Free Slaughter of the Vampires aka Curse of the Blood Ghouls
Genres: Hor
Starring: Walter Brandi, Graziella Granata
Director(s): Roberto Mauri
Country: Italy
Year: 1962
IMDB Rating: 4.3
On their wedding night, a newlywed couple find themselves menaced by a bloodthirsty vampirer.
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Visitors Review
Coventry (06 May 2013)
Vampires in the Wine Cellar!
I've been a fan of the horror genre for so long now that it's becomingdangerous to stumble upon a film I never heard or read anything aboutbefore. On one hand, it's exciting because this perhaps could be thehidden gem you've been waiting for forever (particularly since itconcerns an Italian Gothic horror movie) but on the other hand you'revery cautious with expectations because it's simply not normal that younever saw the title mentioned anywhere on forums or in magazines everbefore. "Slaughter of the Vampires" definitely looks promising enough,with a title like that and very appealing DVD cover art illustratedhere on the website (I'm a sucker for that) but the end result isoverall sadly mediocre. It's a very rudimentary and straightforwardvampire movie and you'll undoubtedly have a feeling of déjà -vu morethan once. A young couple, Wolfgang and his bride Louise who boosts amassively impressive cleavage, moves into a castle unaware that aChristopher Lee wannabe vampire already inhabits it. During theirVictorian house-warming party, when the butler goes to the wine cellarto pick up a few bottles, the camera zooms out and there suddenly comesa vampire emerging from his coffin from behind a the wine barrels! Howcould anyone have missed that during the open house showing day?There's a coffin in the wine cellar! Anyway, the nameless vampirecarelessly joins the party upstairs and ends the night by biting thebrand new lady of the house in her neck. He also turns out to be quitea smooth talker as he even offers flowers to the girl he enslaved ashis immortal bride. Louise condition grows increasingly worse and thelocal doctor advises them to travel to Vienna and obtain help from theacclaimed Dr. Nietzsche. I don't think he's supposed THE world-famousNietzsche, as he was more of a philosopher if my memory serves me well,but perhaps a cousin of his? The old vampire chap naturally finds hisway to Vienna as well, where it will eventually become a virulentshowdown."Slaughter of the Vampires" is like a very basic and primitivere-telling of the Dracula saga in which the character names have beenchanged and certain sub plots have been removed in order to make iteven more simplistic. There's no Renfield, no Carfax Abbey, etc. So,not a hidden gem, unfortunately, but a rather dull and redundant Gothicvampire movie that fully deserves its obscurity status. The leadactresses are beautiful, Graziella Granata who depicts Louise isparticularly exquisite, but none of the cast members appear to be veryinterested in the in the script. They just stand there motionless andbring their lines in the most random fashion. I'm not too familiar withdirector Roberto Mauri, but if Mario Bava or Antonio Margheriti haddirected this film, surely there would have been a lot more passion andintensity bursting from the screen. Apart from the occasionallyatmospheric music, a few nice touches of scenery and the impressiverack of our lead actress (which is exactly right to plan a wooden stakein between), there's absolutely no reason to track this movie down.
Scarecrow-88 (05 May 2013)
Slaughter of the Vampires
A vampire(a hammy Dieter Eppler who moves as fast as lightning withlittle to no dialogue)terrorizes Aristocrat married coupleWolfgang(Walter Brandi)and large-chested Louise(the ravishing GraziellaGranata)in an old granite castle where he rests his coffin in the winecellar. The vampire also eyes the other females(including the littlegirl of a gardener as well)..he just wishes to infect as many of theladies as possible. It will be up to Dr. Nietzsche, vampireslayer(Luigi Batzella, always puffing a cigar)to stop the bloodthirstymenace or else.Despite lavish castle setting and the ruins around it, good fluidcamera-work, and attractive lighting, this flick suffers from reallybad dialogue and dubbing that's hard to shake off. It has too many dullpatches and often feels a lot longer than 80 minutes. Eppler isn't veryimpressive as the vamp despite having a towering presence..something'swrong with that. Granata as the fetching Louise makes delicious eyecandy. Bloodless bite sequences and we never see puncture wounds wherethe vampire bites his victims despite those neckless gowns Granatawears(and with such an enticing neck, wounds should certainly show)onlyadds to the problems of the film.
