Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Exclusive! Master of Horror Mick Garris Teases New All-Star Horror Anthology

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Exclusive! Master of Horror Mick Garris Teases New All-Star Horror Anthology

MickG

Garrris2 Producer/Director Mick Garris gives SHOCK the exclusive on his new anthology horror film.

Veteran horror writer/director/producer and cheerleader Mick Garris (“I’m the ZELIG of horror!” Garris laughingly told us), the man behind a myriad Stephen King adaptations as well as the beloved and lamented Showtime series MASTERS OF HORROR, has just informed SHOCK about his latest project.

“It’s called NIGHTMARE CINEMA,” says Garris.

“It’s a horror anthology with five unique stories, each with a different director. This is a feature-film collection of unique horror stories linked only by a desire to reach in and grab you by the terror gland, made by a group of directors from around the world, each with a vision unlike any other. It’s the same philosophy I had when MASTERS OF HORROR came to be, but in an anthology film format. I can’t wait to finalize the paperwork and announce the names. I know the horror community will be as excited as I am!”

With the tireless, visionary Garris steering the ship, only good things can come of this.

We’ll give you more intel on NIGHTMARE CINEMA as we get it.

Stay tuned…

And in the meantime, let’s flashback on Garris’ incredible MASTERS OF HORROR series with this classic trailer from its first series.

 

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Exclusive: Bela Lugosi Not Dead! Horror Legend Reads “The Tell-Tale Heart”

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Exclusive: Bela Lugosi Not Dead! Horror Legend Reads “The Tell-Tale Heart”

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PoeLug1 Legendary horror film alumni lend their voices to animated Poe tribute EXTRAORDINARY TALES.

Although he stalked off this mortal coil back in 1956, the essence of the immortal Bela Lugosi is alive and well in director Raul Garcia’s upcoming animated feature film EXTRAORDINARY TALES, a diverse anthology picture that translates the words of Edgar Allen Poe into beautifully drawn and designed landscapes of color, shape and horror.

But the real hook of EXTRAORDINARY TALES is that it features some of the most revered names in horror and dark fantasy history narrating these classic tales of terror; “The Tell-Tale Heart”,” The Pit and the Pendulum”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar”, and “The Masque of the Red Death” are all featured and given vocal life by heavy hitters like the late Sir Christopher Lee as well as actor Julian Sands, and director/producers Roger Corman and Guillermo del Toro.

And, of course, there’s Bela Lugosi.

In this exclusive new clip culled from a classic recording, Hollywood’s first Dracula purrs out Poe’s prose and reads “The Tell-Tale Heart” while abstract, Dada-esque imagery pulses in front of your eyes.

EXTRAORDINARY TALES is in theaters and on demand October 23. For more on the film go HERE.

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17 Fun Horror Trivia Facts

AnythingHorror Central
17 Fun Horror Trivia Facts

by EvilQueenB

Horror is littered with fun facts, folklore and urban legends so what better way to celebrate the month of horror than with some fun horror trivia.

1. During pre-production of JAWS producers believed you could just capture a great white shark and train it to do the shark stunts in the film.

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2.In Steven Jay Schneider’s book 101 Horror Movies You Must See Before You Die, it does not list either Ridley Scott’s ALIEN nor James Cameron’s ALIENS.

3. PET SEMATARY’s, Victor Pascow (played by Brad Greenquist), the runner who was struck by a truck, killed and came back to warn Louis Creed is categorized as a zombie in John Landis’s Book of Monsters.

4. In Michael Bay’s remake of the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, Jessica Biel’s character, Erin was actually suppose to be pregnant. In a deleted scene she tells Kemper before they pick up the female hitchhiker. It was scrapped because they felt Biel’s character being pregnant and battling Leatherface would not garner a good audience reaction. This was also done for the shark film DEEP BLUE SEA, Jacqueline McKenzie, who played Janice Higgins was also pregnant, but again that scene was left on the cutting room floor for fear of audience reaction of a pregnant woman being killed by a shark.

