Customer Reviews

Slaughter of the Vampires

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The old Monterey VHS version is uncut, but this DVD version from Retromedia is missing quite a bit of footage. Avoid this one, especially as another company is due to release an uncut version on DVD in 2006.

I've been fond of this film, ever since I saw it as a youngster on Channel 9, and they used to show at least 2 versions. This copy seems complete, though I wish they had done some restoration of the image. One of the last b/w Italian horror films, this film get short shrift from most writers on this period, but I like this little film a lot. It's shot in a very atmospheric style (lots of shadows), and the girls are gorgeous as only girls from that period can be. The lead vampire is a bit ridiculous, but you don't watch a film like this and expect Ingmar Bergman. For what it is, it's quite fun as a late edition to the Italo-horror film cycle of the 60s.

On the face of it, the new (1/2007) Dark Sky transfer of this cheesy Italian gothic favorite would seem preferable to the 10/2005 Retromedia disc ("Image Entertainment"--only the distributor); the Dark Sky has a cleaner picture and, at 78 minutes (not 79), about two minutes more material. However, the Dark Sky version (actually taken as is from the cable station MonstersHD's print) is matted to an anamorphic aspect ratio of 1.85:1. While 1960s Italian films were sometimes filmed and shown in this aspect ratio--usually "hard-matted" to make sure (that is, the lens of the camera was itself matted to ensure that shape), European films would more often have been shown no wider than 1.66:1; and often, they were shown unmatted altogether at 1.37:1. SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES was not filmed "hard-matted" and Dark Sky's 1.85:1 soft-matting makes it look ridiculously cramped. Clearly never intended for 1.85:1, it is not only matted here, but completely reframed. The image is panned and scanned *vertically* under the mattes in the Dark Sky transfer to keep heads etc. from being cut off, making the original Director of Photography's decisions meaningless. Even with all this tampering, there's so much visual information missing that it's all but worthless: the film is badly disfigured to appeal to the 16x9 TV market. The Retromedia ("Image") disc, at under 76 minutes (not 78), is a shorter version and isn't as clean (though it has a very authentic feeling) but its open-matte, unreframed presentation represents the original film much better--though it's not completely right either. However, it seems unlikely that a film of such minor stature will be revisited on DVD a third time.

I found the transfer of this movie to be superb regardless of missing footage I enjoyed it very gothic and very Haunting do not listen to the previous reviews. But but by all means stay away from the retromedia copy as the transfer is hideous.................Great Horror Film Highly Recommend..........

Retromedia dropped the ball on this one. I have the Monterey Video release...and while even that is missing some 11 mins of footage due to damage of the reels or so they say, This version is sharp, clear and complete.

Retro did include a titular jog by Graziella Granata that is not available in the Monterey version but is memorable at best but they just totally did a real hatchet job on the editing of their DVD version. I have seen the MV version several times over the last 10 years and one viewing of the DVD by Retromedia told me that I wasted 13.00. I will trade this one in in a heartbeat if Dark Sky Films does it much better.

This is the Dark Sky version of SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES that we have been raving about, by all means, stay away from the Retromedia DVD version of this film, they did a crap job editing it and you will just throw your money away.

#1. Editing.......They did a brilliant editing job with this version.....The B&W is, in my opinion clearer & cleaner then most films it's age, considering the fact that this film was made in 1962 and that folks is for the most part almost 50 years ago so give credit where it's due, they did a great job bringing this movie back from the dead.

#2. The script.....Well the script is a whole other ball game, 10 minutes into this film and you can just tell that this film cries for help in the script dept because the lines are just so lame that if this were a 2010 movie, I guarantee, people would walk out of the theater or at best, laugh their butts off with every line. One of the stars Walter Brandi suffers quite a few times during the beginning of the picture from scriptural redundancy and talks to his wife like she's a child in others.

