Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 11, 2005 | | Summary | The Story Has Been Done Before (and better) | Content
 | Most movies can be described as mixes of other movies, as most everything has been done before and it often appears that the only way to appear original is to cross the same elements in different ways. Of course there are a lot of possible outcomes depending largely on who is doing the mixing. "Vampire's Kiss" is one of the less appealing outcomes of mixing Polanski's "Repulsion" and Kubrick's "The Shining".
It was one of the a few perfect roles in Jennifer Beals' career. Beals is physically attractive in a kind of misaligned way, making her perfect for this role, as well as for "Flashdance" and "The Bride". Her features seem at war with each other, they do not quite fit making her a walking-talking prop for dissidence. Which means she is ideal for characters that are not quite right, like a dancer-welder or a man-made woman, or in this case a fabricated vampire. I'm not sure if the directors of her three successful performances instinctively picked up on this feature when she was cast. If so, and if there were more of these perceptive directors out there, she would have been used more and used better.
The "trailer" leads you to believe that this is a horror film/dark comedy, and this deception is one of the reasons for its poor box office showing. There is some humor in Peter Loew's (Nicholas Cage) gradual decent into madness; particularly his rant to his psychiatrist (Elizabeth Ashley) about the misfiling of contracts. And his scenes berating his secretary Alva (a great performance by Maria Conchita Alonso) are excessive enough to be funny; if you laughed at Jack Nicholson's self-parodying performance in "The Shining" you should enjoy Cage's antics here. But it will be a major disappointment for those looking to see a horror film and a minor one for those expecting a lot of comedy.
In its favor, "Vampire's Kiss" looks far better than its less than $2 million budget. Director Robert Bierman did some first-rate directing, got fine performances from everyone in his cast, made creative use of a variety of NYC locations, and kept things in a unifying style. It's very nice work. The problem is the film has no substantial message to convey to its audience and is a little too intellectual to be just a suspense film (remember it is NOT supposed to be a horror film or a dark comedy).
Bierman borrowed a lot from Polanski to set up increasingly discordant images and sounds to help advance the story. While much like "Repulsion", including the ambiguous question of whether madness causes or is caused by hallucinations/nightmares, "Vampire's Kiss" fails to convey any substantive basis for Peter's susceptibility to madness. So Cage's character only manages to convince us that he knows how to act mad-not that he is actually going mad. Although "Repulsion" did not disclose much about the root cause of the madness (at least not until the end), Polanski was able to get a performance out of Catherine Deneuve that convinced you her madness was real.
Bottom line, this is well made film with excellent performances but the story could have been a lot better, could have been told more effectively, and could have been promoted more honestly. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 27, 2005 | | Summary | "It Never Goes Away" | Content
| This is probably one of the most hilarious and satirical black comedies I own. Even though it is from the late eighties, it's a timeless gem, and when I need a good laugh, it's there. Just like New Yorker character yuppie literary genius, Peter says, "It never goes away".
Mind you, this is not a vampire movie, but a satirical view on a lonely young man that has "everything" falling apart. It all begins when he's getting ready to go to work and cuts himself shaving, and somehow he distortedly begins to think sex vixen Jennifer Beals who's supposedly a vampire bit him. From that point on it's a steady downward spiral of peculiar and weird scenarios to come; his personality becomes more erratic and his actions unpredictable and bizarre to say the least. He begins showing up to work in a suit, but no socks, becomes photophobic, and begins picking on his Cuban secretary played by Maria Conchita Alonso.
One of my favorite scenes is when he is at the psychiatrist office and he is standing on the ledge of the high-rise window holding a wooden stick, and he tells her he's going to go out there and find real love. The infamous scene when he eats the cockroach is a little disturbing, but you know they paid him good money to do so, but that's a good one too. I don't want to give the movie away since you must see it.
At times while watching the movie, or at least the first time, you wonder what's real and what isn't, and it's a pit perturbing however at the end you can figure it out.
Vampire's kiss is a satire about psychosis, and as you see, it doesn't care if you have a prestigious job or if you're a genius.
Every time I see a N. Cage movie I think of Peter, because there has to be just a little bit of him in there somewhere.
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| Rating | | | Date | November 29, 2004 | | Summary | A let down for a vampire movie | Content
| I am a fan of vampire movies and collect them, from humorous to frightening. This movie was a let down. This was exactly what I would expect to find in a bargain bin, but definitely not at the price it is offered here. I am, also, a Nicolas Cage fan. I collect movies he stars in and so far, until this movie arrived, I can't say that I was ever let down by one of them. To say this was a bit bizzare is an understatement. You never really know if he is just crazy and imaging things or if it is really happening to him. It is hokie to the point of not being humorous, just very bad. My daughter loves hokie and even she walked out the room even though I suffered until the end. I bought this based on the fact that it is a vampire movie and Nicolas Cage stars in it. Even the trailer for this movie had to be edited in a way to make it sound interesting. If you watch it, you will notice how scenes were taken out of content to make it look better than it really was. Throughout the movie, Nicholas Cage had an on again off again accent that sounded like it was suppose to be British. Word of advice, don't waste your money. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 17, 2004 | | Summary | Not quite what Stoker had in mind | Content
| Quirky and original, this flick is a hoot. Imagine if John Waters had written "Dracula" rather than Bram Stoker. It's not so much a vampire movie, as it is the study of a mans descent into madness. Cage's performance is completely unrestrained, so non Cage fans should beware. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 09, 2004 | | Summary | Interesting horror comedy! | Content
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This 1989 cult dark comedy with vampire and horror themes is set in the late 80's in New York City, a yuppie businessman executive whom falls for a gorgeous woman ( Jennifer Beals) whom is a real vampire that bites him on the neck turning him into one, but when he finds out he goes nuts especially eating cockroaches and having tastes for blood.
A smart and interesting yet original vampire movie that doesn't play by the usual rules of a vampire flick but contains good satire in it and romance with it with some dark humor into it. Nicolas Cage does great as the main character whom falls for the vampiress, there is also Maria Conchita Alonso from " The Running Man" as one of the workers. The DVD is good with picture, sound and two good extras like audio commentary by Cage and the director with theatrical trailer, this is a must watch if you want a vampire satire.
Also recommended: "Vamp", " American Psycho", " Office Space", " Near Dark", "Vampire Hunter D", "Wolf", "Shaun of the Dead", " Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust", " Blood: The Last Vampire", " Bram Stoker's Dracula", " From Dusk Till Dawn", "Blade", "Blade II", " An American Werewolf in London", " Boiler Room", " Underworld", " Fright Night 1 & 2", " Innocient Blood".
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