Psycho Bob Reviews Once Bitten: When Jim Carrey Met a Very Hungry Vampire

There are vampire movies that take themselves very seriously. There are vampire movies filled with ancient curses, gothic castles, tragic romances, buckets of blood, and vampires who spend several centuries staring dramatically into the middle distance. And then there is Once Bitten.

Released in 1985, Once Bitten takes the traditional vampire story, throws it into 1980s Los Angeles, adds a teenage boy who desperately wants to prove that he's a man, introduces a very hungry vampire countess, and then unleashes a young Jim Carrey upon the unsuspecting world. Honestly, what could possibly go wrong?

Well... Everything.

And that's exactly why Once Bitten remains such a wonderfully strange, goofy, spooky little piece of 1980s horror-comedy. At the center of the story is Mark Kendall, played by Jim Carrey, a teenage virgin who is becoming increasingly frustrated because his girlfriend Robin doesn't seem particularly interested in taking their relationship to the next level. Mark wants to be cool. Mark wants to be experienced. Mark wants to be a man. Unfortunately for Mark, the universe has apparently decided that his first major romantic encounter should involve a centuries-old vampire.

Because apparently teenage dating wasn't complicated enough. Enter the Countess, played by Lauren Hutton. She's elegant, seductive, mysterious, and—most importantly—getting older. And she isn't particularly happy about that. The Countess needs to consume the blood of a young virgin in order to restore her youth, so when Mark wanders into her orbit, she sees something far more valuable than a cute teenage boy. She sees dinner. And not just dinner. Dinner with dessert.

The beauty of Once Bitten is that it doesn't take the traditional vampire mythology and try to make it darker, grittier, or more sophisticated. Instead, it takes all those familiar vampire ingredients and dumps them into a teenage comedy. You've got the seductive immortal vampire, the innocent young victim, the supernatural curse, the hunt for fresh blood, and the desperate attempt to maintain eternal youth. Only this time, the victim is a teenager who is mostly worried about whether he's finally going to get lucky. That's a pretty significant change in priorities.

The movie also gives us the opportunity to see Jim Carrey before he became Jim Carrey.

This is Carrey in the early stages of the manic physical comedy that would eventually explode across the screen in movies like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber. The rubber-faced expressions are already there. The exaggerated movements are there. The bizarre voices are there. The ability to turn a completely ordinary situation into an escalating comedic disaster is definitely there.

Watching Once Bitten today is fascinating because you can see the future superstar developing right in front of you. It's like finding an old photograph of a vampire before he learned how to turn into a bat. The wings aren't fully developed yet, but you can definitely tell something strange is going on.

Carrey's performance is energetic, physical, and occasionally completely unhinged. He doesn't simply play Mark as an awkward teenager. He turns Mark's awkwardness into a full-contact sporting event. Every embarrassing situation becomes bigger. Every reaction becomes more exaggerated. Every opportunity for physical comedy is grabbed by the throat and shaken around until the joke falls out.

And then we have Lauren Hutton's Countess. She is one of the movie's greatest pleasures because she approaches the ridiculousness with just enough seriousness to make it work. She's glamorous, sophisticated, confident, and completely comfortable using her supernatural abilities to manipulate everyone around her. But underneath all that elegance is a very simple problem: She's getting old. And she doesn't like it.

So while Mark is worrying about teenage romance and trying to figure out how to become more experienced, the Countess is worrying about her youthful appearance. Her solution is remarkably straightforward. Find a virgin. Drink his blood. Restore her youth. Repeat as necessary. This is essentially the world's most terrifying anti-aging program. No expensive creams. No plastic surgery. No spa treatments. Just one extremely unlucky teenage boy.

And poor Mark doesn't exactly understand what he's gotten himself into. That is where the movie's comedy really starts to take off. Mark thinks he's entering the world of adulthood, but instead he has stumbled into a supernatural nightmare involving a vampire who has absolutely no intention of letting him walk away.

It's a coming-of-age story with fangs. And possibly a drinking problem. One of the other things that makes Once Bitten so much fun today is the sheer amount of 1980s nostalgia packed into it. The clothes, hairstyles, music, cars, dialogue, teenage attitudes, clubs, and general atmosphere make the movie feel like a time capsule from an era when horror-comedies could be gloriously ridiculous without worrying about whether everything made perfect sense. Everything screams 1985. And for those of us who enjoy that particular era, that's part of the appeal. The movie doesn't try to hide its age. It wears the 1980s proudly.

The comedy is also very much of its time. Once Bitten isn't exactly a movie that gently whispers a joke into your ear. It kicks down the door, puts on sunglasses, and screams, "DID YOU GET THAT?!?"

Some of the humor has aged better than other parts of the movie, and its 1980s sensibilities are impossible to miss. But there's an undeniable energy running through the entire film.

