This strangely thoughtful and resonant nickel'n'dime late 80's fright film represents the rarest and oddest of low-budget bloodsucker sub-genres: the wistfully reflective existential vampire picture. Seriously, it's a beautifully affecting and poetic work of shamefully neglected art that's deserving of greater recognition and appraisal than it's thus far elicited.

The extremely novel and compelling story centers on dejected, suicidal stripper Jodi (the delicately pretty and winsome Starr Andreeff, a very capable and under-appreciated actress who was often wasted in such useless piffle as "The Terror Within" and "Ghoulies II") who one fateful night encounters and strikes up an uneasy rapport with a lonely, angst-ridden, but sympathetic vampire (the handsome, sulky Cyril O'Reilly). The curious, misanthropic vampire wants the deeply troubled Jodi to engage in intimate conversation with him prior to putting the severely tormented woman out of her misery by killing her at dawn.

Skillfully directed with remarkable grace and understatement by the always stylish and intriguing Katt Shea Ruben (who also helmed the splendidly lurid "Stripped to Kill" and the harsh, gritty "Streets" before going upscale with the slicker, but less distinctive mainstream items "Poison Ivy" and "Carrie 2: The Rage"),with a probing, audacious and insightful script by Katt and Tom Ruben (the latter also cameos as a punk cab driver),a hauntingly regretful, melancholy and brooding nighttime gloom-doom mood, and sterling acting by the two exceptional leads (Andreeff in particular gives an achingly vulnerable, strikingly vivid, and ultimately quite endearing performance),"Dance of the Damned" stands out as a real breath-of-fresh-air indie sleeper and a courageous, highly imaginative and unusually sensitive departure from standard, more visceral and traditional 80's cinematic takes on vampirism ("Fright Night," "The Lost Boys," et al). The expected grisly shocks, fancy special effects and garden variety humans vs. monsters premise are nowhere to be found here; instead this movie bravely offers a touching, absorbing and penetrating rumination on the numerous facets of the human condition, including the pain and anguish of being an ineffectual parent, the emotional scars wrought by child abuse, the awesome loneliness of leading a hermit-like existence, the duality of being a stripper (they do have considerable power over the mostly male patrons they disrobe for, but unfortunately said dudes tend to see them strictly as vapid sex objects),and conventional society's awful inability to easily accept and tolerate those luckless individuals who deviate in one way or another from a rigid and repressive collective norm. Marred only by a somewhat annoyingly ambiguous conclusion, this otherwise flawless masterwork qualifies as essential viewing for adventurous horror movie buffs with a penchant for something off-beat, inspired and way out of the ordinary.

Dance Of The Damned is one of those rare films that comes along once in a GREAT while. Filmed on an EXTREMELY low budget with a VERY small cast, it manages to succeed where other movies (with 10 times the star power and 50 times the budget) have failed miserably.

A man sits in a low-grade strip club and takes notice of one of the women on stage. He senses her mood is dark and later overhears a phone conversation where she pleads (in vain) with her ex-husband to allow her to see her child. He meets her outside and, after a brief introduction (she first mistakes him as someone out to attack her),convinces her to tell him more about herself. Most of his questions concern, strangely enough, the sun and daylight in general (he asks her what it feels like on her face, how the warmth is, etc.).

It's not until later during their conversation that she realizes he is a vampire. The film does an incredible job (via a great script and subtle but strong performances from the two leads) of dealing with issues surrounding anger, fear and love, and eventually leads to a final, sad, dramatic conclusion.

It would appear this film was released directly to video, and it may be difficult to find these days, even as a rental. But if you manage to locate it out there somewhere, I highly recommended spending an hour and a half of your time taking it in - You won't be disappointed.

-FTM

This is a wonderful low-budget sleeper, proving that not all contemporary Roger Corman-produced films are trash. And all it really is is a night long conversation between a self-destructive, suicidal stripper and a brooding, world weary vampire. Go figure. But it also would probably take a more mature, patient viewer to sit through this one, because if you're looking for gore, action and special effects, you'll find little of that here. Expect a low key character study similar to a stage play, with lots of dialogue and few location changes. This film itself proves you don't have to be a slave to FX work when working inside the realm of horror. There can be so much more to the genre than just cheap shocks when a common horror theme is put into the hands of someone with talent and imagination. I have no doubt when this was green lit the director was expected to make a vampire movie with nudity that could be sold off as direct-to-video exploitation. In this case, she actually managed to make something of it and that, my friends, does not happen too often.

The script by Katt Shea and Andy Ruben (who were married at the time this was made) not only has some great insight into the outcast condition and very good character development but also some wonderfully poetic passages. One highlight is a beautifully written scene on a beach where the leading lady has to explain to the Vampire what sunlight feels like. It's in her description of this simple feeling that gives her back her will to live. In scenes where the two characters describe their troubled pasts, the monologues are so well written and detailed you can visualize them without having to actually see them on screen. Any movie with a budget would have predictably went into flashback mode but here we're asked to use our imaginations. Clever parallels are drawn between two different lost souls (not to mention two different species); one of whom is forced to live in the night and the other so wounded she's compelled to. Both leads (Starr Andreeff and Cyril O'Reilly) are very good and do their roles justice, and this film manages to be thought-provoking, sometimes very funny and ultimately moving. While a million fx-driven blockbuster type movies involving vampires come and go and entertain while they're around, this one has actually has resonated with me more over time than films like BRAM STOKER'S Dracula, INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE, etc. It's a shame not many people know anything about it.

I not only recommend this, but also the director's excellent STREETS (starring a young Christina Applegate),and even her more exploitative serial-killer-in-a-strip-club flick STRIPPED TO KILL. They're all well above average for the genre, humorous at times, well written and with a heavy concentration on character. Shea shows the same kind of early talent as the best directors to come from Roger Corman U... including Francis Ford Coppola and Jonathan Demme. In fact, I'd probably place her near the top of the list of the countless directors Corman has supported over the years. And she's certainly one of the most promising female director's I've ever come across viewing countless low budget films.

Amazingly, DANCE was remade in 1993 as TO SLEEP WITH A VAMPIRE. That version, which was also produced by Corman and reused much of the same storyline and dialogue, does not come close to this version. Guess which one has been released on DVD? I wish I could say it was this, but unfortunately some boneheads decided to release the remake instead while this worthy film languishes in VHS obscurity. Hopefully someone, some day will get this out to the masses so it can find an audience.