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If you're looking for a visually impressive vampire film in the spirit of DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS but with much more sex and violence, then you've come to the right place. VAMPYRES is a classic film of the seventies, replete with excellent crisp photography and fine direction from Jose Ramon Larraz. A nice sense of impending doom and perversity runs throughout the film until the final devastating climax where nobody is spared from the horrors. If you're looking for a film which ties up all of the plot threads in nice neat explanations, then you've come to the wrong place. VAMPYRES offers up no answers, only questions.
As a film almost totally devoid of plot, you'd be forgiven for thinking this might be pretty boring and incomprehensible. It's not. It's difficult to describe how this film works, only to say that to understand it you must see it. There's some spellbinding, hypnotic quality to the vampire ladies which somehow connects to the viewer. Once you've seen them, you'll never forget them, as they're that spooky. This isn't really a scary film, but more of a sombre, haunting one which builds up plenty of atmosphere and style in between each "action" scene.
The nudity level is extremely high in this film, effectively beating the trilogy of Hammer's lesbian vampire films at their own game. High, too, is the blood level, with some really wince-inducing vampire moments which will have you averting your eyes if you dislike the sight of blood, as it just looks so damn realistic here. Especially the horrible bits where the vampires lick and drink blood from a cut on a man's arm...it doesn't bear thinking about, and I'm not normally squeamish. While there might be something of a repetitive nature to the film (vampires seduce victim, vampires kill victim, and so on...) each new scene is handled afresh in a way which never becomes boring.
Of the two vampires, Marianne Morris is the most alluring, while the oddly-named Anulka the most frightening. Both women convey well their lust-filled diet of sex and blood in the many erotic scenes of the film, using their physical presence for maximum effect, both picked for their attractive yet odd appearances. The rest of the cast are all good in their roles too, giving performances which make their characters realistic and believable, especially the unfortunate woman who falls victim to their advances at the last minute. This may well be the final word on lesbian vampires. With beautiful scenery, plenty of heavy atmosphere, and some of the strongest images ever put on film, this is a truly wonderful movie.
score 9/10
Leofwine_draca 26 November 2016
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3586709/ |
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11-4-2021 11:13:08