''Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter'' is a 2001 Canadian

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction ** Korean horror, Korean horror fiction *Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing on ...

parody film A parody film or spoof film is a subgenre of comedy film that parodies other film genres or films as pastiches, works created by imitation of the style of many different films reassembled together. Although the subgenre is often overlooked by crit ...

from

Odessa Filmworks Odessa Filmworks is a Canadian film production company, based in Ottawa, Ontario founded by film director/producer Lee Demarbre. Odessa produced the internationally distributed feature film ''Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter''. Productions * 1998: ' ...

which deals with

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

's modern-day struggle to protect the lesbians of

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, from

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

s with the help of Mexican wrestler El Santo (based on El Santo, Enmascarado de Plata, and played by actor Jeff Moffet, who starred as El Santo in two other

productions). This film earned an honorable mention in the Spirit of Slamdance category at the 2002

Slamdance Film Festival The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, in late January and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which als ...

Plot summary

After a spree of

vampiric A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths ...

attacks on lesbians, Father Eustace (a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

priest) realizes that only

can fight off the vampires. Eustace sends two priests to a beach, where they inform Jesus of the problem. Three vampires, including Maxine Shreck, kill the priests, but Jesus kills two of the vampires by using the lake as

holy water Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from ...

. Maxine escapes. Jesus goes to Ottawa, gets a haircut, and buys wood to make stakes. Thirty

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

s jump out of a car and confront Jesus, only to be easily defeated. Jesus teams up with Mary Magnum and infiltrates the hospital, where they discover that Dr. Praetorious is performing skin-transplants to make the vampires immune to sunlight. Maxine and Johnny Golgotha defeat Jesus and Mary in a rooftop-battle. Thus Mary is bitten, becoming a vampire. Jesus calls upon a Mexican wrestler,

El Santo Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (23 September 1917 – 5 February 1984), known professionally as El Santo or in English The Saint, was a Mexican luchador enmascarado (Spanish for "masked professional wrestler"), actor and folk hero. He is one of the ...

, for help. At a nightclub, they slay dozens of vampires, but El Santo and his assistant are captured. The next day, Johnny, Maxine, and Mary capture Jesus and bring him to a junkyard where his allies are being held. Eustace is there, and he reveals that he is a vampire. A battle breaks out. Jesus simultaneously fights Dr. Praetorious at the hospital. The doctor is fatally wounded, but Jesus heals him. At the junkyard, Eustace stabs Jesus with a stake. A bright light emerges from the wound, killing Eustace and Johnny. El Santo shields a vampire whom he loves from the light, and Jesus cures her and Mary's vampirism. To his surprise, Mary loves Maxine, so Jesus cures her too. Later, Jesus resumes preaching.

Cast

* Phil Caracas – Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter * Jeff Moffet – El Santo * Murielle Varhelyi – Maxine Shreck * Maria Moulton – Mary Magnum * Tim Devries – Father Eustace * Ian Driscoll – Johnny Golgotha *

Josh Grace Joshua (Josh) Grace (born 22 November 1972) is a sailor from Sydney, Australia. who represented his country at the Sailing at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Soling, 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia as crew member in the Soling. With helms ...

– Dr. Praetorious * Jay Stone – God (voice) *

Jenny Coutts Jenny Coutts (née Janet Maxwell Barclay) was the first female provost of Kirkintilloch. Early life and education Janet Maxwell Barclay was both in Carnwath, Lanarkshire in 1909, the daughter of Gavin and Janet Barclay. She attended Lanark Gra ...

– Virgin Mary * Ivan Freud – Narrator

Reception

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

Richard Corliss Richard Nelson Corliss (March 6, 1944 – April 23, 2015) was an American film critic and magazine editor for ''Time''. He focused on movies, with occasional articles on other subjects. He was the former editor-in-chief of ''Film Comment ...

panned the film, finding that "the comedy is slack, the song lyrics feeble, the pace torpid". Ken Eisner of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' took a more neutral view, finding that "the film is too silly to offend". Jason Nolan of ''The Harrow'' deemed the production "horridly wonderful", although uneven, noting that " th a film like this, you want it to be bumpy". Film Threat's Eric Campos gave the film a generally positive review.

References

External links

*
Odessa Filmworks: ''Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter''
* * * {{rotten-tomatoes, id=jesus_christ_vampire_hunter, title=Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter 2001 comedy horror films 2001 films Canadian LGBT-related films English-language Canadian films Films set in Ontario Films shot in Ottawa Cultural depictions of Jesus Cultural depictions of El Santo 2000s musical comedy films Portrayals of Jesus in film Canadian satirical films Vampire comedy films 2001 LGBT-related films LGBT-related horror films LGBT-related musical films Canadian musical films LGBT-related science fiction films Fictional vampire hunters Canadian vampire films 2000s action comedy films Canadian action films 2000s action horror films Canadian comedy horror films 2000s exploitation films 2001 comedy films 2000s English-language films Films directed by Lee Demarbre 2000s Canadian films