Vampires vs. Zombies (a.k.a. Carmilla, The Lesbian Vampire) is an independent horror film (very) loosely based upon Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's classic 1872 novel Carmilla. Unlike Le Fanu's story, however, most of the action in the film takes place inside a car. The title and cover artwork were obviously inspired by the then-current horror film Freddy vs. Jason, but the movie itself bears less resemblance to this counterpart compared to other, more blatant mockbusters from The Asylum.
When young Jenna becomes affected by a mysterious vampiric disease, she begins to hallucinate, and her father whisks her away on a journey to find the source of the infection. On their way to the hometown of Baroness Vampire Carmilla, suspected to be the cause of the problem, the two encounter a friendly General, school-girl zombies, cannibals, and of course, the power-mad, evil Carmilla.
Tropes:
- And Show It to You: A zombie rips out Jenna's heart and takes a bite out of it while it is still beating; in front of her still living face.
- Ate His Gun: When the Jeep driver finds Bob's body in the gas station, it looks like she has committed suicide this way. However, later events indicate that it is more likely that the attendant forced the gun into her mouth and pulled the trigger.
- Auto Erotica: Carmilla and Tessa have lesbian sex in the Jeep on the side of the road.
- Blood from the Mouth: Blood gushes from Mary's mouth after Jenna shoves the amulet down her throat.
- Bound and Gagged: Julia is keeping Tessa bound and gagged in the back of her car.
- Car Fu: Both Travis and the General deal with zombies by running them over.
- Chainsaw Good: Travis uses a hedge trimmer to wipe out the pack of zombie schoolgirls attacking Jenna.
- Crowbar Combatant: Jenna stabs the Jeep driver with a crowbar she finds in the back of his Jeep.
- Everybody Calls Him "Barkeep": Nobody every addresses the General by name: only rank.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Bob's dog growls at the gas station attendant when he comes back into the station. It is later revealed that he had been bitten by Carmilla while outside and turned into a vampire.
- Eye Scream: Carmilla kills Travis by driving a Wooden Stake through his eye.
- Lesbian Vampire: Makes the lesbian subtext of Carmilla text.
- Lodged-Blade Recycling: In a fit of fury, the General pulls out the stake that is stuck through Mary's heart and rams it into Travis' shoulder. Later, he and Travis have to extract the stake because it is the last one they have left and need it to kill Carmilla.
- Missing Mom: There is absolutely no indication of what happened to Jenna's mother. Given her daughter's condition, you'd think this would be something she'd be involved in if she was around.
- Off With The Head: Decapitation is one certain way to kill a vampire. The General takes Tessa's head off with an axe, while Travis uses a saw to cut off the head of the Jeep driver.
- Punk in the Trunk: Travis and Jenna are keeping the staked and paralyzed body of Mary in the trunk of their car. The General finds her when he searches the car looking for stakes.
- Road Trip Plot: A father and his allies are transporting his vampire-infected daughter to the vampire queen's hometown so they can stake her in her lair and hopefully destroy the curse. Unfortunately, the countryside is infested with zombies.
- Sequel Hook: The mysterious gas station attendant who wanders off at the end is simply known as Zombie Slayer. Potentially leading to a spin off solo movie as shown in the credits with him walking off with full gear into the unknown.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: The ending implies that the events of the film may have been a psychotic delusion of Jenna's while she is incarcerated in the asylum.
- Undead Child: A zombie child appears in the last scene; eating some of Carmilla's entrails after she has been ripped apart by the horde of zombies.
- Versus Title
- Wooden Stake: Driving a wooden stake through the heart of a vampire will paralyze it.
