19 reviews
To Sleep with a Vampire is an early 90's vampire movie (Of which there were many around that time) that honestly looks dated and within quarter of an hour I already had concerns.
It tells the story of a deeply confused vampire who kidnaps a young stripper. He intends to kill her by morning but before that wants her to explain to him about life and all the things he's missing due to being a member of the undead.
Labelled a romantic horror I can confidently say the romance is very poorly handled and honestly should be dismissed altogether. This is to romance what John Wick (2014) is to intelligent cinema.
It does have it's moments to it's credit and though our lead male is as intimidating as Pee Wee Herman our lead female is fantastic and I'm shocked she didn't have a considerably better career.
A passable affair for lovers of vampire cinema and cheesy 90's b-movies.
The Good:
Interesting premise for the most part
Charlie Spradling
The Bad:
Feels dated
Plot ultimately is pretty dumb
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
I have never introduced myself to a milkshake
Vampires cannot transform into bats, wolves or mist they can however turn into badly cgi made lightbulbs
It tells the story of a deeply confused vampire who kidnaps a young stripper. He intends to kill her by morning but before that wants her to explain to him about life and all the things he's missing due to being a member of the undead.
Labelled a romantic horror I can confidently say the romance is very poorly handled and honestly should be dismissed altogether. This is to romance what John Wick (2014) is to intelligent cinema.
It does have it's moments to it's credit and though our lead male is as intimidating as Pee Wee Herman our lead female is fantastic and I'm shocked she didn't have a considerably better career.
A passable affair for lovers of vampire cinema and cheesy 90's b-movies.
The Good:
Interesting premise for the most part
Charlie Spradling
The Bad:
Feels dated
Plot ultimately is pretty dumb
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
I have never introduced myself to a milkshake
Vampires cannot transform into bats, wolves or mist they can however turn into badly cgi made lightbulbs
- Platypuschow
- Aug 17, 2018
- Permalink
Almost a two-person play, and as such the dialog and the performances of the leads will be important. Neither are particularly good. This might have been stronger, in fact, if it had first been crafted as a two-person play, and then worked into a film.
Anyway, a twitchy vampire who seems slightly autistic becomes infatuated with a stripper (as a result of watching too much porn in his crappy home). He wants to have her tell him about the daylight. He would have been better off finding someone with a day job, or someone who excels at painting a picture with words like a poet, but then they might not have a hot bod.
After he gets her to do whatever he wants (and he's not terribly good at it), he intends to feed on her at 6 AM, at which point the sun rises. Much is made of that deadline, despite the fact that he also says that he can go without feeding, it will just make him hungrier. Additionally, he claims he can't let the stripper go, since she knows about him, but he lets a number of other people go who learn what he is. There are a lot of inconsistencies.
Why this vampire chooses to live in a house so poorly boarded up that light from streetlamps and neighboring buildings pours in as if it were daytime, I'm not sure. With all the time in the world, you'd think he'd have done a better job, or fixed the place up a bit. He's clearly not a wealthy vampire.
This is supposedly a remake, and I'm curious to see the original version of this, Dance of the Damned. Although, that was directed by Katt Shea, and the other films she directed for Corman (Stripped to Kill, StK II) were pretty bad.
Anyway, a twitchy vampire who seems slightly autistic becomes infatuated with a stripper (as a result of watching too much porn in his crappy home). He wants to have her tell him about the daylight. He would have been better off finding someone with a day job, or someone who excels at painting a picture with words like a poet, but then they might not have a hot bod.
After he gets her to do whatever he wants (and he's not terribly good at it), he intends to feed on her at 6 AM, at which point the sun rises. Much is made of that deadline, despite the fact that he also says that he can go without feeding, it will just make him hungrier. Additionally, he claims he can't let the stripper go, since she knows about him, but he lets a number of other people go who learn what he is. There are a lot of inconsistencies.
Why this vampire chooses to live in a house so poorly boarded up that light from streetlamps and neighboring buildings pours in as if it were daytime, I'm not sure. With all the time in the world, you'd think he'd have done a better job, or fixed the place up a bit. He's clearly not a wealthy vampire.
This is supposedly a remake, and I'm curious to see the original version of this, Dance of the Damned. Although, that was directed by Katt Shea, and the other films she directed for Corman (Stripped to Kill, StK II) were pretty bad.
Suicidal L. A. stripper Nina (Charlie Spradling) does sleep with vampire Jacob (Scott Valentine), but the film should have been called To Speak With A Vampire, because she spends a lot more time chinwagging with the bloodsucker, who wants her to tell him what it is like to be human before he drains her of her blood (thereby fulfilling her death wish). Alternatively, it could be titled To Snooze WIth A Vampire, because all of that talking sure is dull, making it hard for the viewer to stay awake.
