Vampires

The Vampire and the Ballerina

The Vampire and the Ballerina (1960)

A rock and roll ballet troupe stays in the countryside in order to practice before their next gig. The nearby village lives in fear of a local vampire who inhabits a medieval castle nicknamed “the Castle of the Damned”. One of the dancers, Louisa (Helene Romy) gets bitten by the vampire and her friend Francesca (Tina Gloriani) tries to save her from becoming enslaved by the undead. If I go any further into this convoluted plot with its extraneous characters, we’ll be here for a couple of hours.

Equal parts early 1960s pop-kitsch and gothic horror, Renato Polselli’s The Vampire and the Ballerina is a wacky good time flick. Aside from its silliness, the biggest problem with this movie is the pacing. It drags towards the end but it’s worth sticking it out. Bad movie enthusiasts will no doubt be able to get a laugh out of the incredibly cheesy dialog and half-assed dance sequences. Fans of the Italian gothics will enjoy the beautiful scenery, moody cinematography and effective lighting. The soundtrack by Aldo Piga is nothing to get excited about as it seems just a tad old fashioned though the upbeat pieces for the dance numbers are decent enough.

While it is completely tame by today’s standards, this flick is quite the sexualized little vampire tale and things get pretty hot and heavy. The vampire’s bite causes a rapturous sexual frenzy in his (always female) victims. Ladies affected by fangy charms look like they’re about to cream their dang jeans (or leotards, in this case). To add to the naughtiness, all of the female characters in this movie show a lot of skin. There’s plenty of practically see-through nighties and low-cut gowns (don’t forget those leotards!) to keep you perverts out there satisfied (or thoroughly teased).

Polselli would go on to direct some real trash in the 70s like the idiotic giallo Delirium and the supernatural head scratcher The Reincarnation of Isabel. On a much more successful note, this is insanely prolific genre screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi’s first writing credit and I have to say this is pretty good, all things considered. The Vampire and the Ballerina is a humble, awkwardly plotted but fun beginning of a nearly 40 year screenwriting career. This man lent his talents to so many incredible films, that it is simply mind-boggling for an Italian film nut like me to even ponder.

The Vampire and the Ballerina is a lot of fun thanks to its hilarious badness but there is enough decent material stashed in the camp to make this a worthwhile Italian horror film. There is also strange twist to the vampire legend here (elaborated on below) and some weird, painfully obvious sexual overtones. I can’t say much good about the makeup though; the vampire looks like a crappy old lady with a skin condition. It just made me sad and I want to wish him luck. Good luck, buddy.

“Get back into your coffin; it is your coach to the land of the living dead!”

The Shiver of the Vampires

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The Shiver of the Vampires (1971)

Newlyweds Antoine and Isle (Jean-Marie Durand and Sandra Julien) make their way to Isle’s cousins’ castle for a quick visit before continuing on their honeymoon in Italy. They discover from the townsfolk that her cousins have recently died and only their servants remain in the castle. When they arrive, Isle is seduced by Isolde the vampire (Dominique) while Antoine uncovers the fact that Isle’s cousins aren’t dead but are actually quite undead. In order to save his young wife, Antoine tries to flee with Isle but it may already be too late.

Jean Rollin’s fourth vampire film, The Shiver of the Vampires, is one hell of a blend of the arthouse with the grindhouse. The perfect gothic scenery and brazen lighting are matching only by the beauty of the actresses involved. I couldn’t help but be blown away by the lush and fluid cinematography. The man responsible, Jean-Jacques Renon, also provided the excellent cinematography on The Demoniacs. Fans of 70s films will no doubt be impressed by the soundtrack performed by progressive rock band, Acanthus. While other Rollin soundtracks are much moodier and eerie, Acanthus just rocks out through much of the film but they know when to deliver the softer, moodier moments.

Who the hell came up with Isolde’s (Dominique) three grand entrances and deadly boob spikes? A genius, that’s who. The wildly sexy Sandra Julien is mesmerizing in her role as the object of the vampires’ desire, Isle. In fact, the scene where Isolde seduces her is deliriously hot. From hot to hilarious, actors Michel Delahaye and Jacques Robiolles are extremely amusing as Isle’s cousins, the two pretentious ex-vampire hunters. They deliver what are essentially monologues split up between the two of them with great timing and even take bows when their performance is over.