Trivia02 TCM

5. Although many think that Tim Burton directed THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, it is actually just based off his story and characters, but it was Henry Selick who directed the film.

6. In FROM DUSK TIL DAWN, when Salma Hayek is dancing on the table in front of George Clooney you can see George Clooney raise up his hands in an attempt to brace Salma because he thought she was going to fall off the table.

7. Neil Marshall director of THE DESCENT, DOG SOLDIERS and DOOMSDAY directed an episode of the tv show HANNIBAL (Season 3) entitled “The Great Red Dragon.”

Trivia03 Hannibal

8. Robert Kirkman has stated in interviews had he known the success that THE WALKING DEAD would have achieved he would have not killed Shane off so early in the comic.

9. Bill Moseley from HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES, THE DEVIL’S REJECTS, REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA and countless other horror films graduated from Yale University.

10. Fede Alvarez, director of THE EVIL DEAD remake used a huge amount of practical effects for the film and only used CGI in order to remove equipment or anything else that was used during the practical effects,

11. HATCHET II director, Adam Green used 136 gallons of fake blood for the movie.

Trivia04 Hatchet

12. Margaret Hamilton who played the iconic Wicked Witch of the West in THE WIZARD OF OZ, also played Morticia Addams’s mother in episodes 2 (“Morticia’s Romance Part 1”), 3 (“Morticia’s Romance Part 2”) and 22 (“Happy Birthday Grandpa Frump”) of THE ADDAMS FAMILY.

13. Bruce Campbell from EVIL DEAD fame had a bit part as a guardsman in OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL.

"OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL" Bruce Campbell ©Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

14. Elsa Lanchester, who played the iconic Bride in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN was an oscar nominated actress for the movies COME TO THE STABLE and WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION.

15. The lips in the opening of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW are Patricia Quinn’s, who played Magenta.

16. Kevin Grevioux, who played Raze, Lucian’s second in command, in the Vampire Lycan franchise, UNDERWORLD actually created the series and holds a degree in microbiology and studied genetic engineering in graduate school.

17. HELLRAISER’s Pinhead’s original name was Priest.

Trivia06 Pinhead

Share your horror trivia with me @horrorevilqueen

Stay Bloody!!!


Filed under: Guest Contributor, Horror Lists, New Posting

Diabolique Films Launches Campaign for New Hammer Horror Doc

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Diabolique Films Launches Campaign for New Hammer Horror Doc

HamKick1

HamKick2 Diabolique Films backs new Hammer Horror doc; launches Kickstarter campaign.

Every time the fine lads at Warner Home Video have spat out one of the treasured titles from their Hammer Films library in any digital format (including recent Blu-ray releases), it’s a tragically bare bones affair, with the presence of a trailer being the most we can hope for. It’s a crying shame as the pictures released under the Warner wing, include many of their most interesting and essential titles including Freddie Francis’ DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE, Peter Sasdy’s TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA, Alan Gibson’s lively DRACULA A.D. 1972. Terrence Fisher’s malevolent FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED and many, many more.

The history behind the Warner/Hammer international distribution agreement runs deep and is worthy of a serious examination. Now, Dima Ballin of Diabolique magazine is putting his weight behind a new Kickstarter campaign whose goal is to produce the definitive documentary about this period.

Says Ballin:

“Hammer’s period at Warner Bros produced some of their finest films, including FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED which is not only Peter Cushing’s finest screen performance, but Terence Fisher’s directorial triumph as well. There have been many documentaries and featurettes made about various aspects of Hammer Horror and the various period’s in Hammer’s illustrious history, but no serious study has ever been done on Hammer’s period at Warner Bros. Diabolique Films is happy to team with Marcus Hearn, Hammer’s official historian, in compiling the first film of this kind to tackle Hammer Horror/Warner Bros. illustrious history.”

