"Vampire's Kiss" (1989): Sickly Stupid or Bloody Brilliant?

The late '80s black comedy Vampire's Kiss stars Nicolas Cage as Peter Loew, a publishing executive in a personal rut that regularly visits with a psychiatrist. When a bat flies into his apartment one night things start coming undone for Peter. Seduced by a woman (played by Jennifer Beals) in a club, he takes her home only to be bitten on the neck and slowly turned into a vampire. His behavior becomes erratic as he tortures one of his secretaries in increasingly sadistic fashion. Things spiral out of control in violent and unexpected ways until we reach a bloody climax.

What a bizarre, ridiculous, and yet oddly discomforting film. Having seen scenes out of context coupled with the misleading trailer I was expecting something more blatantly comedic. While Nic Cage's over the top performance definitely provides cause to laugh, I found myself rarely doing so. Maybe in the handful of times when the inanity became too much to bare I had to laugh to stop myself from screaming, "WHAT IS THIS?" (I actually did say that out loud more than once)

That said, there's no question that there is an element of humor. Albeit, decidedly dark humor. The mimes outside of Peter's apartment acting out spousal abuse are proof of that. Peter has an outlandish accent that ebbs and flows depending on who he's around and what situation he's in. Cage is too exaggerated and excessive to dismiss as simply hammy.

It has flavors of American Psycho, following a mentally unstable yuppie protagonist with increasingly violent tendencies. I think that it provides a degree of commentary on relationships, city life, and the mentality of white collar businessmen coming off the Reagan era.

Peter is struggling with emotional intimacy, he cannot reach out beyond his one night stands. In turn this causes him to question his identity and isolate himself until he cannot connect with people anymore. Through deliriums he invents people. In a fairly funny scene, Peter meets the imaginary woman of his dreams and then very quickly ruins the whole thing within like 10 minutes.

A decent chunk of the running time you're not sure whether this guy is actually turning into a vampire or if he's just crazy, similar to George A. Romero's film Martin. With his sanity unraveling, he goes from being simply strange but harmless into a deranged maniac. Peter takes on a lot of the stereotypical vampire qualities, particularly emulating Nosferatu's walk after watching it on TV.

With all of that said, I actually did enjoy this film a good deal. I can see why Vampire's Kiss gained cult status in the years following its initial release. Definitely not for everybody, it's an interesting piece of weird cinema that offers more than what you initially see.