Seduction Cinema presents

An Erotic Vampire in Paris (2002)

Isabelle: I don't want your money.
Caroline: What do you want?
Isabelle: I want you.- Mia Copia, Misty Mundae

Stars: Misty Mundae, Mia Copia
Other Stars: Fanny Terjeki, Christophe Bier, Bill Hellfire
Director: Donald Farmer

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (strong sexual content)
Run Time: 01h:19m:10s
Release Date: 2002-05-28
Genre: late night

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
B-	C+	B	B+	B

 

DVD Review

In what can only be called a rather stylish departure for Seduction Cinema, this erotic lesbian horror film (how's that for a specific genre?) is almost remarkably mature in its presentation, and features far less of the plotless, animalistic grinding sessions that are the norm for one of their releases. It still features plenty of woman-on-woman coupling (the entire Seduction Cinema catalog is built on that premise), but the encounters have been softened up a bit around the edges, and are not nearly as raunchy as some of their other titles.

Seduction vet and all-around major babe Misty Mundae, (Mummy Raider, Play-Mate of the Apes) stars as Caroline, a waifish, naïve young American who travels to Paris after learning of her mother's death. Her journey is a real eye-opener, because she isn't there day when she is sexually assaulted and robbed on the banks of the Seine (or some similarly Parisian river). With all of her money and belongings gone, Caroline is contemplating tossing herself off a bridge when she meets the busty and mysterious Isabelle (Mia Copia). Isabelle is actually a vampire, a fact that we learn during the opening sequence of the film, and when she invites Caroline back to her place it would seem that things have suddenly gone from bad to worse.

Being a Seduction Cinema release, of course that means the two will have more than a few steamy lesbian scenes together, and that is exactly what happens. No big surprise there, I guess; the surprise is that director Donald Farmer has staged the sexcapades in a very soft-focus kind of way. Even when he turns up the kinky factor a notch, such as when Isabelle orders Caroline to crawl nude across the kitchen like a dog, the film somehow never really looks all that smutty, thanks to Farmer's attempt at actual style (something sadly lacking in most Seduction releases). Farmer works the highly-charged eroticism angle pretty hard, and what he ends up with is a film that will very likely appeal to couples seeking a saucy, non-hardcore romp; most of the other Seduction titles still cater to the more male-oriented, frat-boy lesbian fantasy scenario.

Interior production values are still pretty barren (bed, bathtub, bed), though this feature did have the luxury of shooting exteriors on location in Paris for five days, so when the characters are walking the streets we know they're in France. This is just another element that gives Farmer's film that little something more that most titles in this genre just don't have, as budgets are devilishly tight.

As usual, the plot is very thin, and the whole film is really just an excuse for Mia Copia (who is billed in the opening credits as Mia Culpa) and Misty Mundae to get nekkid and roll around, albeit stylishly. The acting is rather stilted, though that isn't generally a major problem in films like this. Copia's vampirism, and her desire to make Mundae immortal, are not much more than window dressing designed to fill the gaps between more undressing. An Erotic Vampire In Paris is probably one of the more "serious" films from Seduction, though it is certainly not so much a film as it is a series of well-staged lesbian encounters.

Rating for Style: B-
Rating for Substance: C+

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratio	no
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: The 1.33:1 full-frame image transfer looks pretty good, though it is obvious that it was shot on video. On the plus side, colors look bright, and the fleshtones of Copia and Mundae are reproduced nicely.

Peachy.

Image Transfer Grade: B
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	English	no

Audio Transfer Review: A clean, crisp 2.0 surround mix, with really no rear channel activity, however. Dialogue is clear, and the musical elements (except for Mundae's lip-synched scene) are mixed well and sound better than expected.

Audio Transfer Grade: B+ 

Disc Extras

Static menu
Scene Access with 14 cues and remote access
1 Original Trailer(s)
3 Other Trailer(s) featuring Mummy Raider, The Erotic Mirror, Play-Mate Of The Apes
3 Featurette(s)
Packaging: Amaray
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: RSDL

Extras Review: Another departure is the seriousness of the supplemental materials, which on prior Seduction releases has generally amounted to nothing more than additional gratuitous behind-the-scenes nudity. Here we have a pair of interviews, one with Misty Mundae, and one with director Donald Farmer, and both reveal a surprising degree of sober discussion about An Erotic Vampire in Paris. Even more surprising, both refer to it with a pair of completely different titles.

Interview With Misty Mundae (08m:17s)
Mundae, who refers to it as The Erotic Vampire of Paris, spends almost ten minutes chatting about her character development, the shooting schedule in Paris and co-star Mia Copia's unease at doing lesbian scenes (note to Mia: read the script FIRST). Bill Hellfire, who appears in the film as a Euro-nerd victim of Copia's vampire, also tosses his two cents in.

Interview With Donald Farmer (09m:33s)
Farmer, who refers to it as The Vampire of Notre Dame, speaks sternly of his Jess Franco envy, and how filming in Paris would enhance this film's marketability. He even discusses a bit on film distribution, and what the general expected profit return on a project like this is.

Paris: Behind the Scenes (14m:43s)
This isn't much more than fifteen minutes of behind-the-scenes footage, none of it particularly fascinating. I did learn that Misty Mundae smokes the loooooooooooooongest cigarettes I've ever seen.

Highly enjoyable trailers (An Erotic Vampire in Paris, Mummy Raider, The Erotic Mirror, Play-Mate of the Apes), and web links (www.mistymundae.com and www.seductioncinema.com) round out the supplements.

Extras Grade: B
 

Final Comments

Until An Erotic Vampire in Paris, I hadn't been overly impressed by most of the films in the Seduction catalog (Misty Mundae notwithstanding), though they do all feature an attractive bevy of constantly nude women. This ain't Shakespeare, but director Donald Farmer has placed his two attractive leads in a number of stylish, though decidedly low-budget lesbian couplings, and that's ultimately what a film like this is all about. Farmer has less reliance on graphical debauchery here, and instead favors a slightly more focused, almost feminine touch; the Paris locales add a bit of European flavor. As an added bonus, Misty Mundae even gets to sing (or lip-synch, rather) her version of Every Baby Needs A Da Da Daddy during a sultry striptease.

Rich Rosell 2002-06-20