Kingdom of the Vampire

Inspired by ‘60s soap opera “Dark Shadows” and George A. Romero’s underrated thriller “Martin,” producer/director J.R. Bookwalter (“The Dead Next Door”) ushered shot-on-video features into the mainstream with his 1991 horror-drama “Kingdom of the Vampire.” The gloomy tale was far from a financial or critical smash, but paved the way for a tsunami of weird, wild camcorder movies throughout the ‘90s, decades before Hollywood abandoned film for digital cinema. Jeff works the night shift at a small town liquor store, his only escape from a terrible secret back home. His mother is a vampire who feeds on neighborhood children to quench a centuries-old bloodthirsty rage. When an attractive young woman named Nina takes an interest in Jeff, mother has other plans... Painstakingly restored from original Super-VHS-C camera masters with a dynamic new 5.1 surround remix, shot-on-video pioneer “Kingdom of the Vampire” sinks its teeth into Blu-ray together with never-before-seen bonus materials from the Tempe vaults, three audio commentaries, and original 1991 home video presentation captured from the archival edit master.