Vampyres

Vampyres is a truly atypical genre film. The girls have no fangs, their victims do not become vampires, and theirs is not so much an aversion to sunlight as a dislike. It eschews traditional bloodsucker conventions in favor of atmosphere and eroticism, and the result, though English in origin, seems more like one of the Continental horror films being made at the same time--probably thanks to Spanish director Jose Larraz.

Marianne Morris and Anulka are gorgeous and sadly sympathetic as the two undead lovers. Though slowly paced, there is an ample amount of suspense and a great deal of gore, as the beautiful ladies lick the spurting blood from the open wounds of their victims. The film also contains some of the most incredibly erotic sex scenes in any horror film (please see the uncut X-rated version). Add a Gothic mansion, plenty of lush autumnal scenery, and poetic shots of the vamps running through a graveyard at dawn, and you get a thoroughly beautiful motion picture that you won't soon forget.

This movie doesn't leave an awfully big impression but it still is some good fun for the fans of the horror genre and vampire genre in particular.

The movie has a splendid visual atmosphere which is mainly thanks to the beautiful English countryside. Yes sir, the English countryside still looks better than any other average Hollywood set for a movie from the same genre. Also the atmosphere of the movie in general is typical British, so I can truly recommend this movie if you're fan of the old Hammer movies and stuff like that. Even though the movie never really gets scary, it still knows to create a certain creepy atmosphere. Also the movie is filled with some good graphic gory scene's, which worked well for the movie and its atmosphere.

The story is just as thin as the ladies clothes. The are quite a few things that don't make an awful lot of sense and there are some moments that the movie just drags on for far too long, such as all the erotic scene's, which only all felt totally pointless.

I am also ashamed to admit that I actually rather liked the unusual musical score by James Kenelm Clarke.

All in all it is a movie that is worth seeing but granted that you have to be a fan of the genre to be able to appreciate this movie. And hey, it has got Michael Byrne in it, better known as über-Nazi Vogel from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"! Another reason why this movie is perfectly watchable.

7/10

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Okay...this film's not for everyone. It's filled with 70's-style Euro-trash lesbian and hetero sex, loads of gore, and was shot in three weeks on a rather, ahem...modest budget, by a director who could barely speak English. The script was probably 30 pages long. But there's something afoot here. It's not un-artful, it has flashes of real chills, and it's dripping in subtext, something today's Jason/Freddy/et.al. films sorely lack. The relationship between the male protagonist, who suspects the woman making love to him is a vampire, and the vampire herself, who chooses to slowly drain him of blood rather than kill him outright like her other victims, is bizarrely moving (and kinky) on a few levels. This film won't make you forget, say, the Christopher Lee Hammer films...but it will be hard to forget in and of itself and for its own hard-earned merits.

The American Cinemateque gave a hundred or so lucky viewers the opportunity to watch what is likely to be the only surviving 35MM print of this film. Having seen dozens and dozens of Vampire-themed pictures, VAMPYRES certainly rates as one of the better little-seen titles in the sub-genre. Erotic, atmospheric and genuinely creepy, this film deserves fuller treatment in genre cinema studies. It is certainly the most 'oral' of all vampire pictures (you'll fully comprehend what I mean when you see it). A perfect double bill with the similarly themed (and even better) DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS.

If you like 1970s erotic vampire movies then you will LOVE Jose Larraz's 'Vampyres'! It's as good as the best Jess Franco or Jean Rollin movies in this genre. It's very low budget (on the DVD commentary track producer Brian Smedley-Aston claims it was only around 80,000 pounds, and he should know, he mortgaged his house to pay for it when the financing fell through!), but looks great, especially the new print on the disc I watched. Like Franco and Rollin Larraz isn't all that interested in plot as such, more atmosphere and eroticism, and this movie has it in spades. The gorgeous Marianne Morris (brunette) and Anulka (blonde) play a couple of very hot vampires who between seducing men and draining their blood, share a passionate relationship. There's plenty of nudity, especially from the stunning Morris, and some very erotic scenes, though Larraz was constrained by the British censorship of the day. There's also quite a lot of blood, and the sex/violence combo makes it quite special. The DVD commentary is highly recommended, even if you're familiar with the movie. Larraz's English is shaky but he is absolutely hilarious! After commenting that the version of the movie he owns is heavily cut ("the Vatican version" he jokingly calls it) he gasps with glee at some of the racier scenes, and gets particularly animated when Anulka's pubes are briefly seen on screen. I'm very glad he enjoys his own movie as much as I did. 'The Vampire Lovers', 'Fascination', 'Vampyros Lesbos' are all outstanding examples of 1970s vampire sexploitation. Add 'Vampyres' to that list!