Le Baiser du vampire

Don Sharp directed this entertaining vampire tale(not connected with the Dracula series) that sees honeymooning Gerald and Marianne Harcourt(played by Edward De Souza & Jennifer Daniel) develop car trouble on their driving trip in Europe, but are aided by a Count Ravna(played by Noel Willman) who invites them to his castle for a costume party after they check into a local inn. The party takes a dark turn after Gerald is drugged, and told that he has no wife! Confused and outraged, he seeks the help of Professor Zimmer(played by Clifford Evans) who is also staying at the inn, and informs him that Ravna leads a vampire cult that turned his own daughter, and now wants Marianne... Another atmospheric horror from Hammer with a fine score and direction. A pity it couldn't have brought back Peter Cushing as Van Helsing, but performances are still good, and leads to an exciting finale.

"The Kiss of the Vampire" has one hell of an opening scene, but after that, the viewer must endure about thirty minutes of Dullsville as a newlywed couple arrives in a creepy European town and interacts with the strange, subdued locals. Note that the entire village seems to consist of only three people: Professor Zimmer, the innkeeper, and the innkeeper's wife. There's the Hammer casting budget for you!

Thankfully, the action picks up during the creepy masquerade ball. I also enjoy watching our hapless hero (played by the somehow likable Edward DeSouza) get humiliated by the vampires when he attempts to rescue his wife.

The sets are cool and Gothic, if obviously studio-bound; this is the kind of movie that many would call cheap, but tolerant and loving horror fans would probably describe it as quite lavish.

I have some plot-related problems. Professor Zimmer's transformation from tottering drunkard to know-it-all savior is too abrupt and unconvincing. I can't understand why he doesn't stop the Harcourts from visiting Ravna, since he's so sure that the latter is a vampire. All he does is issue cryptic warnings - who's that going to put off? I also don't understand why the vampires try to convince de Souza that he never had a wife. Do they really think that trick's going to work? Of COURSE he knows he had a wife! They really should just kill or convert him; setting him loose to make trouble is an unconscionably stupid decision. Anyway, they drop this little lie so quickly that one wonders why they bothered in the first place.

Other problems include a scene involving whiny, panicking vampires (hardly the most terrifying villains), and the strange lack of music in the climatic scene. As usual for a horror film, certain casual asides in the dialogue are more interesting than the story itself; Zimmer describes his daughter's conversion into a vampire in the most fascinating terms, and even suggests that vampires can be redeemed through faith in God. All of which amounts to nothing, of course, since Hammer films can never be too deep. What we get is the usual fight over a pretty girl, the staple of vampire movies for way too many years.

Groaning aside, all Hammer films do have a certain charm, including the slow ones. A worthwhile attempt is made to make the vampires seem elegant and mysterious, and their eerie piano song does add to the atmosphere. I just wish the movie held up a little better; with a rewrite and some nips and tucks, this could've been one of the greats. Alas, as it stands, it's merely mediocre.

The basic plot: Gerald and Marianne Harcourt, a couple traveling through Europe for their honeymoon, break down in a small and secluded Eastern European village ,and one of the few places theyr'e welcomed is is the grand castle of the Count Ravna ,but when he turns out to be a bloodsucker and own a vampire cult and kidnap Marianne, Gerald must ally with reclusive vampire hunter Dr.Zimmer to defeat the vampires.

The praise:Ominous and entrancing. The scenes which are most effective are the ones when there is an air of unknowing and quiet terror, and a lot of creepy hypnotic feel. The masque scene is a masterpiece in structure, and Roman Polanski was definitely influenced by this in the making of his great suspenseful comedy "The fearless Vampire killers".The acting is solid , and the film is gorgeously ornate to look at, the Castle Ravna is being a place of complex architecture and decorative flourishes. The plot is pretty simple, but this small gem is all about mood.As well, the scene before Gerald and Marianne Harcourt come in is bloody good.

The flaws: The climax doesn't come together as well as the rest of the movie.

As I lay watching this film, I was reminded all over again why Horror is my favorite cinematic genre: despite the absence in the cast of any major stars from the Hammer stable, this well-directed shocker is arguably one of their best efforts. The film is bracketed by two bravura sequences: the opening scene at the graveyard where an obviously drunk and distraught Professor Zimmer (the Van Helsing figure here vividly essayed by Clifford Evans as a boorish and cynical man) unceremoniously plunges a spade into the wooden coffin of his dead daughter thus releasing her soul from the curse of the undead; and the startling climactic destruction of the vampiric cult at the hands of (irony of ironies) some admittedly fake-looking vampire bats! As usual with this type of film, the young leads (Edward De Souza and Jennifer Daniel) are merely adequate but the film benefits immensely from a deliciously villainous turn by Noel Willman as Dr. Ravna, a worthy Dracula stand-in, whose soothing, calm composure and tonality starkly contrast with the more energetic antics of a Christopher Lee, but exude just as much evil. Although judging from the IMDb synopsis, the added-for-TV scenes (for an alternate version of the film entitled KISS OF EVIL) are nothing to write home about, I would still like to have seen them included as a supplement to the DVD - although apparently that would have been too much to expect from Universal...

This entertaining horror film sees a bright young couple break down in a sinister Eastern European Village during their honeymoon, a nasty surprise awaits as they discover it's more than just the local claret that's full of bite.

I can't say it's the best offering from the legendary Hammer, but it's a very good offering nonetheless. The most striking thing initially, is just how good it looks, I picked up the blu ray, and wasn't expecting a huge deal, however it looks incredible, it's bright and sharp.

The story is the usual affair, think of the attractive blond at the mercy of the local, shadowy figure, however there is a lot more going on than just that.

The acting is really nice also, Edward de Souza is very good, and cuts a dashing figure.

If you're expecting a caped Dracula, you may just be disappointed, however there's enough here to keep you entertained.

Special effects are what you'd expect and perhaps hope for, the pink paint blood and Halloween store bats, it all adds to the magic though.

The ending is still pretty impactful, overall it's a must for fans of classic horror, 7/10.