A Volta do Conde Yorga

The Santa Ana winds howl, signalling the return of Count Yorga, who had previously been killed, The Count has a penchant for Orphans from the local orphanage, and becomes very drawn to beautiful teacher,

I haven't seen the original film for years, but I remember it fondly, and have always regarded it as one of my favourite classic horrors, this is a very worthy follow up. It's definitely a little bit cheesy at times, but if like me you're a fan of seventies horror, you'll enjoy it.

Robert Quarry is excellent as Yorga once again, his eyes were wonderfully deadpan throughout the film, but there's no denying he had a real elegance and presence.

Great scenes of San Francisco in the early 1970's, I bet that was one awesome place to be.

Some of the makeup is a little questionable as you'd perhaps expect, but surely that can be forgiven, I don't think any expectations of greatness were made when they produced this film, but overall it does the job.

Worth seeing, 7/10.

First of all, the sets and atmosphere are great. An opening grave yard is truly beautiful and spooky. Perhaps the big-haired living dead women crawl their way out of the dirt with too much ease, but style is more important than being realistic. The Count appears to have no reason to be at the boarding school's halloween bash, but he is there, uninvited, clashing with the other guests. The fact that there is a costumed vampire at the party, leads to amusing tension and the viewer knows that the Count will be teaching these people a thing or two about real vampires as the movie continues.

Cameras are placed creatively throughout the film. One strangulation scene on a dock is shot from underwater with screaming whale sound effects. Shots in Yorga's mansion utilize quite a bit of framing through doorways. In fact doors are important to the film, the house is rigged with mechanical gates that open to reveal vampires (or close to trap intruders) numerous times. Also in the house, unexplained baby dolls, but they are creepy and so serve their purpose. Sound effects include whispering voices and laughter, perhaps not original, but fun.

You could look at this film as a mess, or you could have a good time watching it as I did. I don't need every phenomenon to make perfect sence or for all elements to be resolved. I like mysterious, bizarre, artistic horror.

As far as I can tell, Count Yorga was created to cash in on the then-popular monster frenzy created by DARK SHADOWS. In fact, the actor who plays Count Yorga must think he's in an episode of DARK SHADOWS, delivering his lines with pompous seriousness("I have the power to destroy you (dramatic pause)or let you go," he tells a petrified Mariette Hartley)There isn't much of a plot here: Count Yorga terrorized the faculty and students of a school for hearing impaired children, including teacher Hartley, whom Count Yorga has a yen for. Plots holes are covered by lots of early seventies-era quick cuts and camera angles, which serve more to make the narrative flow unintelligible. As bad as that is, the real horror is seeing Yorga's coterie of female vampires, as low-rent a bunch as you'll come across(which is saying something, since AIP, ultimate purveyors of the quickie horror film, put this out). With their dime store lingerie, plastic Halloween vampire fangs, and hideously teased hair, you fully believe the victims they chase aren't have as much concerned with becoming unwilling members of the undead as they are being seen in the company of these fashion disasters. Flicks like this make me mourn the demise of Mystery Science Theater 3000. So many bad movies like this left to diss, so little time . . .

In many respects, this film is a superior to the original Count Yorga, Vampire. Robert Quarry returns as the charming, sophisticated vampire that lives by an orphanage. His performance is wonderful as he matches witty remarks to dull conversation. At one point, as he attends a costume party, one lady touches his cape and asks where his fangs are. Quarry replies in a very sardonic manner, "Where are your manners?" That is but just one of his great one-liners. The real difference though between this and the first film is the unrelenting horror and tension created by director Bob Kelljan(and the fact that the budget and supporting cast were upgraded a good deal as well). Some of the scenes are truly frightening, especially the onslaught of the house by the horde of female bloodsuckers. The castle-like home used for Yorga's lair is also breath-taking and chilling in its baronial splendour. The acting aside from Quarry is first-rate this time around. Roger Perry is back as a Van Helsing type, but he is suitably aided by Mariette Hartley, Rudy DeLuca, Craig Nelson, and a fine performance by Yvonne Wilder as a deaf mute. Screen veteran George MacCready has a very small role as a professor, but his short screen time is a joy to behold as he adds comic relief to this somewhat black comedic film, verbally confusing Yorga to yoga. An excellent film!

Robert Quarry returns as Count Yorga, brought back to life by the Santa Ana winds after having been killed at the end of the prior film. Yorga then begins to prey on the residents of a nearby orphanage and seems to lavish particular attention on a young teacher at the orphanage, Mariette Hartley. As with the first film, it's rather low budget, but makes up for it in enthusiasm and gore. This sequel gave more screen time to the Vampire Brides of Yorga, which was kind fun and provided some good creepy visuals, but overall this is an awfully silly film. Producer Michael Macready's father, Hollywood veteran George Macready made his final film appearance here as Prof. Rightstat and a young Craig T. Nelson made his film debut on this picture playing a cop. And not that you would notice it, the director of photography on this film was Bill butler, who's later go on to film "Jaws" and several "Rocky" pictures.