Hearn is, of course, Hammer’s official historian and HAMMER HORROR: THE WARNER BROS. YEARS will be both written and directed by the man. The documentary will feature exclusive interviews with many of the key players from that period, as well as authors and film historians like Jonathan Rigby and Constantine Nasr. Also included will be rare production stills, film footage, Hammer’s original shooting locations, and access to previously unseen archive documents. The documentary will be available via streaming and in a limited Blu-ray release, exclusive to the folks who contribute to the Kickstarter campaign.

For fans of Hammer’s vast, influential history, this is certainly a most worthy project. SHOCK gives it our seal of approval and urges you to explore the campaign and the perks within (including gorgeous poster-size prints of select titles by cover artist Mark Spears).

To peruse the HAMMER HORROR: THE WARNER BROS. YEARS Kicktstarter project go HERE.

And we’ll leave you with the trailer for FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED. Because we can.

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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Toronto! Blood in the Snow Film Festival Announces 2015 Lineup

Shock Till You Drop
Toronto! Blood in the Snow Film Festival Announces 2015 Lineup

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BITS2015

Northern frights reign supreme at the 2015 Blood in the Snow Film Festival.

Canadian horror film festival Blood in the Snow has just announced their full film lineup for their 2015 program. The fest – BITS as it’s commonly known – runs from November 27th to the 29th at the Carlton Cinemas in Toronto, Canada. The mandate of the festival is to showcase and support Canadian horror and exploitation films in a country that often frowns upon the production of such things.

Highlights in this year’s lineup include the World Premiere of NIGHT CRIES by director Andrew Cymek (DARK RISING/ SUMMER VALE series), the Toronto Premiere of maverick filmmaker Larry Kent’s controversial SHE WHO MUST BURN (winner of Best Canadian Feature at Fantasia Fest 2015), the Canadian Premiere of FARHOPE TOWER by April Mullen DEAD BEFORE DAWN 3D/ 88) and the Toronto Premiere of the acclaimed BITE from Chad Archibald (THE DROWNSMAN) closes the fest.

Go HERE for the full lineup.

And be sure to follow BITS on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.

Check out the highlight video from the 2014 show:

The post Toronto! Blood in the Snow Film Festival Announces 2015 Lineup appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Interview: Actress Brit Shaw on PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION

Shock Till You Drop
Interview: Actress Brit Shaw on PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION

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Brit1 Actress Brit Shaw talks PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION.

As audiences prep to literally immerse themselves in the 6th and (supposedly) final entry in the venerable PARANORMAL ACTIVITY fright film franchise this Friday, one of its leads, actress Brit Shaw, sat down with SHOCK to talk shop about the spooky sequel that reportedly is the most bone-freezing PA flick of them all…

Shaw stars as Emily in the mostly found footage flick PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION; she’s a young mother who, after discovering a high-tech video camera hidden in her house, gains the ability to see the dead around her, specifically the enduring, malevolent ghost that wants to claim her daughter.

Shaw has appeared in a myriad television programs and films and even wrote and starred in the short film IT’S NOT ME, IT’S YOU. But with PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE GHOST DIMENSION, her star is about burst through the screen….

No, seriously. It actually will. The film is in 3D.

SHOCK: Why do you think children, especially little girls, are so effectively creepy in horror films?

BRIT SHAW: Yeah, they are and I really don’t know. why, exactly. It’s like in THE SHINING. Those girls. You can’t even articulate it. They’re just scary. It’s like when you’re a kid and you’re playing cops and robbers, you believe it so much. Kids are so intense. So locked into the moment. So , maybe when they’re in a horror movie and they’re creepy, you just believe it.…

SHOCK: This is the 6th film in the series, but your first appearance. Did the Blumhouse team demand you watch the previous 5 pictures?

SHAW: Yeah, so what happened was I got the job and then they sent me a package with every film in it and told me to watch them. So I did. And what we created on set was sort of a PARANORMAL ACTIVITY bible, where if we had any questions we had to reference the “bible” to get the facts right. Blumhouse really cares about the fans and what the fans are thinking. He knows that they’ll remember everything and since this is the film, it has to provide closure and answer a lot of fan questions. So yeah, it was important that everyone in the cast and crew was on the same page.

