Emanuele Taglietti (born in Ferrara, January 6, 1943) is an Italian designer, illustrator and painter.

Born to an artistic father, Emanuele Taglietti graduated from his local art institute, then moved to Rome where he studied set design at the Experimental Center of Cinematography. He worked on the art direction and set decoration for various films, including Federico Fellini’s Juliet of the Spirits. 

In 1973, he returned to live in his home town and came into contact with Renzo Barbieri of Edifumetto, for whom he worked as a cover artist of erotic, crime, fantasy and horror-themed fumetti (Italian comic books). Having been inspired by artists such as Frank Frazetta and Averardo Ciriello, he created artwork for fumetti such as Zora the vampire, Belzeba, Cimiteria, Sukia, Stregoneria (“Witchcraft”), Gli Spettri (“The Spectres”), Il Sanguinari (“The Blood”), Lo Schelectro (“The Skeleton”), Ulula (“Howls”), Vampirissimo and Wallestein.

Occasionally, Taglietti reworked images and artwork from horror films such as Creature from the Black Lagoon, Night of the Demon (1957) and The Plague of the Zombies, and seems to have had a fixation on actress Ornella Muti (whom he based the image of Sukia on). Featuring the signature nudity of fumetti, his work was sometimes censored when the comic books were publish in other countries, like Spain.

During this busy period, which continued until 1988, Taglietti also restored old paintings and occasionally collaborated as an illustrator for magazine publishers such as Mondadori and Rizzoli. He retired in 2000, broadened the scope of his artistic interests, devoting himself to mural decoration and furniture.

We are very grateful to the Emanuele Taglietti Fan Club blog for the images above.Visit their blog to see lots more of Taglietti’s artwork…

Only Lovers Left Alive is a 2013 romance drama vampire film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, starring Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, and John Hurt. It was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

After living for centuries, vampire Adam (Tom Hiddleston) is a reclusive musician who cannot get accustomed to the modern world and all of its new technology. Adam pays Ian (Anton Yelchin), his only human friend, to buy vintage guitars and recording equipment. Adam asks Ian to have a wooden bullet made for him, so he can take his own life. Adam survives on blood-bank donations regularly supplied by Doctor Watson (Jeffrey Wright), who is happy to take Adam’s money and not ask any questions. While Adam lives in a deserted area of Detroit, his wife Eve (Tilda Swinton) lives in Tangier, where she shares a regular blood supply with her friend, another vampire named Marlowe (John Hurt).

During a phone FaceTime conversation, Eve senses Adam’s depression with society and decides to leave Tangier to be with him. The lovers unite and are content enjoying each others company, eating blood popsicles, playing chess, dancing to music at home, and driving around the city at night. Shortly after Eve arrives, her younger sister, Ava (Mia Wasikowska), shows up from Los Angeles and disrupts the couple’s idyllic reunion. After a night out at a local club, Ava kills Ian, draining him of blood, and she is kicked out of the house by Adam. Adam and Eve dispose of Ian’s corpse. Ava’s impulsive behaviour cause Adam and Eve to have to leave Detroit, and hastily return to Tangier. Experiencing blood-withdrawal, the couple discover that their long time friend and mentor Marlowe has fallen ill due to a bad batch of blood. After a while, Marlowe dies in front of them. Running low on finances, and with no regular blood supply, the couple spot a pair of local young lovers kissing. Adam and Eve approach them, with their fangs out…

“Jim Jarmusch takes all the elegant longing, the romantic notability and insatiable moral questioning that had been sucked out of the vampire genre in recent years by faux-perilous teenage kitsch, and gives it back to us with Only Lovers Left Alive.” Eye For Film

“There is a lot that I loved about Only Lovers Left Alive, though I’ve no doubt that it’s not a film made to everyone’s taste. I might add that it’s barely a horror film, past the fact that it’s a story concerning vampires, but in some ways that’s apt. We’ve seen vampires done in many different ways and this might be as much a meditation on the vampire trope as it is a meditation on the ills of society and creative expression. All in all, it’s probably a film that gazes a little bit too much at its navel, but my, what an attractive navel it is.” Brutal As Hell

