Rating: 
Summary: Lame attempt at a good movie
Review: This could have been so much more. Joseph what were you thinking. If your intent was to make it horrofiying, it wasn't. If your desire was to make it erotic, it fell short of that. If you wanted it to fall somewhere in between, then you missed on that one too. Not enough nudity to be erotic, i.e. more naked Anulka. And not enough terror to make it scary, i.e. only the last few minutes are worth mentioning. All in all if you just shot Anulka naked for 87 minuets that would have been worth the price. What I'm trying to say is it was too slow, set your DVD's to fastforward on this one guys.
Rating: 
Summary: Fine gothic lesbian vampire film done wonders by Anchor Bay
Review: Though I'd seen it once before in Magnum's now out of print pan-and-scan version, I just rewatched this 1974 lesbian vampire film in Anchor Bay's recent uncut reissue. I must say, they really do wonders at Anchor Bay with the films they release. Seeing it with such an improved picture and in widescreen for the first time, I was really able to appreciate as I hadn't before just how beautifully composed and photographed this film is.Yes, as director Joseph Larraz himself has said, the film does deliver on the "blood and naked women". But Vampyres really is so much more than *just* an exploitaion film. The film really, I think, brings a fresh approach to the whole vampire theme, jettisoning nearly all the typical conventions and cliches of vampire films that Hammer and Universal had built up in thier films, in exchange for approaches that I think are pretty unique to the film. The gothic atmosphere is very well done, and I liked that Larraz accomplished this without the usual reliance on fake dry ice fog and fake lightning and thunder and the like. Rather, everything was accomplished through superb use of the late autumn English woods and country location settings, as well as the great choice of location shooting sites for the Vampyres' mansion and its interiors (no studio sets in this one). And great shots of the actual sky and clouds. Vampyres is probably one of the most naturalistic of gothic horror movies. Marianne Morris and Anulka are really superb in thier roles. It's not just thier looks, but an amazing on-screen presence and intensity, and a willingness to throw themselves into every scene with total commitment and relish. The scenes with them stalking the woods are just as stunning as any of the more "active" scenes in the film. And finally, as for the "exploitation" elements, the sexuality, while venturing into soft core territory, is imaginative and done with genuine style, while the violence is unusually realistic and genuinely horrifying for a vampire film. Anyway, this is a film that I'm really glad I purchased and gave a second look to, and I can't say enough good things about what Anchor Bay has done for the film. Just a final note regarding the reviewer who said he thought a particular scene was cut short--I could detect no cuts in Anchor Bay's version compared to the out of print uncut Magnum release. As far as I can tell, Anchor Bay's version is totally intact and uncut, and the digital remastering and widescreen presentation make this the best version ever offered.
Rating:
Summary: Blue Underground Proves Once Again Why They're The Best
Review: Up until recently, Anchor Bay Entertainment used to be the undisputed king of releasing horror, exploitation, foreign, art house and cult cinema on DVD with all the bells and whistles that rabid collectors love. However, former Anchor Bay head honcho (not to mention notable genre director) Bill Lustig has since focused his talents on making Blue Underground the premiere distribution company amongst those who know their cult cinema... Take their treatment of Jose Ramon Larraz's evocative vampire (make that vampyre) classic. Previously available on the format in a slightly censored print from Anchor Bay, Blue Underground have released what is likely to be the definite release of VAMPYRES on DVD and anyone who has even a passing interest in foreign horror films should already own this fantastic disc... The extras (including a commentary track and a featurette) are plentiful, the print is cleaned up and, most importantly, the film is UNCUT and UNCENSORED! The movie itself is much like your standard vampire story, albeit done with a little more style that we're accustomed to seeing in this sort of film... European horror film directors always seem to have a better sense of atmosphere and visual direction than their American counterparts and it certainly shows here... Larraz makes full use of the autumnal settings and injects some real class in the film with some top-notch lighting at key moments... A scene where three characters share a drink in a wine cellar benefits greatly from this... you yourself feel as if you're down there with them by the candle-light. Outdoor scenes are particularly surreal in the way that they're shot... Of course, this is a horror film so genre fans can expect an ample amount of blood to be shed over the course of the film. Much of it isn't very explicit but I found myself shocked at least once because I wasn't really expecting it... the deaths in VAMPYRES come quick and mercilessly, as I suppose they should. There's also quite a bit amount of nudity to be found here as well, a good portion of it softcore lesbian erotica (VERY softcore... don't expect the film to slip into Jess Franco territory at all). In any case, they most certainly DON'T make them like this any more... If you even consider yourself a fan of vampire movies, or the 70s European exploitation scene in general, you should definitely have this minor classic in your collection... Not only does it provide fans with the lurid thrills that they're accustomed to seeing but it does so with just a bit of class, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Rating:
Summary: Bosoms and bloodshed, a potent combination!
