Vampyres (1975)

"Vampyres" comes down to a few memorably shot images that can't lift the film out of mediocrity due to it's essentially nonsensical story. As director Jose Ramon Larraz tells it, it's a story about a killer coming back to the scene of the crime. Nice, but.....What then do the couple have to do with the story, and for that matter, why don't they leave when the girl is terrified? If these are vampires, why can they be killed with guns? Well, sometimes a film can overcome it's nightmarish plot holes, but theproblem here is too much is padded by gore, soft core sex, and people walkingaround in search of something happening. I like this film a lot, if you are a horror fan you will probably enjoy it. Yetit can't be considered first rate.

An attractive young lesbian couple are gunned down in the mansion where they live and, for some reason, then become vampiric creatures who seduce passers-by from the nearby road.Husky, busty Marianne Morris and blond Anulka Dziubinska (billed as Anulka) as Fran and Miriam seem very at ease with the plentiful nude/sex scenes – even though the DVD extras refute this. Both actresses' voices are also dubbed, much to their chagrin, and while such a practice seems unnecessary, the dubbing is more convincing than is often the case. They really do represent a kind of other-worldly sensuality that is essential for this kind of role. Whether stalking the misty, dewy countryside or the corridors of their magnificent home in their velvet capes, they look exactly like the spooky sirens they are meant to be. Other, sundry characters are deliberately dressed down to make the main couple look comparatively more exotic.It's hinted that Ted (Murray Brown), who is enticed to the country house and tormented throughout, is the man who originally 'murdered' the girls, although this is never really explained. Neither is the fact that he fails to recognise the house he is brought back to.And yet the plot is not particularly high on the agenda. The endless discussions on the sophistication of wine and the charming attributes of the ladies could have been spent on making things clearer, but it seems there was an artistic decision to leave things enigmatic – which I have no problem with, as it fuels the Jean Rollin-esque dream-like atmospherics of the film. Equally, the nature of Fran and Miriam is muddy; the (rushed) ending of 'Vampyres' speculates they may have been ghosts all along, although the trail of bloodied destruction they leave proves them too tangible for that!

One of the most popular exploitation sub-genre's in the 1970's was the lesbian vampire flick. It was hinted at as far back as the 1930's, using Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's novel Carmilla as their primary influence, but not fully embraced until the late 1960's by Hammer Studios. As censorship wavered and the grindhouse circuit was born, films became more exploitative and the European low-budget film industry became flooded with movies by film-makers like Jess Franco. Spanish director Jose Ramon Larraz's UK-set Vampyres is one of the most fondly remembered. But, as those familiar with grindhouse movies will be fully aware, that doesn't mean it's particularly good.In an old mansion isolated in the woods, lesbian vampire couple Fran (Marianne Morris) and Miriam (Anulka Dziubinska) stalk the surrounding area in search of men to prey upon. They take the men back to their mansion, kill and feed on them, and then leave their bodies by the side of the road in their crashed car. A young couple, John (Brian Deacon) and Harriet (Sally Faulkner), park their camper on the mansion grounds. Harriet notices strange behaviour from the vampire couple and witnesses the physical deterioration of Ted (Murray Brown), a young man taken in by Fran.Shot at Oakley Court, location of many a Hammer horror and Dr. Frank N. Furter's castle in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Vampyres has that lush British old-school horror feel about it. The problem is, it feels like a fifty-minute film stretched out into ninety minutes, full of endless walks, curious glances, inane conversations and dull erotic scenes. When the horror does come, it doesn't hold back on the blood, featuring a couple of quite unsettling scenes of violence. It just takes so long to get there that it hardly feels worth the wait.There is also a gaping plot-hole in Fran and Miriam's approach of staging the murders as car accidents, which becomes ridiculous after we see Fran stab a victim in the back. They wait for their victims by hitch-hiking in broad daylight, and are even seen doing so by Harriet as the couple approach the castle. Just how long would it take for the police to put two and two together as the bodies quickly pile up? However, it's surprisingly well-acted, especially by the seductive Marianne Morris, whose scenes are all the more erotic when she keeps her clothes on, and the cinematography, reminiscent of Hammer, is lovely.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Two female bloodsuckers, seen murdered by a mysterious figure in black whose identity is never explained at the opening of the film, seduce travelers on a road that passes near their abode-of-the-moment, a decadent castle, isolated from the outside world thanks to a heavy presence of green(trees and bushes) resting at it's opening with only a path giving anyone an idea that something lives within. The castle is the very definition of secluded, and an ideal place for a vampire couple's lair..particularly when they look as gorgeous as Fran(Marianne Morris) and Miriam(Anulka Dziubinska). Ted(Murray Brown), a mysterious man himself, who rudely shakes off a hotel employee who claims he's seen him before, becomes Fran's slave of lust..unlike other males who follow the femme vamps to the castle, Fran spares Ted's life because she's perhaps in love with him. After rambunctious sex, Ted awakens the next morning, weakened hardly able to balance himself realizing a long gash on his arm, not to mention blood on the bed sheets. The gaping wound will be a small supply for Fran(..and sometimes Miriam)for Ted finds himself unable to pull away from her. He's bewitched by Fran and remains a blood-drinking source for the vampires giving them nourishment when other horny males do not pass by their road. We are voyeurs into the world of Fran and Miriam and their selection process watching as they wrangle men with their feminine wiles and promises of sex. We are also eyes into their attacks on the victims, like rabid dogs as they stab and drink while the tortured souls succumb to blood loss and death. The film also follows a married couple, John(Brian Deacon)and Harriet(Sally Faulkner)who are on vacation, deciding the rest their camper within the castle's grounds not knowing what horrors lie in wait for them.One thing's for certain, as directed by José Ramón Larraz, the film doesn't go skimpy on what fans for erotic Euro-horror crave for, ultra-violence, nudity, and sex are in abundance. I felt the gaping wound on Ted's arm began to take the form of a female vagina as the vampires, over a period of time, feed from it. The castle setting really enriches the film and thanks to the splendid use of candlelight, many night time sequences(..of course, around Midnight is when the vampires bounce on their male victims, who are often overcome by drunkenness)are particularly chilling. I love the claustrophobic confines of a wine cellar where the vampires house their Carpathian vintage, underneath the castle, led to by a long tunnel. My favorite scene, beside the shower Fran and Miriam take together, is the vampires attack on the wine connoisseur in the wine cellar..it's quite a lengthily established sequence as they set him up by leading him to their special volume of wine. The attacks themselves are drenched in blood..the victims covered in the red stuff as Fran and Miriam have at them passionately. The female leads really get into their vampire roles. The final twenty or so minutes become particularly blood-thirsty as Fran and Miriam go on a rampage slicing and drinking from several unfortunates. I'm not sure I understood how they become vampires, though..their affliction and violent deaths by gunshots at the opening really doesn't get a necessarily good explanation as to how they became what they are. This is a film, though, that's more on style and image than substance. José Ramón Larraz certainly has talent and brings together some spooky exterior shots at night of the castle and the setting reeks of death and decay. Lots of lesbian activity not to mention some sexual interludes between Fran and Ted. And, Marianne Morris loves to remove her clothes slowly..the camera loves her mysterious dark dark brown eyes.One might ponder why John and Harriet remain on the grounds for such a long period of time..particularly when Harriet suspects Fran and Miriam of something as they stroll off into the distance before dawn. There's a really strange meeting that occurs between Fran and Harriet where the female bloodsucker speaks as if they had met before..yet, this is never addressed in the film again. Some of these holes bothered me a bit but the overall experience was quite noteworthy. Fans of lesbian vampire flicks, in particular, should enjoy this one.