Embrace of the Vampire (4 Stars)

"You think that love is a cherished gift, but you're wrong. It's a blight and a curse".

This is the first time I've watched this film for five years. Too long. It might not be my favourite vampire film, but I consider it to be the most erotic vampire film ever made.

I became aware of something for the first time while watching the film today. Despite the strange changes in vampire mythology, "Embrace of the Vampire" has more of the feeling of Anne Rice's vampire novels than any other vampire films, including the ones directly based on her books. Look at what we have. It's an ancient vampire, aloof and brooding. He's longing for something he can't have. He's evil, nothing like the well-behaved Cullen vampires, but his sadness makes us feel sympathy for him.

The 17-year-old virgin Charlotte, educated by nuns, is torn between her boyfriend Chris and the unnamed vampire. Why? Isn't it an easy choice? A few years with a man who'll get fat and lose his hair, or an eternity with an ageless vampire?

This film kick-started Alyssa Milano's supernatural career. Three years later she was hired to play Phoebe Halliwell, one of the lead characters in the long-running TV series "Charmed".

I'm still playing around with Media Player Classic, which I discovered a few days ago. See the post that I made yesterday. I watched the film on my computer, partly with VLC and partly with MPC. In some parts of the film, especially at the beginning, the picture quality was better quality with MPC. In scenes where there was no movement the picture seemed to be dithering with VLC. I've made two snapshots to show the difference.

Snapshot using MPC

Snapshot using VLC

You'll get a better impression if you look at the uncompressed pictures in their full resolution by clicking on the pictures shown above. The dithering in the VLC version is obvious if you look at Alyssa's hair on the front of her head. That's ugly. But there's something else that you'll only notice in the uncompressed versions. VLC has stretched the picture, which is probably the reason for the dithering. It doesn't do this when I watch normal videos, whether it's videos that I download from the Internet or the high resolution rips that I've made from Blu-ray films. It looks like it's a problem with DVD playback.

Also, doesn't VLC make Alyssa's complexion look paler? This might also be a result of the stretching.

I'll check this problem further the next time I watch a film on DVD.