Once Bitten (1985 film)

This article is about the 1985 comedy film. For other uses, see Once Bitten (disambiguation).

Once Bitten
Film poster
Directed by	Howard Storm
Produced by	Frank Hildebrand Dimitri Villard Robert Wald
Written by	Jonathan Roberts David Hines Jeffrey Hause Terence Marsh
Starring	Lauren Hutton Jim Carrey Cleavon Little Karen Kopins Megan Mullally
Music by	John Du Prez
Distributed by	The Samuel Goldwyn Company
Release date(s)	November 15, 1985
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3.2 million (estimated)
Box office	$10,000,000 (domestic)

Once Bitten is a 1985 American comedy film starring Lauren Hutton and Jim Carrey. It is a vampire-themed comedy about Mark Kendall (Carrey), an innocent and naive high school student who is seduced in a Hollywood club by a sultry blonde countess (Hutton) who, unknown to him, is really a centuries old vampire. The film was Carrey's seventh film and his first main role.

Plot

For centuries, the Countess has collected a stable of young men and women who will accompany her on her journey through eternal night-and youth. While she is immortal, she is required to drink the blood of a young male virgin three times by Halloween each year in order to keep her youthful appearance - a task she finds extremely difficult since good looking male virgins are almost impossible to find in the 1980s, particularly in hedonistic cities.

Meanwhile, high school student Mark Kendall wants to have sex, but is being put off by his girlfriend Robin. One night, Mark and his friends go into a singles bar in Hollywood. Mark meets the Countess and he goes back to her mansion, and after she seduces him he passes out when she bites his thigh. When he wakes up, she pretends they have had sex and tells him that he is now hers. Mark does not realize what she really means, and over the next few days he begins showing strange behavior; having strange dreams, avoiding direct sunlight and even drinking blood (from raw meat). After the Countess gets a second bite, Robin notices Mark's odd behavior and confronts the Countess during a dance-off at the high school's Halloween dance. While it appears that Robin has won back Mark, this is only temporary. The Countess kidnaps Robin in order to lure Mark to her mansion for a final bite before her deadline expires, and it is up to Robin and Mark's friends to stop her. Eventually, in order to save Mark from the Countess's clutches, he and Robin have sex in a coffin while being chased by the Countess's minions, thereby taking Mark's virginity. This renders him useless to the Countess as she has to drink virgin blood. Defeated, the Countess then begins to grow old and decrepit before their very eyes.

Cast

• Lauren Hutton as The Countess
• Jim Carrey as Mark Kendall
• Karen Kopins as Robin Pierce
• Cleavon Little as Sebastian, the Countess's assistant
• Thomas Ballatore as Jamie
• Skip Lackey as Russ
• Richard Schaal as Mr. Kendall, Mark's father
• Peggy Pope as Mrs. Kendall, Mark's mother
• Megan Mullally as Suzette

The Countess's Vampires

• Jeb Stuart Adams as World War I Ace Vampire
• Joseph Brutsman as Confederate Vampire
• Robin Klein as 1960s Flower Child Vampire
• Carey More as Moll Flanders Vampire
• Glen Mauro as Twin Vampire #1
• Gary Mauro as Twin Vampire #2

Reception

The film received negative reviews from critics with a "rotten" score of 10% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 10 reviews. However, it seems to have gained somewhat of a cult following since Jim Carrey rose to stardom in the mid-90's.

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film earned $4,025,657 and went on to earn around $10 million domestically (from a production budget of $3.2 million). The film was a straight-to-video title in many countries.

See also

• List of American films of 1985

External links

• Once Bitten at the Internet Movie Database
• Once Bitten at Rotten Tomatoes
• Once Bitten at Box Office Mojo