These Vampires Know How To Have Fun

Thank heavens, “Vampire in Brooklyn” does not have the “Interview With the Vampire” type of mopey undead, who can’t get through one lousy bloodsucking without pausing to whine about how much they miss the sunrise.

In Eddie Murphy’s “Brooklyn,” the vampires have fun.

“Vampire in Brooklyn” has more yuks than “Oh, yucks.”

A profane comedy with a jolt every 15 minutes or so, it never reaches the giddy heights of “An American Werewolf in London,” which it strongly resembles, but it is consistently amusing.

A big part of its success is that, for once, Murphy isn’t the only one who gets to be funny.

Kadeem Hardison, as a Murphy minion whose body parts keep rotting off (a direct “American Werewolf” swipe), is a scream, as is John Witherspoon as a crabby guy who becomes Murphy’s landlord.

The chance to play an actual role seems to have roused Murphy out of hisI-don’t-have-to-lift-my-little-finger-to-make-you-laugh-so-I-won’t torpor. Besides his elegant, witty vampire, he gets to play two other roles: There’s a Mafia hood whose excellent white-guy makeup will be of interest to the King of Crap.

And Murphy schleps on about 300 pounds of Al Sharptonnage to play a crackpot minister (“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. I don’t want to talk about Jesus today.”).

“Vampire in Brooklyn” has some trouble when it veers into a love-at-first-bite fling between Murphy and Angela Bassett.

The romance is dead weight, and Bassett’s role doesn’t make sense - in one scene, she sobs hysterically about the death of a character we didn’t even think she liked.

So it’s not a great movie. But “Vampire in Brooklyn” has some laughs, some chills, some soulful reggae music - all this and Nosfera, tu.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: “VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN” Location: Lincoln Heights, Newport and Coeur d’Alene cinemas Credits: Directed by Wes Craven; starring Eddie Murphy and Angela Bassett Running time: 1:46 Rating: R