#3. The Actors......The Vampire, Dieter Eppler, sinister looking, doesn't talk much, would've been much more efficient a vampire if he was given more beauties to bite but you can only suck so much blood in 79 minutes I guess......
The 1st Victim, Graziella Granata, what can be said about this lady?, she was 21 when she made this movie and IT SHOWS, she was drop dead, knock down, no holds barred gorgeous. If she had dropped her top in this movie, I would've gave it, hands down 5 stars no questions asked because this lady made this movie ANYWAY no matter what and her jog through the castle while being chased by Prof. Nische?, WOWZERS..they must've had her nightgown velcroed (if they had it back then) to her chest........
Her Husband, Walter Brandi, who plays wolfgang in this movie is a complete idiot here who rants in some parts, like I said earlier, like his wife is a comlete child, and when he gets up in the middle of the night to find his wife when she has gone out to go to the Vampire to get her blood sucked a second time, he looks like he is dressed is women's nightclothes but it's just the whole aire of his performance in this movie that leaves me looking for a blackboard to run my nails down on.... but he is in other less popular italian vampire flicks that I've seen that are FAR WORSE than this one, TRUST ME.

#4. Missing continuity.....There was a part in this film that made and continues to make absolutely no sense to me whatsoever and it was the part where the governess Corinne offers herself up to the vampire right after Louise dies and disappears from the bedroom. Corinne lays on the bed and the vampire strolls in and she talks to him like she's known him throughout most of the movie, now it has been said that there is 11 minutes of this movie that is missing from the American version of this film, why?, who knows?, perhaps it was cut from the film or it has degenerated to the point where it cannot be viewed but DS films does include one part of SOTV that I have never seen in their version of this film but what I would like to see is the other missing 11 minutes of this film if it does exist.

#5. Final Evaluation...While this is no oscar winner, SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES is far from the worst vampire movie I've seen, but it's far from the best one also, it's mediocrity is somehow balanced out by Graziella Granata's performance in this film, It wasn't dazzling, it wasn't epic but it was memorable and that's why I had to give SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRE 3 stars, without her in this film, it never would've made it past 1 star in my review.

I agree with some other viewers on the aspect ratio. It's an annoying viewing experience since it's quite apparent that the top and bottom of the picture is being cut off. Numerous scenes have part of the person's head cut off, or even worse, the woman's cleavage is cut off from the bottom of the screen. The clarity is perfect, but is not enough to salvage this problematic release. Too bad, try again - perhaps.

I almost did not buy this movie because some of the reviewers ranted about the improper aspect ratio resulting in missing heads and badly framed compositions...Sorry, but I thought the image looked great, better than to be expected for a 50 year old Italian vampire movie of such a low budget. The b&w photography was crisp and clear and the estate and sets appeared wonderfully gothic and romantic. Walter Brandi could have been playing Lord Byron having one hell of a tragic nightmare!
I won't go into story detail as I never really like to tell too much to anyone who may want to watch this film; only to reassure you that the DARK SKY print is exceptional and the overall viewing experience was enjoyable. Dieter Eppler made the most of his vampire presence, and Graziella Granata is one of the most beautiful, sexually alluring women to ever appear in a vampire film. Aldo Piga's score was very effective, haunting and romantic and hopefully will one day be available on cd.

I also purchased the RETROMEDIA version as well. I figured that since I wasn't going to purchase either, I'd just go ahead with it and get both for comparison. The RETROMEDIA version is just awful compared to DARK SKY's. It looks like something ALPHA VIDEO would have put out for around 5 bucks. So if you're considering purchasing a copy of this film then please, go with the DARK SKY dvd. It's a great buy for this enjoyable vampire film.

The reason I scour the depths of the unheard-of horror cinematic history is because every once in a while I stumble across a gem as excellent as this Italian masterpiece. Gracefully tip-toeing the line between horror and fairy tale, Slaughter Of The Vampires is a feast for the eyes with top-notch Gothic imagery, as well as the ears with a haunting musical score. A great cast led by the handsome and charismatic Walter Brandi and several lovely Italian goddesses including the striking Graziella Granata add to the fun. With only a minimal amount of dialogue, Dieter Eppler provides a very unique and sinister vampire.

