Once Bitten (film)

Infobox Film
name=Once Bitten


caption = The movie poster for "Once Bitten".
imdb_id=0089730
writer=David Hines
Jeffrey Hause
Terence Marsh
starring=Lauren Hutton
Jim Carrey
Cleavon Little
Karen Kopins
director=Howard Storm
music=John Du Prez
distributor=The Samuel Goldwyn Company
released=November 15, 1985
runtime=94 min.
country=USA
language=English
movie_series=
awards=
producer=Frank Hildebrand
Dimitri Villard
Robert Wald
budget= $3.2 million (estimated)|

"Once Bitten" is a 1985 comedy movie about Mark Kendall, an innocent and naive high school student (played by Jim Carrey) who is seduced in a Los Angeles club by a sultry blonde countess (played by Lauren Hutton) who, unknown to him, is really a vampiress hundreds of years old. This is Jim Carrey's 7th film role.

Plot summary

Over the course of the centuries, the Countess has collected a stable of young men and women who will accompany her on her journey through eternal night. While she is immortal, she requires three shots of a virgin's blood to keep her appearing youthful. At the same time, Mark Kendall (Carrey) wants to have sex, but is being put off by his girlfriend Robin. One night, Mark and his friends go into L.A., and Mark meets the Countess at a singles bar. He goes back to her home, and passes out when she bites him. When he wakes up, she pretends they have had sex, and implies they are now connected. Mark does not realize what she really means, and begins having strange dreams, avoiding direct sunlight and drinking the occasional glass of blood. 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 home for a final bite before her deadline expires, and it is up to Robin and her friends to stop her.

Reception

The film has received negative reviews from critics with a "rotten" score of 10% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 10 reviews.

Box Office

In its opening weekend the film earned $4,025,657. Domestically the film earned about $10,000,000.

The movie was filmed at a Los Angeles school named Mark Twain Middle School.

Trivia

*The movie title is a play on the familiar expression "once bitten, twice shy".

*In 1984, one year before the film was released, Los Angeles-based hard rock group Great White, featuring guitarist Mark Kendall, released their major label debut. The lead character of the film is an L. A. resident named Mark Kendall. Two years after the film's release, Great White released their breakthrough album, coincidentally called "Once Bitten". (Incidentally, shortly before the film's release, Annabel Lamb was enjoying transatlantic success with her debut album, also called "Once Bitten".)

*A soundtrack for the film was released on cassette and LP in 1985; the year of the film's release.

External links

*imdb title|id=0089730|title=Once Bitten
*rotten-tomatoes|id=once_bitten|title=Once Bitten
*mojo title|id=oncebitten|title=Once Bitten