Once Bitten (1985)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Jim Carey is at the height of his comedic powers in this truly delightful romp. With hilarious support from Cleavon Little (his best work since Blazing Saddles) and a surprising effective Lauren Hutton, Carey's encounters with a beautiful, seductive vampire are downright sidesplitting. Directed quite creatively by someone who understands comedy, Howard Shore, and written by an inspired David Hines, there is never a dull moment (nor a serious one) as this movie moves along at a breakneck pace. The lovely and talented Karen Kopins holds her own in this superb cast and delivers one of the funniest performances of her career in the role of Carey's virginic girlfriend. Special mention should be made of the hip musical score and the imaginative set design as well. All in all, this rates as one of Jim Carey's best films and one that will tickle the funny bone of general audiences as well as fans.

Superstar comedian Jim Carrey probably wishes this 1985 movie would quietly vanish in the sunlight. "Once Bitten" pairs the "Ace Ventura" star with the 400 year old Countess (sexy Lauren Hutton of "Gator") who is seeking a virgin to maintain her vampire immortality. More than anything else in the world, Mark Kendall (Jim Carrey) wants to get laid. The late Roger Ebert would probably have classified this disposable comedy as a horny teenager movie. Since Mark attends high school then this would be a correct classification. Before he runs into the delectable Countess at a speed dial dating bar in Hollywood, Mark struggles to get his high school sweetheart, Robin Pearce (Karen Kopins of "Creator"), to spread them and grin. She is deeply in love with her boyfriend Mark and prefers their dual deflowering to be a special occasion. The Countess employs a gay butler, Sebastian (Cleavon Little of "Blazing Saddles"), who tries to keep her as well as all the other former lovers in her house, on the straight-and-narrow. Meantime, Mark and his two pals, Jamie (Thomas Ballatore of "Detenator") and Russ (Skip Lackey of "Mindbenders"), hang tight with him as he tries to get his ashes hauled. Eventually, our heroine visits an old book store and learns female vampires like to sink their fangs in the spot closest to the genitalia. Robin ask Jamie and Russ to see if Mark has bite marks on his upper thigh. The guys try to do this in the gym shower and botch things so badly that somebody yells "Fags in the shower" and everybody panics. The nude scenes are as chaste as you can imagine. Nothing reproductive is shown except for the bottom curves of buttocks. Our heroine Robin uses the F-word once. After Robin begins to take Mark seriously, she decides to end the affair that Mark is having against his will with the Countess by having sex with him. They wind up using an available coffin as the vampires pursue them through the Countess's abode. This cute but disposable comedy is okay for one viewing. Director Howard Storm keeps things light and breezy; he has confined is directorial talents largely with television situation comedies. Scenarist Dimitri Villard wrote one other movie, director Richard Attenborough's "In Love and War," while co-scenarist David Hines penned the screenplay for "BachelorMan."

Overall not-so-funny mid-80's comedy/horror (although you may take that second genre category with a spoonful of salt) that nowadays is only interesting as a curiosity because it features one of the very first lead roles of comical genius – at least according to some – Jim Carrey. Well, there's nothing even remotely genius about "Once Bitten". There are some inventive gags and admittedly even some sequences that spontaneously cause you to laugh (like when the sensual female vampire Lauren Hutton literally sucks the buttons off Carrey's shirt and spits them out into the air in all directions), but generally speaking this is a quite forgettable and tedious little 80's venture. Lauren Hutton plays a very frustrated 390-year-old vampire countess – cute little homage to the Elizabeth Bathory legend – on the constant lookout for virgin blood to boost up her energy. She finds ice-cream truck driving nerd Mark Kendall. He has a high school sweetheart whom he loves very much, but she thinks the time isn't right yet for sex and thus Mark is beginning to experience some sexual frustration himself. Easy enough prey for the countess, in other words, but the feeding on virgin blood occurs in repeated phases and Mark's girlfriend starts to fight back. "Once Bitten" has a slow and extremely boring start, but the pacing picks up after a while and even the jokes gradually improve a little. There's for example a downright awesome dance-off contest between the Countess and Carrey's prudish girlfriend during a Halloween party and to the tunes and lyrics of an appropriately entitled song "Hands Off". There's also a pretty great supportive role for Cleavon Little ("Blazing Saddles", "Vanishing Point") as the Countess' gay and black servant Sebastian. The fact that Jim Carrey's future career of comedy would entirely depend on his stretchy facial expression was quite obvious from his earliest films already. Here in "Once Bitten", for example, three quarters of his performance is put in by his mouth muscles.

Exploiting the typical male teen's desperate attempt to lose his virginity, 'Once Bitten' is a light comedy from the teen horror comedy catalog of the 1980s, though not as funny as say, 'My Best Friend is a Vampire,' nor as satirical as 'My Boyfriend's Back' (a 90s comedy). In part, the comedy is never too adventurous with comedic quips, and instead, carries with it for some parts in the movie, a rather unnecessarily serious mood.Lauren Hutton plays the sleek, voluptuous Countess, a vampire desperate for virgin blood in order to sustain her youth. Lucky for her, she is conveniently on the prowl at a Hollywood night club the same time that high school teen Mark Kendall (Jim Carrey) and his two buddies arrive for a guys night out. Mark might think he's about to lose his virginity, but instead, finds himself in a whole lot of trouble once he falls into the seductive clutches of the Countess. He displays all the symptoms of a vampire: irritability, pale complexion, a sudden lust for rare meat, and a newfound love for all-black attire. But, his "first time" with the Countess will by no means his last as she follows him around town and haunts his dreams (I guess, they're really light male teen eroticism) as she intends to complete whatever vampire ritual will sustain her youth permanently.It's a nice comedy, worth of a lazy noon viewing, and particularly for fans of the cult horror comedy. But, as far as vampires and desperate teen virgins go, I would highly recommend 'My Best Friend is a Vampire.'