The Velvet Vampire (1971)

Lest any of you think that the vampire phenomenon is only for Europeans, The Velvet Vampire given to us by Roger Corman will tell you that these blood sucking undead creatures are also to be found in the great southwest of the USA. That's what young married couple Michael Blodgett and Sherry DeBoer find out when they accept the hospitality of the beautiful and mysterious Celeste Yarnall to go to her home in the desert.Celeste's one of those undead creatures whose got that insatiable need for the red stuff. She's arranged it for Blodgett and DeBoer to get stuck at her place while works to seduce both of them. And since both are as vapid as valley people they don't figure it out.The Velvet Vampire given to us from Roger Corman moves ever so gently into the realm of soft core porn with the sex scenes. I'm sure it encouraged any number of people to get down to business at the drive- ins across the nation. As the trio is as beautiful as the desert scenery they're easy to look at.But this isn't exactly Dracula, either Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee.

The Velvet Vampire isn't a particularly good film, but it does feature four things in its favor: the alabaster beauty of Celeste Yarnall, here playing sexy desert-dwelling vampire Diane LeFanu; podgy Beyond the Valley of the Dolls veteran Michael Blodgett, cast as dimbulb horndog Lee Ritter; a yellow dune buggy, and a genuinely spectacular score. Credited to Roger Dollarhyde and Clancy B. Grass III, the score is an amazing blend of raga rock, pre-Dark Side of the Moon Floydian atmospherics, Joe Byrd-inflected electronica, and Fahey-esque guitar picking. I don't believe this score has ever had a commercial release, but soundtrack buffs would snap it up in an instant, so if anyone from Trunk Records or Film Score Monthly is reading this, buy the rights! The story revolves around fairly routine bloodsucking stuff, but director Stephanie Rothman's work reflects the influence of Antonioni with scenes reminiscent of both Red Desert and Zabriskie Point. That's something I never thought I'd write about a New World release, but I swear it's true.

Eschewing the traditional vampire settings of old-world Europe and the modern-day big city, Stephanie Rothman's 1971 film "The Velvet Vampire" instead has as its unusual backdrop the American desert Southwest, a milieu that works far better than might be expected. In the film, we meet a (seemingly) young woman named Diane Le Fanu (a distant relation of Sheridan and/or Carmilla, perhaps?), a beautiful brunette played by Celeste Yarnall, an actress more often seen as a blonde (and who is still, amazingly, quite a beauty, 40 years later). Diane invites Susan and Lee Ritter to her house in the desert after meeting them in an art gallery, but what the Ritters don't suspect, until too late, is that Diane is more than just a vamp...she's a vampiress, and with quite an appetite, to boot! Though filmed on a very limited budget, and with nary a special visual effect to its name, this film still manages to impress. In the three leads, Celeste is by turns supremely sexy and not a little frightening; Michael Blodgett is certainly more sympathetic than he was in the previous year's "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"; and Sherry Miles, though no great shakes as a thespian, is certainly convincing as the dim-witted Susan, not to mention an accomplished screamer. The use of some surrealistic dream sequences, and the deliciously morbid soundtrack score by Roger Dollarhide and Clancy B. Grass III, consisting largely of weird sound effects and trippy acoustic guitar, are the two elements that really put this picture over, though. Indeed, they elevate the film above the level of the mere horror flick to something quite artful. Filled with unusual touches (that voyeur's room, those raw chicken livers!) and culminating with a Greyhound bus ride from hell, "Velvet Vampire" yet manages to ultimately disappoint, insofar as Diane's undoing is concerned; perhaps the weakest and most unconvincing vampire death scene I've ever witnessed. Up until then, however, the picture is fairly riveting. The DVD that I just watched, by the way, from an outfit known as Cheezy Flicks, looks a bit on the coarse and grainy side. A shame, really, that the picture quality isn't as sharp as Diane Le Fanu's teeth....

THE VELVET VAMPIRE is really one of the most underrated vampire movies, and well worth searching for a copy. Not available on DVD, the film's long out of print VHS tapes have sold for high amounts on eBay. Directed by 70s cult director Stephanie Rothman, THE VELVET VAMPIRE is a very low budget, yet very well done movie. I saw it screened in a theater once, in 1981, on a double bill with DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS. It was a perfect double feature, yet THE VELVET VAMPIRE does not have anywhere near the strong cult following DAUGHTERS OF DAKRNESS has achieved. A young couple meet a beautiful, mysterious woman in an art gallery in downtown Los Angeles. She invites them to spend the weekend at her desert home. They both have dreams of being seduced by her, and the dreams, in one way or another, become a reality. Celeste Yarnall is outstanding as Diane, The Velvet Vampire, and it always puzzled me that she did not achieve greater success as an actress.