I Vampiri
by Riccardo Freda
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Antoine Balp?tr?, Armando Annuale, Carlo D'Angelo, Gianna Maria Canale, Miranda CampaDirector: Riccardo Freda
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 85 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-07-13
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Image Entertainment
Movie Reviews of I Vampiri
Movie Review: Blood and youth
Summary: 4 Stars
Elizabeth B?thory (aka "Lady Dracula") became infamous for murdering over six hundred young girls, and allegedly bathing in their blood to retain her youth.
Well, probably the bathing-in-blood part is untrue -- just a centuries-old version of an urban legend. But who cares? It makes for a fascinating horror movie in "I Vampiri," which gives a scientific slant to the legendary use of blood to retain youth -- and it's a pretty good murder mystery too.
Girls in Paris keep vanishing, only to turn up drained of blood. Of course, reporter Pierre Lantin (Dario Michaelis) is determined to find out who is doing this, when he's not fending off the advances of the Duchess du Grand's sultry niece Giselle (Gianna Maria Canale). Apparently the old duchess was in love with Pierre's dad, and now Giselle wants to continue. Pierre is more interested in finding the "vampire."
But then an unwanted suitor tries to seduce Giselle -- and sees her instantly transform into a withered old woman, right before she shoots him. Turns out she's the old duchess, keeping herself eternally alive and young by transfusing blood from young girls into herself. But this murderous therapy is taking its toll on the duchess -- and Pierre is getting too close to the truth...
If "I Vampiri" doesn't have Mario Bava's distinctive flavour, that's for one simple reason -- it was originally directed by Riccardo Freda, and when he left the production Bava had to wrap things up. So don't expect the same kind of experience that Bava's solo pictures had, although it's a pretty solid Euro-horror movie on its own.
Half of the movie is steady, not very captivating detective work, with Pierre ticking off the local police chief, flirting with schoolgirls, and reluctantly attending a ball -- where, of course, he hears someone screaming from the tower but doesn't clue in. And of course, lots of creepy men in the streets and autopsies of the dead girls.
No, the creepiness is there when the Good Guys are not present -- dungeons, coffins, sinister labs, zombies, junkies, mad scientists, and old gothic castles with long white drapes blowing in the wind. Not to mention the decrepit old lady shooting mirrors, and ranting endlessly about how she just HAS to be young and beautiful again, no matter what the risk. And despite being from the mid-fifties, the "aging" special effects are still very, very well-done.
The final scenes are where Bava's influence comes out, as Pierre and the police finally get a clue. Director No. 2 toys around with light and shadow, music, and the ghastly architecture -- turning a formerly mundane transformation into a thing of horror.
Michaelis and Carlo D'Angelo do pretty tepid jobs as Pierre and the police chief, though admittedly they're not given much to work with. Canale is the real star of this piece -- she can flip from a sultry seductress to screeching harridan on a moment's notice, and you can see the absolute insanity bubbling under the surface. And Wandisa Guida has a good, brief performance as the love interest/latest blood victim.
"I Vampiri" is less about vampirism than about a Hollywoodesque determination to preserve youth and beauty, whatever the cost. And that devastating vanity is what makes this REALLY horrific.
Summary of I Vampiri
Italian horror godfather Mario Bava almost single-handedly ushered in a whole new genre with this moody mix of murder mystery and kinky horror. The prolific cinematographer made his (uncredited) directorial debut when Riccardo Freda stormed off the set with the picture only half finished, leaving Bava to rewrite the script and complete the picture in two days. It became the first Italian horror film since the silent era and a classic of the genre.The vampire of the title is not a literal bloodsucker of Dracula's lineage but a mad-scientist twist on the legend of Countess Bathory. In this modern take, the bodies of beautiful young women drained of blood leave the police baffled, while an ambitious journalist traces a chain of clues back to the familial castle of the aging Duchess Du Grand and her beautiful niece (the elegant and sultry Gianna Maria Canale). Set in Paris but shot in Rome, it's a handsome little black-and-white picture that belies its 12-day schedule with gorgeous locations, shadowy lighting, a stylish elegance, and a couple of startlingly effective transformations executed with brilliant simplicity. In later films, such as Blood and Black Lace and Lisa and the Devil, Bava's style would develop into an elaborately choreographed dance of death in black shadows and glowing color, but here he's smooth and suggestive, a model of restraint that looks to his "official" debut, the striking Black Sunday.
The DVD features a clean, sharp B&W widescreen transfer, with a photo and poster gallery (including stills from the scenes added to the "Americanized" version of the film entitled The Devil's Commandment) and a collection of Mario Bava trailers among the supplements. Extensive liner notes and a director biography are provided by Bava historian Tim Lucas. --Sean Axmaker
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