Tuesday, September 2, 2014

The Exhumed: The Ketchup Vampires

There are things in this world that become lost. Things that you think you will never see again. But sometimes they come back. This is the first in my series called The Exhumed. I will be finding things from my childhood memories of Halloween that have returned in some form or another.

First up is The Ketchup Vampires!


When I was a kid, I had tapes called The Ketchup Vampires. There were two and, if I recall correctly, the second one actually came first in the series in continuity. They were narrated by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Which I appreciate now more than I did then. These were so interesting to me and I loved watching them. But I forgot about them for many years.

Sometimes you just think about something you saw as a kid randomly. A couple of years ago, I started to re-collect VHS tapes. I sought out The Ketchup Vampires tapes, but they are pretty expensive and seem slightly rare. I knew these weren't on DVD in the US, but there are many things that come out in other countries that don't come out in the US. So, I looked around. I discovered that The Ketchup Vampires were actually a TV series called Die Ketchup Vampire.

Now, I don't speak German. As a result I didn't get this release. But it was fascinating to discover that it was actually a TV show. Now, I was a child when this came out, so it very well could have been on in the US as a TV show. But there was no release. I couldn't really find much information past that about the show.

The other day, I decided to look again after importing The New Addams Family from the UK. But what I found was far more fantastic.

  
The Ketchup Vampires was release on Amazon Instant Video! For the low, low cost of $10, you get 26 episodes of the TV show. That's 13 more than the German DVD release. Needless to say, I instantly purchased the show. I watched the first episode and I couldn't believe it, it was almost exactly the same. The voices were the same, the animation actually looked nice, but Elvira wasn't the narrator. Watching as an adult, you see just how campy this show is. It's out there and weird. But I LOVE IT SO MUCH! Even the theme song is intact!

I haven't watched past the first episode, but I can't wait. As there were only two tapes running probably threeish episodes versus 26 24 minute episodes, there must be so much more story that I haven't seen. A great start to the Halloween season.

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