The word of the day is "vampires." I decided to check out this Italian shocker (filmed as
L'Ultima Preda del Vampiro)...well, maybe shocker is a little strong. How about, "I decided to check out this Italian movie starring a bunch of hot chicks in diaphanous gowns, a creepy sort-of hero and a fairly ineffectual vampire."
The film opens with a shot of a hand emerging from a crypt and then cuts to a pair of hands running up a great set of gams (that's slang for "legs" for those of you who weren't alive in the 1940s). Which is pretty much all you need to know about the tone. The entire movie shifts between mild horror and mild T&A.
A group of showgirls, their manager Lucas (Alfredo Rizzo) and driver/pianist/general flunky Frank (Leonardo Botta) are traveling through a generic European setting by bus. They are short of money and have just fled from their last hotel without paying the bill. The road they are on is blocked by a landslide, so they take a side-road - never a good idea - and find the Castle Kernassy. They head inside, looking for shelter and find Count Gabor Kernassy (Walter Brandi). He grudgingly welcomes them to stay, warns them to obey his rules and not stray from the guest rooms and then disappears. One of the dancers, Vera (the fetching Lyne Rocco), resembles a long-dead ancestor of the Count. Even in 1960, this was a pretty hackneyed plot device. She does spend much of the movie walking around in a transparent nightie, however, so it balances out.
Vera seems to be missing the point...or should I say, points). |
On the first night, one of the dancers - Katia (Maria Giovannini) ignores the Count's orders, wanders off into the castle and winds up dead. Her death is explained away as an accident, a fall from one of the castle windows. She is buried on the grounds of the castle. The Count convinces the troupe to stay, saying the only bridge has been washed out. This provides an opportunity for the girls to prance around in lingerie and engage in some cheesy dance numbers, including a pretty awesome striptease by Erika Di Centa.
Katia demonstrates the benefits of good oral hygiene |
Vera confronts the Count underneath the painting of the Count;s ancestor who looks like her. Both express a mutual attraction, as well as a belief that they were meant to meet. While out for a walk that night, Vera discovers that Katia's body has been dug up. She thinks she sees the Count skulking about, but he flees when she calls to him. The next day, she discovers a laboratory - complete with smoke belching beakers and a human skull on a desk. She also finds Katia's body laid out on a slab. The Count shows up and spouts a lot of confusing nonsense, by way of explanation. He says he working to fight against some ancient evil and that Katia may have been murdered although by whom he won't say. Vera, not the brightest bulb and infatuated, is satisfied with his non-answer.
Katia discovers just how high the stakes are. Ouch...sorry... |
There is a vampire lurking about, an ancestor of the Count who looks just like him. Like the Count, the vampire is infatuated with Vera, who resembles his dead wife. Katia comes back from the dead, Vera is attacked by the vampire, the Count tries to help and is knocked out. Katia, walking around naked (she provides the only clear nudity in the movie, a brief topless shot) but shrouded in shadow, is not happy about being replaced by a vampire Vera. Katia tries to attack the unconscious Vera is killed by vampire Count in a surprisingly gruesome (for the time) scene. The Count confronts his undead ancestor, telling him that he has developed a means to end the vampire's endless existence. The vampire tells him to get bent, that he likes being immortal. Fighting ensues and the Count manages to dispatch the vampire and rescue Vera. You might think that's the end. nope; there's still a ton of exposition, giving background information that is no longer important. In fact, the conclusion feels like padding. The menace is dead; I don't need 10 minutes of backstory and a long goodbye sequence between Vera and the Count. Finally, Vera leaves on the bus to resume her exciting life as a penniless showgirl and a voice-over informs us that the Count s going to sell the castle and find her. The end.
Erika Di Centa showing us why she's in the movie. |
There are some serious story problems, particularly the tonal shifts from fairly moody scenes dealing with the horror plot to weak humor and cheesecake shots. The final confrontation between the Count and the vampire isn't very exciting (with the exception of Katiea's staking with a burning torch). And the experiments being carried out by the Count are never adequately explained. Is he trying to cure vampirism or just kill his ancestor? The point that Vera looks like the dead wife of the vampire is made repeatedly; but how this happened or why Vera acts at times like she has been to the castle, is never explained.
However, there are a lot of fun parts to the movie. It is shot in full on Gothic style complete with an imposing castle, a dank dungeon with crypts, and rainless thunder-storms. Brandi is good in the dual role of hero and menace. The female cast members are quite attractive and appear in various states of undress which was the main selling point of the movie. The dialogue is serviceable, although full of awkward lines. The black and white photography gives the film a nice, moody feel. While the film shows its low budget (Frank goes off to check on the bridge, finds it actually is washed out, discovers a village and talks to the villagers about the castle...all of camera) but the castle interiors are a mix of pretty good (some of the scenes were filmed at an actual castle) and pretty awful. The dungeon set, is especially bad, looking painfully fake. There are some nice shot compositions and a few moments of effective horror.
Taken for what it is - a mix of horror genre cliches and excuses for attractive women to walk around in skimpy outfits - The Playgirls and the Vampire is a fun movie. Check it out.
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