Embrace of the Vampire (R / unrated)
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This direct-to-video movie came out in 1995, but I didn't see it until 2024. I always kind of wanted to see it just because it stars Alyssa Milano, of whom I was a fan. But on the other hand, I kind of didn't want to see it, because it's an erotic horror movie, and I'm not a fan of erotic movies in general. But I'm glad I've finally seen it, if only so I never have to think about it again. I didn't hate it, but I also couldn't say I liked it at all. I suppose it's not so bad if you can roll with all the nonsense in the story, which I managed to do, more or less. It's just pretty poorly written, I feel. I also want to say I struggled a bit with whether or not to put my review under "B-movies", but I do think it kind of has that feel to it.

Anyway, Milano plays a college freshman named Charlotte, a virgin with a more or less patient boyfriend named Chris. But the story actually starts with an unnamed vampire journaling about his past. He had a secret lover, but that ended one day when three basically naked vampire women showed up and turned him into a vampire. I don't think it's ever explained exactly why that caused his relationship to end, because he's clearly willing to turn a lover into a vampire. We know that because in the present, many years later, he believes Charlotte is the reincarnation of his lover, and he wants to turn her, so they can live together forever. He only has three days in which to win her over, because after that he's going to fall into eternal sleep. It isn't clear why that's going to happen, or how his turning Charlotte into a vampire would prevent it, but whatevs. Oh, and it seems completely coincidental that her 18th birthday is in three days. So he tries to break up Charlotte and Chris in various ways, like by giving her erotic dreams about himself, as well as a dream of Chris cheating on her. And he tried to make Chris doubt her fidelity. At one point, some random woman named Marika (Jennifer Tilly) tries to seduce Chris, and nearly succeeds, but not quite. A photography student named Sarah also tries and fails to seduce Charlotte.

I suppose I should also mention that Charlotte has a friend named Nicole (Rachel True, who the year after this would appear in The Craft). And there's a mean girl named Eliza. At one point, Nicole tries to get Charlotte to hook up with some random guy who doesn't want to take no for an answer. The vampire kills him, but also kills Nicole apparently. And her disappearance is barely a blip on Charlotte's radar, which kind of bugged me. She should have been more concerned. Anyway, I won't spoil how it all ends. I thought the ending was about the best I could have hoped for, given how little sense anything in the movie made. Not a particularly satisfying ending, but anything else probably would have been worse.