“For the first time in recent memory, a title has arrived that at least begins to scrape deeper in to the existential potential of vampire characters. Sadly, this brief glimpse squanders its value by otherwise wandering traveled ground. A certain momentum carries much of the first act of Only Lovers Left Alive, though this theoretically intriguing meander soon becomes the film’s ultimate downfall despite the involved talent. Jim Jarmusch does not intend to analyze questions but simply to put ideas out there, and as a result, his product ultimately feels lackadaisical and aimless.” Sound on Sight

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Tender Dracula, or Confessions of a Blood Drinker (French: Tendre Dracula or, alternately, La Grande Trouille) is a 1974 French horror film directed by Pierre Grunstein. It stars Peter Cushing, Alida Valli, Miou-Miou, Bernard Menez and Nathalie Courval. The plot involves two writers who take their girlfriends to a castle where an actor (Peter Cushing) who has played vampires in many films is living. The longer they stay in the castle, the more likely it seems that the actor is an actual vampire.

A frantic television executive dispatches two bungling writers, Alfred (Bernard Menez, La Grande Bouffe, Dracula and Son) and Boris (Stéphane Shandor), to convince acting legend MacGregor (horror mainstay, Peter Cushing) not to throw away his peerless career playing a vampire in order to branch out into the world of slushy romance. They head off to a remote Scottish castle where the actor resides, taking with them two budding actresses, Madeleine (Nathalie Courval) and Marie (a regularly undressed, be-wigged Miou-Miou) and soon encounter resident butler Abélard (Percival Russel) and MacGregor’s wife (Alida Valli, another horror legend, seen in the likes of Suspiria and Lisa and the Devil), both of whom veer from Carry On to existential experimentation in the blink of an eye. We finally meet a Keats-spouting MacGregor, already way beyond convincing to change his new career path but the remaining 70 minutes care little about such frippery.

Struggling to decide which genre it wants to demolish, we are regularly distracted by a stream of gratuitous nudity, none of which is anything other than typical 70′s softcore but all of it somewhat jarring when considering Mr Cushing’s name is above the title – those alarmed at his participation in the sleazy Corruption should take a cold shower.

Some singing also ensues but fortunately both Valli and Cushing steer clear, both looking occasionally like they are prepared for the film to start in earnest. As the film progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell whether the actor is leading his guests along or he has grand designs on his prey.

The presence of Valli and Cushing, as well as a castle, should be foolproof enough to ‘get by’ but this oddly-pitched French production is far too satisfied with its props to go to the effort of story/script/wit/point. This, mercifully, was Pierre Grunstein’s only directorial effort, though his career as a producer (Jean de Florette, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) would suggest he wasn’t utterly blind to talent and film-making skill. Made in the period during which Cushing was in deep mourning for the loss of his wife, Helen, it is easy to see the actor throwing himself into any old project to distract him from his misery, though this is somewhat wobbly as an appeal, given it also being the period of some of his greatest roles, Tales from the Crypt, Horror Express, Madhouse and so on.

The muddled cast, with Cushing’s voice dubbed by French acting titan Jean Rochefort in the original release, appear to be acting alongside rather than with each other; both Courval and Miou-Miuo regularly burst out into song in a strange Greek Chorus, seemingly an attempt to remind everyone where we are in the plot. In the most preposterous scene, Cushing spanks Miou-Miou, the kind of thing you could get away with in 1974, with the chances of English-speaking audiences ever viewing the film being slim. What we do get is a glimpse of is Cushing as The Count, more redolent of the smooth Lugosi vamp than Lee’s aristocrat but still only an interesting footnote than a statement.

