THE
VAMPIRE HAPPENING (1971)Director: Freddie Francis
Anchor Bay Entertainment
THE
VAMPIRE HAPPENING (1971)Here's a German-made horror/comedy that stars Pia Degermark as Betty Williams, an American sex film actress who flies to Transylvania to inspect a castle that she has inherited. The castle was owned by her great grandmother who was believed to be a vampire. Betty proves this theory true by opening her ancestor's crypt and unknowingly unleashes her well-preserved look-alike.
As both a monastery and girls' school is conveniently located adjacent to the castle, a village vampire plague soon erupts, commenced by an imbecile monk. The film culminates with a wild party/orgy complete with a longhaired rock band and a token appearance by Count Dracula (Ferdy Mayne), who travels in a helicopter!
THE VAMPIRE HAPPENING is pure hokum that is enjoyed by few. I got a few chuckles out of it, but it's still as bad as I remembered it on video many years ago. What is great about it is the luscious transfer job by Anchor Bay that utilizes beautiful source material, letterboxing the film at 1:85:1 (it is also 16x9 enhanced).
The film is not without merit. It was directed by that well-known veteran Hammer/Amicus director, Freddie Francis, who is also one of the most respected cinematographers of all time. Francis excepted this assignment due to a Hollywood production that went the way of the wind, giving us his most unusual effort (though not his worst film as a director). Most of the toilet humor gets lost in the atrocious dubbing, but Francis is able to mount a handsome production, aided by lavish sets and locations.
Pia Degermark was the producer's girlfriend and replaced the original actress of choice. She is totally unconvincing in portraying dual roles: that of Betty Williams and her vampiric great granny. Since the two characters look exactly alike, sporting different wings and parading around as each other, it's hard to tell which character she is supposed to be in the various scenes. Degermark can't separate the two roles and is totally lacking in every way, except for her youthful beauty.
Ferdy Mayne (legendary for his performance in Polanski's THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS) looks good as Dracula (even making a reference to Chris Lee: "Call me Christopher, I'm sure he won't mind"), but only appears briefly during the frivolous climax. Since FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS is owned by Warner, you have to settle for this inferior dud. I'm sure that Polanski himself would love to do a commentary for a FEARLESS disc, but since Warner is too busy trying to get "Twister" and the "Lethal Weapon" films right, it will probably be decades before the film will show up on Warner's overwhelming DVD release schedule of three or four features a month. (George R. Reis)