Dance of the Damned (1989) User Reviews

Superb meditation on death, despair and the supernatural.

[JakeGiddes · 6/10 · 30 May 2001]

A rare little gem that transcends its genre to portray some interesting angles on suffering, the nature of good and evil and death. The fatalistic stripper who believes her life isn't worth living until death looms, the remorseful vampire who needs to feed but feels compassion for his victims are both convincingly played. For my money this film is worth fifty of the pretentious, self-important overblown vampire-chic films like 'Interview with the Vampire'. For a "horror" film this movie is quiet and even a little plodding at times but the understated performances, taut scripting and interesting story (with nice twists on the myths of vampirism) make a worthwhile viewing.

A needless remake "To Sleep with a Vampire" made by Roger Corman in 1992 doesn't nearly live up to this movie's quirky originality.

Intercourse with the vampire.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 18 October 2021]

Jodi (Starr Andreeff), a stripper contemplating suicide, is held captive by a vampire (Cyril O'Reilly) who wants to know what it is like to sunbathe.

Yes, the vampire in Dance of the Damned gets to boff the stripper. I think. Well, it's implied. However, the film is mostly intercourse of the verbal kind, as the bloodsucker chin-wags with his next meal until daybreak.

Not so long ago, I watched To Sleep With A Vampire (1992) by director Adam Friedman, which is a remake of this film by Katt Shea. The two movies are almost identical in every way, with many scenes and much of the dialogue from the original used verbatim in the remake. The biggest differences between the two films are that the vampire in this one has a mullet that would shame Michael Bolton, and that Charlie Spradling, who plays the stripper in the remake, is a damn sight hotter than Andreef.

However, even though I much prefer Spradling to Andreef in terms of visual appeal, I do slightly prefer the original movie overall: Andreef is a better actress and Katt Shea is a better director than Friedman, plus this one has more style, even if it is late-80s style (lots of blue lighting and plenty of widdly guitar, sax solos, and synths). I also liked how, by the end of the film, the roles have reversed, with Jodi desperately wanting to live and the vampire developing a death wish; this might also have been the case with the remake, but that film was ultimately so forgettable I can't say for sure.

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for the vampire's plasma ball and his bubbly water ornament. Man, that vampire has good taste in furnishings!

Doomed Fangs of Romance

[Vomitron_G · 6/10 · 28 February 2011]

Not your average run-of-the-mill vampire movie, so at least that's something. Don't expect vampire-action, bat-like facial transformations or bloody killings in general from "Dance of the Damned" or you'll be disappointed. What we get here is more like a TV-drama play, with a bit of 80's cheesiness and nudity added for good measurement. Pretty much a 'doomed romance' type thing about a non-vampire stripper and a vampire-yuppie. One wants to die, the other one will have to die if that other one doesn't die. Something like that. Starr Andreef is damn sexy in this one (and she shows plenty of skin - yes, the top comes off) and it has an ending that will leave you hanging in there (in a neither-here-nor-there kinda way). Certainly worth a watch if you're into offbeat vampire movies (more like the cheesy romance ones, not the edgy arty ones). And it's at least about 5 times better than that awful Andrew Stevens vampire-vehicle "Red Blooded American Girl" from 1990 (I've said it before & I'll say it again: avoid movies with Andrew Stevens playing the leading role in them). Anyway, he's not in "Dance of the Damned", so you're safe to watch it.

My favorite vampire movie

[justnate · 26 May 2004]

The first thing that struck me about this movie and is often true of well done, low budget films is that it feels like a stage play. The movie is character and dialog driven with an economy of changing scenes. Like insects trapped in a magnifying jar, the claustrophobic space brings the characters into raw detail.

When I first saw this film, I thought it was foreign - maybe British, Canadian, or Italian. None of the actors have been in a lot of movies that I am aware of, although Starr has been in a few other B grade vampire movies (none near this good). Surprisingly it used to be easy to find for rent. Since it never came out on DVD though, it is tougher to find now (apparently it was released on laser disk but the second half/side was badly engineered so it would have to be remastered before being transferred).