Although it doesn’t make my list of favorite Rollin films (Grapes of Death, The Living Dead Girl, or The Demoniacs), Shiver of the Vampires is still a fascinating and enjoyable film. The film is pretty slow-moving so be prepared for that but it gets better with repeat viewing. Luckily, like much of the director’s other works, this film is visually stunning and the characters are completely off the wall. Horror fans unfamiliar with Rollin should prepare for surrealism, a dreamlike delivery, and a minimal amount of bloodshed. Clips of Shiver can be found on When Eurotrash Attacks Volume 1.

Night of the Devils

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Night of the Devils (1972)

A man suffering from amnesia (Gianni Garko) staggers out of the woods, injured, and catatonic. He is brought to a hospital where a doctor (Umberto Raho) runs tests which determine the man has suffered a terrible shock that has reduced him to this agitated and paranoid state. The only person who can identify this man is Sdenka (Agostina Belli), a lovely young woman who claims she met the patient a just few days ago. She identifies him as Nicola, a business man from Italy, but then disappears after the very sight of her drives Nicola into a frenzy.

The film then flashes back to a few days before to the events that drove Nicola mad. While purchasing lumber for his company, Nicola’s car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and he seeks help from a family returning from a funeral and living in a nearly abandoned village in the woods. Jovan (played by Roberto Maldera) agrees to help Nicola but it must be in the morning because there is said to be a blood-drinking witch who prowls around at night. This turns out to be true when the patriarch Gorca (Bill Vanders) returns from attempting to kill the witch but is now a vampire himself. As each member of the family falls prey to vampiric forces, Nicola tries to rescue the lovely Sdenka, the lovely daughter of Gorca with whom he has fallen in love with.

Night of the Devils kicks in with one of the most attention-grabbing opening scenes in Italian horror. Gianni Garko (or Sartana to you spaghetti western types) comes stumbling out of the woods into a clearing. He passes out near a stream and wakes up in a hospital where he is being examined by doctors. During his tests, we see into his mind where he is tormented by horrific visions of rotting corpses, a woman’s face getting shot off, ghoulish figures ripping the flesh from a naked woman’s body. This sequence is spell-binding. Its cheesy for sure but it is impossible not to wonder just what happened to this guy. Curiosity = piqued? You know it.

Director Giorgio Feroni (Mill of the Stone Women) remakes the ‘Wurdulak’ segment of Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath but makes it his own by amping up the sex, the gore, and the cackling madness of the vampires. The soundtrack by Giorgio Gaslini (So Sweet, So Dead) is great with its haunting vocal pieces and tense and minimal freakouts. Spanish cinematographer, Manuel Berenguer, keeps things nice and claustrophobic. While the countryside is nice, it is never pretty. Instead, the entire film is very somber and cast in shadows (without being overly dark). When there is a brightly lit scene, it screams danger and madness. If I have to find faults with this flick then it would be that the pacing is a little slow and the gore effects are looking a bit gamy.

Oh, this cast is great. Gianni Garko is always good. The lovely Agostina Belli of Holocaust 2000 and Scream of the Demon Lover is excellent as the sweet (or possibly evil) Sdenka. You might remember Roberto Maldera from The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave where he played the very unlucky groundskeeper. The luscious and hypnotic Teresa Gimpera of Crypt of the Living Dead gets ripped to shreds in this one (and it’s not by the critics). The always dependable Umberto Raho who usually plays police inspectors gets to flash his skillz by playing a doctor! And then there’s Maria Monti as ‘The Witch’. This is a truly eerie performance from an underused actress who had a small role in What Have You Done to Solange? I also have to mention young Cinzia De Carolis who grew up and played the freaky jailbait who tries to seduce John Saxon in Cannibal Apocalypse.

Night of the Devils is one of those forgotten masterpieces and a genuinely gore-soaked relic. This is the kind of cinema that drives me nerdily on. This film proves that if you think you’ve seen every last scrap of Italian junk, chances are there is one more title out there you need to see. Creepy, sleazy, bloody, melodramatic, nasty, and, as an added bonus: mind-fucky! The somber tone never lets up for a second and you just know that this ain’t gonna end well for our deranged hero. This is good stuff, y’all.

“Television? Now that’s something I’ve never seen!”

The Rape of the Vampire

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The Rape of the Vampire (1968)

A group of women who believe they are vampires are living in an old house on the outskirts of a small village. Three young people show up in order to prove to the ignorant villagers that these women are not vampires at all and their fears are unfounded. But things go very wrong when they actually turn out to be vampires and a bloody altercation with the villagers occurs. The queen of the vampires shows up and resurrects the slain vampires and attempts to have them join her fanged army bent on world domination.

