"Once Bitten" came out in November of 1985, was destroyed by critics and quickly disappeared from view... but 35 years later, there are tribute pages, fan forums, and even sites selling throw pillows and hoodies. Do you know who won the Best Picture Oscar for 1985? "Out of Africa." You know how many "Out of Africa" throw pillows are for sale on the Internet? NONE. Looks like you made the wrong film choice, Meryl Streep!
Mental Floss—I'm interviewed for "8 Blood-Sucking Facts About 'Once Bitten.'"
Jo Blo's Awfully Good Movies: "Join host Jesse Shade as he transports you back in time when we used cassette tapes, shoulder pads, and beat vampires with dance offs. It's an '80's extravaganza!"
'The Afternoon Show': Jim Carrey is an excerpt from an episode of KPIX-TV's 'The Afternoon Show' on December 5th 1985. It includes Carrey discussing his new feature film 'Once Bitten' and doing impressions.
CineSchlock-O-Rama: Long-time supporters of the film. They even give my story here a few plugs.
Jim Carrey Quote from the '99 Golden Globes. Relax, Jim. It's not a real award. I'll trade you your Golden Globe for my Best Screenplay Trophy from the Oxford International Film Festival. I'll even throw my San Diego Film Festival trophy, my ARPA, and a "Once Bitten" hoodie...
The Howard Storm Script Collection: American Comedy Collections, Emerson College Boston, MA. 2009. (Mostly "Mork and Mindy" scripts reading, "Robin improvises. Everybody else shut up."
"THE COUNTESS," by Andysocial Industries of Costa Mesa, CA, boldly announces that "Being a Vampire in the 20th Century is a Nightmare!" This design of the beautiful Lauren Hutton is available as a sticker, mug, T-Shirt, hoodie, baseball jersey, phone case, laptop case, etc. They even fixed her gap-tooth. Just click on the item you like!
'Once Bitten' Film Locations: Discover the address of the Countess (1355 Angelo Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210), built in 1980, with its expansive yard, hillside views, tennis courts, pool, and vampire lair, which last sold in 2000 for $4,500,000; You can also see Mark's school (Mark Twain Middle School, 2224 Walgrove Avenue, Los Angeles, California)... God, I hope they painted over that mural.
Retro Nerd Girl reviews the movie Once Bitten: "A vampire countess needs the blood of a virgin in order to stay youthful and a sexually frustrated high school student, Mark Kendall is her main target."
VUDU: Watch One Bitten for free, with commercials... or rent it for $3.49, commercial-free... or increase my residual money income and buy it for $14.99!
TUBITV: Watch One Bitten for free, and don't give me a damn thing!
'MonstersAreGood' Poster: A re-imagined 11"x 17" movie poster; digital print on cardstock. Too bad he didn't look this scary in the film...
Nostalgia Buster: 5 Things I Learned From Re-Watching Once Bitten, aka, The Jim Carrey Vampire Movie: "I first saw Once Bitten in 1995 when I was home from school with a fever. Maybe it was the fever talking, but I loved it. I first-rewatched Once Bitten three nights ago when it came on Starz. Guess what? It's not quite the movie I remembered. It's time to play Nostalgia Buster, which is where I seek to answer the age-old film fan question, 'Does it hold up?'"
The cold, hard stats of vampire comedies: "It's surprising that a teen sex comedy released at the height of the AIDS crisis doesn't comment on it even obliquely, but Once Bitten has so little on its mind beyond giving the teen-sex genre a gothic twist that it manages to avoid commenting on anything, beyond teenagers' need to get laid, regardless of the context. That almost qualifies as impressive. Almost." Well, first off, this was written in the early 80's, and nobody had a clue what AIDS was. As I detail here, we were all still terrified of Herpes back then, and we almost got fired for even mentioning THAT! Anyway, you want more AIDS references in the context of a wacky 80's PG-13 teen comedy... would you Mark to take a zany AIDS test? Do you want us to make a whacky comparison of the undead to AIDS victims? Anyway, I'll get back to updating Encino Man, inserting scenes showing how we're all going to starve and die because of Climate Change. Thanks for the comedy tip!
Jim Carrey Reflects on His First Screen Kiss: "Gosh, my first screen kiss had to be in Once Bitten with Karen Kopins, I believe. And yeah, it was always a good thing. Always a good thing. I like—I really enjoy other genders. Let's just say that. Kissing in general is just a good thing."
