In the wake of all this Twilight Saga bullshit, a lot of older and sometimes obscure vampire flicks have been re-issued. A great majority of them with new and awfully emo-goth-depressed-angst-ridden-teenager-inspired cover art.
I'm not complaining or anything, any exposure these older films get is good, but sometimes they aren't even vampire movies. A sorta funny-ass example of this marketing is this one movie originally titled Summer's Blood. It's a pretty violent and exploitative flick, heavy on the nastiness and blood. But, it features Twilight co-star Ashley Greene in the lead. So, naturally, it got renamed Summer's Moon and given a Twilight-esque cover and...voila! Traumatized teeny-boppers!
Now, this is definitely not the first time that this has happened. It's been going on for years. Just ask Bela Lugosi. Well... we're a bit too late there. So, just ask Christopher Lee. Just about any movie he starred in the 1960s thru 70s tried to market his vampire image. Like this one:
Terror in the Crypt (recently released as Crypt of the Vampire) is definitely worth a look for any fan of EuroGoth films or even just for those wanting to get a glimpse at Christopher Lee's Italian ventures.
If there is one thing that even the most low-budget of Spaghetti horrors excel in, it has got to be atmosphere. That is one thing that Terror in the Crypt does extremely well. It exudes a flair of picturesque horror and mystique enhanced all the more by its superb cinematography and eerie score.
Like so many other Gothic efforts, the story revolves around a generations-old family curse. Christopher Lee's character is a Count who fears that a witch's curse is starting to come to fruition as members of his extended family are dying one by one. A great cast of characters makes this story even more interesting. There's Laura, the Count's daughter and prime suspect in carrying out the witch's hex during her nightmare-wrought sleep. There is Laura's sultry friend Lyuba (I must note that the two hot-as-fuck starlets have great chemistry together and always look like they are on the verge of releasing years of bottled up sexual frustration in what would be a great gothic lesbian romp). There is a wise old ugly crone who tries to help Laura decipher her nightmares (no lesbian fantasies there). And there is a young historian who is brought in to try and find out as much of the family's dark history as he can in an effort to thwart the curse.
Apart from it's great atmosphere, the film is very well crafted and entertaining. I would put it in the vein of other great EuroGoth gems like Terror Creatures From the Grave, Nightmare Castle, and Bava's Kill Baby, Kill. Plus, the immortal Christopher Lee adds plenty to the picture as he always tends to do. But, like many of the other fans of this picture, I would have loved to have seen Lee chew the scenery with genre queen Barbara Steele as this is the type of film that was right up her alley.
(1964) Directed by Camillo Mastrocinque
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment