Two Stars for the Film, Five stars for Alyssa's... (Lean & Mean)

What’s wrong with Hollywood’s horror screen writers? Can’t they come up with something that’s never been done before. I wonder? It seems like I have seen at least a dozen movies with some variation of the plot in Embrace of the Vampire.

Plot

Man (Martin Kemp) and woman (a princess actually) are in love, oh say two hundred years ago. They meet in the woods and as the princess rides away he falls asleep. While asleep, three nymphs approach him. He seems to be in a daze as the nymphs woo then attack him with their fangs.

The Story

Fast forward to present time
Charlotte (Alyssa Milano) wakes up from a nightmarish dream in which the man from two hunderd years ago (Martin Kemp), now an unnamed vampire tries to seduce the pretty college co-ed. After sitting up and turning on nightstand lamp she reaches to her throat and finds an Egyptian Ankh – the symbol of life. Having no idea where it came from she takes it off. However throughout the movie she keeps wearing it.

The Vampire, who seems to be occupying the top floor of the gothic looking campus clock tower next to her dorm, continues to pursue Charlotte in various ways. He is scared off a couple times by Charlotte’s boyfriend Chris (Harold Pruett). The Vampire manages to do whatever vampires do, to a troublesome boy who had picked a distraught Charlotte up (after a fight) and in the same scene to her best friend Nicole (Rachel True).

Comment

The connection between Charlotte and the vampire never became clear to me. He claimed to be in love with her, so I assume she was some great great…granddaughter of his original love—the princess. Or the connection could have been one of proximity, since her dorm was next door to the clock tower.

He, the vampire seemed to exercise some kind of control over Charlotte (the ankh?) because she began to act strangely and did some disingenuous things as we near the end of the movie. The vampire seemed to be operating under some sort of deadline. As the day and midnight deadline approached the vampire became even more aggressive and Charlotte’s actions more unexplainable.

Report Card

Story/Plot – D –
Acting – C+
Directing – B –
Cinematography – A –
Cast – B
Erotic factor – B –
Entertainment factor – C+

Credits
Directed by Anne Goursaud
Writing credits; Rick Bitzelberger
Nicole Coady
Conclusion

Even Alyssa Milano’s baring of her near perfect breasts couldn’t save this average movie with well worn plot. On a more positive note; surprisingly I did find much of the film entertaining. The backdrop was okay and the cast well chosen. Martin Kemp did pretty good job of acting for an old bass player as did the rest of the low budget cast.

Perhaps this is frivolous of me. I’ve always been a sucker for a fine set of bon bons and Milano’s elevate this two star movie to three stars.

I never claimed to be deep.