Featured Actress: Lauren Hutton - While Jim Carey built an impressive fan base after movies like The Mask and Liar, Liar, not many remember one of his first big-screen roles opposite super-model Lauren Hutton, Once Bitten. A fairly generic story about a virgin teenager (Carey) being seduced by a very attractive older woman (Hutton) who turns out to be a vampire, Once Bitten is actually rather entertaining thanks largely to Carey’s impressive comedic timing and elastic facial expressions. As Carey’s chaste girlfriend who tries to thwart Hutton’s attempts to sway him to becoming a vampire, Karen Kopins is very likable and evokes a young Erin Gray.

While not on par with some of the best formula comedies the 80’s had to offer, (think Real Genius, Better Off Dead, Ghost Busters). Once Bitten is a great way to kill an hour-and-a-half. Carey has rarely been as earnest and likable in any of his later work, and the self-consciousness of many of his performances is missing here. Additionally, Lauren Hutton add some nice (albeit older) eye-candy to the proceedings. It’s interesting to note that long before Madonna started pimping the hot-older-woman-in-workout-leotard look for her “Hung Up” and “Sorry” videos, Ms. Hutton pioneered a similar look in this movie. Could it be the Material Girl is a fan of the movie?

• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, Full Screen, Subtitled,
• Widescreen, NTSC
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: August 26, 2003
• Run Time: 93 minutes