mlraymond (29 April 2013)
Italian vampire thriller is Gothic romance novel on film
This is by no means a great film, but it has a certain over the topromanticism about it that's very effective in creating a strange, otherworldly atmosphere.Unbeknown to the new owners of a refurbished castle, a vampire hastaken up residence in the cellar. At a housewarming party, thearistocratic stranger dances with the beautiful wife of the bland hero,and then leaves, causing much gossip as to his identity and purpose.Later, he attempts to seduce the wife in her bedchamber, but herfrightened screams drive him away temporarily.The best part of the movie comes next. The wife wakes up next to hersleeping husband, and goes out into the moonlit garden in her revealingnegligee. She sits on a marble bench and looks frightened, but also asif she were waiting for someone. A man's voice calls to her and shelooks around fearfully, asking who it is and why she can't see him. Thevampire comes out from behind a hedge and hands her a bouquet offlowers, and declares his love for her. She takes the flowers, even asshe stammers that she's married. The vampire makes a poetic speechabout how her beauty outshines the stars. By the time he gets through,she is flinging herself passionately into his arms.This is great stuff. The vampire nobleman is obviously derived fromStoker's Count Dracula, and his courtship of the wife is unadulteratedromanticism, even if a bit corny for some viewers.Graziella Granata is one of the most stunningly beautiful women ever toappear in any Italian horror movie, and her low cut gowns and nightdress reveal plenty of her fabulous figure.Yes, the dubbing is poor, and the acting mediocre, and the dialoguefoolish, the plot muddled, etc. But from the moment when the vampire (who interestingly enough is never named; so he might actually be CountDracula) appears at the party and dances with the wife, this movie hadme hooked. The eroticism underlying all vampire stories is fully ondisplay here, and well worth the inconvenience of putting up with theless inspired aspects of the movie.
(29 April 2013)
Gorgeous Gothic Vampire Fairy Tale
The reason I scour the depths of the unheard-of horror cinematic history is because every once in a while I stumble across a gem as excellent as this Italian masterpiece. Gracefully tip-toeing the line between horror and fairy tale, Slaughter Of The Vampires is a feast for the eyes with top-notch Gothic imagery, as well as the ears with a haunting musical score. A great cast led by the handsome and charismatic Walter Brandi and several lovely Italian goddesses including the striking Graziella Granata add to the fun. With only a minimal amount of dialogue, Dieter Eppler provides a very unique and sinister vampire.Dark Sky's DVD presentation suffers from over-cropping. This was most likely shot full-frame and the matting done to fill-up our 16x9 TV screens is apparent when the tops of peoples' heads are out of view. However, the picture looks great, better than it ever has and most likely better than people saw on the drive-in screens when it was released half a decade ago. And at 78 minutes runs longer than other home video editions. Be advised that this was dubbed into English, I know some people just cannot deal with that sort of stuff, but it doesn't bother me - although an Italian audio version with subtitles would have been a nice option. All in all a highly recommendable addition to anyone who enjoys these Hammeresque types of horror movies.
Wayne Malin (24 April 2013)
Horrendously dubbed Italian vampires
A VERY badly dubbed Italian vampire film from 1962. A young couple, Louiseand Wolfgang (!!) in the 16th century (I believe) are menaced by avampire.Nice black and white photography and a beautiful score can't save a verydull horror film with lousy dialogue, atrocious dubbing (I know I'mmentioning it a third time but it IS that bad!) and poor acting. Morelaughs than anything else. I was especially amused that the victims of thevampire have no marks on their necks! And some of the dialogue had melaughing out loud. However, both Wolfgang and Louise are VERY attractiveand Louise wears incredibly low-cut dresses. Still, that's no reason to seethis film.Let's put it this way---this is a vampire film with a G rating! What doesthat tell you? Avoid--unless you have insomnia.
