Vampyres (1974)

Jose Larraz's Vampyres is probably one of the most accessible lesbian vampire films to come out of the 70s. Although Jess Franco's Vampyros Lesbos and The Female Vampire are more well known, Vampyres is more action oriented and has what appears to me, more commercial appeal. I'm not going to choose which one I think is better (they all have their merits) but I think the comparison helps to illustrate the strong points in Larraz's film. Vampyres has a pretty tight story, solid direction, an effective atmosphere and two absolutely stunning female leads (Marianne Morris and Anulka).

The story follows the two leads (Miriam and Fran) but isn't real interested in making perfect sense. It opens with a steamy lesbian love scene that is rudely interrupted by a mysterious looking character in a top hat. Nothing more is said on the subject, and that man is never seen again! We then flash forward to the two girls living in a castle together, now vampirized (I'm not really sure if they were before). Now they spend most of their time hitchhiking and bringing men back to their castle to serve as dinner. Trouble begins when Fran takes an interest in one of the potential victim and keeps him alive. Miriam begs her to kill him. To make things more complicated for the lovely ladies two travelers appear to be camping out in a trailer in their front yard! While this doesn't make a lick of sense it does help out the story by occasionally switching perspectives. The two stories do eventually cross paths in a somewhat bloody finale.

As with Larraz's The Coming of Sin the story isn't nearly as important as the feel of the film. The setting is beautiful and castle creates a great ambiance. Most importantly, when the film gets down to business it doesn't pull any punches. The erotic scenes are extremely explicit and the violence is equally strong at times. On several occasions the girls are in the throws of passion while only pausing to lap up more blood like starving predators.

While the silly story adds to the film's charm, the uneven pacing is by far its biggest fault. There are a couple long spells of boredom,which can't be masked by strong atmosphere alone. Still for a movie shot in 3 weeks on an extremely low budget I don't have many gripes. No doubt this could have been a complete disaster in the hands of a lesser film maker.

I reviewed Anchor Bay's uncut DVD which I have to say is better than I could have ever hoped! To begin with, it is the first time this film has ever been presented completely uncut and I can honestly say that this print looks as good as it possibly can. The disc also contains a still gallery, talent bios, 2 trailers and a great commentary with director Jose Larraz and producer Brian Smedley-Aston. It's releases like this, where Anchor Bay goes far above and beyond the call of duty, that make me such a loyal customer.

Unfortunately I have not been able to dig up very much on either of the lovely stars Neither has had much acting experience beyond this movie. Anulka was the playmate of the month in May of 1973, the issue doesn't generally go for that much on EBAY if you're interested. There is also a nice website with a good sized section dedicated to her located here - look under "Mmmmmm Anulka."