The Vampire and the Ballerina (1962)

Before television presenters, members of parliament, glam rockers, Hollywood producers, cigar-toting disc jockeys, Australian artists and weird haired American actors, all a young person had to worry about was attacks by classic monsters. This cautionary tale warns us that if you're looking after a troupe of ballerinas, it's best not to put them up in a village where there's a vampire on the loose.A young, non-dancer girl from the village is attacked first and brought to the huge mansion all the girls are staying in. Turns out half the village believe there's a vampire loose, whereas the other half think that's a load of crap, including the dance troupe leader's uncle – and it's his house all these scantily clad girls are lounging about. So he sits them all down and tells them the story of a curse – you know, the one you've heard about a million times.The village girl dies and there's a creepy scene where she wakes up in the coffin shortly before being buried. Later that night the vampire turns up and offers to take her to his castle to start a new life as a bloodsucker, but this is a ruse when he stakes her instead – looks this vamp doesn't want any rivals. But never mind that – these vampire attacks have inspired the dance troupe to do a vampire themed performance, so we get a great Fame-like sudden improvised dance workout!Of course two of these girls have boyfriends and some of them end up in the vampire's castle getting their necks sucked on and one of the boyfriends gets seduced by a female vampire. It's this kind of thing that gets in the way of one's marriage plans, so the boyfriends have to band together to take on these anaemic goth bastards. An early Italian horror with a lot of campy atmosphere, fast paced and gorgeous looking. It's not scary but it has a beautiful cheese level. And the vampire looks like a contemporary Mickey Rourke! Some of the 'vampire melting' effects are quite good too. Due to it being so early, there's not too much gore and no nudity, but that doesn't stop them trying! There's even a slightly implied lesbian relationship between the two main girls (and it seems to be symptom of vampirism in that it makes you bisexual). It's short too, which is good after sitting through so many gialli.

This movie begins with a young woman named getting bitten by a vampire late at night in the forest. She is taken to a doctor's house where several young ladies are staying in preparation for an upcoming ballet. Since she seems to be okay she is taken back to the farm where she works but subsequently dies a little later and is buried. At least, all of the villagers believe she is dead. In any case, that same night a young man named "Luca" (Isarco Ravaioli) and two of the women by the names of "Luisa" (Helene Remy) and "Francesca" (Tina Gloriani) get lost in the forest and happen to come upon a castle which they take refuge in from an approaching thunderstorm. Not long afterward they are greeted by a woman named "Countess Alda" (Maria Luisa Rolando) who offers them some tea. When Countess Alda temporarily excuses herself, Luisa decides to look around the castle and it's at this time that she is bitten by the same vampire who attacked the young woman in the woods. From that point on Luisa is irresistibly drawn to the vampire by the name of "Herman" (Walter Brandi) and this endangers everyone who is close to Luisa. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that from what I understand this movie had some difficulty with the Italian censors due—strangely enough--to the graphic images exhibited during the death of the vampires and the special effects related to the mask worn by Herman. While it all seems rather tame in this day and age I suppose it goes with the territory back then. Be that as it may, although this film is definitely dated, it wasn't too bad as far as vampire films are concerned and because of that I have rated it accordingly. Average.

The first time I saw THE VAMPIRE AND THE BALLERINA, it was in an 8-millimeter version that belonged to my cousin(remember the old 8 and Super 8 millimeter versions of old movies you could buy at K-mart and show on your folks home movie projectors?)That abbreviated version only included the final scene, and honestly, that was the best part of this Italian-made horror cheapie that obviously filled out many a drive-in double feature or "shock theater" spooky show on independant television. A troupe of dancers come to a spooky medieval castle for . . . some reason. It's not clear. At any rate, they're accompanied by several males: a choreographer, a male dancer, and a boyfriend(if I remember). The next door neighbors in the ajoining castle are a strange, imperious woman and her male servant who, in his more interesting moments, turns into a mouldering, rubber-faced vampire. But who are they really? Is the woman the master of the vampire, or the vampire the master of the woman? The vampire attacks one of the dancers(the "ballerina" of the title)and makes her his slave, which leads two of the male characters to chase the vampire and the mysterious lady to a thrilling rooftop climax! Inbetween there's lots of nonsensical action, such as dialogue with long meaningful pauses, sequences in which the dancers are alternately chased or are following people, usually traversing steep banks in stiletto heels, and dance rehearsal scenes in which nary a hint of a ballerina is seen--unless all ballerinas rehearse by doing cartwheels and interpretive dance moves while wearing black leotards and character shoes. Go figure. If you rent this thing, fast forward to the last ten minutes. Therein lies the payoff.

A group of dancers gets stuck in a brooding old castle that, naturally, has thirsty vampires who are thrilled to see them. That said, the film is basically just a dull, glacially-paced exercise in routine plotting. The only redeeming feature is the beauty of the actresses.