Director: Jeffrey Arsenault
Release date: 2000
Contains spoilers
Getting a Blu-ray release is this shot on video effort by Jeffrey Arsenault, whose earlier film Night Owl was one I looked at some time ago. This was originally released under Arsenault’s pseudonym Gregory Cabot and kind of straddles the line between horror flick and the softcore sexploitation that he would eventually film under the Cabot name.
Having said that, there isn’t much of a story here (and the story there is takes second fiddle to some naked scenes) and the narrative doesn’t make much sense but, let’s break it down as best we can. Violet (Lori Thomas) has picked up firefighter Chuck (Robin Macklin) in a bar and taken him home. She lives in quite a big house and seems independently wealthy. She offers him a drink, but the upstairs wine has run out and he offers to get some from her wine cellar.
This seemed a bit odd – not only that there was a wine cellar (clearly a basement area) but that the guest would offer to go retrieve. Nevertheless, he does. He hears strange noises (actually a disfigured basement vampire (Joe Zaso, Rage of the Werewolf, Nikos the Impaler & Addicted to Murder 3: Bloodlust Vampire Killer), that he doesn’t see) and then Violet appears scaring him. They have some wine, they have some sex, she admits that her ex was Rachel (Cynthia Polakovich), he doesn’t care that she is bi, she has a shower and they have more sex.
The sex, to be fair, was pretty tastefully done but was way too long for the films short 1-hour run time. Anyway, in the second time around she loses control and bites him. He is angry – but not shocked that she is a vampire and he goes for the V word pretty straight off the bat. He tries to leave and collapses. There is a dream sequence (or memory) of Violet and Rachel together, which is odd as the altogether human Rachel sneaks into the house in daylight, takes a shower herself, ends up in the cellar and is got by the cellar vampire and all this seems unconnected with anything and we never discover who he is. Chuck eventually reveals that he was a vampire in a past life – so is immune to turning – but she has his soul trapped (suggestive of being her but that defies logic too).
And other than the denouement, that’s it. The primary story is way too simple, yet has little logical sense. The sex scenes are way too tame and tasteful to be sexploitative – and are certainly not the titillation that the director would eventually aim for in his art. It is, all told, an oddity but an oddity in a nice set, with good looking art for both the sleeve and the slipcase, a poster, a host of extras including a Cabot short vampire flick, Blood Craving. However, scoring the actual film, 3 out of 10.
The imdb page is here.
On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US
 |
| opening black and white |
Having said that, there isn’t much of a story here (and the story there is takes second fiddle to some naked scenes) and the narrative doesn’t make much sense but, let’s break it down as best we can. Violet (Lori Thomas) has picked up firefighter Chuck (Robin Macklin) in a bar and taken him home. She lives in quite a big house and seems independently wealthy. She offers him a drink, but the upstairs wine has run out and he offers to get some from her wine cellar.
 |
| Lori Thomas as Violet |
This seemed a bit odd – not only that there was a wine cellar (clearly a basement area) but that the guest would offer to go retrieve. Nevertheless, he does. He hears strange noises (actually a disfigured basement vampire (Joe Zaso, Rage of the Werewolf, Nikos the Impaler & Addicted to Murder 3: Bloodlust Vampire Killer), that he doesn’t see) and then Violet appears scaring him. They have some wine, they have some sex, she admits that her ex was Rachel (Cynthia Polakovich), he doesn’t care that she is bi, she has a shower and they have more sex.
 |
| the cellar vampire |
The sex, to be fair, was pretty tastefully done but was way too long for the films short 1-hour run time. Anyway, in the second time around she loses control and bites him. He is angry – but not shocked that she is a vampire and he goes for the V word pretty straight off the bat. He tries to leave and collapses. There is a dream sequence (or memory) of Violet and Rachel together, which is odd as the altogether human Rachel sneaks into the house in daylight, takes a shower herself, ends up in the cellar and is got by the cellar vampire and all this seems unconnected with anything and we never discover who he is. Chuck eventually reveals that he was a vampire in a past life – so is immune to turning – but she has his soul trapped (suggestive of being her but that defies logic too).
 |
| eat your heart out |
And other than the denouement, that’s it. The primary story is way too simple, yet has little logical sense. The sex scenes are way too tame and tasteful to be sexploitative – and are certainly not the titillation that the director would eventually aim for in his art. It is, all told, an oddity but an oddity in a nice set, with good looking art for both the sleeve and the slipcase, a poster, a host of extras including a Cabot short vampire flick, Blood Craving. However, scoring the actual film, 3 out of 10.
The imdb page is here.
On Blu-Ray @ Amazon US
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