The Rape of the Vampire is the first feature length film from Jean Rollin (The Demoniacs, Lips of Blood) and it isn’t exactly light viewing. My first encounter with this film was a total disaster and I barely managed to watch the entire thing. The fact that the film was originally a short film with the second half blatantly tacked on afterwards to make its feature length didn’t help matters much. Now that I have given many of the director’s other films a chance, coming back to The Rape of the Vampire was a much more pleasant, though somewhat problematic experience.

The first thing I noticed was the camerawork. It’s kind of shaky and clumsy at times but always hungry for beauty and able to capture the minutest details. The black and white compositions are simply breathtaking. After I got over drooling over the visual elements, the music tugged at my ear. The film’s score is a combination of free jazz, library music, and doomsayer organ pieces that perfectly accentuate this moody film.

While the film looses steam in the second half, it is hard for me to really slam it. This is an independent art horror film from the late 60s, what the hell was I expecting? Oh yeah, and it’s from France! The seams really start to show during some of the film’s violent moments as the actors come off as clunky and un-choreographed. There are a couple of fencing and sword fighting scenes that are pretty embarrassing to watch. How seriously all of this is meant to be taken is anybody’s guess. I found a lot of comedy hidden in here that takes some of the edge off all the pretension.

I’m glad I returned to this Rollin film after having such a negative reaction to it the first time around. I still get antsy during the second half but the poetic ending saves the day. If you’re a horror fan curious about getting into Jean Rollin then this is absolutely the last film you should start with. For that, try my favorites The Grapes of Death or The Living Dead Girl. If you’ve got a thing for artsy vampire films that emphasize mood and revel in experimentation then you’ll pretty much flip the fuck out for The Rape of the Vampire.

“Crazy people always have a nasty effect on me.”

To Sleep with a Vampire

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To Sleep with a Vampire (1993)

A vampire named Jacob (Scott Valentine) approaches a stripper named Nina (Charlie Spradling) but not merely to drink her blood. Jacob has lived for so many years without the sun that he needs Nina to describe it to him. Nina agrees but only because Jacob plans to suck her dry before dawn and she needs to stall for time. In a desperate attempt at survival, Nina tries reasoning with the vampire and even tries to seduce him. As the night comes to a close the pair discovers more and more about each other. Could this be more than just Jacob’s need for blood and more than Nina’s drive to live through the night? Could this be love? Googy?

Erotic thriller my ass! Director Adam Friedman took some time off from directing Playboy specials to fart out this unintentionally comical vampire flick. The plot moves along awkwardly and maligns the viewer by keeping the two leads in one room long enough for some “deep” conversation about vampires. And then there’s the script… Holy living ass, this is some of the funniest and most quotable garbage I’ve ever heard. Not to mention that our actors deliver this tripe with utmost sincerity.

An important revelation from the script is that apparently strippers aren’t trying to sincerely seduce the men they’re dancing for. You’re blowing my mind, duder! From the cheap sound to the even cheaper special effects to the minimal locations, To Sleep With A Vampire is some half-assed nonsense. At least the cinematographer got to have some fun by sneaking in some interesting camera tricks here and there.

They say it takes two to tango or rather; it takes two to ruin a movie. Charlie Spradling and Scott Valentine have all the chemistry of a broken Rock’em Sock’em Robots game. Spradling (Meridian) must have graduated from the Shannen Doherty School of Scowl-Acting and Valentine (My Demon Lover), well, I don’t know where the damn hell they found this guy. While his Jacob character is busy shattering many of the myths that surround vampires, Valentine himself is shattering many viewers’ preconceived ideas about the immortal creatures as well. Vampires that are cool, dark, mysterious, and sexy are miles away from this picture. You won’t find a dorkier or more spastic vampire than Jacob with his contortionist facial expressions and knack for pushing the boundaries of scenery chewing. Oh God, he looks like a mouth-breather! And that tiger print Speedo?!?

To Sleep With A Vampire is a comedy. Don’t let IMDB fool you with words such as “Drama”, “Horror”, “Romance”, or “Thriller”. No, no! These are all lies. The only real drama comes from my sincere pity for Nina who has to spend the night talking (and much more!) with the lamest vampire in film history. Once you have tasted the forbidden fruit of Jacob and Nina’s doomed night together, you will forever be altered. Part of you will be screaming maniacally at your television and the rest will be trying to climb the walls. Oh yeah, Charlie Spradling gets naked. There you go. Exquisitely painful. Enjoy.

“What does it feel like to have a friend?”

