Rating: 
Summary: Not exactly Hammer, true, but still great
Review: I recalled seeing this movie years and years ago and recalled a morbid, chilling 70's atmosphere unmatched in any other vampire film from this period. So when it was on sale for $4.99 at a video blowout sale, I picked it up.
I have to admit that it was not quite the film I remember, and some of the dialogue is so absurd that one wonders if Kelljan was simultaneously trying to parody the vampire concept while also achieving some genuine chills. For example, before Dr. Hayes (the only figure in the film with some personality along with the acidic Count Yorga himself) and Michael go to stake the fanged fiend outside his castle, the dialogue goes a little something like this:
Dr Hayes: "Well Michael...you know he could get us before we
get him. That means neither one of us could come out of there alive."
Michael:"Yeah, you're right.
Dr Hayes: "I'm scared, to tell you the truth."
Michael:"Yeah..me too."
Dr Hayes:"Okay, you take the back, I take the front."
And yet the flavor of absurdity in the dialogue does not work to the detriment of the film; rather, it seems to increase it's strange, one-of-a-kind atmosphere. Robert Quarry is superb as the articulate, chilling Count Yorga. His face is so tightly drawn, pale and aristocratic, his lines so Shakespearean and literate, that for all his evildoing and dastardly blood feasting I liked him far better than any of the protagonists, Dr Hayes excepted. The inhuman smoothness with which he handles the assault on his castle is actually scary, particularly the scene in which he calmly commands his newly-made vampires to feast on Dr Hayes. And when he flips out and bares the fangs, the close camera angle reveals Quarry's talent for looking cold and immune.
The scene in which Erica eats a baby kitten looks fake as hell, but is still disturbing. The ending is predictable and yet frightening at the same time. (How that could that moron not have known the chick was a vampire?) This isn't the best vampire movie I've ever seen, but there's a flavor to it lacking in some of the greatest. A neat curiosity.
Rating:
Summary: Count Yorga:Vampire
Review: I was pleasantly suprised that MGM released the uncut version of this film on VHS and DVD. The title card reads: "The Loves of Count Iorga:Vampire", which I believe may be the European cut of this film. It includes some extra scenes of gore(mostly in the kitten devouring sequence!!!)and overall is a fun movie to watch. Avoid the "sequel" The Return of Count Yorga.
Rating:
Summary: The start of modern vampire cinema in America !!
Review: It was no secret in the early 1970's that American International Pictures were grooming Robert Quarry to take over the mantle of their number one horror star, from the ageing Vincent Price. Price was none too happy about the treatment he received from studio executive's and made his feelings felt on several occasions. One well known story has it that during the filming of "Dr Phibes Rises Again", Price heard someone singing Gershwin and looked around the corner to see Quarry in full voice. Quarry turned to Price and remarked "Vincent, you didn't know I was a singer !". To which Price replied "Well, I knew you weren't a ******* actor."However, Quarry did make a pretty decent vampire on three occasions in "Count Yorga", "The Return of Count Yorga", and the lesser known "Deathmaster"....all films being made virtually back to back ! "Count Yorga" started out as a concept from writer / director Bob Kelljan to make a soft porn style vampire film, however when he recruited Robert Quarry to play the lead, Quarry convinced him to play it straight for thrills. Keeping in line with the new age, hippie influenced culture of the 1970's, the film sees Count Yorga posing as a psychic medium and leading unsuspecting & naïve guests into his vampire clutches ! The film saw a departure from the more Hammer influenced style of vampire movie where the female underlings to Christopher Lee were buxom, attractive women. In "Count Yorga" however, the female servants of Yorga are haggard, disheveled harpies from the grave that mercilessly carry out the evil biddings of their master. Additionally, the film was noticeably more violent than Hammer's Dracula series, and shifting vampires to a contemporary setting ( as opposed to Hammer's Carpathian Mountains of the 1900's ) became the standard for vampire film's for many years to come, and definitely revitalized the declining movie fan's interest in blood suckers. Kelljan does a pretty good job of keeping the plot ticking along, and Quarry does provide some solid scares....especially the shots of him bearing down on his victims in slow motion, arms outstretched and fangs bared. Well worth a look, "Count Yorga" is an interesting piece of vampire cinema that provided the genre with much needed fresh blood.
Rating: 
Summary: "Maybe I'll have a little snack later!"
Review: Many thanks to MGM for re-mastering, as best they could, and re-releasing "Count Yorga, Vampire" on VHS and DVD. I had rented the out of print Laserdisc twice so I could watch it and share it with my brother. We had seen the film together at the Drive-in theater when we were lets say, a little younger! Robert Quarry makes for a suave, classy and chilling vampire. Although the film is certainly low-budget its not at all bad and is far more entertaining than many higher budget and more recent films are today. I actually bought a copy on VHS as a gift before I found out it was also released on DVD which I also bought. I had found a copy of the sequel, "The Return of Count Yorga" previously released by Orion, still in print some years ago. Now I understand MGM has re-released this sequel "The Return of Count Yorga" on VHS, but so far not on DVD. As it is also a short film I would ask MGM to give us a Widescreen edition with a Pan and Scan fullscreen on the reverse. And please get Robert Quarry to record a running commentary on the movie! Also, don't forget we still want the DVD at a bargain price. I am sure for MGM this won't be a problem! Well, I can go on wishing anyway!! In the meantime, enjoy "Count Yorga, Vampire" and let MGM know that we would like to see the sequel on DVD as well. Thanks and Best Wishes.
Rating:
Summary: "Maybe I'll have a little snack later!"