So confused is the aim, especially as Euro-humour rarely travels well at the best of times, that it’s hard to be too damning of the film, purely because it’s difficult to know what the point was in the first place. Towards the end, Cushing’s character flicks through a scrapbook containing photos of some the real actor’s most famous roles. You’d think that at this point someone would have twigged that something had gone terribly astray in the very production they were working on.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Some of the images above appear courtesy of the Peter Cushing Blog

El Retorno del Hombre Lobo (Return of the Wolfman) is a 1981 Spanish horror film that is the ninth in a long series about the werewolf Count Waldemar Daninsky, played by Paul Naschy. It was released on VHS as The Craving, and recently on DVD and Blu Ray as Night of the Werewolf.

In an outdoor trial in the 16th Century, Elizabeth Bathory and a number of witches are being sentenced – Bathory to spend her remaining days entombed, most of her followers beheaded or hanged. The brawn of her operation, Waldemar Daninsky, the celebrated nobleman-lycanthrope, is sentenced to be left in a state of living death, with a silver dagger through his heart and an iron mask (the mask of shame, no less) to keep him from biting. Centuries later, the dagger is removed by grave-robbers and Daninsky returns to activity, fighting against a revived Elizabeth Bathory and her demonic manservant, courtesy of some attractive modern-day witchery.

Outside of Italian gialli, there is little more confusing a purchase than a Naschy film – it is an essential rite of passage as a fan of horror film that at some point you will mistakenly end up with two copies of this under differing titles in error. Fortunately, it’s a cracker, not only the crystalisation of everything Naschy had attempted up to this point but also one of the peaks of Spanish horror. Paul Naschy had been successful enough by this stage that he was afforded a budget that matched his ambition – wobbly sets were replaced by actual castle ruins and sumptuous gothic decoration, the scope of the film covering vampires, werewolves and that old Spanish stand-by, the skeletal Knights Templar.

The cast sees Naschy regular Julia Saly (Panic Beats, Night of the Seagulls) as Bathory, pale-faced and clearly relishing the role, without ever attempting to overshadow Naschy. Naschy seems positively weepy, surrounded as he is in fog, thrilling coloured lighting and decked out in ancient finery. The other three main female characters, played by Pilar Alcón, Silvia Aguilar and Azucena Hernández had varied careers in Spanish genre cinema, all of them supplementing their incomes with ‘daring’ magazine photo-shoots – although nudity is scarce in the film, the three of them continually seem on the cusp of disrobing.

The pace is particularly brisk for a Naschy film, perhaps aided by him taking the director’s chair himself, instead of his usual muse, León Klimovsky. That said, the film makes little sense in the chronology of Daninsky werewolf films (this being the ninth of twelve), neither does the lenient sentence given to Bathory at the beginning of the film, nor her loyal servant suddenly being Hell-bent on revenge. No matter, the characters are interesting and straight-faced enough to carry what is lower rank Hammer fodder in theory.

Alas, 1981 was not the right time to suddenly nail your Gothic fetishes – horror cinema had long abandoned candle-lit castles and fangy nymphs and the box office was most unforgiving, leaving Naschy to film several films in Japan to try to rebuild not only his reputation but his finances. Time still doesn’t really seem to have caught up with Naschy, his films still polarising opinion amongst genre fans and almost completely ignored by the mainstream both in terms of interest and influence.

The soundtrack, though perfectly suited, is an outrageous plagiarism of both Ennio Morricone (the wailing harmonica of Once Upon a Time in the West) and Stelvio Cipriani (What Have They Done to Your Daughters? – in fairness, regularly reused by himself on the likes of Tentacles). The stunning cinematography is courtesy of Alejandro Ulloa, who also shot the likes of Horror Express, Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion and The House by the Edge of the Lake. The special effects largely stay away from the time-lapse transformation from human to beast and the film doesn’t suffer in the slightest – Naschy’s writhing at the sight of the moon being entertaining enough. Naschy remained proud of the film up to his death in 2009 and rightly so.

Daz Lawrence

JokerBats are a metal glam goth rock band. Their single ‘Vampire’ is due for release on February 24, 2014.

