When The vampire kiss Struck in theaters in 1988, he did not exactly break his teeth into the success of the box office (or general). Instead, he hovered in cult darkness for years, a confusing and surprising audience that could not quite place what they had just seen. Directed by Robert Bierman and written by Joseph Minion (from After hours Fame), the film follows Peter Loew, a Yuppie literary agent – and incredibly misogynist – whose mental leaving leads him to believe that he turns into a vampire. What follows is a surreal descent and disarticulated in the madness that walks on the edge of the razor between horror, satire and absurd comedy.

In the center of this chaos is Nicolas Cage, it only takes romantic roles like Dreamer (1987) and original Indies as Raise the Arizona (1987). With The vampire kissCage has taken on a huge risk and delivered what could be the most disturbed performance in his career. The result is a film that is so strange that it could not have been made at another time or by any other actor.

The vampire kiss is so brilliantly weird

It is an impious mixture of satire, illusion and parody of the vampire film

The brilliance of The vampire kiss lies in his commitment to his own Zanness. On paper, the plot seems simple and simple: an emotionally disconnected man believes that he becomes a vampire after a sexy meeting with a biting woman. But in execution, that’s anything but. The film treats vampirism not as a supernatural transformation but as a psychological break. Peter Loew sinks into illusions, wearing plastic hooks, sleeping under a sofa and tormenting his secretary on a missing file – while insisting that he is a creature of the night.

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What distinguishes the film is that it is fully leaning into the absurdity of its premise without ever recognizing how absurd it is. The film parody of the vampire tropes by amplifying them to ridiculous extremes: the mysterious bat that bites Peter in the opening scene, the obsessive need for blood (which he filled while eating a living cockroach) and the exaggerated Gothic brood. But more than parody, it is a study of a brutal character. Loew is narcissistic, cruel and unraveled in real time. His “transformation” is really a manifestation of an untreated mental illness, represented through the lens of gender conventions.

The film is less on vampirism than on the solitude, the privilege and the calendar of a life based on endless stands of a night. He is simply a man mentally ill desperately for love, attention and meaning, looking for them in all bad manners. It is a bloody cry for help. It is horror as a metaphor, but wrapped in the camp. The tonal confrontation between tragedy and comedy should not work, but in a strange way, this is the case. The spectator is left oscillating between laughter and real discomfort, often in the same scene. And that’s what makes him shiny: The vampire kiss is intrepid in his refusal to choose a path. It is a study of satire, horror and character at the same time.

Nic Cage is in his own film – and it’s perfect

Her performance is so strange that she seems foreign – because that’s the point

Nicolas Cage’s performances in The vampire kiss has become the fabric of legend. He delivers his lines with a manic intensity that valves the art of performance. His famous recitation of the alphabet “ABCDEFG”, his random cry, his erratic accent which seems vaguely transylvanian – combines while a character who feels more possessed than deceived.

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What makes this performance so fascinating is how Cage plays it as if he were the only one who is aware of absurdity. Her co-stars, including Maria Conchita Alonso as Alva terrorized secretary, found their performance in realism. The contrast is shocking but intentional – it reflects Peter’s separation of reality. The spiral cage loew in a world he can see, and the public is trained for the ride.

Cage explained how he wanted to push the limits of the screen. Fans can clearly see some of his influences rooted in German expressionism, the silent film and even the cartoons of cartoons. It was the style of an actor “new shamanic” of cage in his embryonic stadium – committed, daring and indifferent to traditional ideas of good taste. It is not supposed to be a naturalistic. It is supposed to be big. And it works. His physique is just as disadvantaged. He contorted his body, stretched his arms, eats cockroaches to the camera and delivers each line as if it were the last. In any other film, it would be labeled “surair”. In The vampire kissIt becomes a high art. The whole film is filtered through the disturbed spirit of Loew, it is therefore perfectly logical that the protagonist acts as if he were in a parody of opera horror.

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Cage performance is not surprisingly divisive to date. Critics of the time were disconcerted. Some thought it was indulgent or crazy. But for those who are attentive to his dark and comic tone, it is one of the greatest performances of his career – tirelessly, dislocated and unforgettable. Very Nic Cage.

It was the birth of a cult icon

A bizarre role gave birth to the wildest cage moments

However The vampire kiss Flopped at the exit, his inheritance only grows. In the early 2000s, when Nicolas Cage’s film career entered his second wave – with successes like National treasure And more eccentric Indies – people started looking back earlier and foreign. And there, waiting for a bat in the attic, was The vampire kiss.

