She left us in January of 2008. Nine years ago. I hadn’t even “discovered” her by that point, and maybe that’s for the best. Otherwise her death might have left me devastated. No, not “might have.” WOULD have left me devastated. Maila Nurmi, aka Vampira, achieved her first fame as a late night Horror movie hostess (Elvira would copy her act and milk it to greater success decades later), but the role that earned her cinematic immortality was the unspeaking, fangless but fabulous vampiric/zombie-esque bride in Ed Wood’s PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. I’d heard about Wood and PLAN 9 for years, the same as every Monster fanboy, but I’d never gotten around to watching the film, or learning more about the notorious “worst director of all time!” Once I did, I fell madly and permanently in love with the film, the man, and his coterie of oddball real-life characters, most of whom starred in the legendary “worst movie ever made!”—PLAN 9. The former professional wrestler, the giant Tor Johnson. Bela “Dracula” Lugosi. Criswell the faux psychic, who slept in a coffin. Bunny Breckinridge. Et al. And a big, big member of that “et al” was Vampira.
Yeah, if I’d “known” her back then, her passing would have crippled me emotionally. Nine years after the fact, I can only, as I do with Wood, Johnson, and the others, wish that I could have met her in life, and pay her a heartfelt tribute here. We miss you, Vampira. The world is a little less dark and spooky without you here.