Conde Yorga, Vampiro

The early 70s were a great period for vampire movies. In England Hammer released some classics like 'The Vampire Lovers' and 'Vampire Circus', while Europe gave us some gems by Rollin, Franco and Larraz. America was not to be left out, and Bob Kelljan's 'Count Yorga, Vampire' is a great little movie that is often unfairly overlooked. Kelljan had acted in a couple of Richard Rush movies in the 60s including 'Psych-Out', before making a few exploitation movies of his own in the early- to mid-70s. For the rest of the decade he mainly concentrated on TV before sadly having his career cut short by cancer. As well as two Count Yorga movies he also directed 'Scream Blacula Scream' and the notorious 'Rape Squad'. 'Count Yorga, Vampire' is interesting because it is set in contemporary America, quite a rarity at the time. Robert Quarry ('Dr Phibes Rises Again') is excellent as Yorga. He's very charismatic and cool and I think this character deserved more than only two movies. The rest of the cast are pretty much unknown to me apart from Michael Murphy, an Altman semi-regular who also later appeared in 'Manhattan' and 'Magnolia'. He has made very few genre films but he can also be seen in 'Strange Behavior' and Wes Craven's 'Shocker'. I enjoyed 'Count Yorga, Vampire' a lot and highly recommend it to fans of 60s and 70s vampire movies.

Count Yorga (Robert Quarry), a vampire, comes from Bulgaria to 1970 Los Angeles and starts making a coven of beautiful female vampires. Will their boyfriends be able to stop him?

This was a huge hit in 1970 because it was the first modern vampire film. Up until then all vampire films had been set in Europe in the 1800s or early 1900s. This was the first vampire film set in modern day. Still it isn't a great film. It was originally shot with soft core sex scenes which were (pretty obviously) edited out and it was turned into a sleazy PG rated film. It was made on a very low budget (it shows) and suffers from some horrible 1970s fashions and dialogue. Also the makeup on the female vampires is pretty poor. Still this isn't a total disaster either.

The script is actually pretty intelligent considering this was a fairly rushed production. The acting is good--especially by Quarry who makes an imposing vampire. Very subtle performance but he handles the violent scenes quite well too. It moves at a fairly quick pace and has a great bloody climax--pretty extreme for a PG film. This won't impress audiences like it did in 1970 but it's still not that bad.

The 2000 video version I have has "Yorga" spelled as "Iorga".

Some friends gather at the mansion of Robert Quarry (Count Yorga) so that they can hold a séance and Donna Anders (Donna) can contact her recently deceased mother Marsha Jordan. Marsha and Quarry had been lovers. What follows is a vampire film with the women predictably the victims/aggressors and the men predictably running around trying to solve things. In the meantime, Quarry is the bad guy with a clichéd side-kick who resembles a monster and has super strength. Good versus evil – can you guess which side wins…..?

The film is OK but I find films in this genre quite limited in emotional connection for me. There are a couple of rare exceptions but on the whole, you know what you're going to get. The film does have one memorably scary part that is well done - check out the stuck-in-the-van sequence. We know what is coming, but it's still scary and gets you. This happens on another occasion as well as at the end. This predictability, unfortunately, lets the film down - as well as the comically bad narration, especially at the end. Aside from that, the film is a little dull and just plods along. The bloody images start to appear at the end of the film and there is a pretty grotesque moment with a kitten. Personally, I don't approve of gratuitous gore so these things lose points for me. I want to like these vampire films but they are ultimately boring and predictable. This one scores on the OK-ometer.

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.

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).