Parents' Guide to Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?

The original TV movie was sheer guilty-pleasure trash, but though this remake is pretty darn campy, the acting, writing, and general dignity given to its characters make it a cut above. Leah isn't just a go-for-broke college student who'll date anyone; she's a thoughtful young woman with ambition who takes her relationship seriously, even to the point of having a coming-out dinner with her mom. Of course, the fact that that mom's a stunt-cast Spelling, who was the lead in the original, does lend the proceedings an ironic tone. Spelling's protective-parent motives are also a bit more questionable than those in the original -- is she trying to keep her daughter out of danger? Or is she just upset by her being in a lesbian relationship?

Casting original Danger lead Ivan Sergei as a college professor who dryly explains the sexual/queer connotations of vampire literature and movies was a great touch, too -- it's increasingly hard to take the antics of the lesbian vampire posse seriously when they accompany voice-overs of Sergei and his students analyzing the meaning of horror clichés. But far from detracting from the pleasures of this knowing satire, the academic twist adds to the fun, with the filmmakers finding layers of meaning in Hamlet's magic and doom, too. The filmmakers clearly had a great time making this. Maybe that's why it's so fun to watch.