''Love Bite'' is a 2012 British

comedy horror Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: "black comedy, parody and sp ...

film directed by Andy De Emmony, based on a screenplay by Cris Cole and Ronan Blaney. The film revolves around a mysterious traveller girl who is suspected of being a werewolf. It stars

Jessica Szohr Jessica Karen Szohr (;) is an American actress. She started her screen career appearing on television shows such as ''My Wife and Kids'' (2003), ''Joan of Arcadia'' (2004), '' What About Brian'' (2007) and ''CSI: Miami'' (2007). She gained recogn ...

Ed Speleers Edward John Speleers (born 7 April 1988) is an English actor and producer. He is best known for playing the title role in the 2006 film ''Eragon'', the antagonist character Stephen Bonnet in the TV series '' Outlander'', as well as James "Jimmy" ...

Luke Pasqualino Luca Giuseppe "Luke" Pasqualino (born 19 February 1990) is a British actor of Italian descent. He is best known for his portrayal of Freddie McClair in the television series '' Skins'', d'Artagnan in the television series '' The Musketeers'' a ...

and

Timothy Spall Timothy Leonard Spall (born 27 February 1957) is an English actor and presenter. He became a household name in the UK after appearing as Barry Spencer Taylor in the 1983 ITV comedy-drama series '' Auf Wiedersehen, Pet''. Spall performed in '' ...

. It was released on 9 November 2012.

Plot

School is over and summer has begun in the dead-end seaside town of Rainmouth. While Jamie's friends seem to be happy working in the local pie factory by day and looking for sex by night, Jamie is bored out of his mind, running his pot-head mother's B&B. He's desperate to get out of there. But when he meets beautiful, smart and sexy American traveler Juliana at a party, he's smitten - the world is not so small after all. But soon after Juliana's arrival, strange things start happening. One of the local teens goes missing at a party. Then, another. Jamie is warned by an enigmatic stranger that a werewolf is in town - and preying solely on virgin flesh! The only way to be safe seems to be to pop your cherry. As the locals are picked off one by one, the boys fear that a werewolf is indeed after them. And for all their talk, it turns out none of them have ever had sex before... Pretty soon, everyone is dying to get laid.

Cast

as Juliana *

as Jamie *

as Sid *

as Kevin *

Kierston Wareing Kierston Wareing (born 7 January 1976) is a British actress. Her first film role was the lead in Ken Loach's '' It's a Free World...'', followed by a supporting role in Andrea Arnold's ''Fish Tank'' – which won the BAFTA award for ‘Best Bri ...

as Natalie * Imogen Toner as Mandy *

Robert Pugh Robert Pugh (born 11 October 1950) is a Welsh actor, known for his many television appearances, including the role of Craster in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones''. Life and career Pugh was born in the Tynte, Mountain Ash and grew up in Cilf ...

as Sergeant Rooney *

Paul Birchard Paul Birchard is an American actor who lives in Finland. He has appeared in film, television, stage and radio productions, most notably as Bud in ''Sweet Bird of Youth'' with the Royal National Theatre, Ross in ''The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?'' at ...

as Reverend Lynch *Adam Leese as Malik *Ben Keaton as Father John * Robin Morrissey as Bruno *Daniel Kendrick as Spike

Production

Shooting for ''Love Bite'' took place in

Clacton-on-Sea Clacton-on-Sea is a seaside town in the Tendring District in the county of Essex, England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District with a population of 56,874 (2016). The town is situated ...

, Essex,

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

Largs Largs ( gd, An Leargaidh Ghallda) is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" (''An Leargaidh'') in Scottish Gaelic. A popular seaside resort with a pier, the town mark ...

Millport, Cumbrae Millport (Scottish Gaelic: Port a' Mhuilinn) is the only town on the island of Great Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde off the coast of mainland Britain, in the council area of North Ayrshire. The town is south of the ferry terminal that links the i ...

and near

North Berwick North Berwick (; gd, Bearaig a Tuath) is a seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately east-northeast of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable ...

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the his ...