Press release:

“As a band they have drawn inspiration from traditional hard rock bands like Motörhead, Metallica and Black Sabbath who’s own Ozzy Osbourne was good friends with the band at their inception. Their influences also go to the likes of the Cure, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees and they are particularly inspired by many bands from oversees such as Rob Zombie, Lordi from Finland and Nightwish from Norway. They hope to take the enjoyable side of heavy rock and gothic culture and to create their own fictional world which can by inhabited by them and their fans – musical reactionaries have been strictly exiled!

Welcome to EvilZgate, a fictional land of castles, heavy mists and dark mystery fraught by warfare between the evil ‘Demoncock Corporation’ who aim to monopolise the music market with heartless talent shows fighting the noble and courageous Jokerbats. Residing in nearby Brutons Castle, the Jokerbats have been locked in guerrilla warfare with the Corporate for hundreds of years, fighting back their barrages of tedium and monotony with their own brand of hard rock. They cast spells of theatricality, eccentricity and musical exuberance over the Corporation to try and liberate its prisoners from imprisonment. The full Chronicles of EvilZgate can be found here“

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The Tyburn Tree are a duo comprised of Soft Cell singer Marc Almond and saxophonist John Harle. On February 24, 2014 the pair released ‘Dark London’ on Sospiro Noir Records. Promotional shots for the album were taken in Highgate Cemetery.

The album features songs about the more frightening aspects of the British capital city’s history. Spring-Heeled Jack, The Highgate Vampire, Victorian serial killer Jack the Ripper (in cinema and TV) are represented alongside lesser known grim character such as the Ratcliffe Highway murderer. The title of the album relates to the infamous Tyburn Tree gallows on which over 60,000 common criminals were hung in huge spectacles of brutal justice. Seventies production company Tyburn Films (The Ghoul, Legend of the Werewolf) also took their name from the ghastly gallows.

“Ex-Soft Cell frontman Almond channels his fascination for cabaret into theatrical songs about the city’s lore. Meanwhile composer Harle creates a moody score flickering with echoes of Gypsy folk, late-night jazz and, for “Spring Heeled Jack”, about the supernatural London villain, neurotic prog rock.” FT.com

“We all know that Marc Almond can sing but it still comes as a shock to hear his thrillingly drawn-out climax to Harle’s “The Arrival of Spring”, emoting words adapted from William Blake with operatic oomph” The Independent

“Harle gallops across his musical terrain with the attitude of Axl Rose. Terrifyingly extreme and magnificently audacious, Harle is a powerful force in British jazz and pop, and has the integrity, passion and vision to challenge listeners” Esquire USA

Buy Dark London on CD | vinyl | MP3 album from Amazon.co.uk

Official site

Afflicted is a 2013 Canadian action horror film written and directed by Clif Prowse, Derek Lee, both of whom star. The rest of the cast are Baya Rehaz, Edo Van Breemen, Zachary Gray.

Plot:

Two best friends set out on the trip of a lifetime around the world. Their journey, documented every step of the way, soon takes a dark and unexpected turn after an encounter with a beautiful woman in Paris leaves one of them mysteriously afflicted.

Reviews:

” … the film works so well is that you really care about these men and you feel the pain and fear Derek is dealing with both directly with him, and through Clif’s eyes. It is because these men matter, that they are important that the dire, scary situation they find themselves in resonates as well as it does. Often scary and with a real emotional core, Afflicted is an unexpected gem that I hope gets some serious support when released.” Flay Otters, Horror-Movies.ca

“Afflicted is a small concept thriller that attempted to fake its way into becoming a feature film, but there just isn’t enough story to sustain 45 minutes let alone this movie’s miniscule 85 minute running time. About a third of the way through the film should have ended, it had run its course and could have come to a close with a satisfying, creepy and freakishly humorous conclusion as Derek proves killing himself is not the answer to his newfound vampire affliction.” Brad Brevet, Rope of Silicon

