Day 6 of 31 Days of Vampire Movies brings us back to the 80’s camp and sleaze first exemplified by Day 2’s movie, Vampire Cop. This movie has it all: vampires, strippers, neon lights, existential crises, and mullets. Oh my God, the mullets in this movie. And it’s a Roger Corman flick, so buckle up, kids. This is Dance of the Damned.
Yes I know that’s a Crimson Peak Funko Pop and not a vampire. I’m running out of vampire Pops just go with it.
Dance of the Damned from 1989 has resurfaced on DVD/Bluray with a recently rediscovered master print. It was thought to be lost media, and the world was all the poorer for it. Anyone who has heard of this movie might be more familiar with its remake To Sleep with a Vampire. (Good Lord, what a title. What an awful, awful title) starring Skippy from Family Ties: Scott Valentine. That one was also a contender to be on this list, but ultimately I decided to go with Dance of the Damned, since it was the first and, on the whole, steers into it’s conceit with more conviction. And yeah, the mullet. You just have to see that godawful amazing mullet.
Look at it. LOOK at it.
The plot in a nutshell is this: a cruising vampire (with mullet) wanders into a sleazy strip club where he overhears one of the dancers contemplating suicide after her ex-husband refuses to let her visit with her son on his birthday. Her life is in shambles and she is breaking under the strain, so he decides to give her her death wish on the condition that she spend her last night with him showing him what it is to be human.
Dance of Damned has all the excesses of the 80’s and Roger Corman movies, but if you like that sort of thing, you won’t go astray here. It’s surprisingly poignant in places, and sympathetic to its main character when, at the time and even now, sex workers struggle to be seen as people worthy of love, compassion, and understanding. That being said, its also an 80’s movie about an exotic dancer, so expect all the usual exploitation that comes along with it.
But, once again, you need to see this movie, if only to see the glory of the God-King of Mullets on display. Like a car crash or a murderer jumping out of the bushes at you with a knife: you won’t soon forget it.