SHOCK: Are we sure this is the last one?

SHAW: Well, I mean…how many can you do?

SHOCK: Was there ever a reference on set to the film 13 GHOSTS?

SHAW: No. What’s that?

SHOCK: A William Castle classic. When the characters put on their ghost viewers, the audience would do the same and they could see the ghosts that the characters were seeing. It’s gimmick is very similar to the one in THE GHOST DIMENSION.

SHAW:  What? No way! I never knew that! And no, no one ever talked about that.

SHOCK: Have you seen the final film yet?

SHAW: Not with a crowd, no, but I heard the audience response was crazy. I’ve seen the behind the scenes trailer with filmed audience reactions and it looks great.

SHOCK: Are those audience reaction trailers real?

SHAW: It’s totally real. The director was telling me about it and telling me me how I’d be be blown away with the fans responses to the scenes. And the trailer has had great feedback.

SHOCK: Well, there’s already a GHOST DIMENSION parody trailer…

SHAW: There is? What do you mean?

SHOCK: It’s called PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE TIGER MOM DIMENSION. It’s a play on the cliché of the Asian American family that expects too much from their kids. Here…watch….

SHAW: Oh my god, that’s hilarious!

SHOCK: Now, I’ve never seen a found footage film get made. Did you have room to improv or did you have to stick to script?

SHAW: Oh, there’s always room to improv and we shot tons of footage so that in the edit, they could find the movie. And we had a great writing team on set that was always writing and making suggestions. So it was both.

SHOCK: Are you going to wind up in any more horror movies?

SHAW: Well, horror films are a rite of passage for an actor. And it seems that since I’ve starred in one, everyone thinks it’s cool and I’m getting a bit more excited. I don’t know what the future will bring…but I’m excited about it….

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In Defense of GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE

Shock Till You Drop
In Defense of GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE

GraveofVamp

 Grave6 Australian horror journo and author Lee Gambin goes to bat for the battiest of all vampire movies: GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE.

There is something so incredibly appealing about vampire films from the seventies that have nothing whatsoever to do with the infamous and exceptionally popular (as he should be) Count Dracula. This is in no way a slur against our beloved literary prince of darkness; but instead, it simply means that there are other features that ventured into vampiric terrain during the grittiest period of cinematic decades that boast original and sometimes innovative bloodsucker outings. When American International Pictures released the subversively provocative and proudly lurid COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE in 1970, audiences thrilled to a lusty feral vampire played by Robert Quarry who built an army of devoted female disciples (one of which feasted upon a cat in one of the film’s most memorable and controversial scenes). The film was originally intended as a softcore sexploitation film (some prints of the film would feature it’s originally intended name as the title card), but Quarry insisted that AIP stick to a straight and narrow vampire feature that would embrace seventies newfound anti-glamour sensibilities. The result was a profoundly disturbing and entertaining horror classic. Following hot off YORGA’s success was GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE, directed by exploitation maestro John Hayes and loosely based on the David Chase novel “The Still Life”.

In this grisly, bleak piece, Michael Pataki plays the role of century old vampire Caleb Croft like a brutish thug, picking up his victims by the scruff of the neck and tossing them onto a pile of dirt with swift ease, moments before holding them up over his shoulder and slamming them down onto a dense cement gravestone breaking their back. The final insult is that this cretin lunges upon them and rips into their flesh feasting upon their fresh oozing blood. Pataki’s vampire has not one iota of glamour or charm, instead he is presented as a lumbering menace, which is not only refreshing and downright scary, but also satisfying to watch. In many ways a lot of Pataki’s physicality resembles Paul Naschy, that iconic Spanish cinematic lycanthrope who made a career out of fevered and frenzied performances in the lavish Hombre Lobo films from the sixties, seventies and early eighties. In comparison, Pataki jolts and bolts through each scene with a maddening intensity much like Naschy in his werewolf state, throwing his body around in an ecstatic and hedonistic manner – linking Pataki to Naschy’s bestial out-pour.