“Afflicted is also really fucking scary. Lee and Prowse do not waste a shot, do not waste a moment, in telling their story. Through sound, the careful use of effects, and through great character work, Prowse and Lee take an intimate story and turn it into something larger than itself.  It explores the genre with true grace, intelligence, and terror; for a monster to truly work onscreen, you have to love it a little. Afflicted loves its monster, and so do we.” Ain’t It Cool News

“Afflicted is the perfect film through which one can cast off the negativity associated with found footage and simply call it what it is: a unique and engaging way to present the narrative. It doesn’t need to be a found footage movie, but the perspectives Derek and Clif give to his physical changes and the subsequent mess they find themselves in allows for some incredibly effective and creepy horror filmmaking.” Brad McHargue, Dread Central

IMDb

Carmilla is a Gothic novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. First published in 1872, it tells the story of a young woman’s susceptibility to the attentions of a female vampire named Carmilla. It was first published in the magazine The Dark Blue and then in the author’s collection of short stories In a Glass Darkly in the latter year.

Plot:

The story is presented as part of the casebook of Dr. Hesselius, whose departures from medical orthodoxy rank him as the first occult doctor in literature. It is narrated by Laura, one of the two main protagonists of the tale. Laura begins her tale by relating her childhood in a “picturesque and solitary” castle in the midst of an extensive forest in Styria, where she lives with her father, a wealthy English widower, retired from the Austrian Service. When she was six years old, Laura had a vision of a beautiful visitor in her bedchamber. She later claims to have been bitten on the chest, although no wounds are found on her.

12 years later, Laura and her father are admiring the sunset in front of the castle when her father tells her of a letter he received earlier from his friend, General Spielsdorf. The General was supposed to bring his niece, Bertha Rheinfeldt, to visit the two, but the niece suddenly died under mysterious circumstances. The General ambiguously concludes that he will discuss the circumstances in detail when they meet later. Laura is saddened by the loss of a potential friend, and longs for a companion. A carriage accident outside Laura’s home unexpectedly brings a girl of Laura’s age into the family’s care. Her name is Carmilla. Both girls instantly recognize the other from the “dream” they both had when they were young…

Influence:

Carmilla, the title character, is the original prototype for a legion of female and lesbian vampires. Though Le Fanu portrays his vampire’s sexuality with the circumspection that one would expect for his time, it is evident that lesbian attraction is the main dynamic between Carmilla and the narrator of the story. When compared to other literary vampires of the 19th century, Carmilla is a similar product of a culture with strict sexual mores and tangible religious fear. While Carmilla selected exclusively female victims, she only becomes emotionally involved with a few.

Films:

• Danish director Carl Dreyer loosely adapted Carmilla for his 1932 film Vampyr but deleted any references to lesbian sexuality.
• French director Roger Vadim‘s Et mourir de plaisir (literally And to die of pleasure, and internationally released as Blood and Roses, 1960) is based on Carmilla.
• A more-or-less faithful adaptation starring Christopher Lee was produced in Italy in 1964 under the title La cripta e l’incubo (Crypt of Horror).

• The British Hammer Film Productions also produced a fairly faithful adaptation of “Carmilla” titled The Vampire Lovers (1970) with Ingrid Pitt in the lead role, Madeline Smith as her victim/lover. It is the first installment of the Karnstein Trilogy.
• The Blood Spattered Bride (La Novia Ensangrentada) is a 1972 Spanish horror film written and directed by Vicente Aranda, is based on the text. The film has reached cult status for its mix of horror, vampirism and seduction with lesbian overtones.
• Carmilla (1980) is a black-and-white television adaptation from Poland, starring singer Izabela Trojanowska in the title role, and Monika Stefanowicz as Laura.
• In 1989, Gabrielle Beaumont also adapted Carmilla into a medium length film with Meg Tilly as the vampiress.
• In the 2005 direct-to-video movie, The Batman vs. Dracula, Carmilla Karnstein is referenced of being Count Dracula‘s bride, who had been incinerated by sunlight years ago. Dracula hoped to revive her by sacrificing Vicki Vale‘s soul, but the ritual was stopped by the Batman.
• Carmilla is featured as the main antagonist in the 2009 movie Lesbian Vampire Killers, a comedy starring Paul McGann and James Corden, with Silvia Colloca as Carmilla.
• Styria (2013) is an adaptation of the novel set in late 1980s with Julia Pietrucha as Carmilla and Eleanor Tomlinson as Lara.

