VAMPYRES! (PART 1)

When I rented this tape along with a VHS player from my local video store (remember when you could do that?) I had no idea what was in store for me. All I knew was it had something to do with female vampires. When it was over, I couldn't believe what I had just seen -- it left me rather bewildered, which is very hard for a horror film to do, but it nevertheless left an unsettling impression like few others have before or since.

When taking notes about his 1974 film, VAMPYRES, director José Ramón Larraz wrote: "Naked girls and lots of blood, that's what Vampyres is about." He definitely hit the nail square in the coffin lid with that statement. It's one of, if not the most gory, bloody and downright sexy vampire flick ever made.

Marianne Morris and Anulka Dziubinska are riveting in their portrayal of Fran and Miriam respectively. They play two Lesbian vampires (the ghosts of the two lovers murdered while "caught in the act") who reside in a remote countryside mansion and prey on unsuspecting victims who happen to unfortunately pass by. Much sex and blood-letting ensues, and I don't mean that lightly. Morris was even later quoted as saying: "If you thought VAMPYRES was erotic or explicit, the work that I had subsequently been offered was pornographic. I just felt after that, it was a downward spiral". Talk about being typecast in the worst way! Both nude models prior to the making of the film, Morris and Anulka virtually disappeared into obscurity a few years after it was released.

If you've never seen this, I highly recommend it as a rare example of a free-fall into blood-lust and depravity that very few vampire movies have ever attained. VAMPYRES is exquisitely photographed, superbly atmospheric and sexy as hell.

Author Tim Greaves is a devoted fan and spent a huge amount of time and energy compiling information about the film, a large portion of which is collected in this hard-to-find digest-size special tribute published in 2003.

VAMPYRES original trailer:

Part 2 tomorrow.