Starring Helene Remy, Tina Gloriani, Walter Brandi, Isarco Ravaioli, Gino Turini
Directed by Renato Polselli
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
After a grotesque vampire assaults a ballerina exploring his ancient castle, her fellow dancer tries to get their troupe to believe that she's been victimized, and becomes a new target for the vampire.
This Italian horror effort has some style and interesting ideas to impart, chief of which is the vampire and his consort not only suck blood for sustenance, but to maintain their youth. Otherwise they appear in gruesome creature makeup with bulbous head and fingers. Brandi is okay in the title role of the vampire, but is more a cruel monster than a stately count, and is not given much opportunity in the screenplay to give his character much depth. The dancers, who are ballet-trained, but work out most often to jazz music, are lovely and the focus is entirely on Remy and Gloriani as the vampire's victim and her friend, the only one to suspect what's happened to Remy. Gloriani really has the central part, but Remy probably gives the better performance, using a cool voice and nuanced stare once she's been bitten. The film looks to have been highly influenced by Hammer's Horror Of Dracula, using Peter Cushing's ingenuity with a pair of candlesticks as the chief weapon against its own vampire, and utilizing a similar ending. The photography is well-done, with some effective scenes in shadow, and I enjoyed Aldo Piga's music which is most effective at the climax, although a sequence in which the leading ladies stalk each other accompanied by a jazz piece didn't really work for me. I also found the first half of the picture to flow better than the second, which slows pace and drags somewhat, before finding its energy for the climax.
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