Music:

• Cradle of Filth, a British extreme metal band, produced an album called Dusk… and Her Embrace, largely inspired by Carmilla and Le Fanu’s writings in general, and have also recorded an instrumental track titled “Carmilla’s Masque”.
• Theatres des Vampires, an Italian extreme gothic metal band, has produced a video single called “Carmilla” for its album Moonlight Waltz.
• A chamber opera version of Carmilla appeared in 1970 (Carmilla: A Vampire Tale, music by Ben Johnston, script by Wilford Leach).

Books:

• A vampire named Baron Karnstein appears in Anno Dracula by Kim Newman. Carmilla herself is mentioned several times as a former (until her death at the hands of vampire hunters) friend of the book’s vampire heroine Geneviève. Some short stories set in the Anno Dracula universe have also included Carmilla.
• In the Japanese light novel series High School DxD the vampires are depicted as having a society divided among two major factions: The Tepes and the Carmilla. The Carmilla faction favors a matriarchal society for the world of vampires while the Tepes prefer a patriarchal government.
• Elfriede Jelinek‘s play Illness or Modern Women uses Carmilla as the name of one of its female protagonists, who becomes a vampire.
• Author Anne Rice has cited Carmilla as an inspiration for The Vampire Chronicles; a series of bestselling vampire books she wrote from 1976-2003.
• The novel Carmilla: The Wolves of Styria is a re-imagining of the original story. It is a derivative re-working, listed as being authored by J.S. Le Fanu and David Brian.
• Carmilla: A Dark Fugue is a short book by David Brian. Although the story is primarily centered around the exploits of General Spielsdorf; nonetheless it relates directly to events which unfold within Carmilla: The Wolves of Styria.
• Carmilla: The Return by Kyle Marffin is the sequel of Carmilla.

Comics:

• In 1991, Aircel Comics published a six-issue black and white miniseries of Carmilla by Steven Jones and John Ross. It was based on the story by Sheridan Le Fanu and billed as “The Erotic Horror Classic of Female Vampirism”. The first issue was printed in February 1991. The first three issues were an adaptation of the original story, while the latter three were a sequel set in the 1930s.
  
• In the first story arc of Dynamite Entertainment‘s revamp of Vampirella, a villainous vampire named Le Fanu inhabits the basement of a Seattle nightclub named Carmilla.

Video games:

• In six of the Castlevania games; Circle of the Moon, Rondo of Blood, its PSP remake Dracula X Chronicles, Simon’s Quest, Judgment, and Lords of Shadow; there is a female vampire named Carmilla (also spelled Camilla in Circle of the Moon).

Television:

• In episode 36 of The Return of Ultraman, the monster of the week in the episode, Draculas, originates from a planet named Carmilla. He also possesses the corpse of a woman as his human disguise.

• The Doctor Who serial State of Decay features a vampire named Camilla who in a brief but explicit moment finds much to ‘admire’ in the Doctor’s female travelling companion Romana who finds she has to turn away from the vampire’s intense gaze.
• In the HBO TV series True Blood, in episodes 5 and 6 of season 2, a hotel in Dallas, Texas has been built for vampires called “Hotel Carmilla”. They have heavy shaded rooms, and provide room service of human “snacks” (with blood type and sexuality) for their vampire clientele.

Wikipedia

Marketed as ‘Dracula’s Worst Nightmare’, this is a special Halloween pack of garlic bulbs that was sold in British supermarkets in 2004.