Dark Sky's DVD presentation suffers from over-cropping. This was most likely shot full-frame and the matting done to fill-up our 16x9 TV screens is apparent when the tops of peoples' heads are out of view. However, the picture looks great, better than it ever has and most likely better than people saw on the drive-in screens when it was released half a decade ago. And at 78 minutes runs longer than other home video editions. Be advised that this was dubbed into English, I know some people just cannot deal with that sort of stuff, but it doesn't bother me - although an Italian audio version with subtitles would have been a nice option.

All in all a highly recommendable addition to anyone who enjoys these Hammeresque types of horror movies.

I really didn't know what to expect when I ordered this, as I had not really seen much Eurohorror before. But having seen several great old B & W Italian Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren movies and having really liked them, I hoped this movie would be similar, but with more of a Horror twist to it.

Well, it turned out the gloriously-heaving buxom dark-haired lovelies I had hoped for were in this film, but unfortunately all too briefly. Instead, the film focuses on the main character of a blonde-haired vampire count, stiffly played by German actor Dieter Eppler. He barely speaks in the film, instead seeming to seek to convey some kind of "silent, hypnotic" quality of the vampire. But I found his portrayal utterly lacking in any sort of charisma or appeal. Just completely flat. No, I didn't like him at all, and found his acting quite cartoony and stereotypical.

As I say, there were a few suitably well-endowed Italian beauties who did get transformed into gorgeous creatures of the night in this film, raising my um....temperature, shall we say. But unfortunately the totally stupid script then has them dispatched with such swiftness and ease, it just had me shaking my head in utter disgust.

If you're like me, and always root for the vampires rather than those goody-twoshoes human "heroes", certain scenes in this movie are almost enough to make you throw up. I had always thought that vampires were supposed to possess senses SUPERIOR to normal humans. But funny how one of the vampire babes here cannot even hear the Dr. Van Helsing-clone "good guy" hero (think: Ricardo Montalban with a moustache) creeping just two feet behind her down an echoey underground hallway all~ the way back to her coffin. Naturally she gets dusted in one second flat -- just when I was hoping the movie was finally going to get good.

It just keeps happening over and over. Every time there's a cool new vamp I can't wait to see rip someone's throat out, instead the annoying "heroes" somehow manage to find a way to kill them off in like 1 minute flat. It really got me fed up! Then back to more scenes with "Mr. Excitement" the blonde-haired count (*yawn*), and more stereotypical scenes you've seen in tons of other vampire movies.

Dark Sky/Blue Underground's print looks great, and I understand it also includes the minutes missing from the previous DVD editions. I'm no expert on aspect ratios, so I'll let those among us more informed on such matters duke it out among themselves in other reviews.

And as is customary with Blue Underground's wonderful b-movie releases, they have also included a great bonus extra. Somehow they managed to track down the movie's obscure and long-forgotten star Dieter Eppler himself, and he gives us a lengthy interview in German with English subtitles. Although I cannot say I enjoyed his performance in the movie at all, I did find this interview quite interesting, as it really gives us insight into the nature of filmmaking in Europe at the time. Nice work, Blue Underground!

So overall would I recommend this movie? Well, what you have here is a quite tame and slow-moving B & W film filled with early-60s hairstyles and fashions (even though this is supposed to be a period piece) that never really gets going. All the cool vamps get "slaughtered" before they get a chance to make the movie more interesting, and what you are left with is a string of cliche scenes that didn't particularly appeal to me. I think many scenes in this movie did have a lot of potential to start with, but unfortunately the film's always taking the easy and predictable way out wasted it.

In fact, if anything I find this movie inspires my creative urge, as I think I'd love to try and rewrite the story someday -- my way! Prepare the "fine Corinthian leather" of your neck for a nasty surprise, Mr. Montalban look-alike! Mwa-ha-ha!!