Saturday 8 February 2014

Good old horror movies (Part 2) : Vampire vs. Bathing Beauty


This is not just the only vampire movie I really liked. In fact, "The Fearless Vampire Killers" is also firmly on my top list of the best 20 movies I've ever seen (although, I am still working on the list :-) In the ex-Yugoslavia the film was distributed under the title "Bal vampira" ("The Ball of the Vampires"). By my opinion, the best Polanski's movie, although not the scariest. For me, his scariest movie is "The Tenant".
The film is a beautiful mixture of a fairy tale, horror, excellent cinematography, clever screenplay, supreme directing and editing and a nice film score. Humour and satire are an extra asset.
Believe it or not, but this little cartoon character scared me at the very beginning of the movie when he had suddenly replaced the roaring lion.


 "The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck (shortened to The Fearless Vampire Killers; originally titled Dance of the Vampires) is a 1967 comedy horror film directed by Roman Polanski, written by Gérard Brach and Polanski, produced by Gene Gutowski and co-starring Polanski with future wife Sharon Tate. It has been produced as a musical named Dance of the Vampires." (Wiki)

The odd couple of vampire killers (before the Buffy):



This one is.... The Count:

The Italian distribution movie poster. Of course, the poster scene is just a symbolic expression and wasn't part of the film.


Obviously an European release movie poster (UK?). Of course, there wasn't such a scene in the movie.


The local naive beauty (Sharon Tate) who enjoys long baths in the antique bath tub, each and every evening. However, there wasn't any nudity in the film.


At the Ball...





I prefer painted movie posters, which unfortunately went extinct in the recent decade. They were much more expressive and informative and served as a sort of a quick teaser. Quite often, especially in the 60's and 70's the posters themselves were much better then the movies they represented and quite often they featured some scenes that were not included in the movie or were cut out by the censors.

One of the places were you can watch the movie on line.

The creepiest film by Polanski: "The Tenant"

Good old horror movies Part 1


One of the scariest movies I've seen as a kid back in the early 60's was certainly," The Pit and the Pendulum". The screenplay was based on an Edgar Allan Poe's short story. Read the story here.


Edgar Allan Poe (born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic. He was considered a member of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe was one of the earliest American authors who wrote  the short stories, which were especially convenient for the newspapers. He is also considered as the inventor of the detective fiction genre and a developer of the  science fiction.




Director: Roger Corman. Writers: Richard Matheson (screenplay). Stars: Vincent Price, Barbara Steele and John Kerr. An unforgettable performance by Vincent Price.


You can watch the whole movie on line here.