 

Crypt of the Vampire

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Crypt of the Vampire (1964)

Young women are being drained of their blood and all signs point to the Karnstein family. Count Ludwig Karnstein (Christopher Lee) enlists the help of historian Friedrich Klauss (José Campos) to explore his lineage. Klauss finds out that one of Ludwig’s ancestors was executed for witchcraft but not before she placed a curse on the family line. Ludwig’s daughter Laura (Adriana Ambesi) believes that she is possessed by the witch and is developing a taste for the red stuff.

Annette (Véra Valmont), the count’s mistress, knows that something is wrong with Laura. She is also suspicious of Laura’s new friend, Annette (Ursula Davis), who arrived under mysterious circumstances and has been at Laura’s side ever since. The family’s maid, Rowena (Nela Conjiu), thinks she’s helping the Karnstein clan with her black magic rituals but people keep dying despite her appeals to the dark lord.

Camillo Mastrocinque (who directed Barbara Steele in An Angel for Satan) delivers an effective and enjoyable though not entirely original gothic horror film. The convoluted story from prolific genre screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi (The Whip and the Body) has its chilling moments and takes inspiration from the classic horror story Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. The dialogue is predictable and hampered by the awkward dubbing. There is also some totally unnecessary narration which is abandoned very quickly (thanks). What Crypt of the Vampire does have going for it is good pacing and superbly eerie sets and locations.

Christopher Lee (who thankfully dubbed his own voice) is quite good in Crypt but that’s no surprise as the man rarely disappoints. I really, really liked Adriana Ambesi as Laura whose flimsy nightgown threatens to explode throughout the nighttime scenes. Her dumbass black magic schemes led by her scary maid are pretty amusing. How about next time we DON’T invoke the spirit of a witch to possess anyone, okay?

Véra Valmont, who plays Count Ludwig’s lover Annette, is very arresting. She goes all out with the terror faces and I wish that she had done more horror movies. José Campos is a little bland as Friedrich, the heroic (?) genealogist. Luckily, Lee is around to keep the appropriate levels of badass dude in a smoking jacket right where they need to be.

With its cheesy Sunday afternoon horror thrills (and some wild-eyed and voluptuous ladies), Crypt of the Vampire is a whole lot of fun. There’s melodrama, mysterious manuscripts, and some gruesome business involving the severed hand of a hunchbacked beggar. This would make a terrific double feature with either Alberto De Martino’s The Blancheville Monster or the sleepy Barbara Steele vehicle: Terror Creatures from the Grave.

“I must kill you. That was my promise. I must kill you.”

Night of Dark Shadows

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Night Of Dark Shadows (1971)

Quentin Collins (David Selby of “Dark Shadows”) inherits the estate of Collinwood and moves in with his wife Tracy (Kate Jackson of “Scarecrow and Mrs. King”, “Dark Shadows”). Not long after arriving Quentin begins to have visions of a long dead witch named Angelique (Lara Parker of “Dark Shadows”) along with his ancestor Charles Collins (also Selby). With the help of the sinister housekeeper Carlotta (Grayson Hall: The Night of the Iguana, “Dark Shadows”) the spirit of Angelique slowly starts manipulating Quentin. Will Tracy with the help of husband and wife novelist team Alex (John Karlen: “Murder She Wrote”, “Dark Shadows”) and Claire (Nancy Barrett of, you guessed it, “Dark Shadows”) be able to free Quentin from Angelique’s clutches before it is too late?

In 1970 “Dark Shadows” creator/producer Dan Curtis (Burnt Offerings, The Night Stalker) decided the time was right to a make a feature length “Dark Shadows” film. The resulting effort was the excellent House Of Dark Shadows, a film that took the high points of the first major storyline of vampire Barnabas Collins and boiled it down into 97 minutes. It was a box office success and plans for a sequel were soon launched but by then the show had gone off the air and Jonathan Frid (Barnabas) would not make the film due to fear of typecasting. (Too late really. He should have done it because he was already typecast.) Dan and screenwriter Sam Hall quickly came up with an idea that loosely corresponded with the television show’s ‘parallel time’ episodes. And I’ll say this now, you do not have to be familiar with the show to watch this film.

