Yeah I saw this movie. I'm only admitting it because I wrote a comment on Dracula 2000 about fans of the genre. Immediately after doing so, I noticed this was on, so I decided to give it a chance to be fair as well as to see it attempt to be horrific in any way. I'd like to start by saying that I will NEVER understand how this gets listed as a horror flick. It should fall under the adult or mature category because it's nothing more than soft porn. That being said, as soft porn goes, it definitely has more of a story line to it than most. As a HORROR film expect the cheapest, most over dramatized(and used) effects. I swear they used red paint in a tube for blood. One victim had blood spots on his neck that looked exactly like red versions of chocolate chips complete with the little swirly bit on top. If this were horror, it's pure cheese. As for mature, one of the best I've seen. Seriously. For horror-a 1 on a scale of 1-10. For soft porn-I'd say about an 8. Very sexy. Not the murderous bit, but the truly sexual stuff. I am a woman, so a man may not agree with the thought.
11 Reviews
Embrace sex and vampires
augustian3 September 2009
Embrace the Darkness is the first in a trilogy of sex and vampire films which makes up a three-DVD box-set. The other two films are called, unsurprisingly, Embrace the Darkness 2 and Embrace the Darkness 3. They all come under the Playboy brand and so they naturally contain a fair quota of sex and nudity. This first film is from Mystique Films while the other two are from Indigo Entertainment.
The action starts in a hospital with a bloody murder and the theft of the hospital's blood supply. Moving on from there to LA, we find Miranda (Angelia High) and Galen (Kevin Spirtas) have taken up residence in a run-down part of the city. While Galen spends his time playing his piano, it is Miranda who is the one who actively searches for new victims and brings them back to their apartment. Across the street lives Jennifer, (Madison Clark) a dancer who captures Galen's attention when he sees her dancing almost naked. Into this mix comes Ryan, (Brad Bartram) Jennifer's old flame who wants to restart their relationship. When Ryan finds out what Galen and Miranda really are, they are all set for a showdown but who will survive? There are twists and the outcome is not a foregone conclusion.
Why this film has got such a low vote is a bit of a mystery. More blood in the bloodsucking scenes would have been welcome but overall production values are quite high. The actors acquit themselves well enough and there is a good script with a contemplative ending. The women are what you would expect from a Playboy production with Madison Clark being naturally beautiful, and a welcome appearance by the statuesque Jennifer Ludlow. A good attempt at vampire erotica, so 5 stars.
The action starts in a hospital with a bloody murder and the theft of the hospital's blood supply. Moving on from there to LA, we find Miranda (Angelia High) and Galen (Kevin Spirtas) have taken up residence in a run-down part of the city. While Galen spends his time playing his piano, it is Miranda who is the one who actively searches for new victims and brings them back to their apartment. Across the street lives Jennifer, (Madison Clark) a dancer who captures Galen's attention when he sees her dancing almost naked. Into this mix comes Ryan, (Brad Bartram) Jennifer's old flame who wants to restart their relationship. When Ryan finds out what Galen and Miranda really are, they are all set for a showdown but who will survive? There are twists and the outcome is not a foregone conclusion.
Why this film has got such a low vote is a bit of a mystery. More blood in the bloodsucking scenes would have been welcome but overall production values are quite high. The actors acquit themselves well enough and there is a good script with a contemplative ending. The women are what you would expect from a Playboy production with Madison Clark being naturally beautiful, and a welcome appearance by the statuesque Jennifer Ludlow. A good attempt at vampire erotica, so 5 stars.
Madison Clark makes a submissively erotic "Betty Boop" type object of vampire desire
djexplorer11 May 2001
I agree with krobyn that this one was not really a horror movie, and almost entirely an erotic one. Of course, the same is true of many or most vampire type movies. It has fewer vampire and plot pretensions than most though.
