Vampyres

Have you ever been bored of either the pathetic shot-on-video goth fantasies that seem to clog up the shelves, or even good old Jess Franco's cool but boring sleaze epics? This film is pretty much alone in the Lesbian Vampire genre in that it has real zeal - the girls really seem to get into their roles and the result is the most erotic non-porn feature I've ever seen. Excellent stuff.

Vampyres is a truly atypical genre film. The girls have no fangs, their victims do not become vampires, and theirs is not so much an aversion to sunlight as a dislike. It eschews traditional bloodsucker conventions in favor of atmosphere and eroticism, and the result, though English in origin, seems more like one of the Continental horror films being made at the same time--probably thanks to Spanish director Jose Larraz.

Marianne Morris and Anulka are gorgeous and sadly sympathetic as the two undead lovers. Though slowly paced, there is an ample amount of suspense and a great deal of gore, as the beautiful ladies lick the spurting blood from the open wounds of their victims. The film also contains some of the most incredibly erotic sex scenes in any horror film (please see the uncut X-rated version). Add a Gothic mansion, plenty of lush autumnal scenery, and poetic shots of the vamps running through a graveyard at dawn, and you get a thoroughly beautiful motion picture that you won't soon forget.

Okay...this film's not for everyone. It's filled with 70's-style Euro-trash lesbian and hetero sex, loads of gore, and was shot in three weeks on a rather, ahem...modest budget, by a director who could barely speak English. The script was probably 30 pages long. But there's something afoot here. It's not un-artful, it has flashes of real chills, and it's dripping in subtext, something today's Jason/Freddy/et.al. films sorely lack. The relationship between the male protagonist, who suspects the woman making love to him is a vampire, and the vampire herself, who chooses to slowly drain him of blood rather than kill him outright like her other victims, is bizarrely moving (and kinky) on a few levels. This film won't make you forget, say, the Christopher Lee Hammer films...but it will be hard to forget in and of itself and for its own hard-earned merits.

This movie doesn't leave an awfully big impression but it still is some good fun for the fans of the horror genre and vampire genre in particular.

The movie has a splendid visual atmosphere which is mainly thanks to the beautiful English countryside. Yes sir, the English countryside still looks better than any other average Hollywood set for a movie from the same genre. Also the atmosphere of the movie in general is typical British, so I can truly recommend this movie if you're fan of the old Hammer movies and stuff like that. Even though the movie never really gets scary, it still knows to create a certain creepy atmosphere. Also the movie is filled with some good graphic gory scene's, which worked well for the movie and its atmosphere.

The story is just as thin as the ladies clothes. The are quite a few things that don't make an awful lot of sense and there are some moments that the movie just drags on for far too long, such as all the erotic scene's, which only all felt totally pointless.

I am also ashamed to admit that I actually rather liked the unusual musical score by James Kenelm Clarke.

All in all it is a movie that is worth seeing but granted that you have to be a fan of the genre to be able to appreciate this movie. And hey, it has got Michael Byrne in it, better known as über-Nazi Vogel from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"! Another reason why this movie is perfectly watchable.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

If you're thinking about working the midnight oil, don't. Showcasing the "femme fatale" category comes this European cult classic, and I'm glad to find it better than most....as long as it's not an action-adventure feature filled with lurid junk. Sex and eroticism aside, the feminist vampire idea actually works and does deliver extensive chills to make it worth the late-night shift. As horrifying as it sounds, it is effectively bloody and doesn't keep you away from the occuring eroticism. While we have the sensation of being in the dark and shivering in our seats, the movie sometimes doesn't know where to turn. A lot of wandering around creates confusion and lessens the full feeling of eeriness. I'm not sure if you've seen the Hammer movies, and neither have I, but there's enough in VAMPYRES to satisfy your blood-curled taste for fear. I'd be dead wrong to hate movies that have loads of sex. This one counts, and because it has the right type of atmosphere. Good for its kind.