EMBRACE OF THE VAMPIRE (1994. Dir: Anne Goursaud)

Now who said coincidences don't happen? There I was one day, sitting in the bus, browsing through my newly acquired CREATURE FEATURES book, when I came across this entry where John Stanley tells of this vampire film featuring Alyssia Milano (the little girl from WHO’S THE BOSS and Schwarzeneggar’s COMMANDO in the nude and having straight and lesbian and group sex. So I think "cool. gotta drop by my video store (The only one in Israel that imports films from GB on its own. The only place to get non mainstream horror in Israel) and check whether its out in GB and maybe I can persuade them to get it". So I go into the store, take a quick look in the 'new releases' section, and catch this same film. How about that? Naturally I took it out, and saw it. Well, on the Alyssa Milano issue, the girl has definitely matured and ripened. She is lovely to watch. She's made up to look like Lara Flynn Boyle, only she's much more "naturally" sensuous (Lara has an animalish sensuality that too often feels synthetic), and her 'assets' are lovelier (Strictly personal opinion here folks. For who ever wants to make a 'scientific' comparison, check out THE WRAITH for Lara's 'assets'). Only the film is not a 'nude vehicle' (like, f.i., Hammer's COUNTESS DRACULA). This is an intelligent, quite fascinating little vampire film, with very little blood but heavy accent on the sensuality and the sexuality aspects of the vampire. Director Anne Goursaud does a very good job creating a sensuous atmosphere. Apart from Milano and many male upper bodies, there is little nudity in the film. Most sex is in dream/nightmare/flashback sequences, with the 'reality' sex mostly not developing further than the temptation phase. The results are on queue: some of the most erotic 'clothed' scenes I've ever seen in some of the encounters, other encounters are erotic with a distinct touch of unease lurking behind them, and a key scene quite late in the film, that manages its sex (it's the orgy scene, with plenty of sex, mostly clothed) to be both alluring and unsettling, conveying through camerawork and music it's detachment from the heroine who just wanders around this scene trans like. Another plus for the director is her sensitivity to the construction of the story and the characters. She puts her mind to small details (the clothes Milano wears as her character progresses/regresses become less and less "mousy", f.i.). This care is the doing of the script as well, and the whole film is distinct in building two fascinating, credible main characters (The heroine and her boyfriend, winningly played by Harrison Pruett). The problems of the film begin with the third main character, the vampire. Martin Kemp manages to portray the vampires' urgent desperation for renewal with vitality, but fails in anything else. He (The script is equally to blame here) doesn't provide depth to the character, or insight to some of his actions, which seem as an overreaction out of character with the ever decreasing calculatedness that is supposed to guide his actions. Also, he isn't alluring or captivating, at best undistinguished, usually unappealing. One wonders 'what exactly does she see in him, especially considering the competition?'. a possible answer may be that this is meant to illustrate his supernatural powers, but I got the feeling this problem was not preempted. This problem inflicts on the other problem, the films ending (MEGA SPOILERS AHEAD): The ending has the two lovers reunited, the vampire defeated. This happy ending undermines, I think, the whole film, for two reasons: 1) They really don't deserve one another. He is too decent for her. If he had just left upon seeing her in the hands of the vampire, it would have sharpened the films’ dramatic edge. 2) It defeats the film's whole attitude towards sex. The film paints a society that has only sex on its mind, and is pretty hypocritical about it at times. Almost everybody (the boyfriend least of all) tries to get the heroine initiated into the sex world. The options given in this film are between those (regular people) who need sex for kicks, to varying degrees of addictiveness, and those (vampires) who need sex to survive. Disregarding the underdeveloped character of Charlotte Lewis, the preferred option seems to be the vampire - more natural, less hypocritical, less reserved, supposedly more in control. In such a society, vampires have the edge and the power - as much as they need sex to survive, there will always be enough addicts to cater their need. For an intelligent girl raised in strictness, now unleashed into this world and given the choice, the film would remain in tone if she chose vampirism. The un-sexstarved boyfriend is not really an option. He always seems to be an exception, an abnormality, a one of a kind, destined to end up an outcast. In choosing him, Milano picks an option not initialy given to her. These problems render the film somewhat unsatisfying, but all in all I do recommend watching it, for those horror fans who like slow, atmospheric, intelligent little films. If you're into fast pace and gore baths, look some place else.