. Filming started on 15 September 2011. The film wrapped on 14 November 2011, after a five-week shoot in Scotland.

Design

Creature effects

Matt Wavish, writing for the Horror Cult Films website and giving the movie only 2.5 stars out of 10 in his review, was one of few reviewers who admired the werewolf effects: "When the werewolf does finally appear, it is quite cool. Clever lighting and camera angles hide the films low budget, and enable the rather large monster to actually look impressive for most of the time." Reviewer Karl De Mesa mourned the underabundance of werewolf sightings: "when we do see the beast the darn CGI makes it look like this one might just fall into the B-movie bin." Reviewer Ellis Whitehouse expressed some outrage: "The wolf itself is a disgustingly ugly piece of CGI work, with it changing size and shape as the scenes progress, one minute it'll be twice the size a human with the fattest head in existence, next it'll be a puny mongrel cowering in front of a car on the road."

Marketing

De Emmony shopped ''Love Bite'' at the

American Film Market The American Film Market (AFM) is a film industry event held each year in early November. Historically, more than 7,000 people attend the eight-day annual event to network and to sell, finance and acquire films. Participants come from more than ...

2011 event, allegedly hoping to appeal to the audience of ''

The Inbetweeners Movie ''The Inbetweeners Movie'', known simply as ''The Inbetweeners'' in North America, is a 2011 British coming-of-age teen adventure comedy film based on the E4 sitcom ''The Inbetweeners'', written by series creators Damon Beesley and Iain Morris ...

''. The movie's

tagline In entertainment, a tagline (alternatively spelled tag line) is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, s ...

is "Dying...to get laid." Two official

trailers Trailer may refer to: a Transportation * Trailer (vehicle), an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle ** Bicycle trailer, a wheeled frame for hitching to a bicycle to tow cargo or passengers ** Full-trailer ** Semi-trailer **Horse traile ...

were released.

Release

The film was released on 9 November 2012.

Reception

Movie reviews were mixed. Michael Juvinall of the Horror Society liked it - "a clever mix of horror and humor" - with the proviso, "We don't see too much of the werewolf in the film and what we do see is CGI, which was a little disappointing for me." A reviewer for ''GMA News Online'' was also mostly positive: "Add a generous tone of comedy to this naughty UK horror movie and what you've got are well-sketched characters and great plot potential that, unfortunately, just drags in the execution. There's a lot of side stories here that never get developed and left unresolved like stray threads. For all its faults though, ''Love Bite'' is as entertaining as its mix of supernatural and sex promises. Credit the young actors for this. There's genuine chemistry between Szohr and Speleers..." Reviewer Adam Cook wrote, "''Love Bite'' is a risible British horror-comedy that spectacularly fails to deliver either horror or comedy." Horrornews.net reviewer Lizzie Duncan "found none of the main characters that likeable, and this is the key reason why the entire thing seemed to drag on (despite being a relatively short film). ... The whole film is rather vile and crude..." Ellis Whitehouse, giving 1 out of 10 points, begins by referencing ''

Shaun of the Dead ''Shaun of the Dead'' is a 2004 zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Pegg stars as Shaun, a downtrodden salesman in London who is caught in a zombie apocalypse with his friend Ed ( Nick Frost). The ...

'' and ''

Zombieland ''Zombieland'' is a 2009 American post-apocalyptic zombie comedy film directed by Ruben Fleischer in his theatrical debut and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. The film follows a geeky college student ( Jesse Eisenberg) making his wa ...

'' and asks, "Is ''Love Bite'' the latest in an emerging trend of comedy-horror triumphs? No; it is the exact opposite"; he calls the script "pathetic" and the dialogue "basic, uninspiring, unintelligent and down-right insulting."

References

External links

* * {{rotten-tomatoes, love_bite_2012 2012 films 2012 comedy horror films 2010s sex comedy films 2010s teen comedy films 2010s teen horror films British comedy horror films British sex comedy films British teen comedy films British teen horror films Films about virginity Films shot in East Lothian Films shot in Essex Teen sex comedy films British werewolf films 2010s English-language films 2010s British films