There was however an uncredited remake in 1993: To Sleep With a Vampire (directed by Adam Friedman) that is available on DVD (for real cheap). It features almost the exact same script including portions of word for word dialog. Besides the fact that it is not as well acted, the main differences are that the stripper has bigger breasts and that both of the main characters had a small following before they took the rolls. Watching that remake is like watching your favorite play performed at a local High School: it reminds you pleasantly of the better performances you have seen.

Dance of the Damned: Inferior to its remake

[Platypuschow · 3/10 · 22 August 2018]

Dance of the Damned tells the story of a miserable stripper who meets a vampire and returns home with him. He reveals what he is and notifies her that he will kill her just before the sun rises. Prior to that he wants her to describe to him all the things he's missing such as the feel of the sun on your skin.

I came across this as I ended up watching it's remake first called To Sleep With a Vampire (1993) which is considerably better than this.

Amateurishly made from start to finish, the lead male was simply not up to the role and the movie really has little going for it especially compared to it's remake.

The fact an obscure straight to VHS movie would be remade (By the same country) just 4 years later seems crazy to me. At least the remake improved on this lackluster effort.

The Good:

Lead female is passable

The Bad:

The vampire looks awful

Poorly written

Weakly shot

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Showing a vampire where your son lives makes perfect sense

Sometimes remakes do in fact make sense

Watch 'To Sleep with a Vampire' instead

[loomis78-815-989034 · 5/10 · 23 February 2014]

A stripper named Jodi (Andreeff) has such a bad personal life she is contemplating suicide. While stripping at her club one night she is observed by a man (O'Reilly) who is a vampire who picks up on her suicidal energy and kidnaps her. While at his apartment, the two begin an unusual relationship as the each try to help each other with what they don't have in their lives. The movie plays like a tragic drama way more than a horror film but has an interesting story line. Director Katt Shea Ruben who co-wrote this with Producer Andy Ruben gets decent performances from her two leads which was pretty much was a must due to the subject matter. There's too much dancing and bad late 1980's dance music and no real blood or horror to speak of. As an audience you will either be intrigued by these two characters and enjoy this film or you will be bored out of your mind. This movie and its premise was essentially remade by Roger Corman a few years later under the title "To Sleep with a Vampire" and played much better than this outing does. This would be for Vampire film lovers only who may enjoy the change of pace.

I don't dislike it and can see why it's loved by some.

[bombersflyup · 5/10 · 13 March 2023]

Dance of the Damned has both good and bad, but is the lead a vampire or a WWF wrestler.

I found O'Reilly's performance initially laughable, but it warmed somewhat over the course of the film. Joy crosses his face as Jodi truthfully wants to live and cares enough for him to not want him to enter the room to his own demise. With his other desires met, he wants for nothing more than to feel the ray of the sun upon his skin. The writing's pretty good considering the landscape, with the lore well handled. Starr Andreeff's attractive, but the film certainly could've been more tantalizing, given the theme and events.

Existential Crisis

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 14 December 2021]

A vampire (Cyril O'Reilly) goes to a strip-club and overhears that the dancer Jodi Hurtz (Starr Andreeff) is thinking of committing suicide since her ex-husband did not let her see her son on his birthday. When she is leaving the club late night, the vampire says that he is lonely and offers one-thousand dollars to Jodi to talk to him sharing her life experience. They go to his house and soon she learns that she is trapped inside, and he is a vampire that will kill her drinking her blood at 6:00 AM. Along the night, the vampire discloses his existential crisis and Jodi discloses her unfortunate life but concludes she does not want to die. Their inner feelings unleash a strange sentiment between them that are different creatures of the night.

