Embrace of the Vampire

Good movie to watch for especially the vampire movies are such a stupidity but this one is little better than others.

A straight-to-video Canadian vampire film, set in a high school, with its main character a former Catholic schoolgirl who finds herself venturing down some very dark alleyways as she becomes drawn to some characters who may or may not be bloodsuckers. EMBRACE OF THE VAMPIRE is the remake of a 1990s film starring Martin Kemp that I haven't watched, and suffice to say it's almost entirely worthless as a movie.

Vampire films are so ubiquitous these days (much like zombie movies) that they have to be really special to stand out. Unsurprisingly this isn't special at all, and instead it's content to play out all the usual vampire clichés alongside sappy love scenes and some poor CGI vampire effects. The uncut version of this movie is by all accounts chock full of nudity and sleaze, but the version I watched was the cable export in which all the nudity has been censored. Not that ample nudity would save this silly softcore attempt to frighten audiences with its bad acting and overwhelming clichés.

Charlotte Hawthorn (Sharon Hinnendael) has lived a pretty sheltered life so far. She attended an all-girls Catholic school, is a quiet and reserved personality, and so on. But now she's about to attend a co-ed university on a fencing scholarship. But her past, containing an ancient evil, is all set to haunt her new life.

If that sounds unbelievably clichéd and contrived, it's because it is. Embrace of the Vampire is a remake of 1995 film of the same name. And why they wanted to remake such an average film, I have no idea, but they didn't exactly improve upon the source material, to say the least. The acting is stilted, the pacing either crawls or rushes forwards with lightning speed and the movie just kind of ends in the middle of a fight. Yeah, just as things are starting to come together, in what would normally be the end of the second act, the film decides that you've seen enough and the credits roll. I almost didn't believe my eyes.

It should also be noted that this is supposed to belong to the erotic vampire genre. The only problem being that it doesn't have the guts to do even that correctly. Sure there's some nudity and sexual situations, but barely anything more than you'd see in your typical teen comedy. If the movie would have at least provided us with proper erotica, it could have kind of worked as a B-movie. But no, it plays it safe. Sounds thrilling, doesn't it.

So yeah, this movie will quietly fade into history as an utter failure on pretty much all levels. So long, movie. You shall not be missed.

No pun intended - this is me trying to connect this to the 90s movie with the same title. But there are not that many connections to be made. I reckon the central part of the story is similar. But there are many differences too. Not sure if that is sufficient to not call this a remake. A reimagination then? Well you decide that.

There is again a lot of nudity and some blood that is shed. Particularly one lesbian scene, that contains both is quite intriguing. But it is also one of the few highlights the movie contains. There is not that much to get you too excited (no pun intended here either). Beautiful people, though I doubt many if any of them will ever become as famous or known as some of the stars of the "original" movie.

There is not much to say here, other than it looks good (visually, and again no pun intended), but lacks some substance. The key romantic love story is missing from the original, but as I said, this tries to spin something new with some of the perimeters it got from the other movie. Not sure if there is a novel they are based on (wouldn't surprise me), so can't make any comparisons if there is. It also seems inclined to use some of the vampire mythology that the other movie did not even look at ... for better or worse.

There isn't anything special here. It's a bit of T&A inside a weak vampire story. Charlotte Hawthorn (Sharon Hinnendael) is a shy new girl in college with a dark mysterious past. She is on scholarship from fencing. Only she's having hellish visions and waking up in strange places.

Hinnendael is an OK actress, and not much is asked of her. Her character is shy, speaks softly, and shows off her body. She can walk and talk. But she's not doing Shakespeare here. Her roommate Nicole (Kaniehtiio Horn) has a bit more spark. And Victor Webster plays that hot intense teacher. Keegan Connor Tracy plays a witchy mysterious woman. The acting is OK. The story is simple. The big missing ingredient is a sense of style, and a menacing atmosphere. For a horror movie, that's a big deal. This is a better-than-most B-movie.