Bitten (2008)

Powerful

Good concept, poorly executed.

Fresh and Exciting

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Although many will find fault with this movie, the naive approach taken is unique for vampire movies and the storyline places it among the top vampire movies for must see - along with Let Me In, Interview with a Vampire. However, if Dracula type story lines and high budget is more your style, you simply won't appreciate the movie. The story portrays the education and ignorance of a newly raised vampire and her new friend, neither of whom are aware of how to handle the situations encountered. The low budget is obvious and takes away from the quality of the movie for most viewers, to be sure, but watch it for the unique storyline.

I enjoyed this low budget comedy which explores the perils of having a vampire for a girlfriend. It's painfully obvious that the producers of this independent movie didn't have a great deal of money to throw around, as almost the whole film takes place in a single location and in terms of special effects, fake blood and contact lenses are all we get. But the profane script just gets better as the story progresses and I ended up having a ball with it. It's as if the scriptwriter started out attempting to make a serious movie, then threw his hands up in the air and decided to enjoy himself.Much of the comic interplay comes from the pairing of two ambulance drivers (Jason Mewes and the deliciously bad taste Richard Fitzpatrick) who curse, shout and rant at the world in general. The story, about Mewes falling in love with a girl who's always hungry, is fairly by the by, and the fun lies in the execution. It's as if the people who made this knew they didn't have a great deal to work with, so they just had fun instead.A great deal of the scenes are played for titillation. Erica Cox either appears nude or in an extraordinarily skimpy little top. She's certainly one of the most arresting vampires I've seen on screen. Not content with that, they throw in a brief lesbian scene as well. Mewes is fun, and that sense of enjoyment rubs off, allowing you to ignore the plot holes (why don't the drug dealers come back?) and the fact that not a great deal happens during the film after all. Sure, the ending is over-the-top and cheesy in the extreme, but as a whole BITTEN kicks the asses of plenty of other similar independent horror films.

Jack (Jason Mewes) is a paramedic working the night shift who is depressed by his lack of girl-meeting opportunities after being dumped by his girlfriend. He spends most of his time complaining about his lot to his older workmate (Richard Fitzpatrick - who looks a lot like Rod Steiger here) who is worryingly obsessed with all things anal, until he discovers one hot - but blood-splattered - chick (Erica Cox) lying in the rubbish outside his apartment. Jack takes her to his apartment to tend her wounds and an intimacy grows between them even as Jack begins to have doubts about her nocturnal habits… I can't recall seeing many vampire films that focus on the effect of a newly-acquired status as a vampire on the romantic relationship of the person afflicted and their loved one, so I suppose this cheap direct-to-video horror is to be applauded on that count. Sadly, the subject is handled in such a dull, repetitive manner that there's little else to recommend it.The film's lack of budget is obvious from the murky lighting - even Jack's apartment is in perpetual darkness - and the negligible number of locations, but a small budget has never been a drawback to a talented, creative director. In fact, it can very often serve as a source of inspiration simply because the lack of money calls upon a certain amount of ingenuity and creativity on the parts of the writer and director. Unfortunately, neither party are capable of rising to the challenge with any authority, even though the film starts off quite promisingly with some telling moments in the interplay between Jack and his older colleague (before, that is, the anal references become boringly frequent). Ironically, it's when Danika, the sultry, recently-turned vampiress appears on the scene that the plot becomes mired in the repetitive doldrums from which it never recovers. By the final reel, the script has deteriorated to the point where Jack and Roger (Fitzpatrick) are shouting every line to each other, and inserting an expletive in every sentence in a futile attempt to inject some excitement into the lacklustre proceedings..

I found out at the discussion boards on the net that everybody wants to see this flick or have seen it and would like to buy it. Lucky as I am I found it over here for the ridiculous price of 3 euro. I hesitated if I would buy it or leave it but something told me, buy it. So I did and didn't know what I should expect. Yes, I've noticed that it is a comedy with horror elements. Is it, well, for me it's more a horror with black comedy elements. When the boys ex has been bitten and dies he has to hide the body, the music they used in that particular scene is to say the least well chosen. In fact there are only three main actors in this flick, so I guess the budget was low but the red stuff flows, not in a gory style, but it flows. Okay, there are others involved but they all have a small piece in this flick. Anyway, the three actors are great, really believable. Sometimes the movie made me think of "The Addiction" but then combined with black comedy. I won't spoil the plot or what happens in this flick but is surely recommendable to horror geeks. And please if you watch it watch it until the end and that means after the end credits. A big cheer to Erica Cox, I never heard of her and due to research I came beware that she only appeared in 4 movies. She's is really believable and shows it all, if you understand me. To play against two wellknown actors as Richard Fitzpatrick, who is believable too, and Jason Mewes, who we knew from other flicks like Feast and less known Vulgar isn't that simple. Anyway, this is a great movie, you surely will have a laugh but don't exaggerate, they could see your fangs...