"Dance of the Damned" is a different vampire movie, with a touching romance. Despite the low budget, the storyline and the screenplay are very well written in few locations. Therefore, the plot is theatrical and supported by magnificent performances of the lead cast. Unfortunately, this film was only released on VHS. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Dança Macabra" ("Macabre Dance")

B-movie vampire drama...

[Perception_de_Ambiguity · 7/10 · 7 November 2010]

...about an 80's rock star-type looking male vampire who picks up a stripper after hours to ask her plenty of questions that a vampire would yearn to know the answer to and then to subsequently eat her before dawn. Questions like "what does the day feel like?", "what does the sun-light on your skin feel like?", "what does it feel like to have a friend?",... Questions that the stripper has a hard time answering to the vampire's satisfaction and she's rather reluctant to put much effort into her answers given that she knows that he wants to kill her in a few hours.

It's really just about those two characters, not much else. The vamp has got plenty of cool powers, wants to eat her but also wants her company and the experiences of her that he can't have. Also the woman contemplated suicide before meeting him so she repeatedly goes from wanting him to kill her and to trying to save her skin which makes for interesting inner conflicts and thrilling drama.

It very much has this early 90's B-movie kind of look and feel to it that I like so much. Man, this thing is so underground, I'm tellin' ya. Erotic goth sleaze with serious aspirations. Forget Anne Rice? No, but this is just as good. It was directed by a woman which, I think, is very noticeable, in a good way. The vamp is a romantic tough guy with cool contacts, he has super powers, taste in art and is rich because of some "long term investments" (makes sense, huh?). And yes, the woman is way more sickly looking than him, actually, but then he isn't the one who's the smoker (makes sense, yes?). Sounds groovy? It is. Unfortunately although the movie has something that feels like a proper ending I personally wasn't satisfied with it, I could have easily gone for another "chapter" to get some real closure on the story.

Very low-budget BUT very well done.

[capkronos · 9/10 · 29 January 2002]

This is a wonderful low-budget sleeper, proving that not all contemporary Roger Corman-produced films are trash. And all it really is is a night long conversation between a self-destructive, suicidal stripper and a brooding, world weary vampire. Go figure. But it also would probably take a more mature, patient viewer to sit through this one, because if you're looking for gore, action and special effects, you'll find little of that here. Expect a low key character study similar to a stage play, with lots of dialogue and few location changes. This film itself proves you don't have to be a slave to FX work when working inside the realm of horror. There can be so much more to the genre than just cheap shocks when a common horror theme is put into the hands of someone with talent and imagination. I have no doubt when this was green lit the director was expected to make a vampire movie with nudity that could be sold off as direct-to-video exploitation. In this case, she actually managed to make something of it and that, my friends, does not happen too often.

The script by Katt Shea and Andy Ruben (who were married at the time this was made) not only has some great insight into the outcast condition and very good character development but also some wonderfully poetic passages. One highlight is a beautifully written scene on a beach where the leading lady has to explain to the Vampire what sunlight feels like. It's in her description of this simple feeling that gives her back her will to live. In scenes where the two characters describe their troubled pasts, the monologues are so well written and detailed you can visualize them without having to actually see them on screen. Any movie with a budget would have predictably went into flashback mode but here we're asked to use our imaginations. Clever parallels are drawn between two different lost souls (not to mention two different species); one of whom is forced to live in the night and the other so wounded she's compelled to. Both leads (Starr Andreeff and Cyril O'Reilly) are very good and do their roles justice, and this film manages to be thought-provoking, sometimes very funny and ultimately moving. While a million fx-driven blockbuster type movies involving vampires come and go and entertain while they're around, this one has actually has resonated with me more over time than films like BRAM STOKER'S Dracula, INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE, etc. It's a shame not many people know anything about it.

I not only recommend this, but also the director's excellent STREETS (starring a young Christina Applegate), and even her more exploitative serial-killer-in-a-strip-club flick STRIPPED TO KILL. They're all well above average for the genre, humorous at times, well written and with a heavy concentration on character. Shea shows the same kind of early talent as the best directors to come from Roger Corman U... including Francis Ford Coppola and Jonathan Demme. In fact, I'd probably place her near the top of the list of the countless directors Corman has supported over the years. And she's certainly one of the most promising female director's I've ever come across viewing countless low budget films.

