Skin and blood dominate 'Embrace of the Vampire' remake trailer

Posted Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 4:40 PM Central
Last updated Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 4:43 PM Central

by John Couture

If the title Embrace of the Vampire rings a bell, but you can't seem to place it, then you really need to brush up on your child TV actors trivia. The original Embrace of the Vampire is a 1995 "Horror" film that is best known and remembered as the exact moment in which Who's the Boss? actress Alyssa Milano forever left behind the innocence of her child acting past for more grown-up aspirations.

It's a story as old as Hollywood itself. Child actresses find themselves typecast as pure and innocent and choose revealing roles to shed their labels (not to mention their clothes and inhibitions). Personally, I think the practice is a bit old-fashioned and redundant in today's 24/7 contact society thanks to social media, and yet, there's always the next Miley Cyrus out there looking to head down this tried and true path.

Personally, I think it's our society's obsession with the human body as being taboo and grown up that is the root cause of this phenomenon, but that's a discussion for a different day. Embrace of the Vampire would probably have been long forgotten by now, but Alyssa Milano famously fought back against stills from the movie turning up on the Internet.

While she's never said that she regretted the role, and one could argue that her subsequent success as an adult actress proves it was a wise decision, her decision to rail against it and distance herself from the film is a bit hypocritical when you consider that she recently posed very provocatively on the cover of Maxim magazine.

But I digress, this story is about the remake. Newcomer Sharon Hinnendael takes over the lead role of a virginal college freshman who is dealing with typical college stuff like boys, hazing and alcohol consumption and not so typical college stuff like vampires.

I've actually seen this new version and to say that it's a remake of the original is a bit of stretch. The two films may share the same name and a couple of intersecting story points, but that's where their similarities end. In many ways, the remake is a better horror film that shows more skin in more provocative ways than the original.

But, of course, the remake doesn't have a young TV actor getting naked for the first time. On its own merits though, the film is what it is and makes for a decent timely watch when it debuts on DVD and Blu-ray on October 15.