The movie knows it's ridiculous. The audience knows it's ridiculous. The vampires probably know it's ridiculous. And instead of fighting that fact, Once Bitten embraces it. That's where much of the fun comes from.

And then there is the dance sequence. Oh, my whiskers. If you have never seen Jim Carrey unleash his physical-comedy abilities during this movie, prepare yourself. This is one of those scenes where you realize somebody gave Jim Carrey a camera, a dance floor, and absolutely no adult supervision. The result is gloriously bizarre. It's one of those moments that perfectly demonstrates the comedic instincts that would eventually make Carrey one of the biggest comedy stars of the 1990s. He doesn't simply perform the scene. He attacks it. Every movement becomes exaggerated. Every facial expression becomes ridiculous. Every ounce of dignity Mark might have possessed is thrown directly out the window. And somehow...

It works.

That's really the secret to Once Bitten. It doesn't always work because everything is perfectly constructed. It works because the movie has an infectious willingness to be silly.

Is it scary? Well... Let's put it this way. If you're looking for The Exorcist, you're barking up the wrong coffin. If you're looking for Nosferatu, keep flying. If you're looking for a genuinely terrifying vampire movie, there are plenty of other places to sink your teeth. But if you're looking for 1980s vampire comedy with Jim Carrey running around trying not to get his blood sucked by a beautiful immortal, now we're talking.

The horror is mostly there to create the setup. The comedy is the main course. And the ridiculousness is dessert. Yet beneath all the goofy vampire antics, Once Bitten actually has a surprisingly sweet little coming-of-age story hiding underneath the polyester, supernatural shenanigans, and vampire bites.

Mark's obsession with proving himself ultimately becomes part of the joke. He thinks becoming a man means having certain experiences and proving himself to the people around him. But as the story progresses, he begins to realize that maturity isn't really about proving something to everybody else. It's about figuring out what—and who—you actually care about. Naturally, this revelation happens while a vampire is trying to drink his blood.

Because apparently that's how the 1980s taught teenagers life lessons. And that's another reason the movie remains entertaining. Beneath the cheesy jokes and vampire silliness is a story about insecurity, relationships, growing up, and learning that trying too hard to be something you're not can get you into trouble.

In Mark's case, it can also get you nearly drained by a centuries-old vampire.

So there's that. Looking back at Once Bitten today, it's easy to see it as a time capsule of a very particular kind of Hollywood comedy. It belongs to that wonderful period when movies weren't afraid to mix genres together and see what happened. Teen comedy? Sure. Vampire horror? Absolutely. Romance? Why not? Physical comedy?

Give Jim Carrey a dance floor and stand back. The result isn't a sophisticated horror film, nor is it trying to be. It's a goofy, campy, occasionally ridiculous vampire comedy that exists primarily to entertain. And sometimes that's exactly what a movie needs to be. Not every movie has to change cinema. Some movies simply need to make you laugh. Some movies need to remind you of an era. Some movies need to give you a young Jim Carrey running around in complete comedic chaos. And some movies need vampires. Preferably all four.

So, does Once Bitten hold up as a terrifying vampire classic? No. But that's not really the point. Does it hold up as a fun, goofy piece of 1980s horror-comedy nostalgia? Absolutely.

It's campy. It's silly. It's occasionally ridiculous.

It's unmistakably 1980s. Lauren Hutton has a great time playing a glamorous vampire with a serious youth problem, and Jim Carrey provides a fascinating early glimpse of the manic comedy style that would soon make him a household name.

For fans of 1980s movies, vampire comedies, and early Jim Carrey, Once Bitten is worth crawling out of the crypt for. And now it's time for the official Psycho Bob verdict.

Psycho Bob Says

Sometimes a movie doesn't need to be perfect to be fun. Sometimes it just needs to be weird.

And Once Bitten is gloriously weird. It's a vampire comedy. It's a teenage coming-of-age story. It's a piece of 1980s nostalgia. It's an early showcase for Jim Carrey's unmistakable comedic style.

And it's a reminder of a time when Hollywood wasn't afraid to throw vampires, teenage hormones, ridiculous dancing, cheesy jokes, and Lauren Hutton into the same blender and see what happened. Did it produce cinematic greatness? Probably not.

Did it produce something entertaining? Absolutely. So dim the lights, grab some popcorn, check under the bed for vampires, and settle in for a movie where the biggest danger isn't necessarily getting bitten...It's trying to survive Jim Carrey's dance moves.

Streaming

Psycho Bob and I rewatched this on Tubi.

Rating

Psycho Bob gives Once Bitten 3.5 out of 5 caskets. And remember: If a beautiful stranger at a nightclub offers you immortality... RUN. Unless she's offering tuna. Then we need to have a completely different conversation.

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