Amazingly, DANCE was remade in 1993 as TO SLEEP WITH A VAMPIRE. That version, which was also produced by Corman and reused much of the same storyline and dialogue, does not come close to this version. Guess which one has been released on DVD? I wish I could say it was this, but unfortunately some boneheads decided to release the remake instead while this worthy film languishes in VHS obscurity. Hopefully someone, some day will get this out to the masses so it can find an audience.

Billy Ray Cyrus and Shannon Doherty do an Anne Rice in the most 80's apartment ever.

[Otkon · 7/10 · 5 April 2023]

And it actually works.

Feeling very much like a two-hander stage play, the movie has a great intimacy to it with a lot of philosophical intrigue to the areas of conversation that arise. Despite the leads looking about as Reaganomics in the most evocatively vintage way; their metaphysical topics of discourse are universal and timeless. ("What does the sun look like?") How I missed this growing up in the era of The Lost Boys and Fright Night I will never know.

It isn't all claustrophobic undead chat with neon lights, arcade games and plasma globes though. Their struggle of a forced first date does take a midnight excursion to the beach.

The movie also has an ending.

A very rare * * *1/2 out of 4 for a film in the horror genre.

[brandonsites1981 · 28 September 2001]

A suicidal stripper is token hostage by a lonely vampire who tells her he is gonna kill her at sunrise, but first he makes her teach him about what people do during the daytime, but as it gets closer to sunrise their feelings for each other grow strong and the vampire and stripper form a close bond.

Intelligent, exceptionally well acted and made film by the true master of this genre in my opinion Katt Shea has largely, and unjustly been ignored for no appearant reason. The film features very good characterizations and covers many themes including love, death, guilt, and redemption. Terrific premise also. Seek this out.

Rated R; Nudity, Sexual Situations, Profanity, and Violence.

It had potential, but those half-hour dialogues...

[guisreis · 6/10 · 11 March 2022]

The first 23 minutes were interesting, promising. However, there were next half hour of quite boring dialog and interaction between the two main characters. Afterwards, the movie improves again, but not enough to make it worth. I just did not understand why both characters changed their minds so many times.

Interestingly, this B movie had another B film as a remake, To Sleep With a Vampire, from 1993, which I had watched some time ago. I considered the remake slightly better than this original film, although the actors here are perhaps a little better. The dialogue interested me more in the remake, but I am not sure if having subtitles helped me understanding and being convinced by some details. Alternatively, a higher level of eroticism in the remake may have pleased be more. Or perhaps it was just because I watched it in another moment, and if I had watched the remake now and this original film before my opinion could have been the opposite...

OUTSTANDING low budget Vampire film!

[Doom · 10/10 · 19 October 1998]

Dance Of The Damned is one of those rare films that comes along once in a GREAT while. Filmed on an EXTREMELY low budget with a VERY small cast, it manages to succeed where other movies (with 10 times the star power and 50 times the budget) have failed miserably.

A man sits in a low-grade strip club and takes notice of one of the women on stage. He senses her mood is dark and later overhears a phone conversation where she pleads (in vain) with her ex-husband to allow her to see her child. He meets her outside and, after a brief introduction (she first mistakes him as someone out to attack her), convinces her to tell him more about herself. Most of his questions concern, strangely enough, the sun and daylight in general (he asks her what it feels like on her face, how the warmth is, etc.).

It's not until later during their conversation that she realizes he is a vampire. The film does an incredible job (via a great script and subtle but strong performances from the two leads) of dealing with issues surrounding anger, fear and love, and eventually leads to a final, sad, dramatic conclusion.

