Embrace of the Vampire (1995) by Anne Goursard

Director: Anne Goursard

Year: 1995

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Vampire

Plot:

About to fall into Eternal Sleep, a lonely vampire finds that a young college student is the perfect reincarnation of his lost-love and vows to win her over, but when he thinks her friends are corrupting her instead to get her to loosen up races to save her from their deadly grip.

Review:

There wasn't a whole lot to really enjoy with this one. One of the better aspects of this one is the film's abundant sexuality and the ease with which it plays around with those elements. Being a mainstream release, it doesn't really seem likely to be able to get as much of that as it shows in here, but it's all the more welcome because of being included. The fact that the opening of the movie features a non-nude-but-still-erotic sequence only to turn into a foursome orgy with completely nude participants for a lengthy scene. It's quite fun to watch, and just about most later scenes featuring this plus are that way as well. That the lead manages to get all of it makes it even better, managing to make do with a fully-exposed undressing scene, several instances where the dress she's wearing at the time blows open, and several sex scenes mixed in amongst it all. The best scene, though, is the innocent photoshoot that soon turns into a pseudo-lesbian encounter that features a lot of it going on, and it's lengthy and quite enjoyable, as these scenes are among the most interesting factors in the film.

The only other thing it manages to do somewhat right is the continual theme of making the vampire encounters seem like dreams rather than actual visitations, and at times, it's hard to tell the difference. There's certainly some, especially the trippy and visually-impressive drug-trip that turns into a vampire-feasting session, but it's still not entirely clear, and that's what makes it so much fun. Some of the other encounters, namely the meeting at the party and a lively part in a schoolroom lecture, are a bit more noteworthy for actually doing something in the course of the film since so many of the encounters rely on the proposed hint of seduction and eroticism to go anywhere, but it's still not enough to save it beyond all the flesh exposed.

There were a lot of flaws to this one. Of the more damaging ones, none are much bigger than the film's incredible dullness. This one doesn't really have much in the way of action, as it really doesn't have much energy during its run, and it's pretty hard to stay interested in what's going on. Much of this has to do with the other factors working against the film, but it still has something to deal with this. One of these problems is the fact that there's not a whole lot of fear to be generated from its vampire lead. The stereotypical pale-faced, whining, romantically-inclined preening vampire, he barely has anything to do with any type of horror actions and comes off as weak, nonthreatening, and not really worthwhile, which allows for more scenes to be of him running around trying to let his plan come to fruition than anything that could be done to make him scary.

One huge blunder in the film is that, during the opening narration, the vampire voices his plans and pretty much takes the suspense out of what he's trying to do right from the first frame of the film, which is a colossal mistake and one it doesn't really get over. That the plan basically involves him turning a woman into a nympho for his bride, there's not a whole lot of fear than can be derived from the situation, and while it uses that for the movie's main plus, but it's still something that doesn't generate a lot of horror and makes the film quite hard to fathom as a horror movie. The last big one is the film's criminal lack of blood, or gore, as what little squirts that are seen in here are barely worth having in for what little they provide. Seeing the teeth turn red, only because it's darker than what's around them, and a small smear against a door are all that's in here, making this one quite dry, and along with the dullness and weak vampire lead, constitute this one's flaws.

Overview: **.5/5

With a lot of its pluses relegated to its sexuality and not much else, it's really hard to find many who'll like this one, as it’s a pretty weak horror feature with the positive factors involved. The main ones who'll like it will undoubtedly be those who prefer this more romantic vampire fare or are looking for a quick sleaze fix; otherwise, heed with extreme caution.