Embrace Of The Vampire

It's been awhile since my last blog but I have been going through a lot lately. The death of a family member, losing my job and being ill have derailed my blogging but with a new year, I am finally back.

Is it just me or am I reviewing yet another vampire film? Well yes it is me and yes I am reviewing yet another vampire flick but this is one of the most overtly sexual films I'll be reviewing from my own collection. I first saw this film yet again on TNT's Monstervision very late at night and most of the scenes were edited for content so when I ordered the film and got to see the unrated version...well it is a very erotic kind of film. We'll get to all that later but first:

What's The Plot:
A vampire remembers the woman he loved when he was a man and now it seems after centuries he has found her again...or at least her reincarnated soul. The girl in question is seventeen year old college freshman Charlotte (played by Alyssa Milano) who is wondering if she should spend her upcoming 18th birthday finally losing her virginity to her boyfriend Chris. Coincidentally, Charlotte's birthday is three days away and the vampire himself only has three days left until he will fall into an eternal sleep (apparently) if he does not possess Charlotte's soul...but only if she stays pure until then.

Knowing that her boyfriend may "ruin" his chances of keeping Charlotte a virgin, the vampire begins visiting Charlotte's dreams at night to start planting seeds of doubt in Charlotte's mind about Chris' fidelity to only her and to also fill the normally chaste and innocent school girl with very sexual desires. Many obstacles stand in the way in Charlotte's friend Nicole, the campus bitch Eliza and the campus slut , the bisexual photographer Sarah who cause confusion in her thoughts and make her question her own sexuality.

Soon, the dreams become even more erotic and Charlotte begins to fall under the vampire's influence to the point of pushing Chris away. However, Chris really loves Charlotte despite all of his pushing the sex subject button around her and he wants to be with her...but is it too late? Can love and innocence beat seduction and desire or is the embrace of a vampire too strong for Charlotte to resist?

Back to the sexual nature of the film, there is a lot of female nudity and most of it comes from star Alyssa Milano. The film was meant to be, I assume, a role for Alyssa to break out of being the cute Sam from Who's The Boss that viewers had grown up with and it was before her role of Phoebe Halliwell on Charmed where Alyssa always looked sexy but in a toned down TV appropriate way. Being a heterosexual female and watching a movie that focuses on a lot of female nudity and sexuality directed toward a male audience, why do I like this film? Well, there is a male vampire in this film you know! Actor Martin Kemp is the nameless vampire but he is incredibly sexy and diabolical. I know the movie is not Oscar worthy and his dialogue might be cheesy but Martin Kemp can only work with what is given to him and he does a good job and he can act as he has been in other roles before and after Embrace Of The Vampire.


Note: Martin Kemp is a British actor so most of his other roles are from British films and television but I saw him in a film called The Krays a long time ago and he can act if given a great role. His vampire character is not the focus of this movie despite the title.

Is the movie bad? Is the movie good? If you are a man, you will like it if you find Alyssa Milano attractive and maybe if you are a woman as well. There is a lot of nudity and sex but no real action to speak of and I personally only like it because Martin Kemp is in it as I am a sucker for older men with British accents who play vampires and wear leather pants. It's worth checking out if you like but unless you are a fan of vampires, you may be disappointed.

Next Blog: We'll take a look at an almost similar film ~ Doppelganger

April Fool's Day

Since it is close to Halloween, let's discuss horror movies centered around holidays. There isn't one holiday I can think of that doesn't have a movie centered around it and most fall into the slasher genre with Michael Myers being the biggest example of cashing in on holiday horror. I think one of the most intriguing films plot wise and the first "holiday slasher" I remember seeing is April Fool's Day.

Film Plot: Rich college student Muffy St. John invites a large group of her friends to stay at her family's mansion on a coastal island for the spring break weekend, which falls on Muffy's favorite holiday: April Fool's Day. Its the regular set up of drinking, partying and sex but the atmosphere of good old fashioned pranks turns into something more sinister after a joke goes to far. A deck hand for the ferry is gruesomely injured, Muffy's cousin Skip disappears and the laughter turns into screams of terror when the bodies start popping up. Who is responsible for all of this? One of Muffy's guest or has the hostess taken her love of April Fool's Day a little too far?

Even though April Fool's Day is a horror film and regarded as a slasher it has a plot based on an Agatha Christie novel to make the horror more suspenseful. There is blood but it does not take it up to gore levels and the formula of what you don't see is scarier to make the film different from it predecessors. I first saw the movie on one of those early time slot days of being home sick from school when you could catch more obscure films and fell in love with this flick. There is humor and intrigue, drama and gore and also characters that you can actually like thanks to the terrific if sometimes cheesy acting but hey it wouldn't be an 80s horror film without it!

Next Blog: Embrace Of The Vampire