What carries the movie and makes it pretty good as erotic is entirely Madison Clark. She plays a sultry yet essentially innocent brunette, who is trying to make a go as a performance artist, but becomes the object of vampire attractions, along with others of course.
Kobryn says she thinks its really pretty good erotica, though she says from her female perspective. Here's my male perspective. It sure isn't a hard core pump movie, or even really soft-core porn. But it is pretty hot erotica. What entirely carries the movie erotically is raven haired Madison Clark's intelligent and very soulful sexual submissiveness, just beneath the surface, which is the juice of the flick. The girl's got heat. She's a sort of "Betty Boop" type.
As for explicitness, it isn't much there. A good deal of partial nudity, and erotic "performance art" dancing though. The underlying soft S&M is what creates the interest. Though the thinness and slowness of the plot makes it hard to sustain unless you're seeing it as a fooling around with your sweetie sort of movie, or while surfing the net between periods on interest, or whatever.
Madison Clark has definite potential in erotica though. She seems to have mostly played bit parts as a dancer type so far, before this movie. Hey, Shannon Tweed isn't my type and is rather long in the tooth anyway. Make room.
What carries the movie and makes it pretty good as erotic is entirely Madison Clark. She plays a sultry yet essentially innocent brunette, who is trying to make a go as a performance artist, but becomes the object of vampire attractions, along with others of course.
Kobryn says she thinks its really pretty good erotica, though she says from her female perspective. Here's my male perspective. It sure isn't a hard core pump movie, or even really soft-core porn. But it is pretty hot erotica. What entirely carries the movie erotically is raven haired Madison Clark's intelligent and very soulful sexual submissiveness, just beneath the surface, which is the juice of the flick. The girl's got heat. She's a sort of "Betty Boop" type.
As for explicitness, it isn't much there. A good deal of partial nudity, and erotic "performance art" dancing though. The underlying soft S&M is what creates the interest. Though the thinness and slowness of the plot makes it hard to sustain unless you're seeing it as a fooling around with your sweetie sort of movie, or while surfing the net between periods on interest, or whatever.
Madison Clark has definite potential in erotica though. She seems to have mostly played bit parts as a dancer type so far, before this movie. Hey, Shannon Tweed isn't my type and is rather long in the tooth anyway. Make room.
Dated
kosmasp19 September 2012
Oh the irony. While Vampires can not date, movies about them can date. And if they're as bad as this (probably not been received well back then either, although it did spawn two sequels), they date even worse. While Kevin Spirtas is known for other movies and might be able to bring some gravitas to the movie (for some), the rest of the cast does stumble around (and on) their lines as if they've never seen or heard about things like scripts.
On the other hand, maybe there wasn't a coherent script to begin with. Wouldn't be surprising this being a soft-core movie (sometimes it does make sense reading the synopsis before watching a movie, solely based on the title) and all. It is produced by Playboy, so you should know what you're letting yourself into ...
On the other hand, maybe there wasn't a coherent script to begin with. Wouldn't be surprising this being a soft-core movie (sometimes it does make sense reading the synopsis before watching a movie, solely based on the title) and all. It is produced by Playboy, so you should know what you're letting yourself into ...
Title speaks for itself
yojimbo99922 March 2001
You've got "Embrace" and "Darkness" in the title, and it's made in the '90s, so what else can it be but a soft-core vampire flick? But unlike a lot of "vampire romance" movies, this one is actually pretty damn sexy. It is NOT a very good movie if you take out all the sex, but taken for what it is -- a softcore vampire flick -- it delivers in spades. Although, I could use a little less of the male vampire playing the piano to soothe away his vampire thirst -- or for whatever nonsense he was playing it. A great fast-forward movie, with plenty of opportunity to press the "play" button, since there's plenty of flesh to be spotted.
Superior soft-core - tasteful and erotic
Groverdox18 July 2019
"Embrace the Darkness" is a superior soft-core flick for a few different reasons.
