The Vampire Happening

Have a taste for blood… well let me throw in a side tray of goofy humour and seedy sexual activity. The (post-hippie stage) early 70s "The Vampire Happening" is a playfully sexy low-budget German produced horror spoof that sinks its teeth into the vampire genre. While not always on the mark with the gags (where sometimes the script didn't throw up enough or just repeated the gimmicks or rowdiness), as the fangs could have use a sharpen, but it remains rather diverting because of the idiotic silliness and free flowing skin.

Hollywood star Betty Williams, but her real name countess Von Robenstein has made her way to her newly inherited castle in Transylvania. Upon checking it out, she decides to stay. Unknowingly to her, Claramonde Catani her great grandmother is kept in a tomb in the castle and happens to be a vampire. They look so alike except for the colour of their hair and that of their nail polish, but Catani constantly switches identities with her granddaughter who confuses her anxious servant Josef and the town's folk.

The robust story is pure ham, digging up every opportunity to poke fun at the vampire conventions and the superstitious framework. The film's closing half focusing on the swinging orgy party filled with vampires and a special guest --- Count Dracula himself (a terrifically amusing mock turn by Ferdy Mayne) takes the icing. It's exploitative in its revealing, if tempting visuals (don't count the cheap, charming make-up) and the clumsy script is constantly cheeky with its innuendos. Pia Degermark is a complete hoot, as she's seductively saucy in her dual roles Williams / Catani. She's a prowess! Yvor Murillo is fitting as the bumbling comic servant Josef and Thomas Hunter is acceptable as William's lover. Director Freddie Francis does a surefooted job, if nothing overly special, but the choice of locations bathe nicely in a Gothic ambiance despite the modern setting. Liked the illustrated opening credits.

Eccentric horror/satire by Hammer studios legend Freddie Francis has an American movie starlet (Degermark) inheriting a Transylvanian castle, home to a long deceased though presently undead ancestor who bares a striking resemblance to the actress. Vampire hunters (Hunter and his bumbling, ageing companion Murillo) make several unsuccessful attempts to end the vampire dynasty, even resorting to false fangs in order to infiltrate a vampire masquerade party-cum-orgy. Shameless rip-off of "The Fearless Vampire Killers" is a topless orgy of sex and violence with some wacky slapstick and corny dialogue.

Combining uniquely German beer-hall humour, moody looking sets and an 'international' cast, director Francis has conjured an entertaining romp in which almost every female is topless and buxom, their male counterparts not as pretty but just as randy. Anyone who sees this movie will remember the party scene in which special guest Count Dracula himself (Ferdy Mayne) flies in by chopper to anoint the organisers and generally lend a certain prestige to the vampires' bash. It's an hilarious ode to the era of free love - here among the vampire fraternity - and is without doubt the film's crowning glory. Watching the voracious vampires make a mad dash for their coffins before the sun rises is also a comic highlight.

Controversial Swedish actress Pia Degermark is alluring and does a reasonable job in a dual role of contrasting characters, while Hunter (one of the few English speaking actors in the picture) exercises some comedic talent as he romances both the lady and the vamp. Quirky, sexy and irreverent romp is obscure, worthy of cult status and should be viewed accordingly.

This is another obscure horror title (actually a spoof), despite the involvement of Hammer/Amicus regular Francis; emanating from Germany, it was produced and scored by Pier A. Caminneci and Jerry van Rooyen respectively, who had been responsible for one of Jess Franco's most impressive works i.e. SUCCUBUS (1967). From what little I read about the film under review (the R1 DVD release arrived courtesy of Anchor Bay), the general consensus is that it does not work and the director should never have gotten himself involved to begin with. Still, Francis cannot have been too displeased at this change-of-pace since he would embark on a similarly outrageous venture not long after, the result being the equally maligned and even harder-to-find SON OF Dracula (1974)! Anyway, what we have here is a fairly engaging sex comedy which just happens to take place in Transylvania: having been an Oscar-winning cinematographer beforehand, the director ensures a good-looking film with the traditional (and authentic) Gothic scenery providing the appropriate contrast to the modern-day setting (the title itself being amusingly 'with it').

One other coup of the film, however, is the presence (in a dual role of a porn star with an Edie Sedgwick look and her dark-haired vampire ancestor) of leading lady Pia Degermark, though the "DVD Drive-In" reviewer seems to have appreciated her contribution solely on an aesthetic level (claiming he was unable to tell the two characters apart – well, the tell-tale sign was the different color of their finger-nails and, for the record, I preferred the 'older' version)! While she may have been cast due to her liaison with the film's producer, Degermark (previously from Bo Widerberg's tragic romance ELVIRA MADIGAN [1967], an established classic of World Cinema that I own but have yet to watch) carries the show with reasonable aplomb – which, at 104 minutes, is saying a lot! Unfortunately, her initial fairy-tale existence and fast living (she came from a wealthy family, for a time dated the King of Sweden and then, at just 17, won the Best Actress award at Cannes and was cited the Most Promising Female Newcomer at the Golden Globes!) spiraled into numerous health problems and, finding herself socially ostracized, even ended up in jail…but, thankfully, she now seems to have mostly picked up the pieces and gotten her life back on track.