Most of the folks in the film were in “Dark Shadows” the television show. Whereas Grayson Hall played (mainly) Dr. Julia Hoffman on the show, here she plays Carlotta the housekeeper, a character that never appeared on the show. Conversely David Selby did play Quentin Collins on the show but apparently not the same Quentin Collins that we see in the film. In fact Selby played two different Quentin Collinses on the show. So it can get a bit confusing. It’s made mention in the film that Collinwood was left to Quentin by his aunt Elizabeth (played on the show by Joan Bennett (Suspiria) in her only television role) and although we never see her it seems to be an attempt to tie the film to the series. In fact the witch Angelique is played by the same actress that played Angelique in the television show. But in the film it seems unlikely that this is the same Angelique that cursed Barnabas to be a vampire, one reason being that the television Angelique’s last name is Bouchard while the film’s Angelique has the surname of Collins. I say all this not to pick on the film, as I am a huge “Dark Shadows” fan, but to bring up my next point:

MGM forced Dan Curtis to cut 34 minutes from the film bringing it down from a run time of 129 minutes to 94. And they only gave him 24 hours to do it. Actually he originally cut it down to 97 minutes and the remainder was cut in order to achieve a GP rating. There is one particularly bloody scene in the film and one wonders how many more graphic scenes were cut. The film was successful but not as much as its predecessor and fans have always pointed to the editing as the main reason why. Watching the film it is obvious it was hacked up (I hesitate to use the word hacked because I do not believe that that was Curtis’ mindset while he was trimming) but not in an overly confusing way. People you’ve never seen before don’t pop up suddenly and the film doesn’t make any wild jumps in logic. It just feels like there are some things missing. According to Wikipedia those things are: another flashback to Angelique and Charles Collins, two more scenes of Gerard the handyman/caretaker, romantic scenes of Quentin and Tracy, more hanging scenes, and a candlelit exorcism scene that was to be the climax. Reportedly in 1999 the footage was discovered sans audio, 16 new scenes total and bits that extended scenes, injecting a darker tone. Hopes were high when the current DVD and blu-ray releases were announced that Warner Home Video would be reinstating the scenes but it didn’t happen. All we got for extras was a trailer.

As far as the editing that I did notice, two things in particular jump to mind. While reading Wikipedia it mentions that Alex and Claire Jenkins move into the cottage along with Quentin and Tracy moving into the mansion. Watching the film it seems to me that Alex and Claire had already been living there for a while as it is mentioned that Alex had met Carlotta the housekeeper a while before when they first moved in, while we see Quentin and Tracy meet Carlotta for the first time at the beginning of the film. (And while I am at it, Quentin says he has never been to Collinwood before which makes him being the television Quentin (either of them) even more unlikely.) The other is Wikipedia’s mention of Charles’ fate in the past. Without spoiling it I will say that unless I missed it, there is a discrepancy there as well. It is impossible for me to say if this is a case of me missing something, those particular parts being edited out, Wikipedia going off a slightly longer script/source, or Wikipedia simply being incorrect.

But what about the film itself? I enjoy it quite a bit while lamenting what is lost. Atmospheric cinematography from Richard Shore compliments Curtis’ surefooted direction. Flashbacks have the woozy blurring of the sides of the frame. The hanging scene is shot from some interesting angles. The film was shot on the grounds of Lyndhurst estate, a huge gothic manor, which is a huge asset to the film’s production value. Robert Cobert’s score ranges from ominous piano to harmonica (not as bad as it sounds) to creepy music lifted straight from the show. Selby does a great job as the haunted Quentin, a pre- Charlie’s Angels Kate Jackson is impossibly cute and perky and Lara Parker’s Angelique is threateningly evil in flashback while being very convincing as the ghostly apparition in the present. There’s one effect that is a bit cheesy but nothing out of line with films from this period. Unlike House Of Dark Shadows this was made without the burden of having to make the show at the same time and it shows (not that House feels particularly rushed.) That fact makes it even harder to accept that the studio demanded cuts. This could be a minor classic 70’s horror film (and I personally think it is anyway) in more people’s minds if there were a longer, slightly more realized cut out there somewhere. And speaking of the two films I’ve always thought that they should have swapped titles. This film seems a better fit with the title House Of Dark Shadows since it is Quentin’s arrival at the house which sets the film’s events into motion.

An interesting bit of trivia is the production’s hiring of famed paranormal researcher Hans Holzer (several books and an Amityville investigation) to give some authenticity to the film but sadly a lot of that seems to have hit the cutting room floor in the form of the exorcism. A prologue was written with a hippie sneaking into the house and being killed by Angelique and Gerard but it was never filmed which is interesting because the film does open a bit abruptly.

I recommend Night of Dark Shadowns to the 70’s horror film fan with the caveat that you are not (and probably won’t ever be) seeing what Dan Curtis intended for you to. He took the risky step of making a “Dark Shadows” film without the character of Barnabas and despite the cuts came out with a visually pleasing gothic chiller. But oh what might have been.

-Brad Hogue