The Velvet Vampire

Stephanie Rothman's "The Velvet Vampire" is an intriguing slab of erotic vampire horror.The desert setting with the ghost town the characters visit provide plenty of unsettling atmosphere.Stunningly beautiful Celeste Yarnall plays the mysterious beauty Diana who after meeting married couple Susan and Lee Ritter at an art gallery lures them into staying the weekend at her Mojave Desert home.Soon both husband and wife find themselves sexually drawn to their mysterious host who suffers from a rare blood disease."The Velvet Vampire" was one of the first horror movies released by Roger Corman's company New World.The female vampire played by Celeste is a fascinating and deeply sensual character.The only known master print belongs to Quentin Tarantino's private collection and he is graciously lending it for the occasion.8 out of 10.

Nicely done vampire tale, an early effort for Roger Corman's New World Pictures, breaks from convention in some ways and gives it a refreshingly different environment in which to play out: the California desert.

Super sexy Celeste Yarnall is the enigmatic Diane, a desert dweller who invites young couple Lee (Michael Blodgett, "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls") and Susan (Sherry Miles, 'Hee Haw') to her isolated mansion.

Co-writer / director Stephanie Rothman, the woman behind such other drive-in gems as "The Working Girls" and "Terminal Island", incorporates elements such as eroticism, voyeurism, and mysticism into this often artfully done, dreamlike horror film with palpable desert atmosphere, excellent music, and impressive sun baked cinematography by Daniel Lacambre. The dream sequences are especially enjoyable, even more so when we learn Lee and Susan are having almost the same dreams in unison. Susan often comes off as too whiny and insecure, although one couldn't blame her too much for the latter when they see just how powerfully attracted Lee is to Diane. In fact, both Lee and Susan end up rather intrigued by their cagey and alluring hostess, just not at the same time.

The isolated setting ensures that escape is, while definitely not impossible, certain to be a daunting task. The sequences in the cemetery, as well as those aforementioned dream sequences, are the best in the movie. Restrained use of violence helps to make the bloodier parts that much punchier when they do occur, and in general the use of colour is quite striking. Blodgett and Miles are okay as the couple, but this is definitely Yarnall's show, and she makes the most of her role; both she and Miles show off an appreciable amount of skin. Supporting players Gene Shane, as Carl, and Jerry Daniels, as Juan, are decent as well, with familiar character players Sandy Ward, as Amos the service station attendant, and Robert Tessier - playing a biker, naturally - making appearances as well.

"The Velvet Vampire" is a good little movie for discerning vampire movie lovers to check out, as it continues to remain an overlooked item.

Seven out of 10.

I wasn't expecting a lot when I sat down to watch this Roger Corman vampire production, but to a degree I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised. Director Stephanie Rothman managed to take a low budget and limited resources and made some very memorable moments. There is some real atmosphere here - the desert landscapes are striking, and the horror sequences have (ahem) some bite to them. And the expected scenes of nudity and sex do have a little eroticism to them. Rothman is also helped by some striking cinematography and an excellent musical score.

Unfortunately, the movie does have a lead weight attached to it that prevents it from becoming a B movie classic, and that is the script. Even though the movie only runs about eighty minutes in length, the story is padded out to a ridiculous length. What story there is could have been told in half the time. It's hard to believe that it took three screenwriters (including Rothman) to write this extremely thin story.

Because of this unsatisfying script, the movie just manages to escape being labelled a cult classic. While I don't regret watching it, in the end the movie is only for a select (and patient) audience.

Invited out to a strange mansion, a married couple arrive at a strange woman's home in the desert where she shows them around the area, but when she suspects something is wrong with the host they eventually come to believe she's a vampire and tries to get away alive.

Overall, this was a decent enough if flawed genre effort. What gives this the most to like here is the nearly ethereal approach to the main vampire this takes. The whole ruse about getting them out to the desert mansion and then baiting them against each other with her secret lustful looks, spying on the couple in bed from her hidden chamber behind the mirror, the straight seduction scenes on the husband, or the visions shot through the slow-motion style which is all incredibly enjoyable. This here makes the trip feel more suspenseful the longer they stay knowing what the end game here eventually leads to. That becomes quite fun as the film goes along as the gradual realization of what's happening is brought out. While the looks and remarks she gives hint at the seduction, the oblivious nature of her vampiric tendencies offers a lot of great scenes featuring her attacking and killing others to feed on their blood. This even makes the finale quite fun as the seduction tactics are revealed for some unexpected targets signaling some shocking revelations that take place, and when combined with the closing epitaph and nicely done sleaze in the seduction scenes has a lot to like about it. There are some issues with this one. One of the biggest factors here is the lagging storyline that tends to switch into numerous plot points whenever it's convenient to do so. The couple goes from hating each other to loving depending on the nature of the scene, the ruse to keep them there is wildly inconsistent and plots are dropped at random intervals merely because it sees fit to do so, almost as if it were all made up on the spot. This also explains the inconsistent vampire lore, being out in the daylight, and other factors that ignored tropes for no reason which all brings this one down.

Rated R: Nudity, Violence, Language, and sexual scenes.

THE VELVET VAMPIRE opens with a woman walking alone at night. She's suddenly attacked by a biker (Robert Tessier) with an unexpected result. This is no ordinary, defenseless female. This is Dianne LeFanu (Celeste Yarnall), the title character.

After meeting a young couple (Michael Blodgett and Sherry E. DeBoer) at an art exhibit, Dianne invites them to her remote, desert estate where the real fun begins.

This is a wonderfully trippy example of early 1970's horror, packed to the gills with semi-erotic nudity, wonky dream sequences, vicious vampire attacks, and wild dune buggy action. There's also a certain clunky charm that adds to the overall enjoyment of the film.

If your tolerance for cheeeze is high, you'll have no problem with the visible swim trunks on Blodgett when he's supposed to be stark naked during the aforementioned dream scenes.

While the supporting actors are rather wooden, Ms. Yarnall is quite convincing in her seductively eeevil role.

The absurd, crucifix-filled finale is the icing on the cake...