For one thing, it's actually erotic, which puts it in ahead of an estimated 99% of the material out there. If you're not familiar with it, you wouldn't believe how much soft porn is boring as hell and utterly un-sexy. The movie's many scenes of sexuality, including a masturbation scene, a lesbian scene and a threesome, in addition to the heterosexual couplings, are tastefully done, and exciting.
The movie is also not a parade of plastic surgery disasters, which is another rarity in the world of soft-core made from the '90s onward. Most of these flicks resemble video catalogues of augmentations starlets should be warned against having. Maybe one of the actresses in it had some work done - I'm not sure - which is how it should be, right?
Finally, and this might be the most impressive thing, the young actress who played the main character was able to arouse more than just my libido. She created a character I cared about, a genuinely sympathetic figure I found easy to root for.
Of course, the plot is very silly. It's something about a vampire couple who move to Los Angeles and begin stalking the aforementioned young woman, who is some kind of performance artist who creates backdrops she then strips in front of before an audience. The undead duo seduce men and women with sex before drinking their blood. They become enraptured with the artist after the male vampire witnesses her masturbating while he floats outside her window.
Also on the tail of the vamps is a down-on-his-luck detective who used to date the artist, and wants to get back with her - but he has some pretty stiff competition from these creatures of the night.
The silly plot didn't really bother me, because it provided room for the actors to do their thing - the guy who plays the detective is a superior performer as well. It was only at the end that I realised how cheesy the whole thing was, as the movie needed to pull out some ridiculous special effects in an effort to tie the whole thing up.
But you know what? I still enjoyed it. The 2.9 IMDB rating is ridiculous. So-bad-it's-good (as the closing scenes certainly are) is still a good time at the movies.
For one thing, it's actually erotic, which puts it in ahead of an estimated 99% of the material out there. If you're not familiar with it, you wouldn't believe how much soft porn is boring as hell and utterly un-sexy. The movie's many scenes of sexuality, including a masturbation scene, a lesbian scene and a threesome, in addition to the heterosexual couplings, are tastefully done, and exciting.
The movie is also not a parade of plastic surgery disasters, which is another rarity in the world of soft-core made from the '90s onward. Most of these flicks resemble video catalogues of augmentations starlets should be warned against having. Maybe one of the actresses in it had some work done - I'm not sure - which is how it should be, right?
Finally, and this might be the most impressive thing, the young actress who played the main character was able to arouse more than just my libido. She created a character I cared about, a genuinely sympathetic figure I found easy to root for.
Of course, the plot is very silly. It's something about a vampire couple who move to Los Angeles and begin stalking the aforementioned young woman, who is some kind of performance artist who creates backdrops she then strips in front of before an audience. The undead duo seduce men and women with sex before drinking their blood. They become enraptured with the artist after the male vampire witnesses her masturbating while he floats outside her window.
Also on the tail of the vamps is a down-on-his-luck detective who used to date the artist, and wants to get back with her - but he has some pretty stiff competition from these creatures of the night.
The silly plot didn't really bother me, because it provided room for the actors to do their thing - the guy who plays the detective is a superior performer as well. It was only at the end that I realised how cheesy the whole thing was, as the movie needed to pull out some ridiculous special effects in an effort to tie the whole thing up.
But you know what? I still enjoyed it. The 2.9 IMDB rating is ridiculous. So-bad-it's-good (as the closing scenes certainly are) is still a good time at the movies.
Vampire love
Dr. Gore1 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*
A vampire couple moves to L.A. The female is very horny while the male vampire wants to lay low. After a century or so together, cracks are starting to show in their relationship. She wants to party, he wants to play the piano. Soon a hot dancer who lives across the street will come into their lives. The guy thinks he's in love with her while his girlfriend just wants another conquest. It's a battle for true vampire love in between a lot of sex scenes.
