USA. 1987.
Crew
Director – Charlie Loventhal, Screenplay – Leslie Ray, Producer – Robert Shaye, Photography – Jacques Haitkin, Music – David Newman, Makeup Effects – John Caglione Jr, Doug Drexler, Carl Fullerton & Neal Martz, Production Design – Brent Swift. Production Company – New Line Cinema
Cast
Michelle Little (Denny), Scott Valentine (Kaz), Robert Trebor (Chuck Sawyer), Gina Gallego (Sonia Valdez), Alan Fudge (Phil Janus), Arnold Johnson (Fixer)
Plot
Denny is having a troubled time in her relationships with men, she being too accepting and seeming to only end up with losers as a result. The bizarre Kaz follows her home and she ends up inviting to stay. The two soon fall in love but he refuses to have sex with her. He tells her he is under a ‘pizzazki’ curse, which causes him to turn into a demon every time he gets turned on. He also believes that he is a serial killer that is plaguing the city while under the influence of the curse. She thinks he is crazy but in her attempts to seduce him, it would appear that what he is saying is true.
There is not much to My Demon Lover. It is only a one-gag idea. That and a package designed to exploit the early 1980s fad for makeup transformation effects. The title is far more suggestive than anything in the film ever manages to be – it would make a great title for a straight erotic horror film some day.
All the film offers when it comes down to is a light comedy along the lines of the mid-80s likes of Once Bitten (1985), Vamp (1986), The Invisible Kid (1988) and My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1987), which appropriated classic horror themes for inane teen comedies.
Scott Valentine gives an amazingly obnoxious performance. He is first introduced as a bum in the street making leering passes and falling over every woman he meets. Although, as with the title of the film, this soon pans out into something completely ordinary and within very little time all the obnoxiousness drops off and he becomes an average, everyday guy.
The script at least delivers the lines with a notable snappiness. There is a good deal of silliness – like the scenes that with Scott Valentine racing around on the roof of a car. Despite a number of prominent makeup effects artists listed on the credits, the demon effects look cheesy and silly.
Elsewhere, the only other films that director Charlie Loventhal has made are the comedies The First Time (1983) and Mr Write (1994) and the relationship drama Meet Market (2004).
Trailer here