In my time, I've seen some pretty out there Nicolas Cage films. From the crazy Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans, to the insane (for all the wrong reasons) Wicker Man remake, Cage always seems to pick some very strange roles, and recently in Drive Angry he finally started playing that for laughs.
But it's no means a recent thing, in 1988, way before he won an Oscar for 'Leaving Las Vegas', Cage starred in this film, Vampire's Kiss and it's totally unhinged performance that makes the film worth watching.
Cage plays Peter Loew, a publishing executive who, after an encounter with Rachel (Jennifer Beals) who may or may not be a vampire, starts to believe he has been bitten and has become a vampire himself. Loew slowly goes nuts, taking most of his frustration out on his hard done by secretary (Maria Conchita Alonso), but is he really one of the undead or is it all in his head?
Vampire's Kiss is not a particularly original or inspired film, but it's a batshit crazy (no pun intended) performance from Cage that makes the entire movie. From jumping around on desks and screaming, to actually eating a live cockroach (and he did eat it in real life, took three takes, apparently) he takes the film to places where your regular actor would never dare to take it. Knock the guys movie choices in recent years, but he can put on a hell of a 'crazy person' performance.
It's hard to tell what genre Vampire's Kiss resides. Some of it is very funny (Cage running around the city screaming "I'm a vampire!" repeatedly) but some of it is not (an almost surreal rape scene), but it can also be quite an different take on what happens when a guy is knocked back by a woman, and the effect it can have on an already pretty wobbly psyche. Whether that was the intention of the film, I don't know but it's an interesting way to watch it.
***1/2
Not original in the least plot wise, but dig deeper and you may find an interesting character study, and failing that, an amazing performance from Nicolas Cage.
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