This was decent. The female vampire, (Angelina High), had a very interesting look. She had an extremely short haircut with touches of white in it. It was certainly not the normal hairstyle for women in these movies. Usually every woman has flowing blonde hair that snaps back as they're having sex. Angelina's hairstyle works for her, probably because she has such a tight body that you don't spend too much time looking at her head. The dancer girl was good too. She got to have sex with everybody except for the blonde bartender. I could have sworn that scene was coming. It didn't though. The blonde was too shy. Angelina wasn't shy though. She had plenty of opportunities to get undressed and she made the most of it. Overall, I was pleased with this vampire romp. It's worth a look.
A vampire couple moves to L.A. The female is very horny while the male vampire wants to lay low. After a century or so together, cracks are starting to show in their relationship. She wants to party, he wants to play the piano. Soon a hot dancer who lives across the street will come into their lives. The guy thinks he's in love with her while his girlfriend just wants another conquest. It's a battle for true vampire love in between a lot of sex scenes.
This was decent. The female vampire, (Angelina High), had a very interesting look. She had an extremely short haircut with touches of white in it. It was certainly not the normal hairstyle for women in these movies. Usually every woman has flowing blonde hair that snaps back as they're having sex. Angelina's hairstyle works for her, probably because she has such a tight body that you don't spend too much time looking at her head. The dancer girl was good too. She got to have sex with everybody except for the blonde bartender. I could have sworn that scene was coming. It didn't though. The blonde was too shy. Angelina wasn't shy though. She had plenty of opportunities to get undressed and she made the most of it. Overall, I was pleased with this vampire romp. It's worth a look.
A softcore vampire flick in "the city of old factories".
dbrown-07020422 December 2003
Warning: Spoilers
Warning. This review contains spoilers.
Good softcore from Playboy/Image. You've got a guy and a girl vampire. The girl is perfectly happy being a vampire, and just wants to hunt, feed, and have sex. The guy is unhappy, and just wants to feed and have sex. He's content to get his blood fix from robbing blood banks. Apparently blood blank blood isn't as good as fresh blood since the girl vampire wants nothing to do with it. Maybe the preserving solution they add to it isn't what she likes?
The guy vampire gets puppy dog eyes for this girl who lives in the old factory building across from the old factory building that he lives in. I think this attraction is due, in no small part, to the fact that the girl likes to take off all her clothes and practice her "performance art" (which looks a lot like masturbating) in front of her open window.
There's also a bar that's located inside an old factory building and the girl gives her "performances" in another old factory building. Whatever city this is in sure has an abundance of old factory buildings.
There's also performance girl's ex boyfriend and some blonde runaway girl who becomes vampire food.
The sex is frequent and good. Most of the scenes involve performance girl and vampire girl. Blonde runaway girl has one scene. I think there were eight scenes total. One of them was girl/girl, one was girl solo, one was guy/girl/girl, and the rest were guy/girl. The music was a little too loud for my taste, but you could still faintly hear the actors underneath it.
Performance girl gave the best, well, performances. Her "orgasms" were the back arching, fist clenching, almost seizure like displays of passion that I really like. I'd give second place to blonde runaway girl. Too bad she only had one scene. Vampire girl was more subdued, which was actually in character for her, but doesn't make for the best sex scenes. She was real nice to look at though.
This doesn't rank with the best that Playboy/Image have given us, but it's still good and will be getting repeat viewings from me in the future.
Good softcore from Playboy/Image. You've got a guy and a girl vampire. The girl is perfectly happy being a vampire, and just wants to hunt, feed, and have sex. The guy is unhappy, and just wants to feed and have sex. He's content to get his blood fix from robbing blood banks. Apparently blood blank blood isn't as good as fresh blood since the girl vampire wants nothing to do with it. Maybe the preserving solution they add to it isn't what she likes?
The guy vampire gets puppy dog eyes for this girl who lives in the old factory building across from the old factory building that he lives in. I think this attraction is due, in no small part, to the fact that the girl likes to take off all her clothes and practice her "performance art" (which looks a lot like masturbating) in front of her open window.
