Vampire's KissYou don't have to be a vampire to be a monster. Vampire's Kiss is a horror comedy about a narcissistic literary agent named Peter Loew (Nicolas Cage), who lives an empty and banal existence of work--which mostly involves browbeating his put upon secretary, Alva (María Conchita Alonso)--and meaningless one-night stands, which he brags about to his psychiatrist, Dr. Glaser (Elizabeth Ashley). Peter flirts with a beautiful young woman named Rachel (Jennifer Beals) at a bar one night, whom he envisions as a vampire that transforms him into her bloodsucking companion. This fantasy pushes Peter over the already slippery slope of his sanity, leading to a berserk manic breakdown.
|
|
Peter Loew is not a likable guy--in fact, he's downright loathsome and obnoxious, even before he gets it into his head that he's a vampire. He claims that he was born in Philadelphia and moved to New York City, yet carries on with a faux British accent that compounds his smarmy attitude; like someone wearing a bit too much cologne, it's far from subtle. Vampire's Kiss was released in 1989, and Peter comes across as a residual parody of the self-centered yuppies that personified the "Me" generation. It is almost impossible to sympathize with Peter, which makes Cage's iconic, over-the-top performance of the egomaniac all the more appropriate, since it lends itself to black comedy over pathos. Peter's completely destructive descent into madness shares more than a few stylistic and narrative similarities to Bret Easton Ellis's "American Psycho", as well as the film of the same name. There is, perhaps, the faintest sliver of sympathy buried deep within Peter. He must recognize deep down that he is a very sick person; why else would he voluntarily visit a psychiatrist if not to get help for some problem he cannot communicate? Although Peter turns these sessions into ways for him to boast about his sexual prowess, he could do this with anyone--anyone he paid at least--so why a shrink? Vampire's Kiss starts as Peter is in the death throes of his hold on reality, before his masturbatory fantasy about a supernatural super model declaring her undying (and undead) love for him--she tells him "you chose me"--strips away the last vestiges of his grip on the real world. His manufactured crisis becomes a convenient excuse for him to escalate a campaign of terror against sweet Alva, who panics following his warped and increasingly abusive behavior. (Peter is the kind of guy who makes a Human Resources department work overtime.) Peter feebly tries to bait Dr. Glaser into buying into his pending "transformation" through a story he offers--then later avoids--about a bat which flew into his apartment one night while he was with a woman named Jackie (Kasi Lemmons), and how he felt "aroused" by the encounter. Peter begins fetishizing that he is turning into a vampire afterwards, wearing wraparound sunglasses inside during business hours and collapsing in sight of crucifixes--even though it's clear that he isn't really a vampire. Vampire's Kiss teases the possibility that Peter might have been bitten by Rachel, but abandons this early on so as not to detract from what is really a story about a man losing his mind. (It becomes clear that Peter is imagining his affliction when he begins gasping in the men's room while staring into a mirror, convinced that he has no reflection, even though the audience can clearly see he has one.)
