After an encounter with a neck-biter, a publishing executive thinks that he's turning into a vampire.After an encounter with a neck-biter, a publishing executive thinks that he's turning into a vampire.After an encounter with a neck-biter, a publishing executive thinks that he's turning into a vampire.
- Awards
- 1 win & 3 nominations
- Emilio
- (as Bob Lujan)
- Donald
- (as John Walker)
- Fantasy Cabbie
- (as Boris Leskin)
- Theater Guy
- (as David Pierce)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Nicolas Cage on the Roles That Changed His Life
Nicolas Cage on the Roles That Changed His Life
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaChristian Bale had used Nicolas Cage's performance in this film as inspiration for his role as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (2000). The characters and films share striking similarities.
- GoofsDuring both sex scenes with Rachel and Peter in Peter's bed, the flesh colored pad covering Jennifer Beals' nipple is clearly visible.
- Quotes
Peter Loew: Shouldn't the copy be in that file? It should, right?
Dr. Glaser: Yes.
Peter Loew: Right? Hmmm. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.
Dr. Glaser: Unless, of course, it's somehow been somehow misfiled.
Peter Loew: MIS-filed?
Dr. Glaser: Yes, misfiled. Sometimes somebody puts a document in the wrong file and then it's misfiled. It makes it much harder to find.
Peter Loew: Who? Who? What do you mean, who? How could somebody MIS-file something? What could be easier? It's all alphabetical. You just PUT it IN the RIGHT FILE! According to ALPHABETICAL ORDER! You know - A, B, C, D, E, F, G!
Dr. Glaser: Peter...
Peter Loew: H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P!
Dr. Glaser: Peter...
Peter Loew: Q, R, S, T, U, V!
Dr. Glaser: Oh, Peter...
Peter Loew: W, X, Y, Z! HUH? THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO DO!
Dr. Glaser: Very good, you know your alphabet.
Peter Loew: I NEVER MISFILED ANYTHING! NOT ONCE, NOT ONE TIME! I wanna know, really, WHO DID?
Dr. Glaser: I cannot possibly tell you that.
Peter Loew: You can't?
Dr. Glaser: No, I can't.
Peter Loew: Hah! And you call yourself a psychiatrist?
- ConnectionsEdited into Leet Fighters: Mojado Mexican (2014)
The film follows Cage as Peter Loew, a publishing executive who is bitten by a vampire. Slowly, really slowly, he's transformed into a vampire himself, and his mental acuity drastically deteriorates into hopeless, hilarious paranoia. Concurrently, Loew mentally abuses his secretary Alva, giving her the unfortunate task of finding a contract deeply buried in the file graveyard of his office.
Vampire's Kiss was ripped apart when first released, though it's not quite as bad as the reviews would have you believe. Even disregarding Cage's performance, for a moment, the film is an odd duck, tonally messy and mostly purposeless, with low stakes and little energy. Still, the sheer oddity of its premise and the bizarre juxtaposition between publishing drama and monster mash (side note: I just realized how eerily similar this film is to 1994's Wolf) is enough to sustain moderate, temporary interest. It would have been a rather limp, lifeless film, it wasn't for one of the greatest screen performances ever recorded.
Nicholas Cage is phenomenal in Vampire's Kiss. He is consistently, breathtakingly, shrewdly hilarious, and the best part is it's impossible to figure out if the film was ever supposed to be a comedy. The film itself is already atonal, not really a light, airy comedy but not really a contemplative or tense creature flick either. Vampire's Kiss doesn't know what it wants to be, but Cage knows exactly what he wants to be, which is an obnoxious, crazy-eyed, explosive, irrationally chaotic jerk, sporting an impossibly artificial accent through the entirety of the film. He is the sole focus of the camera in every scene he's in, both before and after the bite.
The greatest quality of the performance is Cage's spontaneity and conviction. He's not constantly full-throttle crazy; he's measured, even reserved at times, playing up the calm before the storm in order to seamlessly accentuate his random bursts of looniness. Peter's own mental degradation sometimes helps too. The character is inherently delirious, paranoid and hopeless in equal measure. Cage amplifies these emotions, making what Peter feels at any given point perfectly clear.
When he needs to cry, Cage doesn't actually cry; he shrilly proclaims "boo hoo! Boo hoo!" out to the world. When Peter first believes he's a vampire, Cage doesn't whisper the exclamation to passersby on the street or mumble to himself - he runs through the street shouting ad nauseum to the entire block. Again, the film doesn't seem designed to be a comedy - Cage's mannerisms are totally at odds with the mostly just bland atmosphere and dramatic events around him. It's baffling to watch one performer singlehandedly (singlehandedly) transform the film he's in. It's astounding.
Everyone else plays it straight. Elizabeth Ashley as Peter's psychiatrist, Jennifer Beals as the vampire, and Maria Conchita Alonso as Alva the secretary are all properly attuned to the film's wavelength. They're convincing and demonstrate the desired qualities. Ashley is professional, Beals is seductive and a bit campy, and Alonso is vulnerable and legitimately sympathetic. Every other element is the same; the cinematography, soundtrack, and editing all suggest a film of reasonable dignity, and the direction is simple and direct. Even the script is serviceable, if nothing special. Vampire's Kiss would be a decent to decently boring/bland film without Cage. With him, it's an engaging, surprising laugh riot, which only patters out near the end, in an extendedly dull sequence.
Vampire's Kiss is worth a watch. It's truly remarkable to witness the power one performance can have on a film, and it's difficult to think of a more quintessential example of this principle than Cage's presence in this film. To see an unremarkable, atonal, and rather bland film be transformed into a truly memorable, often hilarious one, is an experience worth sharing with a few friends. Vampire's Kiss is prime "bad/weird movie night" material, nearly comparable to The Room and Japanese horror gem House. If any of your friends love strange films, hammy performances, weird bugged-eyed hijinks, enraged alphabet recitations, or Nicholas Cage, check out Vampire's Kiss today.
- mattstone137
- Mar 15, 2022
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Vampire's Kiss - Ein beißendes Vergnügen
- Filming locations
- St. Nicholas Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church, 288 E 10th St, New York City, New York, USA(Peter begs parishoners to kill him)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $2,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $725,131
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $96,699
- Jun 4, 1989
- Gross worldwide
- $727,998
- Runtime1 hour 43 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1