It would appear this film was released directly to video, and it may be difficult to find these days, even as a rental. But if you manage to locate it out there somewhere, I highly recommended spending an hour and a half of your time taking it in - You won't be disappointed.

-FTM

Dance of the Damned

[Scarecrow-88 · 8/10 · 13 June 2010]

A vampire becomes infatuated with a troubled stripper who just wants to speak to her child and is unable to do so. Thoughts of suicide having crept into her mind, but never quite able to go through with it, she is selected by the vampire because he feels she desires death and this gives him a reason to drink from her to sustain his hunger. But once he kidnaps her, wanting to know what daylight is like, this vampire finds there's more to her than what he had believed.

You know, this was not what I had imagined it to be. That is not a slight against the film in any way, though. Katt Shea's DANCE OF THE DAMNED is more of a melodrama, with the two principles engaged in conversation, where the meaning of life plays a substantial purpose in the story of a vampire(Cyril O'Reilly)and his chosen victim, a stripper named Jodi(Starr Andreeff). It goes without saying that you discover just how much life means to you when confronted with death.

Andreeff is a striking presence on screen. She has this depth(not just in her performance, but of her character) I wasn't expecting. Granted, I've only seen her in something like THE TERROR WITHIN, but there's a disappointment that I'm not more familiar with her. It's not just that she's sexy, but her character is also complex, and there's meat on the bones(as is in the movie, which was probably the most pleasant surprise)that becomes more apparent the longer we spend time with her.

O'Reilly's vampire is also an enigma, which I found exciting. He absolutely wants to understand the human experience and finds Jodi to be an unwilling participant at times..and who can blame her since she's only got until 6 o'clock to live? He picks her brain for information regarding what it is to be human, and this actually aggravates Jodi at times, because what she might find mundane(and take for granted)he wishes to assimilate.

What I especially found rewarding is how the film develops the relationship between Jodi and the Vampire. Both are lonely and seemingly rejected by their own species(she because of her profession; he because his kind consider him repulsive).

Jodi has a son, but is not granted access to him. She loathes her profession, but the bills have to be paid and there are just so few opportunities out there at the present.

I think Katt Shea is one of the few filmmakers out there who has spent a career conveying the lives of strippers(mostly in the 80's)and that those involved in this profession are not just whores worthy of our ridicule. That's what I think adds value to DANCE OF THE DAMNED. Starr Andreeff is provided with a part she can bring to life because her Jodi is a person who rediscovers how precious every moment is when viewing the pitiful existence of the vampire. O'Reilly, I felt, is her equal as the vampire who seems to hate the fact that he has to feed in order to gain sustenance..he was born this way and the blood of animals just aren't as nutritious as drinking from the free flowing well of a woman who no longer wishes to live. Something about feeding from a creature with a soul contributes to the vampire's taste for human blood.

I was astonished at the times where it seems both have a civility that exists between them, until a remark or deed by Jodi, in an act of defiance against him, enrages the vampire to the point that he almost harms her. We see that he has a limit, a button you can push that unleashes the animal. And, she has quite an ability to poke at his ego, to needle at a sore spot which inflames an anger she'd soon wish to see remain dormant. But, again, this act of defiance is justified since her alternative is to die. I think the suspense derives from the fact that he could attack at any moment and Jodi could do little to escape. She is at his mercy, but the vampire does have a soft side to him.. he's certainly affectionate in regards to her love for a son she so wishes to spend time with. The vampire even takes Jodi to see her son, and this is a very touching scene with Andreeff really transcending the stripper stereotype.

Throughout the movie, Andreeff's Jodi bares her soul to us, acknowledging that each passing hour brings more heartache, sadness, and regret. As time seems to pass at an alarming rate, Jodi becomes more aware of her own mortality..and the lack of passage to an exit. The vampire, however, falls more and more in love with Jodi, until he even lets her taste from his blood, willing to feed from a paperboy in order to spare her. That's the conundrum, the vampire must satiate his bloodthirst and yet his willingness to feed from Jodi wavers. I think that's the success of this movie. We know why he falls in love with her because we also spend time with Jodi and see there's much more to her that just some beautiful young woman who dances in a striptease for a leering male audience. Kudos to Katt Shea for crafting this low budget character drama which takes a refreshing approach to vampires and strippers.

