Hammer's Dracula was a big deal in Italy and, as you know, my people see imitation as the most sincere way of saying they like something. Except that Renato Polselli was a believer in the magical power of not just violence, but also sex.
1960 was a big year for Eurohorror: Bava's Black Sunday, Majano's Atom Age Vampire, Vadim's Blood and Roses, Franju's Eyes Without a Face, Böttger's Horrors of Spider Island, Ferroni's Mill of the Stone Women and this movie's spiritual relative, The Playgirls and the Vampire. All of these movies on some level - and some more than others - have the blood on the throat and the hot blood in the heart, so to speak.
As a crew of ballerinas rehearses in a castle, the professor (Pier Ugo Gragnani) explains vampires to them. This goes down as several young girls have already had their blood drained, you know, just like a vampire would. There's also romance, as Luisa (Hélène Rémy) and the master of the dance troupe Giorgio (Gino Turini) are getting together while Francesca (Tina Gloriani) is falling for the professor's son Luca (Isarco Ravaioli).
The four decide to go on a double date into the woods where they find the abandoned castle of Contessa Alda (María Luisa Rolando). Are you the least bit surprised that the Contessa is still there and wearing a dress that looks ancient? Or that Luisa is soon attacked by a monster and becomes the Lucy to Francesca's Mina? Perhaps the biggest surprise, seeing that this is made all the way back in 1960, is that Luisa and Francesca seem to be closer than any of their relationships with men.
Polselli sets the trend for many Italian exploitation directors that will follow. And by that, I mean, he outright copies not only from Terence Fisher but from nearly every vampire movie that has come before, all the way back to Vampyr.
This was written by Polselli, Giuseppe Pellegrini and Ernesto Gastaldi, who would go on to make so many movies. I love the idea that the Countess uses Herman to drain the women, which makes him young and vital again, then she drains him to do the same for herself, making him ugly again and someone who she rejects. This has been their pattern for what seems like years and he does it all for love. She does it all for herself.
I can't believe that MGM brought this to America and released it in a double feature with Tower of London. There's a great new Shout! Factory release that has not only the film, but the Super 8 United Artists home version, which tells the story in so much less time.
1960 was a big year for Eurohorror: Bava's Black Sunday, Majano's Atom Age Vampire, Vadim's Blood and Roses, Franju's Eyes Without a Face, Böttger's Horrors of Spider Island, Ferroni's Mill of the Stone Women and this movie's spiritual relative, The Playgirls and the Vampire. All of these movies on some level - and some more than others - have the blood on the throat and the hot blood in the heart, so to speak.
As a crew of ballerinas rehearses in a castle, the professor (Pier Ugo Gragnani) explains vampires to them. This goes down as several young girls have already had their blood drained, you know, just like a vampire would. There's also romance, as Luisa (Hélène Rémy) and the master of the dance troupe Giorgio (Gino Turini) are getting together while Francesca (Tina Gloriani) is falling for the professor's son Luca (Isarco Ravaioli).
The four decide to go on a double date into the woods where they find the abandoned castle of Contessa Alda (María Luisa Rolando). Are you the least bit surprised that the Contessa is still there and wearing a dress that looks ancient? Or that Luisa is soon attacked by a monster and becomes the Lucy to Francesca's Mina? Perhaps the biggest surprise, seeing that this is made all the way back in 1960, is that Luisa and Francesca seem to be closer than any of their relationships with men.
Polselli sets the trend for many Italian exploitation directors that will follow. And by that, I mean, he outright copies not only from Terence Fisher but from nearly every vampire movie that has come before, all the way back to Vampyr.
This was written by Polselli, Giuseppe Pellegrini and Ernesto Gastaldi, who would go on to make so many movies. I love the idea that the Countess uses Herman to drain the women, which makes him young and vital again, then she drains him to do the same for herself, making him ugly again and someone who she rejects. This has been their pattern for what seems like years and he does it all for love. She does it all for herself.
I can't believe that MGM brought this to America and released it in a double feature with Tower of London. There's a great new Shout! Factory release that has not only the film, but the Super 8 United Artists home version, which tells the story in so much less time.