‘Vampire’s Kiss’ - A Misunderstood Stroke of Genius

In 1988, director Robert Bierman, writer Joseph Minion, and star Nicolas Cage brought to a life a little movie called Vampire’s Kiss. It was the story of a pretentious publishing executive named Peter Loew who, following a one-night stand with a biter played by Jennifer Beals, believes himself to be a vampire. Over the course of the film, he spirals further and further into insanity, and by the end, the audience is still not quite sure what all was real or simply in his head. The movie provides Cage with the opportunity to show just how far he’s willing to go for a role, and his 100% unhinged performance has become rather infamous. This has led to a lot of people seemingly misinterpreting the film, both tonally and thematically. As one who loves both the movie and its star, I really wanted to give my thoughts on this oddly divisive curiosity of a film.

This movie shares a lot of similarities with another gleefully gruesome black comedy, American Psycho (based on the book of the same name). Both involve a pretentious business executive who is certifiably mad and may or may not be a villain straight out of a horror movie. The concept of self-absorbed rich brats becoming literal cutthroat killers does offer some effective satire, even though it’s not particularly subtle. Both movies also feature A-list soon-to-be Oscar winners (in American Psycho’s case, Christian Bale) at their most manic, while still being remarkably charismatic. But while American Psycho is generally praised and revered, for some reason, Vampire’s Kiss is still often maligned, despite doing more or less the same thing. Why is this? Well, for one, Vampire’s Kiss relies a bit more heavily on the lead’s outwardly insane behavior, rather than a sort of smoldering intensity. And with Cage steering the ship, you know it’s going to be a no-holds-barred performance. What you may not realize, however, is how many clever details are included in said batshit insanity (pun intended). Cage's physicality is based on Max Schreck in Nosferatu, and his mimicry is impeccable. In fact, his acting has always been largely inspired German expressionism, so this was great fit for him.

Another thing that makes it a perfect vehicle for Cage is the fact that he's a massive Dracula fan, with Nosferatu being a particularly important movie to him. He actually became a producer for the primary purpose of getting the movie Shadow of the Vampire made. If you haven't seen that one, I highly recommend checking it out. It's the story of the making of Nosferatu, and it stars John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe. What more do you need to know? But with Nick being so in love with the lore that inspired Vampire's Kiss, one can tell that he was incredibly passionate about it.

Now the movie is not without flaws, the most glaring (in my opinion) being a fundamental misunderstanding of how gun blanks work. Given the way things play out in the scene in question, it is pretty clever, but it's just wildly inaccurate, ballistics-wise. Don't try this at home, kids. But the main point I want to make in this article is that, this particular instance aside, the movie is incredibly deliberate in its silliness. Many audiences are still torn on this movie. Some saw it as a failed attempt at a wacky hijinks movie, while others saw it as a drama that was unintentionally funny. In actuality, the film is a calculated black comedy about a spiraling sociopath, and Nicolas Cage commits to it, as he always does. I've always been an advocate for this movie, and I strongly encourage those who dismissed it to give it a second chance through fresh eyes. Plus, it's just endlessly quotable, so there's always that.