To return to the film, it starts and ends with plane journeys: first, we get varied reactions to the in-flight viewing of a "Betty Williams" skin-flick (her name even appears in the opening credits of the movie proper!) and, ultimately, the vampire (having been mistaken for the porn star) landing in Hollywood in her stead! Among the numerous other characters to figure in the plot line are the Baroness' clumsy elderly servant (he orchestrates many a botched attempt to dispose of the bloodsucker and, at one point, even interacts with the audience!), a young monk (his initial suffering at being aroused by his fetching neighbor is amusing but his eventual sex-crazed antics when transformed into a vampire become tiresome) from the monastery adjacent to the castle, his irascible abbot (complete with funny German accent), a number of teachers (the male immediately becomes the heroine's lover, while the female is revealed as a lesbian) and promiscuous students from a nearby girls' school.

We even get the belated introduction of Count Dracula himself (played by THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS [1967]'s Ferdy Mayne, with Satanic salute intact!) – arriving at the concluding undead convention in a chopper flanked by Mafiosi(!) and depicted as quite the party animal; indeed, THE VAMPIRE HAPPENING must surely be the only movie which gives us the opportunity to see Dracula wearing spectacles, munching on a banana and even, quite literally, being caught with his pants down at sunrise ("Damn the zipper! Full speed ahead", he barks to his minions – a long way after Charles Coburn's 1943 Oscar-winning turn in THE MORE THE MERRIER)! There are even a couple of references to another Roman Polanksi horror effort, ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968), as well as a cute jibe at Christopher Lee – interestingly, Francis had himself previously directed the actor's third stab at his signature role in Hammer's Dracula HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE (1968)! This lengthy section of the film, then, suggests that everyone, from generals to sheiks to rock musicians and even astronauts(!), is 'in'.

To be honest, though obviously no classic, I rather enjoyed the film and only felt that it fell apart at the climax (with the multiple fang-work proving especially amateurish!). One unusual and prophetic aspect (little seen in the subgenre prior to the recent advent of the "Twilight" saga, which I actually have little interest in watching in view of its teen fan-base!) is when the bloodsucking Degermark restrains herself from draining the teacher's blood because she simply wants to re-experience the emotions of a sexual encounter with a living human being (for which the 'Prince Of Darkness' later takes her to task).

This is the story about a young actress, Betty Williams, who inherits a castle in Transylvania. When she arrives, the caretaker immediately recognizes and shows her the stark resemblance between Betty and her great great grandmother, Clarimonde: who just so happens to be a most feared vampire. During her time in the castle, Betty unknowingly awakens the 'still fresh looking' corpse of Clarimonde deep in the castle vaults and mayhem ensues.

If intelligent and thought provoking is what you are looking for, then you won't find it in The Vampire Happening. This is a movie that garners its charm from the satirical, sex driven jokes found throughout the entire film. You have your senile old man that has a habit of freaking himself out all of the time, an aspiring monk that happens to be a closet nymphomaniac (this becomes comically apparent when he starts seeing visions of sexual display in the form of nature during a walk in the woods.), and last but not least, gratuitous amounts of nudity.

Yes, it's full of bad acting, bad scriptwriting and shoddy direction, but this film still managed to accomplish what I'm sure the filmmakers ultimately intended: it entertained me. I think it's important for any person expressing interest in the horror genre to give movies like The Vampire Happening a chance: there's something to admire in the people who make them.

This movie was the last of four movies showcasing the beauty of Pia Degermark; a Swedish actress from the 1960s. She was the classic beauty in the Swedish movie "Elvira Madigan"- a movie that won quite a few awards on the international scene and made her a well known actress on her initial outing at age 18. This movie came out in 1967 and though set in the 19th century actually reflected the changing attitudes and mores of Western Society during the "golden age" of the youth movement.

She had a very strong supporting role a couple of years later in the movie "The Looking Glass War"; a realistic view of espionage during that period. Her role as "The Girl" in that movie was very strong and she showed her acting strength alongside that of a young Anthony Hopkins!

"The Vampire Happening" is a much more lighthearted movie than Elvira Madigan or The Looking Glass War or the seldom seen "A Brief Season" . She had just married a wealthy Italian industrialist who was also a noted film producer, and he wanted to show off his "trophy wife." And, she wanted to show off herself; hence the large amount of nudity. In her case it was pretty much only topless nudity- of historical interest are the scenes in the torture chamber where a nude female is subjected to medieval punishment. These scenes were brushing against the censor standards of that age. Though Sweden (Degermark's home country) had allowed some "artistic" female nudity in its own films for a few years prior to that the films had generally not been distributed in the "unrated" format outside of that country. This film was one of the first distributed films showing the torture of a nude woman; as well as giving a substantial glance at her pubic region (not usually allowed back then- you could show breasts and butts only and were glad you show even that much!). They got away with showing the realistic torture scenes in this movie as they were depicted in a fairly "lighthearted " manner and in a day dream sequence. Nevertheless, this film is sometimes mentioned as a ground breaker in what it did show (sex and somewhat realistic torture of a nude woman).

Anyway, when you see this movie you really see a young bride during and enjoying the honeymoon phase of her marriage and that along is reason enough to view it. It is a lighthearted romp and if you find a technical mistake somewhere in it please be advised that probably nobody else really cares!! It brings up great memories for people who were teenagers during this time (like me). Of note is one of the final scenes in the movie that takes place in an airport- no metal detectors or X-Ray machines, no lines, and a beautiful architectural setting! Like the rest of the movie, it is a nostalgic look back at a golden age!