, in the 2013 documentary, "Vampira and Me":...
...of course, most devoted genre fans have merely known Ms. Nurmi in her slinky, darkly sexy alter-ego persona, Vampira, to the extent of knowing that for a short time, she was the toast-of-the-town, flavor-of-the-moment television personality, as the unprecedented first horror movie host, ever to grace the homes of eager horror movie fans. Or Maila's ill-fated legal battle with actress Cassandra Peterson, who created her own gothic-flavored, pop culture phenomenon, with the even more famous Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. And of course, there's her provocatively ghastly, undead role, in schlock filmmaker Edward Wood's classic 1959 horror 'baddie', "Plan 9 from Outer Space", or perhaps even her eclectic, out-of-her-Vampira-character performance in the same year's study on the beatnik era, "The Beat Generation". However, given her close and personal relationship with aspiring writer R.H. Greene, during the declining years of her years, Maila manages to entrust some amazing and insightful information, unveiling and putting the spotlight on the more secretive aspects of her life. Soon after her passing in 2009, Greene took a substantial amount of dedication, in respectfully showcasing Maila's life, in candid and personal interviews...first featured in an exclusive 2010 public radio broadcast, and now, with this documentive companion piece...generously fettered with archive film and television footage, along with more recent one-on-one footage of the radio interviews with Maila, hherself. Some of the more poignant and fascinating points of Maila's life, amongst others, revealed in this extraordinary documentary, include:
- the story behind her impossibly thin waistline, and the hows and whys behind it...
- her expulsion from the stage of a 1944 production of "Catherine Was Great", by famed actress Mae West, because she felt that Maila was upstaging her...
- her first marriage to once child actor Dean Reisner, who would later scribe the critically acclaimed screenplays for "Dirty Harry" and "Play Misty for Me"...
- the origin and inspiration for her campy & sexy 'Vampira' persona...reportedly taking care not to make her too closely resembling artist Chas. Addams' cartoonish rendering of Morticia Addams...her character's obvious template...as seen in the issues of 'New Yorker' magazine...
- the controversy behind her relationship with late actor James Dean...two engaging personalities, who seemed to have much in common, especially with regards to each of their prospective darker sides...a personal study, which continued on, well after Dean's violent passing...
- with the short-lived engagement of her 'Vampira' character, and the subsequent decline of her career, thereafter, Maila resigned herself to whatever work she could muster...including carpentry, drapery & linoleum installation, and the establishment of her own curator shop, selling oddities and collectibles...
...on the whole, R.H. Greene...who while editing a media publication, perchance met Maila in her declining years, befriended her, quite literally established himself as her biographer, and even fondly narrates these documentive proceedings...an extension of his 2010 radio production...has afforded the viewer, with this study, an exceptional, informatively insightful and touchingly devoted view of a pop culture phenomena...and poignantly reflective of one of many tragic casualties of Hollywood...the classic and oft-related story of unswervingly pegged character stereotype, and how such iconic stereotype...even as surprisingly short-lived as Maila's career as Vampira was...sometimes dooms an actor or actress to a degradating obscurity, after abandoning...whether by choice, or by influence...such a famed and recognized role. As relevationally informative as this candid documentary is, the only real flaw herein, proves to be the seemingly sensationalist feel to Maila's life, in the sense that all we have here, is Maila's personal reflections, with actual documentation of such events, as presentedly piecemeal and ultra-rare, as Maila's existing broadcast footage, in her alter-ego guise as Vampira, itself...
...included on this home video documentation, a behind-the-scenes look at the painstaking restoration of rare broadcast footage of the 'Vampira' show...her contribution to the 'Vampira'-inspired, underground music group, 'Satan's Cheerleaders', and the group member's fond remembrances of the actress...R.H. Greene's own personal memories and insights of his intimate relationship with Maila...footage of the 2012 premiere of "Vampira and Me", itself...the whole package of which makes for a compellingly informative and touching tribute to one of Hollywood's tragically discarded and near-forgotten pop icon celebrities...
...(...once again, read in the extremist, boisterously word-punching, albeit humorously redundant verbal styling of The Great Criswell...) "My friends, you have now bore witness to these shocking events, based on sworn testimony. Can you prove that they didn't happen?"...
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