Conde Yorga, el vampiro

When we think of great vampire portrayals, normally the names of Lugosi and Christopher Lee immediately pop into our heads. Robert Quarry, however, is as convincing a vampire as both of those great actors. His performance and demeanor as a Bulgarian Count in this film is truly outstanding. He lives in a large house somewhere in California and terrorizes young women and their boyfriends. What makes this picture a better than average vampire film is that it has a very tense and atmospheric plot structure. We basically know what fate will befall our innocent(just) protagonists, but we become riveted to their actions and those of the Count. Quarry plays the Count with a charm that is both amiable and yet caustic. He makes one of the wittiest vampires in film. The rest of the cast is adequate, and I think Roger Perry does a wonderful job as a blood specialist who goads Count Yorga one evening into talking about the supernatural. A must see for the classic horror fan.

You have to know what you're in for when you sit down to watch a movie like "Count Yorga." Leave your expectations of lavish special effects, intricate plotting, and deep character development at the door. This movie is about what most vampire movies are about – cool confrontations with the undead, spiced with some lightweight eroticism. If that's your bag, you should like this.

But I'm already sounding too critical. I honestly think that "Yorga" has several strong points which elevate it above the standard bloodsucker flick. Chief among them is actor Robert Quarry, who cuts a striking figure as the Count. His performance walks a very fine line between camp and credibility, and somehow he pulls it off. He plays the best kind of vampire – suave and smart and friendly, until of course he decides to dispatch his opponents with almost animal savagery.

There are some memorably horrifying moments, including the infamous cat scene and Roger Perry's final confrontation with Yorga in the crypt. I also enjoy the séance - a funny way to set the scene and introduce the characters (such as they are). On the downside, Perry is a faintly annoying actor (I much prefer the secondary hero, Michael Murphy, who later played the thankless role of the mayor in "Batman Returns"), and there are some strange cuts in the action where sex scenes were apparently excised.

On the whole, though, I have little to complain about. It seems that vampires are always up to the same tricks – putting the bite on women and fighting off their vengeful boyfriends – but as long as the vampires are cool and the women are pretty, I'll tune in.

In this alternate take on the Dracula story, the titular count (from Bulgaria) holds a seance to contact the mother of young Donna. Donna's mom died of some kind of anemia, which of course fits in with the movie's theme. The seance doesn't go as planned, but Yorga is able to implant some post-hypnotic control on poor Donna, and soon enough bodies are piling up as Donna and her friends try to figure out what's what. There's even a henchman who's (apparently) a werewolf! But aside from the present-day (well, 1970) atmosphere and setting, this is a movie useful only as a cult hit. Tired of the same old vampires? Try Count Yorga, sort of a Diet Dracula. As with many genre pics of the period, the acting and direction are pretty nondescript, and the whole thing looks like it was filmed through a screen door.

At the time this film was made, vampires were almost always slow and hypnotic. This was really the first vampire film that treated them as swift and animalistic. That made this film surprisingly effective. It was even more surprising since it was originally supposed to be a pornographic vampire film called THE LOVES OF COUNT IORGA. It is flawed, but I still think it is the most effective vampire film I have ever seen. And I have seen quite a few.

I saw this one on a movie channel and loved it. I haven't seen it for 30+ years. Robert Quarry is magnificent as a "matinee idol" vampire, in the best Lugosi tradition. Someone should post a short biography of this often-overlooked actor. A little heavy-handed in parts, but it's sure sexy and scary. The supporting actors are very good, especially a young Michael Murphy. You might also want to view Dr. Phibes Rises Again with Quarry and Vincent Price going toe-to-toe. See this one if you like seventies style or good low-budget horror.

Rated PG-13 (kitty munching; lewd activities in Volkswagen Bus and cleavage isn't quite the word).