(24 April 2013)
"Slaughter" indeed
This review is from: Slaughter of the Vampires (DVD) I really didn't know what to expect when I ordered this, as I had not really seen much Eurohorror before. But having seen several great old B & W Italian Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren movies and having really liked them, I hoped this movie would be similar, but with more of a Horror twist to it.Well, it turned out the gloriously-heaving buxom dark-haired lovelies I had hoped for were in this film, but unfortunately all too briefly. Instead, the film focuses on the main character of a blonde-haired vampire count, stiffly played by German actor Dieter Eppler. He barely speaks in the film, instead seeming to seek to convey some kind of "silent, hypnotic" quality of the vampire. But I found his portrayal utterly lacking in any sort of charisma or appeal. Just completely flat. No, I didn't like him at all, and found his acting quite cartoony and stereotypical.As I say, there were a few suitably well-endowed Italian beauties who did get transformed into gorgeous creatures of the night in this film, raising my um....temperature, shall we say. But unfortunately the totally stupid script then has them dispatched with such swiftness and ease, it just had me shaking my head in utter disgust. If you're like me, and always root for the vampires rather than those goody-twoshoes human "heroes", certain scenes in this movie are almost enough to make you throw up. I had always thought that vampires were supposed to possess senses SUPERIOR to normal humans. But funny how one of the vampire babes here cannot even hear the Dr. Van Helsing-clone "good guy" hero (think: Ricardo Montalban with a moustache) creeping just two feet behind her down an echoey underground hallway all~ the way back to her coffin. Naturally she gets dusted in one second flat -- just when I was hoping the movie was finally going to get good.It just keeps happening over and over. Every time there's a cool new vamp I can't wait to see rip someone's throat out, instead the annoying "heroes" somehow manage to find a way to kill them off in like 1 minute flat. It really got me fed up! Then back to more scenes with "Mr. Excitement" the blonde-haired count (*yawn*), and more stereotypical scenes you've seen in tons of other vampire movies. Dark Sky/Blue Underground's print looks great, and I understand it also includes the minutes missing from the previous DVD editions. I'm no expert on aspect ratios, so I'll let those among us more informed on such matters duke it out among themselves in other reviews. And as is customary with Blue Underground's wonderful b-movie releases, they have also included a great bonus extra. Somehow they managed to track down the movie's obscure and long-forgotten star Dieter Eppler himself, and he gives us a lengthy interview in German with English subtitles. Although I cannot say I enjoyed his performance in the movie at all, I did find this interview quite interesting, as it really gives us insight into the nature of filmmaking in Europe at the time. Nice work, Blue Underground!So overall would I recommend this movie? Well, what you have here is a quite tame and slow-moving B & W film filled with early-60s hairstyles and fashions (even though this is supposed to be a period piece) that never really gets going. All the cool vamps get "slaughtered" before they get a chance to make the movie more interesting, and what you are left with is a string of cliche scenes that didn't particularly appeal to me. I think many scenes in this movie did have a lot of potential to start with, but unfortunately the film's always taking the easy and predictable way out wasted it.In fact, if anything I find this movie inspires my creative urge, as I think I'd love to try and rewrite the story someday -- my way! Prepare the "fine Corinthian leather" of your neck for a nasty surprise, Mr. Montalban look-alike! Mwa-ha-ha!!
lastliberal (21 April 2013)
Drive that stake between those heaving bosoms!