There are few actors like Nicolas Cage who can convey someone absolutely in the throws of what is clearly an unchecked and severe mental breakdown with more than a few echoes of bipolar disorder. For the most part, his performance is designed to elicit laughter, even if it is uncomfortable laughter at times. At one point, he enthusiastically sprints through the streets of New York City, crying out, "I'm a vampire! I'm a vampire!" He resembles a bug-eyed weirdo when he is in this fugue state, like when he pushes through a nightclub and actually murders a guest because he tried to drink her blood, standing rigid as he maneuvers through the throng of club-goers with a pair of dime store fangs protruding from his lips. He overturns the couch in his disheveled apartment, turning it into a makeshift coffin; Peter trashed his own domicile after a minor incident with a work contract drove him into a frenzy. As Vampire's Kiss progresses, the heretofore stylish Peter becomes a distressed derelict caked in blood, talking to a lamppost he believes is Dr. Glaser, and pleading with passersby to kill him with a wooden plank carved into a stake by running it through his heart--as if he had one. One of the more audacious stunts in Vampire's Kiss involves Nicolas Cage actually eating a live cockroach--one of film's grossest effects which Cage reportedly claimed was a "business decision" that adds to the film's unsettling quality. Beneath Cage's outlandish performance, there is an ugly truth about Peter Loew that emerges--Peter is punishing himself for his egomania. He seems to try to apologize to Alva for the horrible ways he has treated her, and even seems genuinely contrite, only moments later transforming like Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde into a devil, as if he were compelled to feed on her shattered trust. This contributes to a vicious cycle of remorse which exacerbates his delusion, causing his quality of life to tumble into free fall. Peter does not believe he should be happy deep down, because he knows he is a monster. When he carries on a fictional conversation with Dr. Glaser and an imaginary love interest named Sharon (Jessica Lundy)--who "Glaser" describes is "perfect for him"--even this fantasy quickly collapses, leading to an imaginary argument with her in short order. When the inescapable end to Peter's breakdown finally comes, there is a look of relief in his eyes--the curse is over, and he has finally found the absolution and penance he believes he deserves.
Recommended for: Fans of an unusual mix of horror and black comedy, which is really a backdrop for a character study about a selfish yuppie going insane. The audience's enjoyment of Vampire's Kiss will have much to do with one's appreciation for Nicolas Cage's fearless performance of Peter Loew ratcheted up to levels of mania as high as the skyscrapers in the opening credits.
There are few actors like Nicolas Cage who can convey someone absolutely in the throws of what is clearly an unchecked and severe mental breakdown with more than a few echoes of bipolar disorder. For the most part, his performance is designed to elicit laughter, even if it is uncomfortable laughter at times. At one point, he enthusiastically sprints through the streets of New York City, crying out, "I'm a vampire! I'm a vampire!" He resembles a bug-eyed weirdo when he is in this fugue state, like when he pushes through a nightclub and actually murders a guest because he tried to drink her blood, standing rigid as he maneuvers through the throng of club-goers with a pair of dime store fangs protruding from his lips. He overturns the couch in his disheveled apartment, turning it into a makeshift coffin; Peter trashed his own domicile after a minor incident with a work contract drove him into a frenzy. As Vampire's Kiss progresses, the heretofore stylish Peter becomes a distressed derelict caked in blood, talking to a lamppost he believes is Dr. Glaser, and pleading with passersby to kill him with a wooden plank carved into a stake by running it through his heart--as if he had one. One of the more audacious stunts in Vampire's Kiss involves Nicolas Cage actually eating a live cockroach--one of film's grossest effects which Cage reportedly claimed was a "business decision" that adds to the film's unsettling quality. Beneath Cage's outlandish performance, there is an ugly truth about Peter Loew that emerges--Peter is punishing himself for his egomania. He seems to try to apologize to Alva for the horrible ways he has treated her, and even seems genuinely contrite, only moments later transforming like Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde into a devil, as if he were compelled to feed on her shattered trust. This contributes to a vicious cycle of remorse which exacerbates his delusion, causing his quality of life to tumble into free fall. Peter does not believe he should be happy deep down, because he knows he is a monster. When he carries on a fictional conversation with Dr. Glaser and an imaginary love interest named Sharon (Jessica Lundy)--who "Glaser" describes is "perfect for him"--even this fantasy quickly collapses, leading to an imaginary argument with her in short order. When the inescapable end to Peter's breakdown finally comes, there is a look of relief in his eyes--the curse is over, and he has finally found the absolution and penance he believes he deserves.
Recommended for: Fans of an unusual mix of horror and black comedy, which is really a backdrop for a character study about a selfish yuppie going insane. The audience's enjoyment of Vampire's Kiss will have much to do with one's appreciation for Nicolas Cage's fearless performance of Peter Loew ratcheted up to levels of mania as high as the skyscrapers in the opening credits.