VAMPIRE'S KISS

There are several contenders for Nicolas Cage’s most insane performances, and if VAMPIRE’S KISS isn’t ranked #1, it is at least a close second. Sauntering around New York City after a date with a woman (Jennifer Beals) that ended with her biting his neck, yuppie literary agent Peter (Cage) swears he is now a vampire, though he has little proof beyond his erratic behavior. At his office, his daily tormenting of his secretary Alva (Maria Conchita Alonso) reaches new heights, and on the streets he runs amok in fake vampire teeth as everything in his life spirals out of control. Cage uses his eyes and his body in ways never before attempted by an actor, and even really at cockroaches for maximum effect. And nowhere else in cinema history will you hear such an inspired performance of the entirety of the alphabet. Written by Joseph Minion, earlier author of the screenplay for Martin Scorsese’s AFTER HOURS, director Bierman’s gut-busting Grand Guignol offers another memorably stygian view of 1980s Manhattan.