Dining with Madmen: Fat, Food, and the Environment in 1980s Horror, by Thomas Fahy. Univ. Press of Mississippi, Feb 13, 2019; 250 pages (91-93; 109-111): "Once Bitten (1985), which cast Jim Carrey in his first leading role and features some of the physical comedy that would characterize his career, uses junk food as a central image for its critique of casual sex... Mark eats a great deal of junk, and even the healthy options in his life get transformed into something questionable... The role of fast food reinforces the film's message about the risks of casual sex. After school, Mark's best friends, Jamie (Thomas Ballatore) and Russ (Skip Lackey), work at a hamburger stand, and this place becomes a metaphor for the gung-ho attitude about one-night stands. While eating a hamburger, munching on fries, and slurping Pepsi, Mark complains about both his sexless relationship with Robin and his undercooked (though clearly charred) burger. The desire for fast sex and fast food (something too hastily cooked) is conflated here, momentarily reducing Robin to a piece of meat. The failings of this mentality get underscored when Jamie turns up the grill and scorches everything. This quick fix requires an extinguisher to quell the grease fire, covering the meat patties with goop. On one hand, the humor comes from the sexual overtones of this squirting white fluid after a conversation about sex. On the other hand, it satirizes restaurant chains such as McDonald's and Burger King. Jamie merely wipes off the toxic foam with a dishtowel in order to sell the burgers."
Mark Kendall 3.75" Action Figure" by Cosmic Evil (filmmaker Patrick Clement); Carded mixed-media sculpture. Detailed right down to the bite marks on his inner thigh! Signed and numbered, now unavailable.
Andy Warhol Premiere Party Photo: Gift of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, on loan from the University of Massachusetts Amherst Foundation; Gelatin silver print; Measurements: 7 15/16" x 9 15/16. "In 1976, Warhol obtained a pocket-sized Minox SLR 35mm camera and began to amass a collection of black and white images culled largely from life outside the studio. The portability of this new technology enabled the shift in Warhol's photographic practice from scheduled sittings to casual snapshots. He took, on average, a roll of film a day between 1976 and 1987, producing over 100,000 photographs. Warhol selected a portion of these photographs to be printed in an eight by ten inch format, marking his picks with a grease pencil on each contact sheet. He used the prints in a variety of ways—they served as source material for paintings and drawings, they were published in books devoted to Warhol's photography, and some were even stitched together to create art objects late in his career. The majority, however, seem more related to Warhol's fascination with accumulation than any specific art-related activity."
"ONCE BITTEN" ON BROADWAY?by Michael Musto (QUEERTY* Entertainment, October 2, 2021 at 7:10am): "But let me share info about a brand new theatrical opportunity. Once Bitten, a musical based on the 1985 Jim Carrey film comedy, had a September 30th reading featuring Broadway favorite Orfeh (Legally Blond, Pretty Woman) as the 400-year-old vampire Countess looking for virgin blood (not easy in L.A.). Also starring are Scott Redmond as Mark (the Jim Carrey role), Sophia Introna as Robin, and Anthony Wayne as Sebastian, the Countess's best friend and centuries-old sidekick. Marc Erdahi is the director, Jay Falzone wrote the book and lyrics, and the music is by Matt Gumley. 'It's a true rock score,' Orfeh told me, 'and it took the source material to another level. It's funny and timely and the cast is young and talented across the boards.' As for playing a 400-year-old vamp? 'It's typecasting at its best,' she laughed." (Transcendstreaming.com)
Movie Poster Coffee Cup 15oz: Whether you're drinking your evening tea, morning coffee, or just virgin blood in between, this mug's for you! It's sturdy and glossy with a vivid print of the iconic movie poster with Jim Carrey's hair looking like yours after finishing your tenth cup of java; It'll withstand the microwave, the dishwasher, and is guaranteed not to carry any unsightly plasma rings or positive quotes from critics; It's a ceramic 15 oz mug with dimensions of 4.7" (12 cm) in height, 3.35" (8.5 cm) in diameter; It's dishwasher and microwave safe, and won't turn to ash in daylight! Comes white like your corpuscles, or black like your heart.
"Once Bitten" Facemask designed to make others smile during a pandemic... hopefully without getting any spittle on you.
"Once Bitten" Facemask #2 because, let's face it, the other one's starting to smell funny when you breathe in.
"Once Bitten" Facemask #3 is a reproduction of the US theatrical poster, which promotes social distancing... because it's so ugly that people are guaranteed to stay at least six feet away from you.