One would imagine that this film came out of those pocket books sopopular with the ladies. It is a Gothic romance from start to finishwith sumptuous sets, heaving bosoms and formal attire.Graziella Granata is absolutely gorgeous even in black and white, andshe falls into the vampire's (Dieter Eppler) trap immediately. Herehusband (Walter Brandi) is absolutely clueless at what is happeningright under his nose.Don't worry, the fearless doctor knows what he is dealing with andchases the vampire and his minions to extinction - or , based oncurrent HBO programming - to Louisiana.
(20 April 2013)
Slaughter of the Vampires
A couple's wedding party is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a dashing young count, who seduces the lovely Louise away from her newlywed husband and transforms her into a creature of the night. Wolfgang is left to seek assistance from the eccentric Dr. Nietzsche, a vampire hunter who is bent on the destruction of the evil count and his minions. Director Roberto Mauri follows closely behind Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava's lead in SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES, another early attempt out of Italy at revitalizing the Gothic Horror films of the 1930's. The flowing mists, shadowy settings, and scantily-clad women will be all-too familiar to the fans of Italian Horror, but what little atmosphere Mauri brings to the film is shattered by the pedestrian script and comical overacting by his fanged villain. Graziella Granata is fine to look at, however, and offers several memorable moments on screen. In either of its available forms, SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES is but a minor footnote in Italian Horror that underwrites I VAMPIRI and BLACK SUNDAY.-Carl ManesI Like Horror Movies
(17 April 2013)
Problem transfers
On the face of it, the new (1/2007) Dark Sky transfer of this cheesy Italian gothic favorite would seem preferable to the 10/2005 Retromedia disc ("Image Entertainment"--only the distributor); the Dark Sky has a cleaner picture and, at 78 minutes (not 79), about two minutes more material. However, the Dark Sky version (actually taken as is from the cable station MonstersHD's print) is matted to an anamorphic aspect ratio of 1.85:1. While 1960s Italian films were sometimes filmed and shown in this aspect ratio--usually "hard-matted" to make sure (that is, the lens of the camera was itself matted to ensure that shape), European films would more often have been shown no wider than 1.66:1; and often, they were shown unmatted altogether at 1.37:1. SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES was not filmed "hard-matted" and Dark Sky's 1.85:1 soft-matting makes it look ridiculously cramped. Clearly never intended for 1.85:1, it is not only matted here, but completely reframed. The image is panned and scanned *vertically* under the mattes in the Dark Sky transfer to keep heads etc. from being cut off, making the original Director of Photography's decisions meaningless. Even with all this tampering, there's so much visual information missing that it's all but worthless: the film is badly disfigured to appeal to the 16x9 TV market. The Retromedia ("Image") disc, at under 76 minutes (not 78), is a shorter version and isn't as clean (though it has a very authentic feeling) but its open-matte, unreframed presentation represents the original film much better--though it's not completely right either. However, it seems unlikely that a film of such minor stature will be revisited on DVD a third time.
(16 April 2013)
unfortunate problem release
I agree with some other viewers on the aspect ratio. It's an annoying viewing experience since it's quite apparent that the top and bottom of the picture is being cut off. Numerous scenes have part of the person's head cut off, or even worse, the woman's cleavage is cut off from the bottom of the screen. The clarity is perfect, but is not enough to salvage this problematic release. Too bad, try again - perhaps.
goblinhairedguy (01 April 2013)
Full-Blooded Romanticism
Here's a "full-blooded", old-fashioned (some might say out-dated),baroque Italian vampire opus which deserves a better reputation thanit's achieved. Although Hammer Studios merits credit forre-popularizing the moribund Gothic horror genre in the early 60s, thecontemporaneous Latin (Italian, Spanish and Mexican) efforts usuallyevoke a more authentically Romantic and decadent atmosphere. This onefeatures overwhelmingly ornate sets; voluptuous ingenues with invitingdark eyes and heaving bosoms; high-collared, flouncy-vested Don Juans;absurdly stilted dialogue; and a lush, intrusive score full of pianoglissandos, piercing oboes, and even a theremin during the vampireseductions. The deliberate pacing serves to intensify the well-timedshocks, there are some clever camera set-ups, and fine shadowyphotography (particularly during the dungeon-set climax). Fans offast-paced, violent, revisionist horror will think it a dinosaur, butconnoisseurs should find it greatly satisfying.
