Vampire Obsession

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Vampire Obsession is different, to say the least. John Bacchus has made a name for himself doing hilarious erotic parodies (Erotic Survivor, Playmate of the Apes, Who Wants to be an Erotic Billionaire, etc.). Now comes a foray into the vampire world, with Vampire Obsession.This isn't Bacchus's first vampire film. He also directed 1998's Vampire's Seduction starring B-movie babe Tina Krause. Vampire's Seduction wasn't a parody, so to speak, but it was a comedy...numerous wacky characters, inspired dialogue (the opening and closing scene in the restaraunt especially), and good acting made that film great.Vampire Obsession is completely different. Anoushka (from Playmate of the Apes) stars as Wendy, a prostitute who for some reason picks up in a cemetery. One night, she leaves her girlfriend (Darian Caine) bored and alone at home to "go to work." While standing amidst the tombstones, a mysterious woman (Jade DuBoir) strolls up to her and introduces herself as Alexis. Alexis decides to buy Wendy's services for the evening and then decides she likes her so much, she gives her enough cash for the whole week. Unfortunately, all Wendy seems to care about is the money she is getting. She doesn't seem to notice that not only is her girlfriend getting a bit upset that she is not at home, but also Alexis seems to be into some really freaky stuff, such as blood-drinking, etc. Will Wendy discover the dark path she is taking before it's too late???Ahh...what can I say. This is a hard movie for me to review, as I am a huge fan of Bacchus's work. Let's start with the movie's good points:Darian Caine is a beautiful woman and a great actress. She has a small role in this film, but she shines in it. She plays a woman who is being mentally tortured and feels she has lost control over her relationship and life, and she plays it well. She's only in the film for a total of a few minutes, however, and that is unfortunate. Another somewhat positive point is the presence of Jade DuBoir as the evil vamp Alexis. What she does, she does well. She's very exotic looking and is always a welcome sight in these films. Unfortunately her character is never explored past the point of the obvious and that's too bad since I saw an interview with Jade a while back where she was so excited she would be getting to play a vampire in an upcoming flick. It's pretty sad they couldn't even spring for her to have fangs...or explain why she could be in the sunlight(??)Which brings us to the bad. Anoushka...let's just say that this Polish beauty's acting style worked well in Playmate of the Apes. As a wacky sidekick, she was more of a caricature than a character and she played the part humourously and well. In Vampire Obsession, humor has been thrown out the window and drama has been forced to rear it's ugly head. Anoushka just doesn't pull off a dramatic role well, and as she is the main character in this film, it REALLY brings down the proceedings.Another negative aspect is the icky misuse of blood in scenes that are supposed to be erotic. I mean, tapioca pudding in Erotic Survivor is one thing, but blood? What were they thinking. Yuck! Add to this the fact that the film looks like it was shot in two days in a hotel room (where the sun shines annoyingly through the large window CONSTANTLY distorting and blocking what's going on)...so the bad tends to outweigh the good.But whatever trips your trigger I guess. On to the tech specs:Vampire Obsession is presented in it's original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The DVD features a behind-the-scenes segment (which is by far the least interesting BTS of any Seduction Cinema so far), and lots of trailers.To sum it up, I'd say skip this one. Why waste your time when there are much more entertaining films out there with the same stars and by the same director. I would recommend checking out Erotic Survivor and Playmate of the Apes instead.

Seduction Cinema is a small studio that specialize mainly in softcore lesbian porn parodies of popular films, such as Playmate of the Apes (a riff on Tim Burton's retelling of the sci-fi masterwork), Gladiator Eroticus (a spoof of Russel Crow's award-winning turn in Gladiator) and Erotic Survivor (a no-holds-barred rip on the popular TV show Survivor). Vampire Obsession represents a departure from that trend, and while its artistic ambitions make it both interesting and genre-defying, it's appeal will probably be limited.First, let's drop pretention and call a duck a duck: Vampire Obsession is little more than an exercise in looking at atractive naked women in various compromising positions. There is no explicit action; in order to avoid an X rating, the sex is all simulated. There is little plot and less script, and the sound levels are low, so make sure to mute before powering down your VCR or you may blow your speakers. And the box is misleading; as other reviewers have pointed out, the girls' fangs exist on the cover only, and nowhere in the film do we get any depictions of what we traditionally think of as vampires.That said, there are some intresting attempts at art here that raise the film above the level of gutter T&A. The first is what are, for a direct-to-vid softcore porn flick, some fairly complex and challenging relationships. Darian Craine in particular is over the top but fascinating as an obsessive woman who literally loses her mind when her prostitute girlfriend Wendy/Trixie (played by a pre-implant Anoushka) winds up staying out for a week with the mysterious blood-craving Jade DuBois. Jade is downright sinister as a normal-seeming (if sexually overactive) lesbian with a curious kink: she kills her lovers and drinks their blood at the culmination of her passion.The one thing Vampire Obsession really has going for it is a disjointed, enigmatic quality; we're never clear of Jade is human or something other, since her methods of blood letting (a kitchen knife) and appearence are human enough, but her utter thirst -- dare I say obsession -- for blood does not seem natural. And while none of the acting is Oscar-worthy, Anoushka does an excellent job portraying a woman who is forced to come to terms with a bizarre and confusing situation, and ultimately loses her own sanity in the process. Given the source, I'm almost tempted to ascribe this film as a tribute to the early 80s cult classic The Hunger, which also featured vampires who needed knives and other external tools to get at the precious fluids.Unfortunately, the subtlty of these performances is likely to be lost on the target audience for this film: college-age males making an impulse purchase at Suncoast while picking up the latest Girls Gone Wild for their frat party. This one won't please the vampire fans either, because there are no fangs, no gothic costumes and makeup, no shadowy mood-lighting (though the use of intensely bright light in this film is particularly eye-catching). And as stated above, if you're looking for hardcore lesbian porn, look elsewhere. But that said...if you're a fan of direct-to-video T&A and you're looking for something a little deeper than the norm, definitely give this one a look.

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