An oddly touching, thoughtful & underrated vampire horror gem

[Woodyanders · 9/10 · 9 March 2006]

This strangely thoughtful and resonant nickel'n'dime late 80's fright film represents the rarest and oddest of low-budget bloodsucker sub-genres: the wistfully reflective existential vampire picture. Seriously, it's a beautifully affecting and poetic work of shamefully neglected art that's deserving of greater recognition and appraisal than it's thus far elicited.

The extremely novel and compelling story centers on dejected, suicidal stripper Jodi (the delicately pretty and winsome Starr Andreeff, a very capable and under-appreciated actress who was often wasted in such useless piffle as "The Terror Within" and "Ghoulies II") who one fateful night encounters and strikes up an uneasy rapport with a lonely, angst-ridden, but sympathetic vampire (the handsome, sulky Cyril O'Reilly). The curious, misanthropic vampire wants the deeply troubled Jodi to engage in intimate conversation with him prior to putting the severely tormented woman out of her misery by killing her at dawn.

Skillfully directed with remarkable grace and understatement by the always stylish and intriguing Katt Shea Ruben (who also helmed the splendidly lurid "Stripped to Kill" and the harsh, gritty "Streets" before going upscale with the slicker, but less distinctive mainstream items "Poison Ivy" and "Carrie 2: The Rage"), with a probing, audacious and insightful script by Katt and Tom Ruben (the latter also cameos as a punk cab driver), a hauntingly regretful, melancholy and brooding nighttime gloom-doom mood, and sterling acting by the two exceptional leads (Andreeff in particular gives an achingly vulnerable, strikingly vivid, and ultimately quite endearing performance), "Dance of the Damned" stands out as a real breath-of-fresh-air indie sleeper and a courageous, highly imaginative and unusually sensitive departure from standard, more visceral and traditional 80's cinematic takes on vampirism ("Fright Night," "The Lost Boys," et al). The expected grisly shocks, fancy special effects and garden variety humans vs. monsters premise are nowhere to be found here; instead this movie bravely offers a touching, absorbing and penetrating rumination on the numerous facets of the human condition, including the pain and anguish of being an ineffectual parent, the emotional scars wrought by child abuse, the awesome loneliness of leading a hermit-like existence, the duality of being a stripper (they do have considerable power over the mostly male patrons they disrobe for, but unfortunately said dudes tend to see them strictly as vapid sex objects), and conventional society's awful inability to easily accept and tolerate those luckless individuals who deviate in one way or another from a rigid and repressive collective norm. Marred only by a somewhat annoyingly ambiguous conclusion, this otherwise flawless masterwork qualifies as essential viewing for adventurous horror movie buffs with a penchant for something off-beat, inspired and way out of the ordinary.

Thoughtful, intelligent, and poignant.

[Hey_Sweden · 8/10 · 19 May 2013]

Director Katt Shea Rubens' "Dance of the Damned" is a cut above the usual horror film. It proves that elaborate special effects and spectacle are not necessary elements of a compelling movie. What it does have is an intriguing script, co-written by Katt and Andy Ruben, and fine performances.

This is essentially a two character drama, and one that could easily work just as well on the stage. The lovely Starr Andreeff stars as Jodi, a *very* troubled stripper who's ready to end it all. That's when a stranger comes into her life, a good looking, brooding guy (Cyril O'Reilly), who claims that he can end her misery. You see, the stranger is a vampire, but before he feeds on her he wants to know what there is to know about human existence - specifically, what's it like to exist in daylight.

