Dance of the Damned

Dance Of The Damned is one of those rare films that comes along once in a GREAT while. Filmed on an EXTREMELY low budget with a VERY small cast, it manages to succeed where other movies (with 10 times the star power and 50 times the budget) have failed miserably.

A man sits in a low-grade strip club and takes notice of one of the women on stage. He senses her mood is dark and later overhears a phone conversation where she pleads (in vain) with her ex-husband to allow her to see her child. He meets her outside and, after a brief introduction (she first mistakes him as someone out to attack her), convinces her to tell him more about herself. Most of his questions concern, strangely enough, the sun and daylight in general (he asks her what it feels like on her face, how the warmth is, etc.).

It's not until later during their conversation that she realizes he is a vampire. The film does an incredible job (via a great script and subtle but strong performances from the two leads) of dealing with issues surrounding anger, fear and love, and eventually leads to a final, sad, dramatic conclusion.

It would appear this film was released directly to video, and it may be difficult to find these days, even as a rental. But if you manage to locate it out there somewhere, I highly recommended spending an hour and a half of your time taking it in - You won't be disappointed.

-FTM

A rare little gem that transcends its genre to portray some interesting angles on suffering, the nature of good and evil and death. The fatalistic stripper who believes her life isn't worth living until death looms, the remorseful vampire who needs to feed but feels compassion for his victims are both convincingly played. For my money this film is worth fifty of the pretentious, self-important overblown vampire-chic films like 'Interview with the Vampire'. For a "horror" film this movie is quiet and even a little plodding at times but the understated performances, taut scripting and interesting story (with nice twists on the myths of vampirism) make a worthwhile viewing.

A needless remake "To Sleep with a Vampire" made by Roger Corman in 1992 doesn't nearly live up to this movie's quirky originality.

Not your average run-of-the-mill vampire movie, so at least that's something. Don't expect vampire-action, bat-like facial transformations or bloody killings in general from "Dance of the Damned" or you'll be disappointed. What we get here is more like a TV-drama play, with a bit of 80's cheesiness and nudity added for good measurement. Pretty much a 'doomed romance' type thing about a non-vampire stripper and a vampire-yuppie. One wants to die, the other one will have to die if that other one doesn't die. Something like that. Starr Andreef is damn sexy in this one (and she shows plenty of skin - yes, the top comes off) and it has an ending that will leave you hanging in there (in a neither-here-nor-there kinda way). Certainly worth a watch if you're into offbeat vampire movies (more like the cheesy romance ones, not the edgy arty ones). And it's at least about 5 times better than that awful Andrew Stevens vampire-vehicle "Red Blooded American Girl" from 1990 (I've said it before & I'll say it again: avoid movies with Andrew Stevens playing the leading role in them). Anyway, he's not in "Dance of the Damned", so you're safe to watch it.

This is a wonderful low-budget sleeper, proving that not all contemporary Roger Corman-produced films are trash. And all it really is is a night long conversation between a self-destructive, suicidal stripper and a brooding, world weary vampire. Go figure. But it also would probably take a more mature, patient viewer to sit through this one, because if you're looking for gore, action and special effects, you'll find little of that here. Expect a low key character study similar to a stage play, with lots of dialogue and few location changes. This film itself proves you don't have to be a slave to FX work when working inside the realm of horror. There can be so much more to the genre than just cheap shocks when a common horror theme is put into the hands of someone with talent and imagination. I have no doubt when this was green lit the director was expected to make a vampire movie with nudity that could be sold off as direct-to-video exploitation. In this case, she actually managed to make something of it and that, my friends, does not happen too often.

The script by Katt Shea and Andy Ruben (who were married at the time this was made) not only has some great insight into the outcast condition and very good character development but also some wonderfully poetic passages. One highlight is a beautifully written scene on a beach where the leading lady has to explain to the Vampire what sunlight feels like. It's in her description of this simple feeling that gives her back her will to live. In scenes where the two characters describe their troubled pasts, the monologues are so well written and detailed you can visualize them without having to actually see them on screen. Any movie with a budget would have predictably went into flashback mode but here we're asked to use our imaginations. Clever parallels are drawn between two different lost souls (not to mention two different species); one of whom is forced to live in the night and the other so wounded she's compelled to. Both leads (Starr Andreeff and Cyril O'Reilly) are very good and do their roles justice, and this film manages to be thought-provoking, sometimes very funny and ultimately moving. While a million fx-driven blockbuster type movies involving vampires come and go and entertain while they're around, this one has actually has resonated with me more over time than films like BRAM STOKER'S Dracula, INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE, etc. It's a shame not many people know anything about it.

I not only recommend this, but also the director's excellent STREETS (starring a young Christina Applegate), and even her more exploitative serial-killer-in-a-strip-club flick STRIPPED TO KILL. They're all well above average for the genre, humorous at times, well written and with a heavy concentration on character. Shea shows the same kind of early talent as the best directors to come from Roger Corman U... including Francis Ford Coppola and Jonathan Demme. In fact, I'd probably place her near the top of the list of the countless directors Corman has supported over the years. And she's certainly one of the most promising female director's I've ever come across viewing countless low budget films.

Amazingly, DANCE was remade in 1993 as TO SLEEP WITH A VAMPIRE. That version, which was also produced by Corman and reused much of the same storyline and dialogue, does not come close to this version. Guess which one has been released on DVD? I wish I could say it was this, but unfortunately some boneheads decided to release the remake instead while this worthy film languishes in VHS obscurity. Hopefully someone, some day will get this out to the masses so it can find an audience.

My review was written in March 1989 after watching the film on Virgin Vision video cassette.

This morbid but engrossing vampire drama is skedded for direct-to-video release this month, but gets brief big-screen exposure at the AFI Festival in Los Angeles.

Filmed back-to-back last year with same filmmaker's "Stripped to Kill 2", pic shares that sequel's strippers milieu. Starr Andreeff is a suicidal peeler, distraught at having a court order barring her from visiting her young son.

A handsome vampire, Cyril O'Reilly is in the Paradise Cafe and senses Andreeff's despair, propositioning her after hours to spend the night with him for a quick g-note; he even promises to kill her at dawn after their confab.

Despite that claustrophobic premise, reminiscent of the launching point of Anne Rice's novel "Interview with the Vampire", pic covers much ground, with an especially atmospheric late-night visit to the beach. Helmer Katt Shea Ruben bears down effectively on the various philosophical questions of the genre: emptiness of immortality, search for meaning in existence, etc.

Punching it across is an uninhibited performance by brunette Andreeff, whose unusual beauty and on-the-edge thesping command sympathy and interest. O'Reilly also is impressive, rising above obvious James Dean mannerisms to create his own persona as the brooding, shoulder-length-hair night creature.

Special effects are modest but fresh. Climax is predictable and undercut by an unintelligible final line of dialog.