The Little Vampire
Tony Thompson [Jonathon Lipnicki] is lonely and friendless. His parents, Bob and Dottie,
have just moved him from San Diego, California to Scotland, and the two
McAshton boys, Nigel [Iain De Caestecker] and Flint [Scott Fletcher], are making fun of him at his new school
because of his obsession with vampires. Unfortunately, Nigel and Flint are
the grandsons of Lord McAshton, Bob's boss.One night, a bat flies into Tony's room. The bat is Rudolph Sackville-Bagg
[Rollo Weeks], vampire, and he's in a bad way. He can't fly, and the
vampire hunter Rookery [Jim Carter] is looking for him. Rudolph desperately needs blood
and asks Tony to lead him to a cow. While Tony waits for Rudolph to finish
his dinner, Rookery attempts to run Tony over with his vampire-hunting
mobile, but Rudolph saves him just in time. Tony and Rudolph are now
tit-for-tat, each having saved the other. They decide to become friends.
Rudolph sleeps the next day in Tony's toybox but is gone when Tony
gets home from school. Rudolph shows up again that night, asking about a
picture Tony drew of an amulet he saw in a dream, the amulet of Attamon,
made by the Great Magician from a piece of the comet of Attamon. Tony
offers to help Rudolph find it because it could mean the end of a curse
that causes Rudolph and his family to remain vampires. Unfortunately,
Rookery is also seeking the amulet because, used in another way, it can
send all the vampires straight to hell.
Suddenly, Rudolph's family shows up...father Frederick, mother Freda,
sister Anna, and brother Gregory. Frederick is not happy that his son has
befriended a human. Just then, Rookery shows up and starts firing stakes
at the vampire family. Tony cuts the hose between Rookery's stakegun and
his pneumatic air supply. The vampires and Tony take refuge in an
underground crypt, and Tony has a vision in which he sees a woman covering
the body of the Great Magician with a blanket bearing a crest flanked by
two stags and a banner reading "Sola animo at manuforti."Later that night, Tony and Rudolph pay a visit to the McAshton boys.
Tony presents himself as the Lord of the Underworld and Rudolph as "the
fiendish friend of Tony Thompson," and orders the boys to treat Tony with
respect or else they will be bat-bait. The next day at school, the
McAshton boys trip all over themselves to be nice to Tony. It appears that
Tony's problems with the McAshton boys are over.
However, his problems with the McAshtons are just beginning. That
afternoon at tea, Tony's dad shows him a picture of the McAshton crest. Lo
and behold, it is the one from Tony's vision. Later that evening, Tony
goes to the crypt to tell Rudolph of his discovery, only to find Rookery
there. Rookery lowers a bright light into the crypt, but Tony throws a
rock at it and breaks the bulb. Unfortunately, Rudolph's father takes the
full brunt of the light and is severely weakened. After fortifying their
dad on some cowblood, the vampire family moves into Tony's cellar in order
to hide from Rookery. During the night, as Tony tries to sleep, Anna [Anna Popplewell] comes
into his room. She gives him a good luck charm (a dead mouse) from the old
country and tells him to whistle if he should ever need her help.It's Saturday morning, and Tony goes to work with his dad, hoping to
learn more about the McAshton crest and the whereabouts of the amulet.
Unfortunately, Rookery is also there, and Lord McAshton is telling him
about the family history. It seems that the woman in Tony's vision, the
one in which he sees her covering the body of the Great Magician with a
blanket that bears the McAshton crest, was actually Lord McAshton's
ancestor, Elizabeth, and the Great Magician was the vampire Von
Sackville-Bagg. Even more important is the fact that Elizabeth is wearing
the amulet of Attamon in a family portrait and was probably buried with
it. Rookery asks where she is buried, so Lord McAshton takes him to the
family crypt. They open her coffin, but it is empty. Most likely, she was
buried elsewhere, but where?Tony, who has been watching from a balcony, suddenly falls
off...right into the coffin. Rookery, who has also been after Tony, closes
the lid. Tony can't get out, but he remembers his good luck mouse and
whistles for Anna. Although it is daylight, Rudolph and Anna cover
themselves with a blanket and helmets and go to Tony. A mouse leads the
three of them to a secret passage in which they find the real coffin of
Elizabeth McAshton and Von Sackville-Bagg, but the amulet isn't there.
Suddenly, Tony has another vision of Elizabeth burying the stone under the
floorboards of her room...which is now Tony's room.
Rudolph and Tony go to Tony's bedroom and start prying up the
floorboards, but Rookery is wise to them. When Tony refuses to hand over
the stone, Rookery takes Tony, stone and all, for a ride in his
vampiremobile. As they drive along, they are attacked by a herd of flying
vampire cows (the cows on which Rudolph and his family have been feeding)
who cover Rookery's windshield with cowpies.Meanwhile, Frederick and Freda realize that tonight is the night that
the Attamon comet will cross the moon, and all the vampires must be called
to unite on the cliffs. Frederick is still too weak to fly, so they
introduce themselves to Tony's parents and invite them to view the comet,
too, using their car to drive out there. The entire vampire clan is
gathered on the cliff, but where is the amulet?
At the last minute, Rudolph and Tony fly in. Tony gives the amulet to
Frederick who says the magic words. A red light descends from the comet, a
red fog creeps over the vampires, and they all disappear.Epilogue: It is some weeks later. Tony and his parents are at the market in
town when a new family moves in. It is the Sackville-Baggs, but they are
human now. At first they don't recognize Tony, but a little whistle from
Tony brings back their memories. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.]
horror, flashback