Sangre de vírgenes

Argentina's first vampire film is a potboiler enlivened with plenty of sex and violence. At its best moments, it recalls Jean Rollin's stylish vampire movies with almost surreal scenes of sexy female vampires wandering through the night in their negligees and seducing innocent men. At its worst, this is a tepid, often boring and predictable yarn that runs through all the old clichés without adding much in the way that's new in the genre, and it suffers from a serious lack of pacing in the second half. The plot is the old tried-and-trusted story of "a group of blokes and birds spend the night in a spooky location and are attacked by vampires" which seemingly fuelled an endless array of European horror films during the '60s and '70s. Director Emilio Vieyra (also responsible for the truly demented CURIOUS DR. HUMPP) has confessed that he's a big fan of detective stories and the second half of this film plays like a mystery, with a man investigating the strange illness of his girlfriend which is caused by... well, I'm sure you can guess.

Where BLOOD OF THE VIRGINS excels is in its exploitational aspects. There's a great prologue (which reminds one of the mini-movie at the beginning of VAMPIRE CIRCUS) in which a vampire is thwarted when his prospective bride marries her cousin. The cinematography is colourful at all times, although some of those '60s fashions are definitely a bit garish. Be sure to check out the incredible nightclub sequence near the start of the film in which travelogue footage is interspersed with naked strippers dancing on a table while a guy in huge joke-shop glasses ogles them in disbelief. Definitely dated, and played for laughs anyway. Another bizarre aspect of the film is the repeated red-tinted shots of seagulls we see in place of the more traditional bats. Now, I like a change as much as the next man, and the use of seagulls is something a bit different, but why? An explanation would have been helpful!

Unfortunately, the characters are a bit dull and lifeless, the cast wooden and unmotivated. The hero in particular is one of those "tweed suit" guys with long sideburns whom you just can't help disliking. The vampiric Count is a direct Dracula rip-off and doesn't get much dialogue, being more of a silent menace like Christopher Lee in Dracula, PRINCE OF DARKNESS. The film does pick up for an action-packed finale, shown in unflinching detail with gore splashing everywhere, but this scene comes as too little to late. BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE is a nice try, but a poor excuse for a horror film only for those really obsessive completionist horror fans.

Zzzzzzzzzzz

How many ways can you write off yet another foreign vampire film whose main concern seems to be how many girls in gowns, fangs and breasts it can offer during its running time? Hey, this isn't a bad thing in itself -- but nothing else of any substance is happening here, and this is an easily passable snoozer from Argentina that you can use to help you sleep, if need be. The only things saving this from being rated a total BOMB - aside from the aforementioned babes, that is - would be an artsy credits sequence at the beginning and a couple of well executed kill sequences to open one eyelid for in between naps. * out of ****

Buxom blonde Ofelia (Susana Beltrán) is pressured by her family into marrying Eduardo, even though she loves Gustavo (Walter Kliche). What she doesn't know is that the man she really loves is actually a vampire. On Ofelia's wedding night, Gustavo sneaks into the marital bedroom as Eduardo is getting busy with his new wife, stabs the man through the neck with a dagger, and ends Ofelia's life by draining her of blood.

Later, when Ofelia has been buried, Gustavo goes to her grave to see her rise from the dead as a bloodsucker. The pair are reunited. Cue groovy, animated, psychedelic titles…

Titles over, we are introduced to a group of hippies/beatniks who are on holiday, sightseeing, skiing and attending swinging parties where the women take off their clothes to jiggle their bits. While driving down a remote road, the gang's van runs out of fuel, leaving them stranded, cold and miles from their destination. Fortunately, one of the them is familiar with the area and knows of an abandoned lodge not too far away, so the group head for shelter, unaware that vampire Gustavo and his big-breasted 'bride' are lurking nearby, waiting to feed.

Directed by Argentinian Emilio Vieyra, who also gave us the bizarre cult classic The Curious Case of Dr. Humpp (1969), and the rather entertaining oddity The Deadly Organ (1967), Blood of the Virgins is packed with wild visuals, jazzy music, soft-core sex, a smattering of gore, and hot women with large breasts (Vieyra might not be able to tell a seagull from a bat, but his good taste in women is in no doubt—as well as Beltrán, there's also gorgeous brunette Gloria Prat as Laura, one of the vamps' victims), all of which makes it a reasonable time-waster despite the rather routine plot and some atrocious acting.

The worst aspect of this film is most definitely the tired script. For starters, the basic plot involves a group of young people running out of petrol and having to spend the night in a creepy house (not very original). It then turns out that the house is populated by vampires (not that you wouldn't have guessed that from the title of the film). It doesn't get any better after that either.

But the film does have a certain charm. The obligatory (for a 1967 horror film that is) sex and drugs scene at the beginning of the film is good fun (love that music!). The lead female vampire is very attractive and as such is destined to be seen naked at some point in the film. The surreal use of a seagull filmed through a red filter as a cheap alternative to a bat also adds to the charm of the film.

Overall, it's a recommended film if you're a fan of vampire films and haven't yet seen the genre done Argentinian-style.

A group of obnoxious swingers are touring the vamp's area when their hippie van collapses,leaving them to spend an unforgettable and seemingly unlivable evening at the Count's lodge.The Count has kept an unwilling yet equally undead bride in his clutches and the blood begins to flow...I kind of enjoyed this trashy little flick,however there are some incredibly dull and boring spots.The acting is very bad,the atmosphere is non-existent,but if you are a fan of exploitation flicks,who enjoys watching bare breasts of some fine looking Argentinian ladies you may want to give this blood-sucker a try.Cinematically we're treated to numerous topless Go-Go dancers who wiggle wildly to cool-school jazz while inserts of sea gulls double for vampire bats.Vieyra's genre credits include:"The Deadly Organ",the mind-blowing "Curious Dr. Humpp" and of course "Blood of the Virgins".My generous rating:6 out of 10.