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La Maîtresse du vampire

Original title: L'amante del vampiro
  • 1960
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 25m
IMDb RATING
5.6/10
726
YOUR RATING
La Maîtresse du vampire (1960)
Horror

A troupe of beautiful young dancers find themselves stranded in a sinister, spooky old castle, not knowing that it is home to a group of vampires.A troupe of beautiful young dancers find themselves stranded in a sinister, spooky old castle, not knowing that it is home to a group of vampires.A troupe of beautiful young dancers find themselves stranded in a sinister, spooky old castle, not knowing that it is home to a group of vampires.

  • Director
    • Renato Polselli
  • Writers
    • Renato Polselli
    • Giuseppe Pellegrini
    • Ernesto Gastaldi
  • Stars
    • Hélène Rémy
    • Tina Gloriani
    • Walter Brandi
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.6/10
    726
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Renato Polselli
    • Writers
      • Renato Polselli
      • Giuseppe Pellegrini
      • Ernesto Gastaldi
    • Stars
      • Hélène Rémy
      • Tina Gloriani
      • Walter Brandi
    • 25User reviews
    • 30Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos48

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    Top cast16

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    Hélène Rémy
    Hélène Rémy
    • Luisa
    • (as Helene Remy)
    Tina Gloriani
    • Francesca
    Walter Brandi
    Walter Brandi
    • Herman
    Isarco Ravaioli
    Isarco Ravaioli
    • Luca
    Gino Turini
    • Giorgio
    • (as John Turner)
    Pier Ugo Gragnani
    • Il professore
    • (as Ugo Gragnani)
    Brigitte Castor
    Lut Maryk
    Ombretta Ostenda
    Bava Sanni
    Marisa Quattrini
    Giorgio Braccesi
    Titti Valeri
    Stefania Sabatini
    Franca Licastro
    María Luisa Rolando
    • La contessa Alda
    • (as Maria Luisa Rolando)
    • Director
      • Renato Polselli
    • Writers
      • Renato Polselli
      • Giuseppe Pellegrini
      • Ernesto Gastaldi
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews25

    5.6726
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    Featured reviews

    8HumanoidOfFlesh

    Arguably the first Italian horror movie of early 60's.

    A group of sultry Italian ballerinas is terrorized by the vampire and his countess Lucia in an old and dusty castle."The Vampire and the Ballerina" is arguably the first Italian horror movie of early 60's.Mario Bava's immortal "Black Sunday" went into production three months later.The film is worth seeing for its vintage B&W atmosphere,a subtly erotic elements and glorious Gothic mood.All the ladies are strikingly beautiful and there is some tame bloodsucking action.Actually one of the dancers is a very young Femi Benussi."The Vampire and the Ballerina" was shot in Piccolomini castle built in 1470 on the remains of a previous fortified structure and now surrounded by a wonderful green park.If you are a fan of Italian horror watch this stylish mood piece as soon as possible.8 out of 10.
    7goblinhairedguy

    Campy-cool Gothic antics

    Here's an early entry in the Italian horror revival of the 60s, following on the heels of Freda's "I Vampiri". It fits in well with the contemporaneous Gothics "The Playgirls and the Vampire", "Slaughter of the Vampires", etc., but is more superficial and haphazardly constructed. Most horror buffs have dismissed it as a clumsy imitation of its cinematic cousins. As proved by his later, supremely bizarre contributions to the horror genre, Polselli was a hack with no interest in continuity or story structure, but he certainly could sustain a ferociously obsessional, surrealistic atmosphere, and this title can be quite hypnotic despite its poor make-up and effects and relentless lack of narrative drive.

