‘The ultimate seduction’
Dance of the Damned is a 1989 American vampire horror film directed by former actress Katt Shea (she also directed Stripped to Kill; Stripped to Kill II: Live Girls; The Rage: Carrie 2) from a screenplay co-written with her then-husband Andy Ruben. It was executive produced by Roger Corman.
Shea recalled filming to TV Store: “Corman wanted to use a strip club again and he had a haunted house set that he had left over from another film. So Andy Ruben and I came up with an idea to shoot in those two locations. Of course we changed the haunted house into this really modern, amazing, great house.”
Cast:
Starr Andreeff (Skullduggery; Out of the Dark; Ghoulies II), Cyril O’Reilly (Bloody Birthday; Carnosaur 3), Debbie Nassar, Maria Ford, Athena Worthy, Tom Ruben, Chuck Rhee.
Plot:
A suicidal stripper (Starr Andreef) spends an evening with a sympathetic vampire (Cyril O’Reilly)…
Reviews:
” … it’s well done. A nice feature is that the camera is occasionally viewing the scenery through the vampire’s eyes and the whole picture then is filmed in dimmed violet colours. It’s another low-budget movie, but one worth watching.” Vampyres Online
“The suicidal stripper and mulleted vampire are two very desperate souls and they connect in a most interesting way. There may be no real dinner other than some blood sucking, but their conversations are unique and the dialogue rings with a real truth and sadness.” Cinema Du Meep
“… Dance of the Damned is the worst type of picture to undertake with a B-movie budget and cast — a terrifying two-headed talkathon. Even under the best conditions, movies of this sort are tricky to pull off and, to put it kindly, Dance falls far short of the mark.” TV Guide
“There’s little here but mood, and there’s tons of mood.” John Stanley, Creature Features
Choice dialogue:
The vampire: “You’ll never understand the emptiness of living forever.”