(01 April 2013)
One of my faves
I've been fond of this film, ever since I saw it as a youngster on Channel 9, and they used to show at least 2 versions. This copy seems complete, though I wish they had done some restoration of the image. One of the last b/w Italian horror films, this film get short shrift from most writers on this period, but I like this little film a lot. It's shot in a very atmospheric style (lots of shadows), and the girls are gorgeous as only girls from that period can be. The lead vampire is a bit ridiculous, but you don't watch a film like this and expect Ingmar Bergman. For what it is, it's quite fun as a late edition to the Italo-horror film cycle of the 60s.
ferbs54 (23 March 2013)
Fangs For The Mammaries
"The Slaughter of the Vampires" is an ambiguously titled (are thevampires doing the slaying here or being killed off themselves?)Italian horror outing from 1962. A fairly paint-by-numbers affair,though filmed in B&W, the film reunites stars Walter Brandi and AlfredoRizzo from the earlier "Playgirls and the Vampire." Here, Brandi playsWolfgang, a nobleman in an unnamed country whose new wife, Louise,played by the luscious Graziella Granata, is being preyed on by avampire so generic that we never even learn his name; call him TheVampire. As portrayed by Dieter Eppler, this neck nosher is so verycompelling that poor Louise gives in to his charms almost immediately,soon becoming a most, uh, toothsome vampiress herself. Good thing thatWolfgang has been given the address of a most van Helsing-like doctorin nearby Vienna.... Offering absolutely nothing new to the vampiremythos and no new spins on this hoary staple of the horror genre,"Slaughter" yet has enough pleasurable aspects to merit it a mildrecommendation. For one, Eppler is pretty darn impressive as the undeadseducer, and when he speaks, his words are like pure poetry. The filmhas been given some interesting directorial touches and camera anglesby Roberto Mauri, actually does have atmosphere to spare, and builds toan exciting conclusion. Perhaps best of all, a piano-dominated, dreamyand evocative score has been provided by Aldo Piga that effectivelybrings an air of otherworldliness to the entire affair. The picturereally isn't that bad; just completely unoriginal and whollyderivative. Anybody out there know the Italian expression for "beenthere, done that"?
TimothyFarrell (22 March 2013)
Mixture of schlock and quality characteristic of many drive-in horror films of the period
"Slaughter of the Vampires" is a mixture of schlock and qualitycharacteristic of many drive-in horror films of the period. For one, itis horrendously dubbed as other reviewers have noted. The dialogdoesn't sync up and is often laughably simplistic. The script isabsolutely horrible with some lines that'd make Ed Wood chuckle (Iwonder if it was any better in its original Italian language version).It works on an absolutely moronic plot logic and if often confusing.Also, the acting is greatly varied. Dieter Eppler is campy as the headvampire. Its impossible to take this guy seriously as an actor. WalterBrandi (whom cult fans may recall from the camp classic "Bloody Pit ofHorror") makes a wooden hero as usual. Finally, the storyline uses thesame clichéd vampire setup that has been overused since Bram Stokerwrote "Dracula". It in no way creatively utilizes the vampire myth.On the plus side, the black and white photography is beautiful to lookat in moments, something which was always a fine aspect of thespaghetti Gothic horrors of the period. There are moments when itachieves an otherworldly and dreamlike style. Even more gorgeous isGraziella Granata. Typically clad in revealing low-cut dresses, she isa beautiful and voluptuous woman that is undoubtedly the best part ofthe film. She isn't great shakes in the acting department, but is easyenough on the eyes to compensate. This may be worth a rental overallfor those into this kind of thing. As long as you don't expect "BlackSunday" or "Mill of the Stone Women" (the two finest spaghettigothics), you might enjoy yourself. (5/10)
LJ27 (18 March 2013)
I tried to like it...I really did.
WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD:I have a weakness for European low-budget horror films from the 1960s so Iwatched this film wanting very much to find some good in it.Unfortunately,myattempt was in vain. Walter Brandi (spelled "Brandy" in the credits)playsthevampire (or one of them). He had been in a movie before this called THEVAMPIRE AND THE BALLERINA where he sported a cool make-up job. Well,he has no such cool make-up job in this film. In fact, there's not muchofanything cool in this film. The music score is nothing special. The B&Wphotography isn't that great and neither are the sets. It's mostly abunch of un-interesting people sitting around talking for the greater part of it'srunning time.WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD:At the end, the vampire is staked and disintegrates. Sound cool? Don'tbet onit. If you want cool disintegration scenes, see FRIGHT NIGHT (1985) orHORROR OF DRACULA (1958) or THE EVIL DEAD (1982). If you want to see adisintegration scene handled poorly, watch as the filmmakers dissolve fromWalter Brandi to a series of drawings of withered heads then a skull thennothing. Also, the drawings move about in relation to one another witheachdissolve. I made a better disintegration scene as a kid with a Super 8cameraand some modelling clay. After seeing this, I understand why it isn'tevenmentioned in most books about horror films.
(18 March 2013)
DARK SKY VERSION!!!
This review is from: Slaughter of the Vampires (DVD) I almost did not buy this movie because some of the reviewers ranted about the improper aspect ratio resulting in missing heads and badly framed compositions...Sorry, but I thought the image looked great, better than to be expected for a 50 year old Italian vampire movie of such a low budget. The b&w photography was crisp and clear and the estate and sets appeared wonderfully gothic and romantic. Walter Brandi could have been playing Lord Byron having one hell of a tragic nightmare!I won't go into story detail as I never really like to tell too much to anyone who may want to watch this film; only to reassure you that the DARK SKY print is exceptional and the overall viewing experience was enjoyable. Dieter Eppler made the most of his vampire presence, and Graziella Granata is one of the most beautiful, sexually alluring women to ever appear in a vampire film. Aldo Piga's score was very effective, haunting and romantic and hopefully will one day be available on cd. I also purchased the RETROMEDIA version as well. I figured that since I wasn't going to purchase either, I'd just go ahead with it and get both for comparison. The RETROMEDIA version is just awful compared to DARK SKY's. It looks like something ALPHA VIDEO would have put out for around 5 bucks. So if you're considering purchasing a copy of this film then please, go with the DARK SKY dvd. It's a great buy for this enjoyable vampire film.
wca720 (18 March 2013)
Behind a DARK SKY, there is a silver lining.