There's also a bar that's located inside an old factory building and the girl gives her "performances" in another old factory building. Whatever city this is in sure has an abundance of old factory buildings.
There's also performance girl's ex boyfriend and some blonde runaway girl who becomes vampire food.
The sex is frequent and good. Most of the scenes involve performance girl and vampire girl. Blonde runaway girl has one scene. I think there were eight scenes total. One of them was girl/girl, one was girl solo, one was guy/girl/girl, and the rest were guy/girl. The music was a little too loud for my taste, but you could still faintly hear the actors underneath it.
Performance girl gave the best, well, performances. Her "orgasms" were the back arching, fist clenching, almost seizure like displays of passion that I really like. I'd give second place to blonde runaway girl. Too bad she only had one scene. Vampire girl was more subdued, which was actually in character for her, but doesn't make for the best sex scenes. She was real nice to look at though.
This doesn't rank with the best that Playboy/Image have given us, but it's still good and will be getting repeat viewings from me in the future.
Great film from the genre
hugobolso-131 July 2023
The VHS, DVD rents and sales and the cable gave a seccond life to the software films in the 90s.
From the late 80s to the late 90s former TV and even film stars had a revivan in this genre. The most succesful were Shannon Tweed (Mrs Gene Simmons) and Tanya Roberts. In the late 90s they become in their 40s and both retired in order to have a succesful career in realities and sitcom.
And a seccond generación of unknown New starlets from Penthouse, Playboy and even hardcore started.
Unfortunately the budget was usually much lower and the script was worse. So the genre died in the begining of the new millenium. This movie is from that age.
So I was pleasent surprise of the budget, the good script and the very good performance specially of the leading Lady. Unlike other starlet her career started in big budget film of respected directors (ok as a pole dancer, but in Verhoveen, Tarantino and Rodriguez films). So clearly she makes a difference. She is beautiful, charismatic, sexy, sweet, excellent dancer and can act. Making a tour the force change from a ingenue to a vamp.
Its a pitty that after this work the lead actress retired from films. The movie was so succesful that had 2 sequels unfortunately with other actresses.
From the late 80s to the late 90s former TV and even film stars had a revivan in this genre. The most succesful were Shannon Tweed (Mrs Gene Simmons) and Tanya Roberts. In the late 90s they become in their 40s and both retired in order to have a succesful career in realities and sitcom.
And a seccond generación of unknown New starlets from Penthouse, Playboy and even hardcore started.
Unfortunately the budget was usually much lower and the script was worse. So the genre died in the begining of the new millenium. This movie is from that age.
So I was pleasent surprise of the budget, the good script and the very good performance specially of the leading Lady. Unlike other starlet her career started in big budget film of respected directors (ok as a pole dancer, but in Verhoveen, Tarantino and Rodriguez films). So clearly she makes a difference. She is beautiful, charismatic, sexy, sweet, excellent dancer and can act. Making a tour the force change from a ingenue to a vamp.
Its a pitty that after this work the lead actress retired from films. The movie was so succesful that had 2 sequels unfortunately with other actresses.
Angelina High
vampfemmes18 April 2002
It was Angelina High who brought this movie beyond its pedantic writing. When was the last time you saw a short haired lady with fangs? Maybe it was the director's choice but her lovely appearance (and decidedly "un-vampire" attire) made me dispose of some preconceptions and see she and the role for what they were: a better than average job - especially for the genre.
NICE
bazdol1 May 2001
A very nice soft core sex/vampire film. Kevin Spirtas does a fine job as the master vampire; convincing acting without going overboard (it would have been easy to do so in a film like this). I'm disappointed that Angelia High has not appeared in more movies; I thought she was also quite convincing and looked the part of a female vamp.
A realistic ending.
A realistic ending.
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