Of course, the fact that the very lovely Spradling plays a stripper is reason enough to check this one out, the actress showing an awful lot of skin as she performs at a skid row strip bar (with a remarkably high standard in performers) and, towards the end of the film, partakes in a spot of undead nookie. It's just a shame that her ample charms weren't put to good use in a better film than this one: To Sleep With A Vampire, a remake of Katt Shea's Dance of the Damned, is, for the most part, tiresome, pretentious, emo-romantic goth twaddle, its emotionally trouble characters coming together to share their feelings, sunbathe in the moonlight (sounds like an oxymoron, but it's what they do), and swop bodily fluids. Yawn.
4/10 for Spradling, but that's being generous.
Of course, the fact that the very lovely Spradling plays a stripper is reason enough to check this one out, the actress showing an awful lot of skin as she performs at a skid row strip bar (with a remarkably high standard in performers) and, towards the end of the film, partakes in a spot of undead nookie. It's just a shame that her ample charms weren't put to good use in a better film than this one: To Sleep With A Vampire, a remake of Katt Shea's Dance of the Damned, is, for the most part, tiresome, pretentious, emo-romantic goth twaddle, its emotionally trouble characters coming together to share their feelings, sunbathe in the moonlight (sounds like an oxymoron, but it's what they do), and swop bodily fluids. Yawn.
4/10 for Spradling, but that's being generous.
- BA_Harrison
- Oct 2, 2021
- Permalink
I found this movie to be a refreshing look at vampiric lore. Of course the dialogue lacked the needed gripping storyline but the actors did fairly well with that. Scott Valentine didn't portray the vampire as I would have however it is a low budget film and the director may have wanted a detached almost oblivious vampire who becomes abusive when he loses control. Charlie did well I thought. In fact I would like to see her perform more roles similar to this one. Being a tortured soul in search of answers and truth. Perhaps a part two to this film where she gives birth to Jacobs child. Or perhaps she drained Jacon or brought Jacob back from death. At least this movie didn't fake a larger than life storyline above the supernatural existence of vampires. And given the low budget the cinematographers did a helluva job as well. All in all I was entertained for 81 min at 3am. Cudos to the folks that participated.
To be honest, i'm surprised by the positive votes that this film has received. The movie just drags along its 81 minute life span, and the audience has to suffer the whole way through. Actually there are some positive moments in this film; Charlie Spradling gives a decent performance. She is given some pretty pathetic dialogue and she handles it pretty well. Scott Valentine(Merrideth's boyfriend in Family Ties), on the other hand, is a pretty rough watch. I guess the highlight of his performance is witnessing the guy laying on the beach wearing tiger-patterned chummies....give me a break. Also, Valentine gives us a boorish and pathetic portrayal of a suffering vampire who misses the day(to see a much more convincing rendition of the suffering vampire see Denice Duff in "Bloodstorm: Subspecies 4"). The movie moves so slow and is only positively punctuated by, and to be honest, Charlie Spradling's dance scenes. This movie can honestly only be recommended to the die hard fans of Charlie Spradling (which i am, and i still had a rough time watching it!).
Folks, this dog makes Twilight look like Wuthering Heights! The low (one might say picayune) budget is a handicap, but one that better plotting and scripting, plus some actual suspense or more convincing action might have overcome. That did not happen. Lead actress Charlie Spradling is surprisingly charismatic as an exotic dancer with a dark side, but Scott Valentine lacks the depth of personality to be convincing as a Lord of the Undead. He can't manage to look menacing, or predatory, or even really all that hungry. He's Vamp Lite, the vampire with not much substance. Anyway, he picks her up at the bar she works in and they, um, hang out until dawn. Nothing much happens, no great insights are revealed about the world of vamps (or humanity for that matter), and the ending when it comes is a yawner. This one strictly for viewers who want to see B-movie veteran Spradling topless. Otherwise avoid.
- nogodnomasters
- Jun 22, 2019
- Permalink
- poolandrews
- Feb 24, 2006
- Permalink
Charlie Spradling is the best thing about this movie. If you are a fan of hers(I am!) by all means watch it but if not? Skip it.
I would have watched it or given it 2 stars without Charlie.
I would have watched it or given it 2 stars without Charlie.
