I VAMPIRI (1957)

4 stars

Radiance Films. Blu ray. 28th November

A young woman is found dead and dragged from the river. Upon examination she is found to have been drained of blood, but there don’t appear to be any wounds and she was killed before she was thrown in the water. There is a mysterious murderer on the loose in Paris which is bafflingly the police and she is just the latest victim.

Reporter Pierre Lantin (Dario Michaelis) is obsessed with the case – dubbing the killer the Vampire. He is determined to try and solve what is going on, especially as the cops don’t seem to be making any headway.

Much to his chagrin however, Lantin is reassigned and told to go and cover a ball at the castle of the Du Grand family – scientist Julian du Grand (Antoine Blapêtré), the gorgeous Gisele du Grand (Gianna Maria Canale, wife of director Riccardo Freda), who has eyes for the newspaperman and is also the niece of the Duchess du Grand – who always hides her face behind a veil. Could they have something to do with is going on…?

The film looks fantastic on this disc release and is considered an important film in the rise of the Italian Gothic horror. Initially helmed by the aforementioned Freda, he walked off set after some days, and the film was taken over by Mario Bava, who was also shooting the film. He apparently reworked the script and completed the movie. He was also responsible for the special effects (though it has to be said some of the matte work to depict the Paris skyline is painfully obvious). With it’s gothic trappings and Frankensteinian story, there are no actual vampires on show! The sets depicting the castle are amazing.

Radiance have done a cracking job on this release – you get a 2K restoration of the original 81 minute Italian version, plus an alternate UK release running 66 minutes called Lust of the Vampire (1959), from archival materials held by the BFI National Archive. The print is inevitably lower quality ands scratchy – it opens differently and is dubbed into English but is basically the same film just a tighter edit.

Not only that but you also get a 72 minute standard def presentation of The Devil’s Commandment (1960), the US edit which adds more exploitation scenes, similar to the UK cut but with a long sequence of a girl being stalked and attacked and drained of blood plus the scene at the beginning as per the UK version.

Steve Kirkham

Plus the following Extras:

Audio commentary by Bava expert Tim Lucas

Bloodthirst – a featurette on the making of the film with film historian Fabio Melelli and archival footage of Mario Bava and Dario Michaelis. From 2013 (17 mins): Covers the history of the production, covers the careers of Freda, Bava and Michaelis. Shows how Bava achieved one of the key effects.

2022 interview with Lamberto Bava, son of Mario, discussing his father’s work and this film specifically (15 mins)

Interview with Leon Hunt, author of Mario Bava: The Artisan as Italian Horror Auteur (21 mins). Discusses the film and it’s place in history.

The Devil’s Commandment trailer

Plus reversible sleeve featuring artwork based on original posters and Booklet featuring new writing by Roberto Curti, author of Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957-1969