Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire

What an absolute madness! This obscure billiards musical is packed with bizarre characters that I quickly grew to love — especially the unforgettable vampire Maxwell. Instead of sucking blood, this vampire crushes opponents in snooker. Even in the realm of cult craziness, this is out there. The characters are wacky and over-the-top, with every actor hamming it up and delivering one ridiculous line after another. The most fascinating part for me was the dialogue and song lyrics. They're so absurd and nonsensical at times that they’ll leave your head spinning. You can tell a skilled director was behind this, as it's shot in an engaging and playful way with lots of interesting camera work. I think the film is smarter than it initially appears. For fans of semi-forgotten cult trash, Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire is like the Holy Grail. Seeing it on the big screen was an incredible experience. (07/04/2018)

Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire is, without a doubt, the most obscure musical film I’ve seen so far. And quite possibly one of the strangest films I’ve had the privilege to come across to this day. And indeed, it’s really just about Billy the Kid and the vampire playing snooker together. It’s hard to describe – what might have been the creators’ intention when shooting this flick? In any case, the characters, the dialogues, the behaviours, oh and even the people’s names are like from another dimension, which is just tons of fun for the viewer! Through the unconventional acting, crazy lyrics and other odd elements, one can have glimpses of good direction and interesting camera work. A truly bizarre finding! [KVIFF 2018] (07/04/2018)

This film is an illustrative example of how the theoretical concepts of story and narration differ from each other. Strictly speaking, the film consists of a single billiards duel and the previous performance of its protagonists and organisers. But it is precisely the depiction of this event in the film’s narrative that is stunningly enchanting – if one does not have an aversion to modern musicals. In a minimalistically stark setting, but with all the more colourfully stylised figures, the film sets out a phantasmagorical féerie about the ultimate battle of two generations and their life and (pop-)cultural styles. During the first minutes, the film puts a silly grin on one's face, which does not disappear until the closing credits. At the 2018 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the Caban brothers presented the film as their carte blanche, noting that they did not remember the film at all and would like to watch it again (which, by the way, is a great approach to a dramaturgical concept that is obstinately taken seriously). Thanks to last year’s screening of their Don Gio at the same festival, some surprising parallels with the Cabans’ debut became apparent when watching the invigorating and hyper-stylish and meagrely minimalist British musical – mainly in the minimalist film set and avant-garde theatricality, which offsets the hyper-expressiveness of the characters, as well as in the masterful camera work. (07/12/2018)