A Lesson in Being Crazy: Vampire's Kiss (1988)

I decided to get today's movie out of the way a little earlier so I could go about my vacationing a little more freely today. I took the opportunity to watch one of Nicolas Cage's more notably insane roles in Vampire's Kiss. This is one of his earlier films, being only 24-years-old in it. I've seen so many clips from this movie of Cage being crazy, that I was actually really looking forward to seeing how they all fit together to make a story. Now that I've seen it, I'll tell you right after the jump if it was all worth while.


Peter Loew (Nicolas Cage) is a publishing executive who is having relationship troubles. While he may be enamored by a woman one day, he despises her the next and thus can't keep a regular relationship with anyone. Because of his issues, he is seeing a psychologist, Dr. Glaser (Elizabeth Ashley). Even then, he has difficulty opening up to her, and he is becoming more distant as the days go on, and is also becoming more abusive to one of the assistant secretaries at his work. One night he meets Rachel (Jennifer Beals), and after taking her home, she suddenly attacks him, revealing herself to be a vampire. The only question, is this all really happening, or has his obsessions with women and relationships finally started to push him over the edge?

The best reason to watch this movie is for Nicolas Cage's performance and moments of utter insanity. This may be the most crazy I've ever seen him act, and it is hilarious to watch if you go into it with the right mindset. If you're watching this movie looking for a serious film about vampires, you're likely to be really disappointed, but I just wanted to see Cage go nuts, and that's exactly what I got.

I couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity of how Loew acted once he believed he was a vampire

He goes crazy in two ways. First, as he gets more and more involved with Rachel, and as she continues to feed off of him, whether this is real or not, he just berates his assistant Alva more and more. Alva is played by Maria Conchita Alonso, and she does a really good job as a woman being driven to the brink by one of the worst bosses ever. As my friend put it, this is the original "Horrible Bosses".

The second way he goes crazy is when he starts to believe he is truly a vampire. As the movie progresses, certain things cause him to react without thinking, like the sun hurting his eyes, or convulsing at the sight of a cross. However, some of the later symptoms seem to be all in his head, like not being able to see himself in the mirror, when his reflection is plain to see to the viewer. This actually leads to an interesting interpretation of the film.

Loew is attacked and fed on by the vampiress Rachel... or is he?

As he goes more and more crazy, Loew's reality starts coming into question. How much of what we're seeing is real, and how much is in his mind? Is it ALL in his mind? Before any of this vampire stuff starts happening, a wild bat flies in the window of his apartment while he's making love to a woman. Is it possible that these unrelated events get associated in his fragile mind, or is the bat really a vampire who then continues to stalk and pester him? It could also be that the vampire is real, but the stresses of being fed upon then drives him insane. It's a very interesting situation, trapped in a totally wacky movie.

Another reason to watch Vampire's Kiss could be to see the sexy vampire Rachel, played by the gorgeous Jennifer Beals. She may not be for everyone, my friend in fact said he didn't think she was all that, but I thought she was amazing looking. I couldn't take my eyes off of her, and for me it added to the believability of the "vampire might be real" side of the story since they are supposed to be irresistible in some of the mythos surrounding them.

I don't think I've ever seen Cage act so crazy so well before!

The transition of Cage from jerk boss to full out insane psychopath is quite steady and worked really well for me. All of his crazy antics were entertaining and hilarious to witness. I personally enjoyed his over-the-top treatment of his assistant Alva more than his ravings about being a vampire, but they were fun to watch too.

If you're just looking for a wacky silly movie to see with friends, this could very well be the movie for the evening. Surprisingly the film can offer a good amount of debate and discussion as well as you try to figure out if he was just crazy, or if Rachel was totally real, or if it was some combination of the two. I would definitely recommend this movie, but with caveat that you need to be the kind of person who enjoys the "so bad it's good" type of films, and of course are able to enjoy Nicolas Cage's unique brand of acting. Otherwise, maybe just step away and pretend like you never heard of it.