"Transylmania": Movie Trailer Review

By our guest blogger, Jeremy Wilkinson

In recent years, there have been a fair number of comedies to come out under the National Lampoon label. Most have these have been formulaic teen sex comedies that have failed to deliver enough laughs to make viewing them worthwhile. The upcoming film "Transylmania" is, apparently, the third in the "Dorm Daze" National Lampoon films -- and it looks like "Transylmania" will live up (or down, depending on how you look at it) to the standards of the newer Lampoon films.

The trailer opens with a parody of Twilight, which is slightly amusing. The premise of the movie is set shortly after this--college students spend a semester abroad and end up at the Razvan University. Along for the ride are vampires, a woman with a growth on her back, and a leather-clad vampire hunter. The trailer follows the typical route for a comedy preview--generic music accompanies jokes that are supposed to be funny enough to make you want to see the rest of the film.

Cast members from the previous two films in the series return. No one here seems to be a household name yet, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It does have a National Lampoon/Scary Movie 4-like feel to it, which is the main problem with the trailer. Glimmers of humor are present in the preview, but the trappings of mediocre comedy exist alongside them. The film could easily devolve into cleavage-filled shots with juvenile jokes that would condemn the movie to rental or "catch it on cable" status. Given the trend of the Lampoon movies and the spoof genre in general in recent years, the chances of that happening are good.

For what it’s trying to be, it doesn’t seem terrible--it just looks like an average comedy you laugh at in places, but is ultimately forgettable.

View the trailer for "Transylmania" below. Thoughts?