DARK SKY FILMS has just released their version of SLAUGHTER OF THEVAMPIRES on DVD and I must tell you, it is far and away superior tothat of the Retromedia version of the film. It is crisp, clear andsharp Black & White as I have ever seen in a film that is over 40 yearsold. They did a superb job of presenting this in DVD format. Theyinclude chapter index and when you go to a chapter, it doesn't put youright in the middle of a scene as Retromedia's version did. It is alsopresented in widescreen format too. Believe me, put your Retromediacopy on your Trade-in pile and go out and get DARK SKY FILMS version.The DSF version also includes a scene or two not presented in any otherversion that I remember although that storied missing 11 minutes that Ihave heard so much about does not seem to be there, it is still anexcellent reproduction. Even though this film is from 1962, it stilloutshines a lot of vampire movies that I have seen. Graziella Granatais still gorgeous in this movie and her Titular jog through the castleto escape the stake is worth seeing in slow-mo. Whether or not you area fan of a vampire movie this old, it still has a lot going for it. Itshines in a dim way but it still shines. I call it the "GONE WITH THEWIND" of bad B-Vampire movies because it is the best of the worst.Wanna talk about it?.............leave a comment, I'll get back to you.Bill
(17 March 2013)
Old School Gothic Vampire Classic
Here's another release that I had in my pile and finally watched after so many years, it was worth the wait. Growing up in the sixties and having seen this many times over on New York television in splicy edited versions, I tracked down a theatrical screening of this under the title 'THE CURSE OF THE BLOOD GHOULS' back in 1975 double billed with 'THE VAMPIRE BEAST CRAVES BLOOD' at the Loews theatre in Jersey City, New Jersey and in 35mm ,it blew me away. Dark Sky Films has finally brought the film to its beautiful crisp glory. This film belongs to that wonderful Italian Sixties Vampire quartet which consists of 'THE PLAYGIRLS AND THE VAMPIRE', 'THE SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES', 'THE VAMPIRE AND THE BALLERINA',and "THE VAMPIRE OF THE OPERA'. The last two have ,no pun intended, not seen the light of day ,although 'VAMPIRE AND BALLERINA' was shown on the TNT network many years ago in a beautiful transfer but with many commercial breaks and I hope either Dark Sky or Image Entertainment finds the negatives of those films to give them their due releases. All have great classical music scores by ALDO PIGA, and interchangeble credits of directors and actors including WALTER BRANDI, ROBERTO MAURI, and ALFREDO RIZZO. This one has always been my favorite blending the gothic old school vampire myths with the 'HAMMER' glamour of the sixties. I defy anyone as a teenager back then sitting through this film and not reacting to the beauty of GRAZIELA GRANATA. Even when RAQUEL WELCH strutted her stuff with less on her form in 'ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.', I still think GRAZIELA had her beat as she becomes more smoldering when her vampiric transformation takes over. Dieter Eppler, a stalwart of many German Edgar Wallace Krimis, shines as the vampire count. Highly recommended not only for classic horror buffs but for those who yearn for the days when horror films did not have to rely on a body count or computerized digital effects. Here is an excellent example of classic Euro-Horror in glorious black and white. Turn out the lights and enjoy. Thank you, Dark Sky, for allowing me to relive the experience over and over again.
(13 March 2013)
Slaughter Of The DVD
Retromedia dropped the ball on this one. I have the Monterey Video release...and while even that is missing some 11 mins of footage due to damage of the reels or so they say, This version is sharp, clear and complete.Retro did include a titular jog by Graziella Granata that is not available in the Monterey version but is memorable at best but they just totally did a real hatchet job on the editing of their DVD version. I have seen the MV version several times over the last 10 years and one viewing of the DVD by Retromedia told me that I wasted 13.00. I will trade this one in in a heartbeat if Dark Sky Films does it much better.
gavin6942 (12 March 2013)
Pretty Average Flick, Not Bad
As they celebrate their honeymoon in a faraway castle, newlywedsWolfgang (Walter Brandi) and Louise (Graziella Granata) are unaware ofthe bloodthirsty vampire (Dieter Eppler) who lives in the basement winecellar below. With a knack for romancing female guests and seducingthem into his lair, the undead Lothario racks up a string of tastyvictims -- and as soon as he spots Louise, she'll be next. Can Wolfgangsave his young bride? Also appearing: Alfredo Rizzo, and directed by Roberto Mauri. This filmis also known as "Curse of the Blood Ghouls", though that is in no waya good translation.On the Netflix version, the sound editing is really poor, rough andabrupt going from scene to scene. The Dark Sky disc may be better, asthey have a way of restoring old foreign films. And the little girl'svoice sounds like an adult dubbing a child. It would be much bettersubtitled.Luca Palmerini says this is a "dismal example of an Italian horrormovie" and "amateurish". I don't think it was all that bad, but thismay be based on a poor copy. If nothing else, even if the film is "eh"the costumes are still superb. I am not clear on why Dr. Nietzsche'sname is apparently pronounced "Nitch" rather than "Neetch-uh", though.
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