Review: VAMPYRES (UK 1974): A motorist (Murray Brown) is lured to an isolated country house inhabited by two beautiful young women (Marianne Morris and Anulka) and becomes enmeshed in their free-spirited sexual lifestyle, but his hosts turn out to be vampires with a frenzied thirst for human blood... Taking its cue from the lesbian vampire cycle initiated by maverick director Jean Rollin in France, and consolidated by the success of Hammer's 'Carmilla' series in the UK, Jose Ramon Larraz' daring shocker VAMPYRES pushed the concept of Adult Horror much further than British censors were prepared to tolerate in 1974, and his film was cut by almost three minutes on its original British release. It isn't difficult to see why! Using its Gothic theme as the pretext for as much nudity, sex and bloodshed as the film's short running time will allow, Larraz (who wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym 'D. Daubeney') uses these commercial elements as mere backdrop to a languid meditation on life, death and the impulses - sexual and otherwise - which affirm the human condition. Shot on location at a picturesque country house during the Autumn of 1973, Harry Waxman's haunting cinematography conjures an atmosphere of grim foreboding, in which the desolate countryside - bleak and beautiful in equal measure - seems to foreshadow a whirlwind of impending horror (Larraz pulled a similar trick earlier the same year with SYMPTOMS, a low-key thriller which is all mood and very little action, until it erupts into a frenzy of violence during the final reel). However, despite its pretensions, VAMPYRES' wafer-thin plot and rough-hewn production values don't really amount to very much, and while the two female protagonists are as charismatic and appealing as could be wished, the male lead (Brown, past his prime at the time of filming) is woefully miscast in a role that should have gone to some beautiful, twentysomething stud. A must-see item for cult movie fans, an amusing curio for everyone else, VAMPYRES is an acquired taste. Watch out for Bessie Love, star of the silent era, in a brief cameo at the end of the movie. Originally released on DVD by Anchor Bay in incomplete form (29 seconds of carnage were accidentally omitted from one of the climactic sequences), Blue Underground's definitive disc - beautifully presented and packaged - restores all the missing footage to its rightful place. Picture quality is as good as the low-budget film stock will allow, though it's still a little grainy in places, and the mono sound is adequate. Extras include trailers, interviews with Morris and Anulka (both are older and wiser, yet still radiant), and a lively audio commentary with Larraz and producer Brian Smedley-Aston, along with an unexpurgated version of Tim Greaves' much-admired booklet 'Vampyres - A Tribute to the Ultimate in Erotic Horror Cinema', here presented in DVD-ROM format which this writer was unable to access. NB. Blue Underground's DVD includes an insert which replicates vivid artwork for an Italian release print (OSSESSIONE CARNALE), featuring a prominent Techniscope credit. However, the movie wasn't photographed in any kind of scope format, and viewers are assured the disc's 1.85:1 ratio is correct. 87m 29s
1.85:1 / Anamorphically enhanced
Mono 2.0
Optical mono [theatrical]
No captions or subtitles
All regions
Rating:
Summary: Bosoms and bloodshed, a potent combination!
