El beso del vampiro

This movie is NOT about vampires; there isn't a single vampire in it. Instead, it is about a man (played by Cage) who loses his mind and begins to think he is a vampire after an unsatisfying series of one-night stands that make him feel empty. It's a metaphor about relationships, and this is one fantastic black comedy. Check it out and thank me later.

Vampire's Kiss is a pretty original dark comedy/horror film starring Nicolas Cage in one of his best performances. Cage is an executive in NYC that throughout the course of the movie is convinced he is a vampire. Cage's character is on a rapid downward spiral to complete insanity. Whether loneliness or too much stress is a factor, it is never specified. I have no idea what types of drugs Cage was taking, but he is totally bonkers in this film. Maria Conchita Alonso is his office assistant and doormat of which his abuse towards her escalates throughout the course of the film. Once Cage is convinced he is a vampire, he embraces his destiny. He has an aversion to sunlight and sleeps under his couch upside down like it is a coffin. He even bought some three dollar fangs in the local occult store. Now that's commitment to the lifestyle! Combine George A Romero's Martin with American Psycho if you want to get an idea of the style of Vampire's Kiss. Anyway you slice it this is one freaky deaky film and it works due to Cage's wild, eccentric and absolutely unhinged and explosive performance. If you are looking for something dark, offbeat, but well done this is one you won't want to miss.

There has never quite been a film like Vampire's Kiss, and there has not even been an imitator since. It is an absurd, hilarious semi- spoof of all things horror, whilst also being a surreal and powerful delve into the damaged psych of horrid human being. I honestly feel I need to break this down in pieces.

The elephant in the room is Nick Cage. His performance is excellent, but takes getting used to. He is hilariously over the top, moving like Max Schrek on Caffine pills. He talks in a petulant and whiny 'vaguely British' voice, also leading to some really goofy line readings. However despite this camp factor, there is depth here. Cage is also believable here, he stays perfectly true to the character throughout and forms a unique identity that can only be found here. It reminds me of Christian Bale in 'American Psycho', which is fitting as Bale based his performance off this film. One aspect I will bring up often here is thee film's re-watch value, suffice to say that Cage's performance changes and shifts upon numerous viewings.

Next is the direction. It showcases some great shots of New York, almost making it feel alive. The cinematography highlights the striking architecture and uneven lighting of the city, almost showing it to be a real life translation of classic horror settings. However it also shows the clinical detachment of such a large city, and the Yuppie culture that has grown from it. The other performances match this films dual nature also, taking classic horror roles at times, and being typical Yuppie's at others.

Night and Day, Gothic and Modern, Deep and Funny, Dark and Light. This film performs an entirely unique juggling act that has never been matched since. Both a homage to classic horror tales, and a deconstruction of the 80's Yuppie lifestyle.

This was one of the first 5 DVDs a friend of mine bought, and so I was curious about his choice. It turns out that the things he chooses may not be perfect, but are invariably very interesting, as it turned out with this one. The only thing I knew about this movie beforehand was that it's supposed to be a 'comedy,' and that Nicholas Cage eats a cockroach in it. So it was hard for me to understand why someone would be so passionate about what seemed like a goofy 80s comedy, but it turns out that this film is much more than that.

The opening photography is wonderful, silhouetted spires and Gothic details of Manhattan, that seem to reveal the city as a place of dark supernatural horrors within the regular city we know, which was a great start.

You're read in other reviews that this is a film about a man going crazy, and that his insanity takes of the form of believing that he's a vampire. What I haven't heard anyone talk about is the place that his misogyny plays in that… he's lonely and isolated and sees women as objects, so as he goes insane he thinks he's a vampire, someone who picks up young women, rapes and kills them… and is cursed by this. In this movie, Nic cage HATES women, and a lot of discomfort comes from how horrible he is to them. I thought it was also ingenious how his therapist, the imaginary vampire woman, the woman he jilts near the beginning, and his secretary all look vaguely alike. The director could easily have thrown in a bit of psychoanalytic depth by having a photo of the character's mother looking similar as well.

There are things in this movie that are vaguely funny on their own, but in the context of the movie it's not really funny at all. I mean yeah, people do goofy things as they are mentally breaking apart, but is that funny? All the actors do a great job, but I love the therapist, who seems so engaged and curious. I like how Cage's character assumes the movements of movie vampires, because in his lunacy that is probably what he is imitating.

There are only two problems I think the film has. The film goes out of its way to show how Alva, the abused secretary, needs her job and is not supported by her family, but Cage's behavior is SO over the top ANYONE would know that she has a lot of reason to go to the police. That she remains so passive is a little frustrating and unrealistic to the point where it detracts from the film.

The big problem, I think, is that ramping up so quickly to high insanity in the first hour, there's really nowhere for the film to go in it's last 45 minutes. The scenes of cage humiliating his secretary become repetitive, as do other aspects… but overall definitely worth watching.

I was shocked to learn that this was the director's first full feature, as it is very assured and well-done. I would love to have a chat with the writer to know HOW this idea came to him and what he thought about it. That's it.

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A man decends into madness. His madness distorts his reality to where he believes he is becoming a vampire. Not a vampire movie. Not really a dark comedy either. Cage did a great job but his accent was really bad. I felt at times his character was really cruel and there was no dark fun side to laugh at.

However, I gave it high marks because it was different and put a new twist on the whole madness thing. The acting (except for the accent) was good. My wife hated this one.