I Vampiri
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Movie Reviews of I Vampiri
Movie Review: A great start for Bava
Summary: 5 Stars
Bava's first attempt at directing is nothing less than fabulous. While i usually shy away from subtitles, this film is worth the effort. Shot in beautiful black and white (the only way to do gothic horror) this movie moves along at a good pace. The blood of young women used to keep an elderly dutchess young and beautiful. Im fairly new to Bava and have noticed he seems to like the entrance to secret passages to be located in the fireplace. Interesting. At any rate this DVD plays very clear and clean. Bava's Black Sunday got me hooked and this movie just makes me want more.Movie Review: Gothic Noir
Summary: 5 Stars
Very underrated film, IMO-- Beautiful gothic atmosphere, a mad doctor, a hopped-up (and later undead) thug. The plot is a pulpy rollercoaster ride that doesn't always make sense, but manages to wrap itself up neatly. The fact that our hero's by far the least interesting character on the screen barely ever occurs to you as you try to keep track of the convolutions. It was the fore-runner not only to gothic horror in Itally, but also the giallo crime dramas. Excellent B-movie!Movie Review: Blood and youth
Summary: 4 Stars
Elizabeth Báthory (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.
Movie Review: This movie is famous for two reasons...
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie is famous for two reasons: First, it was the the first talking horror film from Italy. Second, it was the directing debut of the Italian master of horror, Mario Bava. Original director, Riccardo Freda, had captured the first half of the film in 10 days of filming. The producers had agreed to a 12 day shoot and were not about to go over that. Mario was the cinematographer on the film and was asked if he could finish the movie in 2 days. He agreed and it was pulled off in what became a very stylish (almost a fimm noir) and well made gothic horror. It does have it's flaws mind you, but I really liked virtualy everything about this movie. I Vampiri (The Vampire in Italian) plays almost as more of a detective movie than a straight horror. There is the dashing and hip reporter, Pierre Lantin (Dario Michaelis), who is trying to find out who is murdering people and draining their bodies dry of blood. He gives leads to the police who investigate them along with Pierre, but they find nothing useful in them. After he goes out on his own to investigate, Pierre is led to the local castle that houses an old and decrepid duchess along with her beautiful niece, Giselle du Grand (Gianna Maria Canale - director Riccardo Freda's longtime girlfriend and frequent star), whom he has some mysterious tie to from his past.
Pierre's partner from the newspaper they work at is on love with Giselle and is always making comments about her, even though it is clear that Giselle is romanticaly interested only in Pierre. Pierre spurns her at every turn and becomes interested in the friend, Lorette, of one of the victims (played by Wandisa Guida).
There are two story lines that I found hard to really figure out in this film: The first was the romantic interest between Pierre and Lorette. I didn't know there was an interest and then suddenly they are obviously an item. The second is that in the lower regions of the castle, there is a doctor who has faked his own death along with an assistant. They are doing experiments with lots of cool looking lab equipment and victims that have been kidnapped by a drug addicted thug (played by Paul Müller, who later appeared in many of Jess Franco's films). They are in cahoots with the duchess but exactly what they are doing with her is never clear. But neither of these nebulous plotlines takes away much from the movie.
The dvd is presented in 2.35:1 widscreen and the sound is Dolby Digital mono. The print looks fantastic, especially for a relatively obscure, 45 year old movie. It is released by Image Entertainment who has released several Mario Bava films on dvd. There are several trailers for these other Bava films on the disk along with the usual filmographies and also a 4 page insert with liner notes by film historian and author of "Mario Bava: All of the Colors of the Dark", Tim Lucas (who also recorded the commentary for Bava's next major film after I Vampiri, Black Sunday). The film really is well done and considered a classic for a good reason. My brother had bought this dvd and I borrowed it from him, but it is definitely on my list of movies to get, even in the [price] range.
Movie Review: I Vampiri
Summary: 4 Stars
A police detective attempts to solve a series of murders that are plaguing Paris, which he comes to find out are being committed by a mad doctor who has been bleeding young women in order to restore the youth and beauty of his aging wife. I VAMPIRI is a strong step forward in the emerging Italian Horror cinema, boldly reshaping the Gothic Horror film with influences from the German Expressionists and Italian crime dramas. Italian master Mario Bava served as the cinematographer and assistant director under Riccardo Freda in one of his first genre efforts before taking over the directing duties to finish the film. The stunning visuals are largely the result of Bava's superior eye, as he introduced impossible camera movements, atmospheric shots from subjective high and low angles, clever shadow play, and seamless lapse dissolve into the picture. The large, ornate castle interiors are contrasted against dark crypts, foggy graveyards, and the modern Parisian backdrop, settings that would usher in Bava's Gothic masterpiece THE MASK OF SATAN in the years to follow. I VAMPIRI is competently acted, but the film does appear to have two distinct personalities: the modern crime drama that would become the Giallo in Italy, and a Gothic retelling of the Elizabeth Bathory tale. Although it mostly proves to be a case of style over substance, it is an enjoyable vampire effort and an important historical milestone in Italian Horror.
-Carl Manes
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