Vampire's Embrace

If we were in the 50's, this could have been called "I married a vampire". A man trapped in a loser relationship falls in love with an ethereal blonde, who doesn't eat, doesn't go out during the day and lives near a cemetery where grisly murders recently occurred.

The premise has been used before, possibly to better effect, which does not mean that this low-budget offering is without its merit. The male lead is endearing, in a goofy but tender kind of way. His discovery of his lover's curse borders on the comical, and were it not for the timid nudity, this is why this reminded me so much of early-Hollywood horror/comedies. Granted, there's a whole budget of difference and the blonde "nice" vampire firmly believes in stoic, expressionless acting. Her evil counterpart, though, makes a fine enough job and the movie is fast-paced enough that B-movie lovers will not get bored.

A quartet of teenagers break into a mausoleum but, instead of ransacking the place or stealing bodies, they play spin the bottle and take turns undressing. Their play is interrupted by a waxy-looking, drippy resurrected vampire that bites them all. This creature, Cassandra, is one of two vampire women who were staked during Revolutionary War times. They return to life and start biting suburbanites in modern day Westport, Long Island.

Stock broker Bob (Paul Borgese), weary of his girlfriend Roxanne's infidelities, falls in love with one of the vampire women, Angela (Sarah Watchman). After they are married, Bob starts noticing that Angela goes out in the middle of the night and during the day eats like a mouse (she enjoys the occasional raw hamburger). One night, he follows her and watches in horror as she and Cassandra dismember a man and drink his blood. In spite of this, Bob remains loyal to Angela and she starts doubting the value of her nocturnal existence.

Writer-director Glenn Andreiev hasn't ignored the underlying humor of Bob's predicament, and VAMPIRE'S EMBRACE takes a few stabs at social satire. For example, Bob stays with Angela because she is the only woman he's known who didn't want him just for his money. And there is something funny in seeing how this couple prepares to incorporate cannibalism and blood drinking as part of their bourgeois lives.

VAMPIRE'S EMBRACE provides a few twists on vampire lore (Angela's lust for blood will go away if she kills another vampire) and one of the vampires is repelled by the image of a cross broadcast on a TV screen. However, Andreiev cannot coax anything like a performance from the lead actors, and the low budget sadly renders some scenes amateurish.

Although it carries a 1993 copyright, VAMPIRE'S EMBRACE was reportedly filmed in 1991.