Grade: B
Twenty years ago, “Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?” aired on the Lifetime network. It starred Tori Spelling as a young woman whose boyfriend becomes abusive.
The movie became a cult classic, and Lifetime decided to celebrate its anniversary by inviting James Franco to remake it.
Franco completely revamped the film by changing it into a love story between a human woman and her vampire girlfriend.
This movie tells the story of Pearl, a “nightwalker” who is dating a theater major named Leah. Leah’s conservative mother disapproves of the relationship, and Leah’s creepy friend Bob is unhappy about it. Complications ensue as a vampire group that Pearl belongs to seeks to harm Leah.
It’s strange that Will Ferrell’s “A Deadly Adoption” inspired the creation of this revamp, since they are so different. “A Deadly Adoption” is an almost beat for beat recreation of a stereotypical Lifetime movie. It’s only funny because so many Lifetime movies are funny in an unintentional way.
In contrast, “Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?” is an absurd exploitation film that feels like something you’d only be able to rent from a video store on VHS. It has everything from intellectual discussions of how vampires function as queer figures in literature to a visceral eye gouging.
It’s interesting how some of Franco’s other projects bleed into each other. Franco recently directed a film called “The Masterpiece,” which is about how the one of a kind director Tommy Wiseau created a cult classic called “The Room.”
Wiseau is fascinated by vampires, and “The Room” features aerial shots similar to those in this Lifetime movie. At times, “Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?” feels like an entry in Wiseau’s dream journal.
There are many flaws in this version of “Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?” I didn’t understand why Pearl’s vampire group was interested in Leah.
Parts of it are a little too restrained. But when it digs into a particular sequence, like when the vampire group kills a man who was going to take advantage of a drunk girl, it feels smarter than the average campy Lifetime movie.
I didn’t know what to expect when I began watching“Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?” It turned out to be entertaining enough to be a budding cult classic. I look forward to inviting a few friends over to riff on it, like I would for “The Room.”
jpastern@indiana.edu | @jessepasternack
