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Malenka - La Nipote del Vampiro

Malenka - La Nipote del Vampiro

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Toothless
Review: In this 1969 film by Amando de Ossorio (Tombs of the Blind Dead) Ekberg plays an Italian fashion model who inherits a creepy Spanish castle, only to learn that her ancestors were vampires. The sets and costumes are beautiful, but can't compensate for the stiff performances, poor dubbing and slow pacing.

Avoid Retromedia's DVD version. Even though it purports to be the 88-minute "Americanized" version of the film, it's only 74 minutes and appears to be an edited-for-television version.

One and a half stars out of five.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: INOFFENSIVE EURO-SCHLOCK
Review: Released in 1968 as part of a triple-horror-feature for the drive-in crowd, "Fangs" came and went without notice in this country. Supposedly, this is the "American" version. Retromedia--whom I admit I have no respect for due to their poor quality offerings--has done an OK job with this Italian-Spanish vampire mish-mash and I rather enjoyed it. 50's sex bomb Anita Ekberg is miscast as Sylvia--a Rome "bathing suit model"--who is notified she has inherited a castle. On her arrival, it turns out she has inherited it's alleged vampiric/witchcraft legacy as well. The strangely effete and thin "Uncle" who has sent for her has other cards up his sleeve. What follows is a campy Euro effort at atmospheric horror replete with beautiful girls, a dungeon tomb, sinister caretaker, Euro-style barmaids at a local inn and , of course, "vampires" that may or not be real. It's all very "PG" with no gore or nudity but LOTS of cleavage on the girls. There's a typical stiff-as-a-board hero and his comic-relief friend who dash about saying "We've got to save her!" and one line I truly loved from a barmaid to the hero/scientist, "Would you mind having a look at a girl who's not well?" The dubbing is so-so, the acting the pits (but so bad it's a riot) and the photography is typically European style atmospheric but rather endearingly low-budget. Miss Ekberg is a LITTLE too long-in-the-tooth to be a damsel in distress with an obviously younger leading man, but she is still beautiful and displays, in one outfit, some astounding "assets" that are truly eye-bogglers. All in all, not bad if you're in the mood for something like this and especially if you like low-budget "Euro-shockers". The color is good with one shady spot in one scene and the soundtrack has what sounds to be the original continental jazz flavored pop score along with the appropriately creepy stuff. I liked it---maybe you will too.


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