A typical Spanish terror of the seventies in which a busload of tourists stops in to visit a small European town. Seven very tired passengers : Ernesto (Indio González), Godo (Luis Ciges), Cesar (David Aller), Marcos (Manuel de Blas), Alma (Dianik Zurakowska), Raquel (Charo Soriano), and Raquel's eight year old daughter Violet are traveling by bus to Bojoni (filmed in Spain). Suddenly, the bus driver (L. Villena) suffers a strong stroke. When they arrive in Tolnia, however, there is not a soul to be seen, except for Luis (Jack Taylor), an American traveler who arrived in Tolnia about an hour ago and has been walking around the village looking for someone...anyone. Later on , they mett the village Major Boris (José Guardiola) who apologizes and explains that the villagers were at the cemetery yesterday, paying their respects to a recently-deceased villager. They also meet a beautiful but suspect woman (Helga Liné) who claims to be the countess of the place. What they don't know is that the town is completely inhabited by vampires. When the moon is up the fun begins !.
Eerie film containing suspense, tension , vampirism and lots of blood and guts with abundant sensationalistic scenes and a Naif style. This is a Spanish Horror dealing with a motley group of passengers who decide to drive to the near village of Tolnio instead, to spend the night and follow to Bojoni on the next morning where a host of spooky surprises await them , being really filmed in Madrid surroundings, such as: Patones, Talamanca del Jarama, Torrelaguna and in Uceda, Guadalajara, Castilla-La Mancha. Director Klimowsky adequately demonstrates his skill and craftsmanship in the field of terror, acquired through mutual work with horror expert and Fantaterror icon Jacinto Molina or Paul Naschy (Marshall of hell, Rebellion of dead one or La rebelión de las muertas , Werewolf shadow ,Dr Jekill vs. The werewolf). The movie has a bit of ridiculous gore with loads of blood similar to tomato. B-entertainment with a fairly suspenseful and horrifying story in which bloodthirsty vampires wreak havoc and undergoing a criminal spree by means of dismemberments, slitting, decapitation and other brutal executions. The script is quite frightening and ghastly, including some disgusting, loathing images at a meal, scenes that would be copied in another successful horror film ¨It happened at Nightmare Inn (una vela para el diablo) ¨ (1973) directed by Eugenio Martín , that's why it was also written by the same screenwriter, the notorious Antonio Fos. As usual, two versions were filmed, one with no nudity for the Spanish public that was heavily censored due to the strict repression from the Francoist regime and one with nudity for the international market.
The photography by Antonio L Ballesteros is very mediocre and too dark, therefore a perfect remastering is necessary to clarify the colors. This strange motion picture was middlingly but professionally directed by Leon Klimovsky and plenty of flaws and gaps . Klimovsky was born on October 16, 1906 in Buenos Aires, Argentina as León Klimovsky Dulfano . Founded Argentina's first film club in 1929 . Began his film career making short movies . Settled in Spain in the 1950s and became a Spanish citizen . Klimovsky was a slick craftsman who directed all kind of genres, usually working for Paul Naschy. He made his directorial debut with El Jugador (1947) based on the Dostoyewsky story of the same name. Of his 80 films as director, he shot almost 70 in Spain, but most are B-grade products, characterized by their diversity. These include the adaptation of Pedro Antonio Alarcón's La Picara Molinera (1955), the comedy Viaje de Novios (1956) and Ramón y Cajal's biography entitled Salto a la Gloria (1959), and even wild melodramas like Ama Rosa (1960) and he was one of the four directors who made the oriental fantasy Los Amantes del Desierto (1957). He also worked as an actor, highlighting his intervention in the film Maravillas (1980) by Manuel Gutierrez Aragón. Klimovsky was a prolific director and writer , especially known for his terror films as La Noche De Walpurgis (1971), La Orgía Nocturna De Los Vampiros (1973) , La Saga De los Drácula , La Rebelión De Las Muertas , Doctor Jekyll Y Hombre Lobo , but he also directed other genres as Wartime : Operación Rommel , June 44 attack force Normandy, Bridge over Elba, En Ghentar Si Muore Facile , The Legion of No Return ; thriller : Mean Mother ; Western : Reverendo Colt , 2000 dollars for Coyote , Few Dollars for Django, Death Knows No Time , Rattler Kid , A dollar for Sartana ; and Drama : La Casa De Las Chivas , Salto a La Gloria. Rating : 5.5/10, acceptable and passable . Well worth watching .The picture will appeal to Spanish Fantaterror fans.
