Vampire’s Kiss (1989)

Plot of Vampire’s Kiss: Peter Loew is a literary agent who seems to pay little attention to his job, except in the search for a specific contract, a task which he assigns to a young woman, Alva. Peter goes out in the night to places of entertainment and picks up girls for one night stands. However when he takes Rachel back to his flat and they make love, she seems to bite him, and it seems he has been turned into a vampire. His behaviour becomes more extreme, and in his interviews with his therapist he acts erratically. He makes dates with a young woman (not the vampire) but does not keep them, and on receiving a short note from her to keep away destroys everything in his flat. Alva stops going to work, saying she is ill, so Peter goes to her house and rousts her out. His behaviour becomes more and more wild and causes the death of a young woman, by biting her neck. When he picks up a stake shaped bit of a plank, begging to be staked surely the end must be near.

Content:  There is a bit of female nudity as Peter engages in his nightly seduction, until he appears to be bitten by the vampire, Rachel. Some drinking at the bars of night clubs. Peter at work is obsessed with the missing contract. Poor Alva gets the brunt of it. He spends time with his analyst, in the end hallucinating a session, and seems to be offered a partner. At one point he sticks a revolver barrel into his mouth, but it is loaded with blanks. In a state of madness he picks up a stake shaped plank, looking for someone to stake him.

A View: It is debatable whether this film is a comedy, and it received mixed reviews from the critics. Cage won best actor at Sitges, however, it did not anywhere near make its money back at the box office. It is said today to be something of a cult movie, and was said to have been used by Christian Bale  as inspiration for his part in American Psycho. But I did not like it. It just seemed a bit silly.

Fun Fact: According to an associate producer, in order to get turned on Cage asked for hot yogurt to be poured over his toes while doing a love scene with Jennifer Beals.