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The film has become an internet sensation. A screenshot of the scene where Cage gets the eyes again and sneeled sarcastically – “You don’t say!” – has become a much widely used meme. Almost everyone probably met him, even if they have never seen the film itself. It is therefore ironic that a performance was used in the past while career suicide was part of what made a cage an icon.

The influence goes beyond the same. The Cage’s will to “go” The vampire kiss Define the model for his subsequent work in films like Face / OFF,, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,, MandyAnd Pig. These films, although very different in tone and gender, all share the inclination of cage for emotional intensity, unpredictability and deep commitment to its roles. The vampire kiss was a turning point. It was there that he realized that the cinema should not follow the rules. This achievement has given birth to fans of unique creative force who now recognize in its most memorable roles. In a way, The vampire kiss is the original story Nic Cage – the spark that turned on the fire.

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This has also become a fundamental text for a generation of cult cinema enthusiasts. Midnight projections, fans retrospectives and critical re -evaluations have since cemented the film as a misunderstood classic. Directors like Richard Stanley and Panos Cosmatos cited him as a favorite. It is a bizarre cocktail of satire and madness that made it a plan for the films that expressly embrace experimentation and chaos of gender. The influence of the film is not only in style – it is in philosophy. The vampire kiss taught future filmmakers that it was normal to let their main character be unmanageable, to let their film be ugly, strange or not classic. This creative authorization continues to resonate.

The vampire kiss has become a plan for the cult of the cage

It has become the foundation of an icon – and Nic Cage’s heritage would not be the same without him

In the following years The vampire kissNicolas Cage would win an Oscars (Leave Las Vegas), head blockbusters (Face / OFF,, National treasure), and take increasingly eclectic risks (Mandy,, Pig,, The unbearable weight of massive talents). But no matter how far his career has taken him – whether in Arthouse’s drama or the dominant explosive success – Cage’s performance as Peter Loew remains one of his most decisive roles. This disadvantaged energy, manic physicality and the chaotic emotional range – it all started here.

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What is more fascinating is how The vampire kiss Become retroactively a cult treasure. At the time of its release, criticisms did not know what to do with it. The public was confused, the box office was lamentable and even fans of vampire films found it confusing tonnely. But in the era of rediscovery on the Internet, the culture of memes and the end of the evening, Vampire kiss wsuch as reassessment. Young viewers, in particular, embraced the surrealist black comedy of the film and its meta-mockery on the illusion, identity and male urban decomposition. Cage scenes screaming the alphabet or declaring “I am a vampire!” While the streets have become internet characteristics, constantly shared on YouTube and Tiktok as a symbols of a glorious artistic absurdity.

This heritage completed the loop in 2023, when Cage returned to the mythology of vampires – this time in full awareness – Shopping. Playing the most emblematic vampire of all time, Dracula himself (a real vampire this time), Cage took the grotesque and exaggerated theatricality in which he was unleashed for the first time in The vampire kiss And evolved it into something just as campy, but more polite. Shopping is not a sequel or a remake, but he undeniably shares DNA with his spiritual predecessor. Exaggerated accent, facial expressions, commitment to each ridiculous line – Cage is once again an immortal and bloodthirsty madman, but now with decades of experience in the way of singing madness.

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The difference is that in ShoppingThe world around it is on the joke. In The vampire kissNo one else – not the characters, not the public – was sure that Cage knew how disturbed it was. This discomfort, this uncertainty, is what made The vampire kiss so singular. In many ways, the film walked so much Shopping could fly. The first was an unwanted and intrepid cage experience; The latter is the inevitable culmination of long -term influence of this experience.

And now, as Cage is celebrated to be without vergogne himself – an artist who engages in the little stronger than anyone in Hollywood –The vampire kiss is ultimately recognized not only as a bizarre failure, but as a vital cornerstone in the myth of Nicolas Cage. This gave birth to a style, a character and a performative chaos inheritance that the public is still lucky to attend. For those who “understand”, The vampire kiss It is not only a strange film – it is a rite of passage in the cannon of the cage.

The vampire kiss

Release date

June 2, 1989

Execution time

103 minutes

Director

Robert Bierman

Writers

Joseph Minion