    On the other hand, if you're a fan of kitschy early-60s Euro-chic, then by all means check this one out (if you can find it -- it only seems available on hazy grey-market copies that may have been clipped of brief sights of nudity and lasciviousness). The proceedings come to a halt every so often to allow the (supposedly classical) ballet troupe of leggy, leotard-clad bambinas an opportunity to break into sultry, acrobatic jazz ballet (shades of Chicago and Cabaret), to some mind-bending cocktail lounge music. It's as if José Benazeraf checked in one afternoon as guest director on a Bava picture! Definitely a cheeky, retro-chic cross-pollination, along the lines of "The Hands of Orlac" (remake) and "Death on the Four Poster".
    4Erewhon

    Tired, routine story but exceptional photography

    The plot is so routine it plays more like a late entry in the Eurohorror period of the 1960s than like the early entry it is. Clearly, few involved in the film took any serious care with the material, even throwing in some rather herky-jerky musical numbers, far from ballet. But the photography by Angelo Baistrocchi is both crisp and moody, attractively using the weathered castle locations.

    Clearly influenced by (HORROR OF) Dracula, still it's more in the Italian mode than Hammer horror. But it's weakened by mostly uninteresting characters and a lot of running about, often near a rocky stream. Still, the weird relationship between the two vampires is unusual: she's a contessa, he's her servant, but he made her a vampire--so as humans, she dominates him, while as vampires, he dominates her. This leads to an intense love-hate relationship climaxed by them turning on each other at the climax--while still loving one another.
    8marthahunter

    Superb Production Design & B/W Expressionism in Early Italian Horror

    By utilizing expertly lit Gothic interior sets, this film is saturated with an incredibly surreal look and feel. Viewing a pristine print of this film on YouTube, I was impressed with the production design, the gorgeous cast, and the intense power struggle and love/hate relationship between the two undead residents of the abandoned castle.

    Between the moody chilling scenes there is a fair amount of eroticism, and frivolous fun. One of the more gripping scenes was that of a recently converted vampire in her windowed coffin being carried to the cemetery. The POV shots from the nascent vampire are of the towering Lombardy Poplars, passing under the arc of the cemetery gate, and seeing the dirt pile up on the coffin's window pane.

    For true vintage horror fans who don't need lots of blood and gore, this film is well worth a look.
    7curtis_in_slc

    A refreshingly surreal departure from typical vampire fare

    Despite its obvious shortcomings...this early 60's Italian horror film is compelling for reasons other than ranking high on the fright index. The Vampire and The Ballerina is frankly anything but horrifying for the most part. Although, the expressionistic black and white photography lends the film a surreal and hypnotic quality that can't be dismissed. This is NOT your classical vampire flick. Thank God. Having endured the relentless tedium of countless Hammer vampire horror films, I can be grateful for that fact alone. No, the performances are not stellar but given the cheesecake Euro-babe thrust of the movie, they didn't have to be. The convoluted storyline is something David Lynch would appreciate. And so is the fixation on visual imagery such as the storm winds whipping those mysterious trees repeatedly whenever there is a hint of menace. The effective contrasts of shadow and light throughout the film does create a certain surreal moodiness that renders the need to frighten meaningless. It was simply enough for this viewer to be swept away by a tide of tight black leotards and fishnet stockings. A fetishistic confession? Perhaps...although what red-blooded vampire could possibly resist the urge to pray on a troupe of jazz-dancing nymphets posing as ballerinas?

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Casting for the film involved Gino Turini who put in part of the money for the film and Hélène Rémy as the film was originally going to be a co-production deal with France. Writer Ernesto Gastaldi once noted that the casting of Tina Gloriani was due to her being the director's lover at the time.
    • Goofs
      Girl dancing with chair in vampire number has a snag in her hose.
    • Quotes

      Giorgio: [to ballerinas] There's a vampire in the area! Wear strings of garlic and crucifixes!

    • Connections
      Featured in Shiver & Shudder Show (2002)

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    FAQ13

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 29, 1963 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • Italy
    • Language
      • Italian
    • Also known as
      • The Vampire and the Ballerina
    • Filming locations
      • LUCE Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy
    • Production company
      • Consorzio Italiano Film (CIF)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 25m(85 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1(original ratio)
      • 1.66 : 1

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