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GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE gives Pataki a lot of well-deserved room to be that maniacal menace with a heavy hand, and it is only in the second half of the feature, where his character has to “fit in” and “pass” as innocuous, that Pataki is allowed to reign in his larger than life ruthlessness and channel a different kind of threat. He is supported by a collective of sturdy actors, some there to serve genuine narrative purpose and others rendered loose-ends that succumb to a nasty demise even though they seem to be set up as mainstays. For example, the character of the lieutenant (Eric Mason) somehow represents a bizarre red herring. We are lead to believe that this character will be a Van Helsing of sorts, set to destroy Pataki’s Croft, however, early in the piece he is killed. The death of the lieutenant is gruesome and shocking. His body is smashed into the side of an open coffin by Croft and then his head is left to rest at the place of where the lid would shut tight. With a mighty blow, Croft drops the coffin’s heavy lid onto the lieutenant’s head and the sound of a crushing skull stabs the sound design. In a strangely homoerotic tail-end to the scene, Pataki rips open the handsome law enforcer’s shirt and dives in, ripping open his flesh and drinking his blood.

Before this entertaining sequence, we have been introduced to the lieutenant and get the impression that he suspects vampirism from the get-go (he even has a skeptical co-worker cynically remark “And then runs off into the sunrise like Bela Lugosi!” – which is a nice play on post-modern horror, where the characters in the film already understand what vampires are about, and that films about such mythical monsters exist, starring the likes of Hungarian imitable actors). Another first act character that is established, given purpose but then tossed to the sidelines is abuse victim Olga (Lieux Dressler), who is another bizarre addition to the film. Olga is introduced in the hospital where our initial heroine Lesley (played by Kitty Vallacher who somehow tries to channel a neurotic Sandy Dennis in her performance, and also billed as “The Unwilling Mother”) is recovering from being raped by Croft. This frazzled older woman takes an instant shine to our vulnerable leading lady, plus there is also a subdued hint of lesbianism here, as Olga caresses Lesley’s quivering hand and aggressively asserts herself as Leslie’s “protector”.

The theme of rape and the repercussions of rape permeate the film which makes GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE an interesting example of vampire-centric cinema predating compelling and gritty rape-centric movies such as RAPE SQUAD and DEATH WISH (both from 1974). Even hearing the word uttered on multiple occasions makes for a seedy excursion into the vampire sub-genre. Rape-centric cinema was of course no stranger on the grindhouse circuit of the early seventies, however when it is introduced to a film about bloodsuckers (a movie monster that is already seemingly “old hat” by the time of 1972) it somehow “frightens the horses”. This said, the film bears a semblance to the European horror/psychological character study of Werewolf Woman (1976), a phenomenal film that successfully marries the rape-revenge motif with the legend of lycanthropy. GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE dances with the notion of rape, but then fixes it’s focus on the concept of vampiric conception – Lesley, this fragile “unwilling mother” falls pregnant to the undead Croft (something that seldom happens in cinematic vampire logic). The film plays with the rules of vampirism – most notably that if Caleb Croft bites his victims they don’t turn into vampires, instead, this ancient and powerful undead only really births another vampire through raping Lesley in the open grave in the beginning of the picture.

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The image of Lesley cutting into her breast and drawing blood to feed her vampiric baby is what gave the film its notoriety and cult status (plus it also inspired a pre-feature warning). It is a striking image that perverts the holy bond shared between mother and child, and here this loving and essential act is completely misshaped as the natural maternal/infant unity is turned into something grotesque and demonic. The extreme close-up of the grey/bluish baby lapping up the fresh droplets of blood that fall onto his face is quite simply a nightmarish vision of unnatural monstrousness. On top of this unsettling image comes Lesley’s creepy lullaby where she sings “When you wake you shall have all the pretty little horses….” The fleeting moments with mother and vampire baby are undeniably compelling and eerie, and a dose of visceral bloodletting gives it the punch it needs. For example, Lesley takes a large syringe to her arm and withdraws her own blood to feed her son. This lingering image gives the movie a much welcomed queasiness that is appealing in the most down and dirty grindhouse-fevered sense. Dark humor is also infused within the lively dialogue – Olga asks about the young half-vampire half-mortal baby: “Why is he so grey? I’ve never seen a baby with this color before?”