Review: VAMPYRES (UK 1974): A motorist (Murray Brown) is lured to an isolated country house inhabited by two beautiful young women (Marianne Morris and Anulka) and becomes enmeshed in their free-spirited sexual lifestyle, but his hosts turn out to be vampires with a frenzied thirst for human blood... Taking its cue from the lesbian vampire cycle initiated by maverick director Jean Rollin in France, and consolidated by the success of Hammer's 'Carmilla' series in the UK, Jose Ramon Larraz' daring shocker VAMPYRES pushed the concept of Adult Horror much further than British censors were prepared to tolerate in 1974, and his film was cut by almost three minutes on its original British release. It isn't difficult to see why! Using its Gothic theme as the pretext for as much nudity, sex and bloodshed as the film's short running time will allow, Larraz (who wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym 'D. Daubeney') uses these commercial elements as mere backdrop to a languid meditation on life, death and the impulses - sexual and otherwise - which affirm the human condition. Shot on location at a picturesque country house during the Autumn of 1973, Harry Waxman's haunting cinematography conjures an atmosphere of grim foreboding, in which the desolate countryside - bleak and beautiful in equal measure - seems to foreshadow a whirlwind of impending horror (Larraz pulled a similar trick earlier the same year with SYMPTOMS, a low-key thriller which is all mood and very little action, until it erupts into a frenzy of violence during the final reel). However, despite its pretensions, VAMPYRES' wafer-thin plot and rough-hewn production values don't really amount to very much, and while the two female protagonists are as charismatic and appealing as could be wished, the male lead (Brown, past his prime at the time of filming) is woefully miscast in a role that should have gone to some beautiful, twentysomething stud. A must-see item for cult movie fans, an amusing curio for everyone else, VAMPYRES is an acquired taste. Watch out for Bessie Love, star of the silent era, in a brief cameo at the end of the movie. Originally released on DVD by Anchor Bay in incomplete form (29 seconds of carnage were accidentally omitted from one of the climactic sequences), Blue Underground's definitive disc - beautifully presented and packaged - restores all the missing footage to its rightful place. Picture quality is as good as the low-budget film stock will allow, though it's still a little grainy in places, and the mono sound is adequate. Extras include trailers, interviews with Morris and Anulka (both are older and wiser, yet still radiant), and a lively audio commentary with Larraz and producer Brian Smedley-Aston, along with an unexpurgated version of Tim Greaves' much-admired booklet 'Vampyres - A Tribute to the Ultimate in Erotic Horror Cinema', here presented in DVD-ROM format which this writer was unable to access. NB. Blue Underground's DVD includes an insert which replicates vivid artwork for an Italian release print (OSSESSIONE CARNALE), featuring a prominent Techniscope credit. However, the movie wasn't photographed in any kind of scope format, and viewers are assured the disc's 1.85:1 ratio is correct. 87m 29s
1.85:1 / Anamorphically enhanced
Mono 2.0
Optical mono [theatrical]
No captions or subtitles
All regions
Rating: 
Summary: Very Graphic, Bloody, & Sexy... Yey Very Puzzling
Review: VAMPYRES is a very graphic, bloody, & sexy horror film. It owes a lot of its success to the two beautiful female leads Anulka & Marianne Morris. The movie is beautifully shot, with bleeding colors, & shows beautiful scenery. It's aslo very suspenseful at times. Yet it's the logic of the story that is flawed. In one scene, the two vampires confront Harriet (Sally Faulkner) & say some sort of incantation as if Fran (Marianne Morris) knew her from a previous life. This was not touched upon later on before the movie ended with the possibility that it could have been just a dream. I thought that the movie had a lot of potential, but the flawed narrative of the story holds the movie back. The movie has a dream-like feel to it. Maybe it was all a dream, maybe it isn't.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally saw it. -- So what's all the fuss about?
Review: Well, after literally decades of hearing tales of the notoriety of this film and seeing the most highly titillating stills from it prominently featured in my vampire movie books, I finally took the "daring" plunge and actually sought it out and watched it. -- And my opinion of it? Well I dunno, maybe I've been letting my naughty imagination get the best of me all these years or maybe my moral standards are especially low, but my reaction was kind of "oh, is that all there was to it?"
For all the hubbub, I was actually expecting there to be much more sex, violence and gore than there turned out to be. By today's standards, I actually found it quite tame. Yes, there is a lot of nudity in it, but none of it is of the full-frontal variety showing the genital area. What simulated coitus there is, is neither particularly graphic nor convincing. And the worst of the film's violence all occurs off-screen. Granted, if you find lots and lots of fake blood scary, you MAY get a chill or two. But heck, these vamps don't even have FANGS fer cryin' out loud!
Anulka doesn't really have to act much, just stand/lie there and look pretty. Marianne Morris does do a bit more and does make an adequate female vamp. And the much-hyped lesbian scenes are also quite limited and nothing particularly special by today's standards.
What I did like very much was the ambience that the wonderful locations of the manor house and the English countryside in autumn give to the film. I would say that it was this, and also the tasteful direction which shows a nice appreciation for the value of quiet and silence, which combine with the actors to create a film a bit better than adequate.
Overall I'd rate this movie a bit better than 3.5 stars, and thanks to the outstanding job they have done on this DVD I have no problems with bumping it up to a full 4 stars. Not only does the film look fabulously and immaculately restored, but the extras are also good. The best part was the 15-minute interview segment with the actresses today. I would say that Anulka Dziubinska looks even hotter today, some 30 years later. -- No small feat, and certainly a very rare occurrence!
You also get a commentary from the director and the producer of the film, as well as a still gallery of a missing scene, an Anulka modelling career still gallery, plus the usual trailer, and even a computer file version of the classic but out of print book on this film. All in all, a wonderful package. Blue Underground deserve to be very proud of the excellent job they have done on this DVD. It's great to see a classic B-movie like this given the proper respect it deserves.
