It's been a hot minute since we've sunken our pronounced canines into a decent vampire flick here at the Wop, and where better to stop our horse-drawn carriage than a gothic Hammer classic like Don Sharp's Kiss of the Vampire, chronologically the third in the studio's long line of fang-fare after 1958's Horror of Dracula and 1960's Brides of Dracula, and indeed, originally intended to be a Dracula sequel(the second without Christopher Lee) with a wild ending borrowed directly from the novelization of Brides(and one that Peter Cushing felt was out of character for his Van Helsing, as he would never resort to using the black arts of the occult to battle blood drinkers, regardless of its effectiveness) that was left out of that production due to the effects team's inability to pull it off believably for audiences at the time.Two short years later, with no Lee or Cushing in the credits, Sharp would give it the old schoolboy try anyway, and the result is an atmospheric and original ride, with lavish colors, impressive set pieces, and beautiful period costumes, that tackles vampirism as a social disease contracted by those who surround themselves with decadence.It stumbles slightly at the climax with laughable rubber bats on wires(Hammer had problems depicting the winged mammals on camera throughout their history, if you ask me), but stands as an entirely watchable cult classic from the legendary studio none-the-less, with a coherent script reminiscent of Hitchcock at times, innovative ideas concerning the vampire mythology, and haunting sequences that would influence later genre productions by accomplished directors like Roman Polanski.Forward!
"Scoff at the strike branded liquor bottle on my forearm all you want, the bitches love this shit!"
In the midst of a bleak funeral in an isolated European burg, a priest's Latin incantations are interrupted by a grief-stricken drunk who plunges a spade through the coffin lid, bringing unearthly screams and fresh claret bubbling to the surface, much to the horror of the mourners, who scatter like roaches in the light from the surreal and somber scene.Elsewhere,newlyweds Marianne and Gerald Harcourt(Jennifer Daniel, Edward de Souza)have broken down on a windy and desolate mountain road in the Carpathians, as their state-of-the-art jalopy sputters to a halt, the petrol tank bone dry.As Gerald hoofs it for some turn-of-the-centry roadside assistance, his delicious new bride is telescoped through the woods by the regal Dr. Ravna(Noel Willman) from his nearby manor.The young couple soon find themselves shacked up at a derelict inn in town, where the innkeeper's wife's constant mood swings from indifference to misery should be a harbinger of the terrible events that would soon transpire.It's not long before Ravna sends a personal carriage to the inn for the stranded lovers, who are lulled into false momentary bliss by the doctor's ornately decorated mansion and son Carl's(Barry Warren) hypnotic piano composition.Meanwhile, Professor Zimmer(Clifford Evans) watches from the wings as Tania(Isobel Black), a beautiful teenaged vampire, inspects the fresh grave of one of her latest victims only to find the drunken vampire hunter's spade protruding from the earth as he briefly captures her, allowing the undead lass to puncture his wrist with a fanged kiss in the process.Back at the inn, some impromptu detective work by Marianne reveals that Bruno has a beautiful teenaged daughter of his own, that has disappeared under mysterious circumstances...
"Use the body, now you want my sooooul, Oooh, forget about it, now say no gooo..."
The newlyweds are invited to a posh masquerade ball held at Ravna's estate, and while Sabena(Jacquie Wallis) administers a roofie-laden cocktail to George, his wife Marianne is initiated into the doctor's blood cult, stripped of her breathtaking red party gown for a see-thru white ceremonial gown and neck-bitten by the effetely sadistic fiend while cheered on by her accepting new undead kinfolk.George awakens hungover and alone, told that the gathering ruined by his uncouth drunkenness was one he attended alone, as he's roughly shown the door.Back at the inn, all traces of Marianne have disappeared from the Harcourt's room as the well-to-do groom's sudden panic is interrupted by a decidedly more sober Zimmer, who relates the similar fate that befell his own teenaged daughter and threw him on the righteous path of vampire destruction in the first place to the groggy and desperate husband.George attempts to break into the Ravna's digs, but is led forcibly to the doctor, who reveals the man's wife to be entrancedly enamored to him to the point that she spits a defiant loogie in his grill(Ptooey!) to prove her loyalty to the cult leader.Zimmer shows up in the nick of time and rescues the couple, while sealing the cult into the manor with crosses drawn in garlic upon all the entrances.While Zimmer begins a black magic ritual to return all the vampires to the dark lord, Ravna uses his hypnotic influence to try and draw Marianne back to the estate before the professor can punish the monsters with their own dark arts, but George manages to save her once again as she's sleepwalking through the forest.With the ceremony completed, the skies become black with a sea of bloodthirsty vampire bats that swoop down upon Ravna and his screaming followers, overwhelming them in a biting orgy of blood and rubber bats on wires.
"I say, old beast, would it be terribly forward of me to plant these eye teeth in the nape of your neck? Jolly good show, eh wot?"
Sharp would go on to helm such memorable Chris Lee vehicles as Rasputin the Mad Monk(1965), The Face of Fu Manchu(1965), and 1966's The Brides of Fu Manchu, as well as such genre favorites as Witchcraft(1964), with one of the last acting roles of Lon Chaney, Jr., The Curse of the Fly(1965), 1973's Dark Places with Lee, Joan Collins, and Herbert Lom, and the cult classic Psychomania(1973). I jumped all over the Image disc years back, before it went out of print, though the film has once again become available to the masses as one of the titles in the two disc region one Hammer Horrors boxset, in its original aspect ratio with no extras.Rumor has it that this is the best print available to date of Hammer's gothic classic, so you'd probably do well to snag yourself this collection the next time it makes itself readily available to you, and with all speed, at that.Gotta dole out props to Kiss for its innovation and lush watchability, as it manages to secure itself an impressive three Wops on the scale and comes recommended for all.Track it down!
"...When the cartoon bats return to Carpathia, that's the night you promised to bury meeee..."
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