AN EROTIC VAMPIRE IN PARIS

Originally reviewed as VAMPIRE OF NOTRE DAME Produced by Merril Aldighieri, Lucas Balbo, and Donald Farmer Written and Directed by Donald Farmer Edited and Photographed by Merril Aldighieri Staring: Misty Mundae Mia Copia Bill Hellfire

This is one of those films I shouldn't have liked. Maybe it's the repressed pervert in me. There's something about long, drawn-out love scenes between Misty Mundae and Tina...er...Mia Copia that I just find fascinating.

I've heard through the grapevine that VAMPIRE OF NOTRE DAME might receive a title change, although I'm not sure why. If you can milk a dime off the Disney cow, why not do it? Dress Misty up as Esmerelda the Gypsy and put Bill Hellfire in rags with an eye patch and tell him to bend over. How's that for perfect cover art? Who cares if the film has nothing to do with the classic story, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME?

You're right, it probably won't happen. No gypsy Misty. You have to admit though, the title just lends itself to so many possibilities.

So why does Donald Farmer pay homage to the classic french tale? Probably because he shot the film in Paris. Think about it, you head to Europe with two of the most attractive women working in b-movies and you spend 2 days out of a week making an SOV quickie. You can write off the entire vacation as a business deduction! Makes you wonder why Seduction Cinema or some of those other guys don't use more exotic locals.

Why would fans want to check this one out versus the number of other Misty and Ti...er...Mia Copia videos? Well, I can honestly say that I've never seen more of these two ladies in a movie than I did with VOND. That's doesn't mean it's a good movie, just that fans won't be disappointed. They get all they've come to expect from videos staring the two ladies, and that's plenty of nudity.

I've said before that wall to wall nudity does not a good movie make, but it sure as hell can make one you don't want to take your eyes off of. These girls are gorgeous, what more can you really say?

The story...excuse me for a minute or two while I snicker...the story concerns Misty traveling to France to visit her mother. Raped and pennyless, Misty is taken under the wing of Mia, this time playing some sort of French aristocrat (she used the same accent in THE VAMPIRE'S SEDUCTION).

There's this whole domination thing going on between Misty and Mia. For Misty, getting raped in France wasn't bad enough, now she has to eat her food like a dog on all fours, subject to Mia's every whim.. I can't say I'm a fan of the fetishes being explored, humiliation has never turned me on. But to each their own.

Having only seen a few of Misty's fetish titles, I've only seen her play the victim. It's hard for me to picture anyone doing to this poor girl the things she's subjected to. She's seems to always be cast as someone whose intelligence is on the darker side of dim. Just once I would like to see her play someone more in control, someone on the same intellect as Misty herself. In person she comes across as a bright gal, it's a shame that quality is usually wasted.

I didn't mean to be this hard on VAMPIRE OF NOTRE DAME. As I said, I like it. The movie is what it is. Maybe wall to wall nudity doesn't make a good movie, but wall to wall Tina and Misty in all their glore does. Hell, I put it in my Top 10 favorites for 2001.

DVD Review

I originally reviewed Donald Farmer's AN EROTIC VAMPIRE IN PARIS under the title VAMPIRE OF NOTRE DAME in Dec of 2001. Since then, Farmer's movie has been picked up by Seduction Cinema and retitled to keep up with Seduction's popular line of soft-core erotica. While the original title is more in touch with the gothic tone of the movie, the new title is much more fun and sure to sell more product.

Shortly after the year's ended, someone asked me to name my 10 favorite movies of 2001. I rattled off NOTRE DAME amongst a listing including SERIES 7: THE CONTENDER, KISS OF THE DRAGON, BRIDGET JONES DIARY, and MEAT MARKET. In hindsight, I think I was bullshitting, just trying to fill space on some bogus list where I probably only enjoyed the other films just mentioned.

Watching the movie again to review the new DVD reminded me of just how utterly fascinating I found the movie to be. It's one of the sleazier titles in the main Seduction catalogue in terms of raw explicitness and nudity, but it's also the most interesting in how it deals with sexual politics and role reversals.

Tina Krause, or Mia Copia as she's credited, is all "alpha" vampire as she takes Misty Mundae under her wing, wooing her through Paris. Initially, the relationship is completely master and servant, but there grows a loving bond between the two. They are two sides of the same soul, the old and the new, the yin and yang. The older vampire stuck in her ways, the young get who possesses the vivaciousness the older of the pair longs for. Both just trying to survive.

AN EROTIC VAMPIRE IN PARIS is all about girl empowerment, as are so many of the other seduction titles. It's the men who are the victims here. Whether it's Bill Hellfire as a lustfull stalker, or a swarthy looking french rapist, they all receive their just desserts. The filmmakers are commenting on 100 years of erotica where women have been exploited and debased as nothing more than fodder for the male libido (while, interesting enough, at the same time providing fodder for that same libido). AN EROTIC VAMPIRE IN PARIS is pure exploitation cinema, that much goes without saying, but it's taken to its most feminist extremes. I could easily see this playing gay and lesbian film festivals across the country.

The DVD release is pretty standard as far Seduction titles go. There's the obligatory trailer vault with upcoming releases as well as popular hits. There's a behind-the-scenes documentary that feels more like home movies where the cast and crew go to a French buffet. There's two interviews on the disc, one with Misty Mundae, and one with Farmer. The Farmer interview goes hand-in-hand with an interview with Eric Stanze found on the I SPIT ON YOUR CORPSE, I PISS ON YOUR GRAVE DVD. Farmer discusses the roles of investors and how important their money is to bringing a director's vision to the screen, as how their opinion counts in the end and the director's doesn't. For anyone looking to break into the world on no-budget cinema, this should be required viewing.

Donald Farmer's Vamp Video
Seduction Cinema

---