Monster loving director Leon Klimovsky comes a cropper with this ambitious but ultimately unsatisfying horror yarn, which goes for the jugular by mixing two separate genres in what are two essentially separate movies. The first film is in the Hammer Horror tradition and satisfying enough in a Euro-horror way; it involves a village being invaded by a race of vampires who claw their way from their tombs one terrible night – a scene which gave the film its alternate title, NIGHT OF THE WALKING DEAD. The villagers retaliate by driving nails into the heads of the creatures in one of the film's imaginative highlights.
The second half of the film – given substantially more screen time – involves a slow-moving romance between a human girl and a (considerably older) vampire count. It's quite well-handled, and subtle enough to work, but there's far too much inaction which renders much of the content more than a little mundane. The leading lady, Emma Cohen (a regular from Paul Naschy movies) is quite bland in her role although she convinces as somebody sick enough to be on death's door. The vampire count is quite charming, although his Spanish accent is hampered by the routine American dub job on the version I saw. The downbeat ending is surprisingly effective, sympathising with the vampire and his plight rather than condemning him.
Leon Klimovsky always directed films that looked great – WEREWOLF SHADOW is one example. STRANGE LOVE OF THE VAMPIRES is no exception to this rule – it manages to be very atmospheric, with the cemetery sequences particularly eerie, enhanced by the horrid grating noise coming from the opening tombs. Unfortunately many – if not all – scenes are shot darkly, making it a job for the viewer to witness the murky goings-on. Whilst the gore is minimal, there's some excitement to be had in the mass vampire attack, which is actually frightening; Klimovsky makes good use of Spanish film regular Jose Luis Lifante, looking especially weird here as a pale vampire. The film also packs plenty of nudity into the short running time, with the first half-hour particularly loaded with undressed women; anyone would think they were watching a softcore porn flick if they stumbled on this by accident! Still, STRANGE LOVE OF THE VAMPIRES is worth a look for horror fans as a quite unusual, atmospheric example of a European horror flick.
The second half of the film – given substantially more screen time – involves a slow-moving romance between a human girl and a (considerably older) vampire count. It's quite well-handled, and subtle enough to work, but there's far too much inaction which renders much of the content more than a little mundane. The leading lady, Emma Cohen (a regular from Paul Naschy movies) is quite bland in her role although she convinces as somebody sick enough to be on death's door. The vampire count is quite charming, although his Spanish accent is hampered by the routine American dub job on the version I saw. The downbeat ending is surprisingly effective, sympathising with the vampire and his plight rather than condemning him.
Leon Klimovsky always directed films that looked great – WEREWOLF SHADOW is one example. STRANGE LOVE OF THE VAMPIRES is no exception to this rule – it manages to be very atmospheric, with the cemetery sequences particularly eerie, enhanced by the horrid grating noise coming from the opening tombs. Unfortunately many – if not all – scenes are shot darkly, making it a job for the viewer to witness the murky goings-on. Whilst the gore is minimal, there's some excitement to be had in the mass vampire attack, which is actually frightening; Klimovsky makes good use of Spanish film regular Jose Luis Lifante, looking especially weird here as a pale vampire. The film also packs plenty of nudity into the short running time, with the first half-hour particularly loaded with undressed women; anyone would think they were watching a softcore porn flick if they stumbled on this by accident! Still, STRANGE LOVE OF THE VAMPIRES is worth a look for horror fans as a quite unusual, atmospheric example of a European horror flick.