The balance of the film charts their evolving relationship, as each person lays bare their soul to the other, revealing past events that have come to shape the individuals that they have become. It's touching the way that ultimately, they make that connection. The vampire is moved by Jodi to the point where he's willing to help her make things right in her life and be with her son (Chuck Rhee) on his birthday, while she takes him to the beach where she attempts to simulate what the daytime is like.

Both Andreeff and O'Reilly are excellent; as their characters bring out the best in each other, so too do the actors create an affecting chemistry. When a film is dependent on character and performance, the actors really need to deliver, and, thankfully, that's what happens here.

There is one erotic sex scene, and some very tantalizing strip numbers to open the film; Debbie Nassar, Maria Ford (in her first film), and Athena Worthy co-star as Andreeffs' co-workers, and are pleasing to look at, but titillation is never the #1 goal of this modest and ambitious film, just an enjoyable bonus.

It really is a shame that this genuinely interesting low budget production hasn't gotten a DVD and/or Blu-ray release yet. Of the many films out there still waiting for that treatment, it deserves it more than some.

Eight out of 10.

Excellent psychological thriller!!

[autumnfreckles · 8/10 · 3 October 2006]

Unfortunately this is one of the flicks that popular critics might toss aside for the cast of unknowns but I have to say if you are into a deep psychological brain yank...this flick does it well.

It starts by making you think about who you might deem worthless to society and who the real monsters are...then at the end you get this twist that will leave you stunned.

You can't find it on Netflix or at any rental stores but it's actually worth buying and putting in your collection. It will be one of those movies that you will ask all of your friends if they've seen it or not then you'll proceed to throwing it in the player.

You'll want to share this with anyone who enjoys a tastefully done vampire flick with all of the literal horror and hokum taken out.

It hits on the emotional and gives one insight on themselves.

Watch it..you won't regret it and you'll be talking about it for a long time to come. I saw it for the first time over ten years ago and still refer to it as one of the best movies I've ever seen.

Classy....Sexy....What more do you need?

[suckling · 31 January 2002]

This movie is one seriously classy film. Now it's not classy as in highbrow, but more of an elegant, intelligent, well-cast, well-written, well-acted movie. This is worth the effort it might take to find it. Try watching it in the dark, and see if you don't get a claustrophobic feeling as you are drawn deeper into the movie. I'm not kidding....the edges of the TV set will blend right in with your darkened living room....well... maybe that's only old hippies and their flashbacks....I wouldn't really know about that. And if that is not enough, the star, Cyril O'Reilly, is totally sexy. And if you cannot find it, ask....ask all the time...ask in every video rental store, ask every time you are there. It will come....and we can both rent it....maybe buy it....

Terrific vampire drama by a talented new director

[lor_ · 1 April 2023]

My review was written in March 1989 after watching the film on Virgin Vision video cassette.

This morbid but engrossing vampire drama is skedded for direct-to-video release this month, but gets brief big-screen exposure at the AFI Festival in Los Angeles.

Filmed back-to-back last year with same filmmaker's "Stripped to Kill 2", pic shares that sequel's strippers milieu. Starr Andreeff is a suicidal peeler, distraught at having a court order barring her from visiting her young son.

A handsome vampire, Cyril O'Reilly is in the Paradise Cafe and senses Andreeff's despair, propositioning her after hours to spend the night with him for a quick g-note; he even promises to kill her at dawn after their confab.

Despite that claustrophobic premise, reminiscent of the launching point of Anne Rice's novel "Interview with the Vampire", pic covers much ground, with an especially atmospheric late-night visit to the beach. Helmer Katt Shea Ruben bears down effectively on the various philosophical questions of the genre: emptiness of immortality, search for meaning in existence, etc.

Punching it across is an uninhibited performance by brunette Andreeff, whose unusual beauty and on-the-edge thesping command sympathy and interest. O'Reilly also is impressive, rising above obvious James Dean mannerisms to create his own persona as the brooding, shoulder-length-hair night creature.

Special effects are modest but fresh. Climax is predictable and undercut by an unintelligible final line of dialog.