Crypt of the living dead

Quite ridiculous yet somewhat engaging story about a young archaeologist, played with one dimension by Andrew Prine, coming to Vampire Island to see/investigate the death of his father. Somehow a huge crypt carrying the remains of a 700 year-old vampire woman has fallen on him and his son must convince the locals that vampires are absurd superstitions. Of course what might have been a mystery is destroyed in the opening sequence as we see who has killed the father, just leaving the not-too-hard-to-figure why out. The film doesn't have much of a budget but the bleak desolation of the island is convincing, the vampire queen is impressive(and beautiful), and some of the shots are very atmospheric. Prine is bland and Spanish horror queen Patty Shepard displays some histrionics. She looks subtle when compared to some of the so-called "quiet" locals who fear the return of the killing palindrome. Frank Brana, playing the crusty, old, sagacious blind sailor steals his scenes with no shame being not just a slice of ham but a whole butt roast! Listen to his dialog, it is so bad that it is so fun and easily for me at least the best part of this film. "She is smart...700 years smart" and other quotes about Hannah sticking her fangs into necks and the power of superstitions cascade from his lips in an almost monosyllabic manner which only accentuates his strange looks as he might be a cross between Bela Lugosi's Ygor in Son of Frankenstein and Carmen Ghia from The Producers(okay, I know it's an obscure reference). Nobody else in the film comes too close to being just plain eye-catching. Teresa Gimpera as Hannah comes close; however, for different reasons. She looks great after so long and can still turn into fog and a wolf with the best of them. Her death scene is something to behold unintentionally. While Crypt of the Living Dead is indeed a bad film, it is a very watchable one once things get going.

Atmospheric, eerie little Spanish thriller starring Andrew Prine as a man who travels to a remote island off Turkey after his archaeologist father dies in an apparent accident after discovering an ancient tomb. Writer (Damon) and his sister (Shepard) who have also recently inhabited the island try to facilitate Prine's attempts to raise the heavy sarcophagus that covers his father's remains to affect a proper burial. But the locals are reluctant to assist, fearing that the crypt's occupant - Hannah (Gimpera) - will be resurrected to raise hell on the island.

Surprisingly effective, though it appears to be un-liked judging from other reviews, I found the English translation conversion by Ray Danton to be a genuinely scary and compelling tale beautifully shot in black & white, with a talented cast. Prine has the right pitch as the polite outsider who can't be convinced that his actions will awaken a dormant vampire, his attentions straying to the plight of Shepard, concerned for the welfare of her brother. Both the exotic Shepard and durable Damon are assured in their roles, enhancing the production and its overall quality. For her part, Gimpera as Hannah is a beguiling beauty, even if only appearing prominently toward the end of the picture and without any intelligible dialogue. Film buffs should also applaud Danton's assembly of B-movie talent - Edward Walsh and John Alderman in minor roles (Walsh has a great scene after an encounter with Hannah), while prolific Spanish actor Frank Brana has a key supporting role as the blind foreteller of doom.

The lighting and sound is exceptionally refined and the film overall is stylish; the beach and cliff-top scenery bathed in black & white is visually stunning, though admittedly some of the night scenes are obscure in the darkness. I read that Danton shot additional English-language footage which was conjoined with Julio Salvador's Spanish version; with no visible seams, it's a rare example of where footage grafts actually enhance the overall result. Builds the suspense gradually (potentially irksome for viewers with a need for constant gratification), the rousing finale is a tense encounter that elevates the pulse, while a curtain-dropping post script is a satisfying epitaph. Worth the effort.

DVD title: Young Hannah, Queen of the Vampires.

An archaeologist (Andrew Prine) visits Vampire Island to bury his father, who has died under mysterious circumstances. He ignores the warnings of a schoolteacher (Patty Shepard) and, prodded by an historical novelist (Mark Damon), he opens the tomb of the 13th-Century vampire Queen Hannah (Teresa Gimpera).

This routine but decent little import benefits from a colorful Mediterranean location, good photography and an engagingly casual performance by the slumming Prine. Despite a tedious midsection and poor dubbing of minor roles, the film has a mildly distinctive flavor, like a failed Euro-Trash Count Yorga, Vampire (1970).

Of the cast, Gimpera played the Crying Mother opposite Christopher Lee in Jesus Franco's El Conde Dracula/Count Dracula (1970), and Shepard (Spanish cinema's answer to horror star Barbara Steele) was Paul Naschy's co-star in the cult classic La Noche de Walpurgis/The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman/Werewolf's Shadow (1971). Damon (House of Usher, 1960) had faced vampires before in Il Plenilunio delle Vergine/The Devil's Wedding Night (1973) and in Mario Bava's I Tre Volti delle Paura/Black Sabbath (1963). (Today a Hollywood producer, Damon faces a different kind of vampire.)

Originally titled La Tumba de la Isla Maldita, the completed film (directed by Julio Salvador) was reworked for American release with new scenes shot by former actor Ray Danton, whose horror films as director include Deathmaster (1972) and Psychic Killer (1975).

It is more interesting to learn about such films than to dismiss them out of hand.

Cinematographer Juan Gelpi gave this otherwise mediocre production a fittingly creepy "look". He also did two other productions where he worked as DP that I remember from my youth: "That Man in Istanbul" and "They Came to Rob Las Vegas". Interestingly, they were both directed by the same man: Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi.

I remember these European productions as totally entertaining to my young sensibilities. Those movies, as myself then, were of those times so such movies have to be taken in the context of the zeitgeist then. Audiences then had no problem with "slow going" narratives or sparsely placed action sequences which, now, have to be liberally strewn all over the screen to sustain viewers' attention.

There are not two archaeologists. They do not discover a burial ground of vampires. They do not believe vampires are about to break free and wreck havoc. The story is the death of an archaeologist brings the man's son to an island to free his body trapped under a crypt so he can bury it but in order to free the body, they have to open the crypt containing the body of Hannah, Queen of the Vampires.