Movie Review: Slaughter of the Vampires (1962)
Synopsis: A pair of newlyweds purchase a castle in 19th century Austria, unaware of the vampire that hides in the wine cellar. Soon after, the vampire targets the bride, Louise, turning her and a castle servant into vampires too, leaving her husband, Marquis Wolfgang, and a vampire expert, Dr. Nietzsche, to stop them.
The movie is also known by the title Curse of the Blood Ghouls.
Who's in it? The movie stars Walter Brandi, Dieter Eppler, Graziella Granata, Luigi Batzella and Genna Gimmy.
Review: I started to watch Slaughter of the Vampires a few weeks ago but was only able to get through the first few minutes and then forgot all about it until coming across it again last night. I decided to watch it this morning and, overall, I would say it was a good choice for a vampire movie.
One thing I liked most about this movie is it doesn't waste time. Unlike so many other films, the filmmakers seemed to understand they only had a little over an hour to tell the story and got right into the main plot rather than filling time with unnecessary details. Heck, we don't even learn all that much about the vampire himself (Eppler). He's just there from the beginning.
I was also pleasantly surprised, mostly because of when the film was made, to see the whole vampire mysticism sexualized. Louise (Granata) seemed to enjoy having her blood drank and hid what was happening to her much in the same way a woman might try to hide an affair. That coupled with her state of undress when it happened, made this movie seem a lot more modern as a result.
The fact her husband, Wolfgang (Brandi), truly loved her added a lot to the movie as well, especially when Louise is turned. It raised some questions both about what steps he would take when he found out and if he'd be OK with being turned into a vampire himself if it meant being able to spend eternity with her.
Throwing in the servant, Corinne (Gimmy) as a secret vampire was a nice touch as well. It offered plenty of opportunity for her to sabotage any efforts against her master while putting Wolfgang in added danger.
My only real complaint about the movie is I do wish it had a bit more action in it. Despite quite a few things I liked about it, the film was admittedly a bit dull at times because of this.
Plus, I was left a bit confused about why it was so hard to find the vampire's hiding place. It wasn't as though his coffin was well hidden. It was in the wine cellar behind a couple barrels, and someone would need to purposely avoid finding it.
Final Opinion: The movie didn't quite reach a point I'd consider it particularly memorable, but the reasonably fast pacing and the modern sexualized themes did make it entertaining.
My Grade: B
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Here are some reviews of other vampire movies from the 1950s and 60s:
Movie Review: Blood Bath (1966)
Movie Review: The Brides of Dracula (1960)
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