Date with a Vampire: Collector's Edition – Visual Vengeance (Blu-ray)

Release Dates: USA, 2000 (Date with a Vampire), USA, 2002 (Blood Craving)
Director: Jeffrey Arsenault (Both Films)
Cast: Lori Thomas, Robin Macklin, Cynthia Polakovich, Joe Zaso (Date with a Vampire), Tiffany Helland, Francesco J. Caputo, Leslie Slemp, Michael Naselli, Julio Rivera, Israel Monrroy, Frances Lozada, Caroline Munro (Blood Craving)

Release Date: February 24th, 2026
Approximate Running Times: 59 Minutes (Date with a Vampire), 29 Minutes 37 Seconds (Blood Craving)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Both Films)
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo English (Both Films)
Subtitles: English SDH (Date with a Vampire)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $29.95

"Violet is a vampire who hungers for sexual pleasure as much as her victim's blood. By night she prowls the city, luring both men and women into her web of lust and murder. Her latest unsuspecting prey, Chuck, is a lonely young man she meets in a smoky bar and draws into her orbit with a mix of charm, sensuality, and mystery. But what begins as flirtation soon becomes a hypnotic seduction—leading him straight into her bed and trapped in her world of erotic indulgence and eternal hunger." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 2.5/5 (Date with a Vampire, Blood Craving)

Here’s the information provided about Date with a Vampire's transfer, "SD master from original tape elements."

Date with a Vampire comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 34.5 GB

Feature: 13.3 GB (Date with a Vampire), 6.6 GB (Blood Craving)

Although the source used looks clean, image clarity is not as strong in darker scenes, and black levels during these scenes are poor. That said, flesh tones and colors look correct. 

Blood Craving’s transfer is comparable to Date with a Vampire’s transfer.

Audio: 2.5/5 (Both Films)

This release comes with one audio option, a Dolby Digital stereo mix in English with removable English SDH. Although things are very limited range-wise, dialogue comes through clearly enough to follow.

Blood Craving’s audio is comparable to Date with a Vampire’s audio.

Extras:

Extras for Date with a Vampire include a Visual Vengeance trailer (54 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), the original trailer (1 minute 35 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo text in English), an image gallery with music playing in the background, an interview with location manager Nathan Thompson titled Date With a Vampire Memories (1 minute 56 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a Buckingham Manor location video with Nathan Thompson (6 minutes 3 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with ‘Basement Vampire’ actor Joe Zaso (22 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actress Cynthia Polakovich (7 minutes 9 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with screenwriter Kevin J. Lindenmuth (11 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with director Jeffrey Arsenault (3 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with Jeffrey Arsenault.

Extras for Blood Craving include a Visual Vengeance trailer (48 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), the original trailer (1 minute 6 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo text in English), the original first draft trailers (2 minutes 50 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an image gallery with music playing in the background, an interview with Jeffrey Arsenault (2 minutes 21 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with Jeffrey Arsenault. 

Other extras include the After Midnight Entertainment trailer reel (10 minutes 12 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), trailers for Vampire Playmates, Vampire’s Embrace, and Vampire Night, reversible cover art featuring new Blood Craving art, a 'Stick your own' video store sticker sheet, a folded mini-poster, and a limited-edition slipcover (first pressing only).

Summary:

Jeffrey Arsenault, who's most known for Night Owl, directed both Date with a Vampire and Blood Craving.

Date with a Vampire: A vampire whose sexual desire is as strong as her lust for blood lures men and women back to her home.

Date with a Vampire is a softcore vampire-themed film that spends more time on erotica than it does on vampire-related things. Although there is a surprising amount of dialogue, it is mostly banter that adds little to the story that unfolds. At just under 60 minutes in length, the narrative feels much longer. That said, I first became aware of Jeffrey Arsenault because of his debut film, Night Owl, and having now seen a few more of his films, he has yet to surpass that film.

Blood Craving: A woman tries to find a cure for her vampire boyfriend, who has to be restrained with chains.

According to Jeffrey Arsenault, Blood Craving is like a spiritual successor to Night Owl. Although its current running time is under 30 minutes, there have been versions that clock in at 75 and 85 minutes. Where Date with a Vampire pads itself with softcore erotica, Blood Craving forgoes similar drawn-out moments. The Caroline Munro scene is essentially a lengthy interview about her career that takes up ⅓ of this film’s duration, and it adds little to the story that unfolds. Ultimately, Blood Craving in its current form feels like an unfinished film.

Visual Vengeance gives a pair of Jeffrey Arsenault’s films their best home media releases to date.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer