Reception
Vampire in Brooklyn was released to coincide with the Halloween season, and did moderately well at the box office, breaking even with its $14 million budget. However, it received mostly negative reviews from critics, and is considered a lesser film of both Murphy and Craven (Craven would move on to begin the hugely successful Scream franchise, while Murphy would concentrate on more family-friendly movies such as his remake of The Nutty Professor). The film maintains a 10% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus: "Neither scary nor very funny, this misguided effort never lives up to its premise."
In the retrospective book Wes Craven: The Art of Horror, the author, John Kenneth Muir said "Given the fact that A Vampire in Brooklyn is an entry in an over-exposed horror genre (the vampire film) and an uneasy mix of humor and horror, it is amazing that it is successful at all. The chemistry between Bassett and Murphy is strong, Kadeem Harison and John Witherspoon are adept at comedy, the special effect sequences and transformations are startling, and the overall 1930s'-'40s mood is charming." He also praised J. Peter Robinson's musical score, calling it "delightful".
During an interview with Rolling Stone, Eddie Murphy gave a reason Vampire in Brooklyn was a failure. "The only way I was able to do Nutty Professor and to get out of my Paramount deal, I had to do Vampire in Brooklyn. But you know what ruined that movie? The wig. I walked out in that longhaired wig and people said, 'Oh, get the fuck out of here! What the hell is this?'"
Read more about this topic: Vampire In Brooklyn
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“Aesthetic emotion puts man in a state favorable to the reception of erotic emotion.... Art is the accomplice of love. Take love away and there is no longer art.”
—Rémy De Gourmont (1858–1915)