Review: Many thanks to MGM for re-mastering, as best they could, and re-releasing "Count Yorga, Vampire" on VHS and DVD. I had rented the out of print Laserdisc twice so I could watch it and share it with my brother. We had seen the film together at the Drive-in theater when we were lets say, a little younger! Robert Quarry makes for a suave, classy and chilling vampire. Although the film is certainly low-budget its not at all bad and is far more entertaining than many higher budget and more recent films are today. I actually bought a copy on VHS as a gift before I found out it was also released on DVD which I also bought. I had found a copy of the sequel, "The Return of Count Yorga" previously released by Orion, still in print some years ago. Now I understand MGM has re-released this sequel "The Return of Count Yorga" on VHS, but so far not on DVD. As it is also a short film I would ask MGM to give us a Widescreen edition with a Pan and Scan fullscreen on the reverse. And please get Robert Quarry to record a running commentary on the movie! Also, don't forget we still want the DVD at a bargain price. I am sure for MGM this won't be a problem! Well, I can go on wishing anyway!! In the meantime, enjoy "Count Yorga, Vampire" and let MGM know that we would like to see the sequel on DVD as well. Thanks and Best Wishes.
Rating:
Summary: A "pop/corn" vampire flick
Review: Okay. So it's probably not the best vampire flick ever made, and it's time of setting does date the film a bit, but it is certainly a standout from a fairly rotten bunch. It's best feature, is a brilliant performance by Robert Quarry in the lead role of Count Yorga; an inspired blend of viciousness and culture, all at the same time.
It certainly gives Christopher Lee's Count Dracula a run for his money!
The vampire women come straight from the set of a zombie flick in regards to their almost mindless search for blood. Curiously, they possess a ROW of sharp teeth (as does Count Yorga, when they're revealed), rather than the required elongated set of upper canines in which to delicately leave behind the standard two small puncture wounds on the neck.
This reflects the more primal, bestial, and dare I say "evil" interpretation these vampires take in the film, something in decided absense in the wake of Anne Rice's contributions to the genre. THESE vampires are clearly predators, as we see towards the end of the movie, which finishes in a downbeat, post-"Night of the Living Dead" kind of way. The film recycles the usual vampire movie cliches of the aristocratic, Eastern European vampire; the vampire's "brides"; the All-Wise Vampire Hunter (albeit, if Van Helsing was a "swinger"!), the vampire's black cloak, etc. and updates them to a modern day setting (well...for 1970, that is!), and fairly effectively introduces a nineteenth century vampire count into the twentieth. This was the film Hammer's "Dracula A.D. 1972" and "The Satanic Rites of Dracula" should have been.
Rating:
Summary: Fangs For The Memories
Review: Somewhere between the "giant step for mankind" and Watergate Hotel breezed in this little independant feature that cost the investors about 80 grand--and returned, according to it's lead player, 100 times that amount in the first weekend of release--which, remarkably enough, brought a respectability to the modern vampire story. More amazing is the fact that, three years later, Hammer Films couldn't as successfully pull off the same feat with its "Satanic Rites of Dracula," complete with all time horror greats Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, and, presumably, a much larger budget. The film opens during a then-trendy seance with Robert Quarry playing suave, arrogant Count Yorga--a sort of dilletante who wears a cape, is twenty something years older than his hosts, and probably was the sort that hung around those sorts of early adulthood gatherings during the seventies because he wanted to slide up to some young body(ies). In this case, however, sex isn't on the older mans mind--his interest lay (as it were) in leaving his mark--two of them, to be precise--right in the neck. The film's credit must go in large part to veteran actor Robert Quarry, whose performance as the Count was wonderful, and to Bill Butler (cinematographer) and Bob Kelljan (director)...The rest are merely bit (as it were!) players... Great fun throughout and, although a bit choppy at times, holds its own even thirty years later.
Rating:
Summary: Fairly good modern vampire film
Review: This film focuses on a group of young people who go to Count Yorga who is suppposedly attempting to help a young women reach her deceased mother's spirit. This is followed by some strange behavior from two of the girls, their boyfriends consult a doctor who is beginning to think Yorga is a vampire posing as an expert on the supernatural. Eventually the men journey back to Yorga's house to see if he is a vampire or not. This is a fairly good, but dated film. Robert Quarry is great as the vampire and more complex than most movie vampires. The plot works well enough and the rest of the cast is overall good. This does fall into the trap of some old cliches like a black cape (in the 1970's no less), a chamber room and an ugly henchmen. This is an above average vampire film and certainly one of the better American vampire flicks.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully awful
Review: This is one of those low-rent horror films you typically catch late-night on Halloween. A great flick to watch with friends and get a running commentary going; the kitten scene is an absolute classic.
Rating: 
Summary: Not in the Same League as Hammer and Lee
Review: This movie is a big diappointment. I understand the AIP was looking for a replacement for Vincent Price and thought this would be a good vehicle for RObert Quarry.
It wasn't. Although it was popular for the drive-in, this flicks lacks everything.
Quarry goes through the film like a zombie instead of a vampire. His dialogue is awful and his acting terrible.
THe film takes place in modern LA. Yorga is a vampire that has adjusted to modern life and uses today's denial of ampirism as a cover to hunt his victims. That is the premise.
In truth, Yorga looks as out of place as Jesse Helms at a NOW convention. the characters are one dimensional and I never cared whether they lived or died. Most died, by the way, rather graphically gruesomely. The formulaic sex scenes, including a hint of lesbianism, are thrown in (it was the seventies, after all) but to no effect.
Yorga dies, not throught the cunning and bravery of the hero, but rather through his own ineptness, being stabeed while trying to choke the hero. Mental note-never choke someone holding a stake, especially if you're a vampire. The lighting and scenery are dismal. Yorga supposedly lives in this gorgeous mansion which is never seen because it was filmed at night. Bad cutting and overacting round out the experience. Count Yorga may Return but I will not.
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