EMBRACE OF THE VAMPIRE
(1994)
Movie Review
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Director: Anne Goursaud
Starring:
Alyssa Milano, Martin Kemp, Harold Pruett
Run time: 92 min.
[ FILMOGRAPHY ]
Plot synopsis: Alyssa Milano plays the role of Charlotte, a sensuous but innocent college girl who is being seduced by an obsessive vampire (Martin Kemp). He comes to her only in her dreams as a dark, handsome vampire who touches her in forbidden places and will stop at nothing to arouse her passion. As she is drawn deeper and deeper into the vampire's erotic world of carnal pleasure, Charlotte is forced to make a choice between her boyfriend and her mysterious nighttime lover.
REVIEW
The first time I saw Embrace of the Vampire it was on VHS way back when it was a new release. I watched it for the second time a few years ago when I bought the DVD. Most recently I watched it with my wife, who picked it out of a stack of vampire movie DVDs that were sitting on the shelf next to the DVD player. She probably picked Embrace because of Alyssa Milano. She likes the show "Charmed," so I'm sure that had something to do with it.
If you happen to be reading this review, my guess is that you are either 1) feverishly searching the Internet for anything Alyssa Milano related and could care less about the vampire content of the film, or 2) legitimately considering purchasing the movie because it purports to be a vampire flick, and you're wondering if it's worth spending your hard earned cash on it. For those of you who are interested in this review for reason #1, the concise paragraph immediately below is for you. You can read it, get the information you really want, and be done with this so-called movie review. (The rest of you should continue reading the entire commentary.) |
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The Alyssa Milano hotness factor in this movie is off the scale. Her performance in Embrace of the Vampire is simply tremendous. Not only did she smash to pieces the little girl image she still carried with her from playing the character Samantha Micelli in "Who's the Boss?," but in one fell swoop she knocked Hollywood on it's ass as one of the sexiest babes of all time. Embrace was not a successful vampire movie, and the only reason it isn't completely forgotten is because of Milano's infamous nude scenes. Did the nudity help her acting career? Four years later, with a nod from Aaron Spelling, she landed a role as Phoebe Halliwell in "Charmed," a series that has become one of the most successful television shows of all time. Alyssa Milano is one of the hottest A-list actresses in the business. Go figure. The bottom line is that if you want to see Alyssa Milano in several explicit sex scenes, then this is the movie for you.
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For those of you who are actually interested in vampire flicks, there are basically two ways to look at this movie. On the one hand, Embrace of the Vampire has a ridiculously cliché plot. A "vampire" (Martin Kemp is literally listed in the movie credits as "vampire") lives in the clock tower of a small university where Charlotte (Alyssa Milano)--the innocent, virginal, first semester college girl--has just started school. Charlotte is considering having some new kind of fun with her patient boyfriend when her 18th birthday arrives in three days; however, the vampire guy is set on taking Charlotte for himself because, coincidentally, he will die if he doesn't drink the blood of a virgin before midnight in three days. Of course, no other virgins will do. He must have Charlotte because she reminds him of his long lost princess... |
On the other hand, a lot of people think of vampire movies strictly in terms of horror: the horrific, murdering vampire verses the innocent victim. But vampire literature has traditionally been intertwined with both horror and eroticism. Embrace of the Vampire is not really a horror movie--even the title is an indication of that. Although there a few scenes that I guess are supposed to be horrific, they actually fall well short of striking fear into one's heart. Embrace is basically vampire erotica, and that's what you should be expecting when you view it. When it was over, my wife commented that it was almost like softcore porn. If you only like horrific vampire movies, then this is not the film for you.
For those of you who are looking for a decent vampire movie to watch, I would say it depends on how high you set your standards. This movie definitely is not in the same league as movies like Interview with the Vampire or Underworld. Embrace is B-movie all the way, but for most viewers I think it's worth watching--provided you don't set your expectations too high.
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Embrace of the Vampire gets two stakes, one for the beautiful and talented Alyssa Milano, and the other for being a watchable, albeit with standards lowered appropriately, vampire movie.
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