Once Bitten

During the chase scene in which Robin punches a vampire, Jim Carrey actually hit her continuously during the take and broke his fake teeth.

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The role of the Countess was written for Cassandra Peterson, better known as the TV horror host Elvira.

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This was Jim Carrey's first leading role in a Hollywood film. After Carrey became a major box-office draw in the 1990s, this film and several of his others were re-released on VHS to capitalize on his newfound success.

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Screenwriter Jeffrey Hause campaigned for Michael J. Fox to star in the film, but executive producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr. was convinced that Fox could never carry a big-screen film.

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Test audiences responded so positively to Karen Kopins as Robin that her image was added to the film's poster at the last minute.

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Thanks to its many airings on cable television in the eighties, it became a cult film.

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As Mark, Russ and Jamie drive around Hollywood, a cinema marquee showing another vampire film, "Fright Night," which was released in August 1985, about three months before this film's November 1985 release, is visible.

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The band 3-Speed, which performed the film's title song, appeared in several scenes that did not make the final cut of the film.

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In a deleted scene, all the vampire characters ate cockroaches. Jim Carrey insisted on using real cockroaches. Many of the actors were upset that the scene was cut because they had been forced to eat cockroaches for nothing.

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The high school scenes were shot at Mark Twain Middle School in Venice, California.

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Morgan Fairchild turned down the role of the Countess.

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Kathleen Turner was considered for the role of the Countess.

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Robin was named after a girl writer Jeffrey Hause dated, and Mark was chosen as a tribute to co-writer David Hines's nephew, who died of leukemia.

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When this film was released, Jim Carrey was 23 years old. Karen Kopkins was 27 years old.

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Michael J. Fox was the original choice for the role of Mark Kendall.

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The Countess's painting was modeled after "Madonna," a 19th-century painting by the Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch. The original plan was to depict the seedy side of Hollywood with a production design inspired by Munch's art, but director Howard Storm chose instead to focus on Hollywood's 1980s neon glow.

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Near the end of the film, as Mark, Robin, Russ and Jamie try to escape the Countess's mansion, Russ and Jamie stay behind to distract the vampires. They are last seen being seduced by two attractive female vampires. Their ultimate fate is never revealed.

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The flame-red lips-shaped telephone used in the "dial-a-date" pickup bar scene was TeleQuest's "Hot Lips." The company specialized in design and innovative telephone sets for the deregulated telephone market (after the breakup of the Bell system in January 1982). Other famous designs by the company include the Mickey Mouse phone and the Baseball phone.

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The film features vampire twin brothers played by Glen Mauro and Gary Mauro. Carey More, who plays one of the female vampires, also has a twin sister, the actress Camilla More, and they have appeared together in different projects.

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The DVD release of Once Bitten took place on August 26, 2003.

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