Embrace the Darkness (1999) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)
Judged as a soft-core sex film, I'd have to say this is one of the best I've seen.

The plot and production values are good enough so that it would be a respectable little vampire movie without the skin. The set design makes maximum use of a limited budget. The only thing you'd find very disappointing would be the F/X, which are not up to genre standards, to say the least. The unique element is that the kingpin vampire hates to kill, and keeps starving himself rather than kill for food. He's like the Ghandi of vampires. Not only that, but he refuses to move into the new century.  Even though his disciples listen to grunge and hang out in discos, he's still a capes-and-candles-and-Tschaikovsky kind of vampire.

The acting is pretty good in general, and the head vampire, a soap opera actor named Kevin Spirtas, is quite respectable in the role. He strikes a good balance between sensitivity and menace, and I think women will find him to be a sexy, romanticized vampire.

NUDITY REPORT
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The exposure includes pretty much everything you usually see in soft-core except soft penises. The women do frontals, and the men bury their heads in those coveted delta areas. In addition to the two stars, Angelia High and Madison Clark, a third woman named Jennifer Ludlow provides lovely exposure.

DVD info from Amazon

  • no features

  • no widescreen version
The women are fresh and sexy. The vampiress (High) has a spectacular body. The potential victim (Clark) is in outstanding physical condition, and has a pretty face. 

The lighting is not as good as the genre standard, I Like to Play Games, but these people are vampires, after all, so they are exempt from daylight shots. For a film which takes place entirely at night, and almost entirely indoors, it is quite satisfactory, but not excellent 

The Critics Vote

  • none online

The People Vote ...

  • With their votes ... IMDB summary: IMDb voters score it 2.7. I agree with that rating if you are scoring this as a horror film and comparing it to Hellraiser's 6.4. It is a good soft-core film, however, if that is what you seek.
IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a C+. Overall, an excellent example of the soft-core erotica genre, if you like that kind of film.

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