Malenka

Just two weeks from her marriage, charming model Sylvia Morelle (Anita Ekberg) receives a letter from her uncle, Count Waldrick (Julián Ugarte), informing her that her mummy has passed away and that she has inherited a castle and the title of Countess . Consequently, Sylvia leaves her fiancé, Dr Piero Lufuani (John Hamilton), in Rome while she goes to Castle Waldrick to sign papers and check out her good fortune . There lives mysterious people she suspects may be vampires and her uncle (Julian Ugarte) who happens to be the main bloodsucker and he attempts to persude her to remain among them . As vampires craving for human blood and beginning her criminal rampage .

This low-budget Spanish-Italian co-production from the classy cult filmmaker Amando De Ossorio results to be an atmospheric horror movie containing terrifying scenes when appears the sinister vampire , as well as a bevy of beautiful women and taking place the bloody killings by neck biting . Based on the legendary story of a fired witch and a creepy vampire , in which rise from beyond to wreak havoc upon some beautiful Euro-babes and unfortunate victims . Plenty of lots of blood and gore , including some repellent images . The fable is sometimes silly and laughable ,though the effects and action are well made . It's a slight fun with acceptable make-up , special effects , passable set decoration and functional art direction . Some illogical parts in the plot are more than compensated for the excitement provided by the wonderful busty vampire women running in slow-moving , though sometimes are a little bit cheesy . While not a hit during its original run, the film became successful when reissued several years later. Acceptable main cast as Anita Ekberg , John Hamilton and Julian Ugarte as a strange nobleman , whose role was previously offered Boris Karloff who was initially approached to play him , but he eventually turned down . Support cast is pretty good , such as : Carlos Casaravilla as a drunkyard doctor , the hunk Fernando Bilbao , Paul Muller : Jesus Franco's regular and attractive Eurotrash girls as Rosanna Yanni , Diana Lorys and Adriana Ambesi .

It contains a thrilling and frightening musical score by Carlos Savina . And colorful cinematography , in Hammer style , by Fulvio Testi , though being really necessary a perfect remastering . The motion picture was professionally directed by Amando De Ossorio . Amando began in films as a writer and assistant director and continued his career by making short films and industrial documentaries . He was one of the main directors of the Spanish horror boom in the 70s , in fact this ¨Malenka¨was his handiwork , best known for his series of Knights Templar zombie films , which began with La Noche del Terror Ciego (1971).specially for his quartet of films about the living dead templars which started with his first great success and immensely popular ¨Tombs of the Blind dead¨ which to be continued by a trilogy : ¨Return of evil dead¨ , ¨Ship of Zombies or Blind dead 2¨ and ¨Blind dead 3 or The night of the sea gulls¨ . Amando owns his own studio and created and/or designed many of the simple special effects sequences you see in any of his many imaginative undertakings . He displayed a varied career and specialized on all kind of genres as Western in "Rebels in Canada" and "Grave of the Gunfighter" , Historical as ¨Los Cantabros¨ , Monster movie as ¨Serpent of sea¨ and , of course, Terror as ¨Malenka¨ , The possessed¨ and ¨night of witches¨ . Ossorio also studied painting and photography , moreover, he also made his living as a painter of creepy images of the Knights Templar in his later years. Rating : 5.5/10 . Acceptable and passable .

FANGS OF THE LIVING DEAD (1969) * Anita Ekberg, Julián Ugarte, Gianni Medici, Diana Lorys. In this 1969 film by Amando de Ossorio (Tombs of the Blind Dead) Ekberg plays an Italian fashion model who inherits a creepy Spanish castle, only to learn that her ancestors were vampires. The sets and costumes are beautiful, but can't compensate for the stiff performances, poor dubbing and slow pacing. Avoid the Retromedia DVD version. Even though it purports to be the 88-minute "Americanized" version of the film, it's only 74 minutes and appears to be an edited-for-television version.

There are at least three prints of this film running loose these days ... Readers should NOT let the negative nellies dissuade them from seeking this film out -- it is a marvelous little bit of Eurotrash from one of the genre's finest directors when he was just flexing his muscles.

Most literature I have encountered on MALENKA agree that Ossorio's main inspriration was THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS aka DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES, but he injected the film with a decidedly Medeterranian air that caught on: In many circles, it is considered classic must-have required viewing at the Academy, Mr Spock kind of stuff.

BUT, you need to select your home viewing version carefully -- of the three most common forms that exist, the most familiar to us in America is a 75 - 80m "public domain" print that used to run on TV a lot, with the vampire chasing ending in place ... we have all seen it at one time or another. Then there is a second 96 - 98 minute European cut exported from Holland in the late 1980's -- it contains some additional "scientific" scenes and other dialogue, but NOT the gag ending with the vampire chasing Rosanna Yanni. The recommended version is actually out on DVD right now at places like Amazon under the name FANGS OF THE LIVING DEAD and released by a smallish company called Retromedia who "restored" a widescreen uncut British print for their DVD; uncut meaning that some of the slower scenes trimmed from the 80m public domain print are still in place.

What makes their DVD really come to life, though, is the care that went into making the print look good again. And after so many years of dingy, sepia rotted TV prints you will be shocked at what a beautiful, HARMLESS and fun movie this is -- I'd rather watch MALENKA with my eyes held open by toothpicks than ever have to sit through garbage like INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, DRACULA 2000 or FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA PRESENTS BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA: A FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA FILM ever again. Gawd ...

Amando de Ossorio was one of the great directors of Spanish horror, and this film, also known as Malenka, occurs when he was really hitting this stride.

There are reportedly three versions of this film, and this one is the best. It is a beautiful print, and we see Swedish star Anita Ekberg (La Dolce Vita, Boccaccio '70, Killer Nun) in all her beauty.

It is a campy film, so there is no nudity or blood here. Despite the buxom women throughout, it is harmless fun.

Sometimes a vampire movie is more than blood and nudity. Sometimes, it's just a great way to kill 75 minutes.

While not a completely horrid movie watching experience for the most part I have to say this film is just does not pack enough bite. I own this movie in a pack with like a bunch of other horror movies. I did not know what to expect with this one, but I did not have high hopes thanks to its PG rating. When it first came on and it was a couple of guys in a office I was thinking "maybe it will not be so bad, at least they are not in a castle". It is not to long after that the fiancé of one of the guys inherits a castle and that made me think that it we are about to venture into the old castle foray that was so prevalent during this time period. Lady goes to place, town full of superstitious people, and then she meets her mysterious uncle who does not come out till after dark. Basically your standard plot for this type of movie. When her fiancé comes looking for her after she writes a letter breaking off the engagement it livens up the film a bit, but not enough to totally save it, rather he makes it a tolerable piece to watch. There are twists at the end, some of which left me confused on some points and the final scene was a tad strange as they threw in some comedy near the end that seemed out of place considering the first bit was devoid of any attempts at humor. There is not much gore and absolutely no skin (it is a PG film), but you do get to see a lot of cleavage and cute outfits so a plus on that front. Basically a retelling of Dracula in some ways that had some good moments and while overall it needed lots of work it also did not bore me at any time either.