As for me, well I guess I'm still in the market for a lesbian vampire flick which lives up to the expectations I've created in my head all these years. (Attention, filmmakers....!) What I'm looking for is something more extreme and graphic than this, but still without the yucky tackiness of porn and with the polished production values and great atmosphere of this film. (--Yeah I know about the Donald Glut videos, but I said WITH production values.) So the market is out here, folks. Now let's see what you can do.
Meanwhile, I'm gonna go run off my fave lesbian vampire film of all time, "The Vampire Lovers". Yeah nowhere near even as graphic as this one, but just brimming with delicious atmosphere, and ahhhh, Ingrid Pitt... (*swoons*)
Rating:
Summary: As far as an erotic vampire movie goes, look no further
Review: Where to begin.....
As far as an erotic vampire movie goes, look no further. As far as a savage and gory vampire movie goes, look no further. As far as an interesting story goes with great cinematography to boot, look no further. This movie came out in 1974 and had to be edited by the censors for release in most countries. The footage that had been cut has been put back in for this excellent dvd release from Anchor Bay. It was directed by Spanish director Joseph Larraz and filmed in England on Hammer Studios sets. The story goes something like this:
Two women are making love in a bed and someone walks in on them and shoots them. Next thing we know a man (Murray Brown) is driving through the countryside and picks up a woman (Marianne Morris) along the road. They go to her place which just happens to be a huge manor home in the middle of nowhere. They end up having sex and the next thing he know it is next morning. He feels weak and notices a nasty cut on his arm and the girl is nowhere to be found. He gets in his car a drives a little ways along the dirt road leading out of the estate when he runs across a couple who have picked this site to park their trailer and go camping. They help the man bandage his cut and after a little while he leaves. He runs across the strange woman he picked up the night before and they go back to the estate. Her friend (Anulka Dziubinska) has picked up another man and before too long the two couples have made their way to the bedrooms. The first man makes love to the woman but this time we see her sucking blood out of the cut on his arm. Her friend walks in and they go to the other bedroom where he lover is lying face up up on the bed covered in blood. They both start an orgiastic feast on the man and when they are done they drag him out of the room. The next morning the first man wakes up and and makes his way to the highway in his car when he slows down for a car wreck along the road. The bloody body behind the wheel is the man he had seen at the house the prior evening. He drives back to the estate and starts wandering around and winds up getting locked in the cellar. The girls return, find and release him, and he goes back up to the bedroom. Meanwhile, while all of this has been going on, the woman on vacation in the trailer has become terribly interested in the goings on at the estate and keeps trying to get her husband interested. He feels it is none of their business and is content to go fishing and wishes his wife would just be happy with her paintings that she has been working on. That night, the girls at the estate bring home another man they picked up and they end up going down to the wine cellar. Before too long he is a bloody mess and the first man has now left and made his way to the trailer. The couple in the trailer are horrified to see the condition that the man is in so the husband goes out to the car to go get help. Before he can take off the women attack him in the car and kill him. The wife goes out to check on him and starts screaming when she sees his bloody body in the car. The two women then attack the wife and she is dragged, kicking and screaming, back to the cellar where they strip her and then feast on her. I have probably given away too much, but I won't give away the ending. I have read that some people thought the end was stupid and some people liked it. I happened to have liked it a lot. This is a pretty unique vampire movie and it is too bad it didn't do better at the box office, maybe then we would have had a sequel! ...
Rating:
Summary: AESTHETIC, SATANIC, INDULGING
Review: YES, THIS IS A FLIM THAT RISES ABOVE THE REST IN THE VOLATILE TIME OF EROTIC VAMPIRE FILMS IN THE EARLY 1970'S. TWO VOLUMPTOUS, BEAUTIFUL VAMPIRES USE THEIR FEMININE TALENTS AND THE AGE OLD ONE NIGHT STAND AS A FACADE TO LURE OVER-ANXIOUS MEN TO THEIR BREATHTAKING, DECREPIT OLD COUNTRY HOME. THE MEN FALL ALL TOO EASILY FOR WHAT THEY THINK WILL BE A SEXUAL RENDEZVOUS WITH TWO STRANGE, DARK WOMEN. AFTER THEY ARE ENTERTAINED, THEY FALL VICTIM TO SAVAGE DEATHS, BLOODLETTING, AND HUMILIATION. THE BRITISH COUNTRYSIDE AND THE BREATHTAKING OLD HOME CREATES A SUPERIOR AMBIENCE THAT IS CONDUCIVE FOR AN UNFORGETTABLE, EROTIC, LURID FILM. THIS FILM WILL LEAVE YOU WANTING NEVER TO RETURN TO REALITY. DARK, EVIL, BEAUTIFUL, IMPERATIVE.
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