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A dotty professor gives up his seat of learning to follow
his true calling: investigating and fighting vampirism. With
his young apprentice in tow, he arrives in Transylvania and
immediately recognises the signs of skin puncture wounds and
hanging garlic. No sooner has the professor's young aid fallen
for the innkeeper's beautiful daughter (and who wouldn't?!),
than she is kidnapped by the foul creature of the night known
as His Excellency, and his homosexual son. The vampire hunters
journey to the castle, but the task is made all the more difficult
when the professor's tools-of-the-trade bag is lost over the
mountainside and he becomes wedged halfway through a window
with night approaching once again...
I
suppose it's logical (and the irony's not lost on me) that
after reviewing sixteen Hammer horror films the very next
one should be a vampire movie spoof. The Fearless Vampire
Killers, or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are In My Neck
(1966) has locations, sets and costumes very pleasing to the
eye, but I've seen funnier movies from directors who were
not even trying. "Near-Brilliant Mixture of Humour and Horror"
says the cover blurb. Was that reviewer watching a different
film? Director and co-writer (and actor in this one; he's
the apprentice) Roman Polanski of course went on to better
things with Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown. This
is a film that looks good without ever being enjoyable. And
talking of good looks: Sharon Tate, who plays the innkeeper's
daughter Sarah, looks absolutely stunning. And what's more,
she takes lots of baths!
Only two moments made me laugh. When the professor tries to
stake someone who has been attacked by a vampire, a protective
woman stops him. When he creeps back later we see he and his
stake's shadow on the wall come across her shadow with a mallet.
The other humorous scene comes when the hunchback chases the
professor's carriage down the snow-covered mountainside on
a coffin, only to go careering over a precipice.
The
majority of the attempts at laughs (many surrounding the dotty
old professor) are silly or simply just not funny, and at
times it forgets to try. The entire film is a product of its
time; spoofs haven't really come into their own until more
recently. If you want to see a classic vampire movie with
just the right balance of horror and dark humour I can highly
recommend Fright
Night.
Extras
are a trailer and the Vampires 101 in-role featurette (10
mins).
Ty
Power
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