Most of us think that Jim Carrey started out in lead roles in "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective". Well, here's an interesting flick from the mid-1980s with the man known for butt-talking getting second billing, and he could easily get top billing. He plays high school student Mark Kendall, who has a one-night fling with a woman (Lauren Hutton) who turns out to be a vampire; she has to keep drinking blood to maintain her youth. And when she drinks Mark's blood, she doesn't bite his neck, if you know what I mean! Overall, "Once Bitten" is nothing special, but it's pretty funny, for what it is. I guess that you just can't go wrong when you mix vampires and comedy. And Lauren Hutton was hot, as always.

A vampire known simply as "the Countess" (Lauren Hutton) has a peculiar situation which requires her to drink the blood of a male virgin at least three times each year before Halloween--and in this particular circumstance Halloween is only a week or so away. On the other side of the coin, "Mark Kendall" (Jim Carrey) also has problem which involves his girlfriend "Robin Pierce" (Karen Kopins) who is hesitant to have sex with him which leaves him sexually frustrated and--most importantly--a virgin. So to remedy the situation he and his two friends "Russ" (Skip Lackey) and "Jamie" (Thomas Ballatore) decide to look for female companionship on Hollywood Boulevard where, as it so happens, the Countess is anxiously waiting. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a fairly typical comedy produced during the 80's which contains some good humor here and there along with some decent acting from both Lauren Hutton and Jim Carrey. Likewise, I also liked the character of the butler "Sebastian" (Cleavon Little) who I thought was extremely funny as well. In any case, viewers looking for a light-hearted comedy might appreciate this one and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

There are a few laughs here, but for the most part what you are watching is a movie that Jim Carrey is struggling to break out from but is being held back be either the by the numbers plot, the direction, or his own unwillingness to go crazy. Maybe this would be better remembered if they'd just cut him loose, but as it stands it more of a historical curiosity than anything. Decent, but nothing worth tracking down really.