The second half of the film changes it’s mood – and bloodsucking babies are sent on their merry way as cultists and occultism (a very popular trend in horror cinema at the time) picks up where we leave an infantile son of Croft, James Eastman. Playing the adult Eastman is the wonderful as character actor William Smith, however even with his hulking presence that made him a go-to heavy for other motion pictures and television of the time, he doesn’t seem to have the same intensity that Pataki has and because of this, the latter half of the picture staggers a tad – but only a tad. Thankfully, Pataki returns to the screen and now in an urbane and semi-sophisticated turn, where he poses as a professor at a local college. Muscular and stoic William Smith spends his time on screen wanting to track down his father while using women that work at the college to help him find out more about their elusive boss. Smith’s Eastman knows that Croft is his father – but this is something that he chooses to out just when the time is right. Eastman has also spent his entire life repressing his vampiric self, however elements of his hidden desires pop up throughout the film and prove rather humorous. When a female associate at the college comes over for a drink at Eastman’s house, she notices blood-red raw meat on a plate to which she asks “Do you have a dog or a cat?” to which he replies “The meat is mine”. We get the idea that this man is trying to suppress his urges by letting the blood from a steak assuage his lust, rather than surrender to the pleasures of human blood.

The film takes its time with lingering mood-pieces and visually engaging story-servers, such as the elongated moment where Eastman struggles to give in to his budding vampiric desires when his pick up is lying asleep underneath him, with the veins in her throat pulsating and throbbing. Eastman runs his fingers over these vessels blood, and distracts himself. But by the end of the film, Smith’s Eastman submits to his vampiric self and bares his elongated fangs while a title card reads: “The End! Or is it…?”

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The film is ultimately, exploitation bliss. The varied versions of the film with alternate cuts make for this to be one of those films that is seldom seen in its entirety. An uncut version has yet to surface, and the best print available for the film is made available on DVD through a company called Retromedia who have saved the original format and cleaned it up to the best they could, however this is once again another modified version – most notably cuts made during the baby blood feeding sequence, an elongated shot of Croft coming into extreme close-up baring his fangs and being blurred into obscurity, as well as endless stagnant shots of characters “deep in thought” or “scrutinizing situations at hand” – with these missing in action it is completely forgivable seeing that they bog the pace down and offer nothing but muted moments in an almost endlessly action-heavy horror film. And “action” is the key word. By the end of the picture, when father and son duke it out and come face to face with one another beating up on each other and throwing each other across the room, the film shifts into a fists of fury scenario that could match the likes of any Burt Reynolds action movie released around the same time. William Smith is most certainly an action star prototype – a man with few words, muscular and impressive in size and stature and boasting alpha appeal both for the male contingent and female. A truly stoic figure in his concentrated approach, the actor makes some of the flat dialogue engaging by giving it a grounded sense of realism. When we first meet him he speaks in voice over, giving us necessary exposition (something that could have been accomplished without such overstatement, however does seem to work here) about his mother’s death and denial of her son’s hybrid vampirism, and here we get a sense that perhaps this character (the new protagonist for the second half of the film) might hold onto his noir-esque inner-narration, serving as an internalised Greek-chorus which might give the film an altered sense of dreamscape in rudimentary grit. However, this dies with the image of his mother dead in her coffin.

GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE is worth it for many reasons – namely Pataki’s incredibly menacing and brutish performance, the infamous baby blood splattered close-up and the odd choices in setting up character and plot and aggressively dismissing it while keeping entertainment levels at an all time high. Besides the first half being stronger than the occult heavy second, the picture has a mesmerizing stride and energy and truly is one of the best vampire movies of the early seventies.

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