The Return of Count Yorga

As far as I can tell, Count Yorga was created to cash in on the then-popular monster frenzy created by DARK SHADOWS. In fact, the actor who plays Count Yorga must think he's in an episode of DARK SHADOWS, delivering his lines with pompous seriousness("I have the power to destroy you (dramatic pause)or let you go," he tells a petrified Mariette Hartley)There isn't much of a plot here: Count Yorga terrorized the faculty and students of a school for hearing impaired children, including teacher Hartley, whom Count Yorga has a yen for. Plots holes are covered by lots of early seventies-era quick cuts and camera angles, which serve more to make the narrative flow unintelligible. As bad as that is, the real horror is seeing Yorga's coterie of female vampires, as low-rent a bunch as you'll come across(which is saying something, since AIP, ultimate purveyors of the quickie horror film, put this out). With their dime store lingerie, plastic Halloween vampire fangs, and hideously teased hair, you fully believe the victims they chase aren't have as much concerned with becoming unwilling members of the undead as they are being seen in the company of these fashion disasters. Flicks like this make me mourn the demise of Mystery Science Theater 3000. So many bad movies like this left to diss, so little time . . .

Robert Quarry returns as Count Yorga, brought back to life by the Santa Ana winds after having been killed at the end of the prior film. Yorga then begins to prey on the residents of a nearby orphanage and seems to lavish particular attention on a young teacher at the orphanage, Mariette Hartley. As with the first film, it's rather low budget, but makes up for it in enthusiasm and gore. This sequel gave more screen time to the Vampire Brides of Yorga, which was kind fun and provided some good creepy visuals, but overall this is an awfully silly film. Producer Michael Macready's father, Hollywood veteran George Macready made his final film appearance here as Prof. Rightstat and a young Craig T. Nelson made his film debut on this picture playing a cop. And not that you would notice it, the director of photography on this film was Bill butler, who's later go on to film "Jaws" and several "Rocky" pictures.

This film, while solid for the most part, reminds me of a scene from "Columbo", where one character says to the detective "an exciting meal has been ruined!". That's the way I felt about this film, and they say a poor ending can hurt a film, and I must agree here. While this may seem like a negative review, there's things that I did like, such as Robert Quarry's performance, and the creepy mansion in which he resides, with a bunch of slick dark rooms, and skinny stairs. Look for some familiar faces in a very young Craig T. Nelson, Mariette Hartley, Michael Pataki, and Rudy De Luca. On the other hand, there's Philip Frame, who plays Tommy, and he may be the worst actor I've ever seen, and I'm not surprised that he only has 1 more acting credit after this film. That kid also deserved that good smack, the little jerk. One of the most disappointing aspects for me is that Tommy doesn't get his just desserts he richly deserved, but that's all I'll spoil for you. There's more good scenes than bad scenes, but the bad ones almost defy vampire logic, and really hurt the film for me.

The Santa Ana winds howl, signalling the return of Count Yorga, who had previously been killed, The Count has a penchant for Orphans from the local orphanage, and becomes very drawn to beautiful teacher,

I haven't seen the original film for years, but I remember it fondly, and have always regarded it as one of my favourite classic horrors, this is a very worthy follow up. It's definitely a little bit cheesy at times, but if like me you're a fan of seventies horror, you'll enjoy it.

Robert Quarry is excellent as Yorga once again, his eyes were wonderfully deadpan throughout the film, but there's no denying he had a real elegance and presence.

Great scenes of San Francisco in the early 1970's, I bet that was one awesome place to be.

Some of the makeup is a little questionable as you'd perhaps expect, but surely that can be forgiven, I don't think any expectations of greatness were made when they produced this film, but overall it does the job.

Worth seeing, 7/10.

In THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA, Robert Quarry reprises his suave vampire role. This time, he sets up shop in an abandoned orphanage near San Francisco. His army of female undead are fairly frightening, at one point going "Manson Family" style, during a rather -for its time- shocking massacre scene. This is actually the best part of the movie! Mariette Hartley plays Cynthia, the Count's latest obsession.

An overall gloomy, effective follow-up to the first film, it plays more like a stand-alone movie than a true sequel. For instance, there is no explanation for Yorga's resurrection, or his relocating to Northern California. In spite of this, the movie has enough atmosphere and Quarry's charisma to carry it through. Edward Walsh returns as Yorga's henchman, Brudah, as does Roger Perry as a completely different doctor than his role in film one!...