Bébé vampire

In the 1930's, notorious rapist and murder Caleb Croft (Michael Pataki) assaults a woman, resulting in her giving birth to a baby named James. 30 years later, James (William Smith) wants to avenge his mother. Oh, and Caleb is also a vampire.

"Grave of the Vampire" is James ("Dream No Evil", "Garden of the Dead") Bryan's best movie. A low budget affair (well of course), "Grave" is a mostly Grim affair, with an interesting spin on the vampire mythos. Here, we see Vampirism as a curse, which is nothing new, yet except for "Blade", this is the only movies I've seen take advantage of the idea of a child with a human mother and Vampire mother. Also, this is Pre-Anne Rice, so no boring angst. While the dialog isn't Oscar caliber, lines like "Wow, Professor, you make a groovy medium!" should bring a smile to your face.

That's not to say that there aren't any flaws. For one thing, the acting is for the large part pretty wooden and uninteresting, with only Pataki making any real impression. Also, the ending is a rather lame "The End...Or Is It?" style conclusion, which makes you glad there was no "Grave of the Vampire 2."

Still, it's an enjoyable, original little Drive In/Grindhouse horror movie that, while flawed, is worth a look nonetheless.

I wish I could be ALL praising about this odd, unknown horror gem and, for a good 30 minutes, it did look like "Grave of the Vampire" would become a totally unexpected pleasant surprise. Although terribly cheap looking, the opening sequences are very atmospheric and frightening. The substance, too, seems to be original and a totally new take on the classic theme of vampirism. The films opens at a spooky and very ancient cemetery, where an undead dude crawls out of his tomb and assaults a young couple that are making out in their car. The girl is raped, but she survives, and nine months later she gives birth to a baby that drinks blood instead of breast milk (illustrated by one of the coolest horror-sequences in horror history!). The boy grows up an outcast and wreaks revenge on his vampire-father that still walks around in disguise. This downright sublime and eventful introduction blew me away and it really looked like I had come across a true hidden horror-gem of the 70's. The setting is scary, the idea innovating, murders are gruesome…I couldn't wait to see what happened next. Unfortunately however, this is where the ingeniousness stopped, and the remaining hour turned out another dull and ordinary vampire flick. The half-man / half-vampire being discovers that his "father" is now a history teacher (!) and plots to kill him for good. There are still a couple of bizarre plot twists, but they're overly stupid and far from believable. Also, because the originality has vanished, you begin to focus more on the dreadful aspects, like the lousy acting, the monotonous camera-work and the cheap set pieces. Near the end, it's hard to believe that this movie started out so promising and you regret not having pressed the stop-button while it was still good.

A vampire called Caleb Croft rather inexplicably rises from his tomb several years after being presumed dead (perhaps they can lay dormant) and attacks a courting couple, raping the girl who then gets pregnant and gives birth to his son. Move on a couple of decades to the groovy early 1970's and the son, who feeds on blood from raw meat - he is some kind of "good" part-vampire - hunts down his father with the intention of driving a stake into his heart. This came out around the same time as the Count Yorga and Blacula movies, Croft is not as good as either of them in the vampire stakes (no pun intended!), but he is very callous and cruel none the less. There are are some decent, atmospheric scenes, such as the foggy cemetery at the start, plus a corpse in the shower with a slashed throat, later seen in any number of slasher movies. However the middle section of the film is pretty slow and dull, it sadly drags it down. The print used for the British DVD was quite appalling, so this did not help. Worth a watch but the name Caleb Croft won't remain in my movie memory for long.

I wasn't really expecting Grave Of The Vampire to be very good. I bought it because I found it in a bargain section for only a couple of bucks. I must say, that it was well worth what I paid for it. Grave Of The Vampire has one of the most atmospheric graveyard scenes that comes to mind. Weird lighting, fog, and sinister music really make the opening scene in an old cemetery quite effective. Michael Pataki makes a great vampire. Actually, he looks like a zombie vampire during the opening scene, which I really liked. The film is very dated, so don't go into it expecting it to be comparable to something like Blade for example. However, for a good, spooky night movie it certainly hit the mark.

Oh, wow! David Chase, the screenplay writer, had some marvellous ideas. I just wish it had been a trilogy and not a single film. The allotted hour and a half doesn't do the story any justice. It's this compression of the story that spoils the film the most.

A man mysteriously resurrects himself from his grave. He murders and rapes lovers on the night of their proposal. The woman survives the ordeal and believes the baby is her dead fiance's. She gives birth and rears the baby on her blood. When she passes, he vows to find his true father and seek revenge for all.

If that wasn't enough inventiveness, the Vampyre Daddy doesn't always fang his victims to death. Oh no. He too is creative. My favourite kills are the claw hammer and the headstone smash. This allows Hayes to give the audience some creepy as hell shots of the Vampyre feeding. They are some of the best feeding scenes I've ever seen.

This film has given me a new favourite scary moment. When Ol' Vampy attacked the lovers, I knew the film would be interesting. He breaks the man's back over a headstone. Leaving him straggled over the headstone, he drags the female into an open grave, for his carnal pleasure. Creepy as hell and just plain awesome.

However, a lot of footage is below par; this along with the misuse of the story, drop the film in the ratings. A story of this magnitude needed a greater time frame. Film One - The Anti-hero's birth: Film Two - His Upbringing: Film Three - His Revenge. Back in the 1970s, sequels such as this were unheard of. Even Hammer who did lots of Dracula films only did believable follow-ons. They never did a true continuation of a story.

Condensing the story into a short runtime hinders the story and the pace at which it flows. I thought Hayes handled the segue between baby Eastman and adult Eastman brilliantly. He shows a few dioramas within this transition. They shoot Eastman and his mother and nanny from behind in silhouette. They are always in the shadows while life in its many colours and shades occur before them. A brilliant idea executed nicely.

As for the acting, it too is hit and miss.

Michael Pataki comes across as a strong and self-assured Caleb Croft. However, occasionally his acting gets hammy. This may be down to the script. His crude acting coincides with awkwardly written supernatural scenes. It's most evident in the seance scene.

William Smith gives his strong but silent performance as James Eastman, our anti-hero. He comes across as shy and awkward. This is in Eastmans' character. He lived in seclusion for most of his life; now he's immersed in modern life. However, the awkwardness appears to have more to do with direction than acting ability. It's the end sequence where you experience it most. The sequence also suffers from Smith submerging his talents into the hammy waters of acting.

Everyone else gives one hundred percent to their roles. They enhance the film and help to keep it interesting and enjoyable.

If you're a horror fan who hasn't watched this oldie, I would suggest you find a copy. Though I wouldn't propose buying one, unless it's cheap, as it's not a film worth watching more than once. The same goes for all you Vampyre connoisseurs out there.

Ratings: Story 1.5 : Direction 1 : Pace 0.5 : Acting 1.25 : Enjoyment 0.75 : Total 5 / 10

Flap your bat-wings and fly over to see where this film ranked on my Absolute Horror list.

Take Care and Stay Well.