Much of the dialogue is horribly clichéd in this film, which is a shame, but the atmosphere set up from the beginning is well worth sitting through it - reminiscent of the Blade Runner city, I would say. Also, the character of Jacob, while playing the stereotypical, lonely vampire, is refreshing in that he portrays an impoverished psychopath (and not the European nobleman done to death in everything from Dracula to Anne Rice), mad from loneliness but still homicidal; we really experience his inability to endure, but unlike Louis of Interview with a Vampire, his mystically demonic nature does not permit him to develop a conscience. It does pale a bit as it progresses, and this film could not be enjoyed in the daytime, but seen in the early hours perhaps, or the very late, its atmosphere is well worthy of the 7 stars I've given it.
- edward-149
- Feb 24, 2006
- Permalink
- johnny-handsome-891-1130
- Feb 14, 2014
- Permalink
This film provides an intelligent and entertaining twist to the vampire genre. Even the low-budget constraints (e.g., the strip club scenes) seem fresh. They serve the story without losing their intrinsic prurient interest. There are, to quote my buddy Carl, some "way cool action scenes where the vampire dude beats the crap outta these other dudes." Combined with the scenes in the vampire's lair, the power of the vampire is revealed with a verisimilitude that makes it easy to suspend disbelief. From start to finish, this vampire film sucks you in.
- bevashwick
- Nov 7, 2001
- Permalink
This movie features Charlie Spradling dancing in a strip club. Beyond that, it features a truly bad script with dull, unrealistic dialogue. That it got as many positive votes suggests some people may be joking.
This movie is a remake of the movie "Dance of the Damned," which came out a mere 5 years prior, only this one is available on DVD. Both movies are about a vampire who is hiding his desire (not very well, mind you) to be human (to feel the sun, to be close to others, to end his hunger for blood), who must feed tonight. He chooses an at-the-end-of-her-rope stripper as his teacher/meal, due to a dark, suicidal quality he senses in her soul. She thus is able to act as a "bridge" between his world and that of a normal human, while discovering she has a lot more to live for than she thought. Overall, this is a good movie. One can tell the acting is quite scripted at times, but the overall theme doesn't suffer for it. *** out of ****
- Woodyanders
- Sep 20, 2020
- Permalink
to be honest this movie wasn't that bad. for a low budget movie it was a better movie than Roger's Corman's Club Vampire that was terrible. but sleeping with a Vampire wasn't that bad true the acting could have been better an the special effects could have too. as well as the story and they should have put more into the story than they did. but all in all it's better than some Corman's movie's he's done
Tape this one late at night from Showtime or Cinemax and then fast forward to the Charlie Spradling Dance\lovemaking scene towards the end. Charlie is the only redeeming quality of this flix. I wish the scene at the beach had Charlie laid out in the tiger thong instead of that lame crybaby vampire, played by that guy who played Nick, idiot boyfriend of Mallory from Family Ties. Charlie rules though, I wish she made more films.
There's just no excuse for this. It takes the script of "Dance of the Damned" and remakes it virtually line-for-line and scene-for-scene, with much worse actors (Charlie Spradling doesn't even approach the vulnerability and desperation of Starr Andreeff in the same role, nor is she as good a dancer), with gratuitous fight scenes pasted in and the best touches pointlessly removed, and gives the original --to which it is 90% identical-- no credit whatsoever. Shameful in the extreme.
If you like this one, you need to see the far superior original (it is available on VHS) and experience what this movie is really supposed to be. If you don't like this one, you have taste, and I imagine you've seen "Dance of the Damned" already. Good for you.
(p.s.--I applaud kipper-2 who recommends Denise Duff's performance in "Subspecies 4" as a superior portrayal of the suffering vampire. I second that recommendation and add a rave for Duff's work in ALL the Subspecies films. She is a gem.)
If you like this one, you need to see the far superior original (it is available on VHS) and experience what this movie is really supposed to be. If you don't like this one, you have taste, and I imagine you've seen "Dance of the Damned" already. Good for you.
(p.s.--I applaud kipper-2 who recommends Denise Duff's performance in "Subspecies 4" as a superior portrayal of the suffering vampire. I second that recommendation and add a rave for Duff's work in ALL the Subspecies films. She is a gem.)
- angelynx-2
- Oct 14, 2003
- Permalink
This film has been remade three times, and original is still the best. I think it was called "Night Dance", but by far "To Sleep with a Vampire" is the worst of the three. Scott Valentine is decent, but other than his mediocre performance this Film has no redeeming qualities. What do you expect FROM A REMAKE OF A FILM THAT DIDN'T MAKE ANY MONEY FROM THE BEGINNING.
ERIC-
ERIC-
- alphawolfprod
- Oct 27, 2003
- Permalink