Produced by Brookerpaks Quality Foods, the product contained two garlic bulbs contained in a coffin shaped box that had a crucifix shape cut into the front, alongside a cartoon image of Dracula that looks ‘inspired’ by the Marvel Comics interpretation of the Count. The bottom of the box features a cartoon bat and the words “garlic – the ultimate vampire repellent”., while elsewhere on the package are images of a graveyard and a castle. On the back of the package was a recipe for ‘vampire stake’.

This was a nice, if trivial novelty, for horror lovers to add to their weekly shop.

DF

Soil from Dracula’s Castle was a novelty sold by Warren Publishing, through ads in their magazines such as Famous Monsters of Filmland, Eerie, Creepy and Vampirella.

Launched to coincide with the ‘year of Dracula’ in 1979, this was a coffin shaped pendant on a chain that featured ‘authentic’ soil from Dracula’s castle. Except of course, the Dracula in question is a fictional character. It’s actually a bit of dirt taken from the castle of Vlad Tepes, the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s character. Each pendant contained a gram of soil, and was probably a sure fire way of getting beaten up at school.

The ads state that “no mystic powers are claimed for this amulet” – quite the disclaimer – though it does suggest that it will make you the envy of fellow vampirians (a word that is not used enough).

Sold at $9.95 – no small price in 1979 – the piece was supposedly limited to 5000 editions, and came with a certificate of authenticity (who authenticated it, and as what, is unknown). The fact that it was still on sale two years later suggests that they weren’t exactly flying out. It is, of course, now a collectable item.

DF

Vampyros Lesbos (Spanish: Las Vampiras) is a 1971 West German-Spanish horror film directed and co-written by Jesús Franco.It is, arguably, Franco’s best known film today, having reached a certain cult audience through the success of the mid 1990s soundtrack release, which became a favourite of the easy listening club scene of the time.

It stars Franco’s early 70s muse Soledad Miranda as Countess Nadine Oskudar, a beautiful female vampire who seduces her victims by performing a sensual and erotic nightclub act (a recurring theme in Franco’s films). She takes a fancy to American Linda Westinghouse (Ewa Strömberg) and makes her both a lover and a victim, appearing to her in a series of sexual dreams. When Linda travels to a remote island to claim an inheritance, she meets the Countess in the flesh and is soon under her spell. Dr Seward (Dennis Price, in a character reference to Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula) investigates her case, and on discovering the truth, attempts to use her to become a vampire himself.

Shot between June and July 1970 in Turkey, the film was one of Franco’s more successful films, both financially and artistically. Coming to the film straight from his most mainstream era (working with the likes of Harry Alan Towers on films like Count Dracula, Venus in Furs, The Bloody Judge and the Fu Manchu series), Franco at this stage seemed to reveling in a new sense of freedom. international censorship allowed him to explore erotic themes more openly, and his movies of the era – others include A Virgin Among the Living Dead and The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein – increasingly eschewed conventional narrative structure in favour of hallucinogenic and psychedelic imagery and music. This is cinema at its most free, and often feels closer to experimental arthouse production than conventional horror.

The lesbian theme as suggested by the title was something that had, only a few years earlier, been taboo in cinema, and Franco certainly exploits it in this film. However, it would be unfair to suggest that the film is soft porn, as has often been claimed. Rather, this is erotic horror, both elements complimenting each other.

The film would slip from public view by the 1980s, remembered only by Euro horror cultists. But it would have an unexpected revival in 1995, when the soundtrack album was released. In the mid 1990s, easy listening – or ‘loungecore’ – was the big thing amongst London hipsters, and soon spread across the UK and beyond.

The film’s score – Manfred Hübler, Siegfried Schwab and Jesús Franco (working under the alias of David Khune) was perfect for these clubs, offering a mix of the exotic and the kitsch. The album – originally released as 3 Films By Jess Franco and aimed squarely at soundtrack collectors – was repackaged as Vampyros Lesbos – Sexadelic Dance Party , and was a compilation of the albums Sexadelic and Psychedelic Dance Party, and featured music from three Franco  Vampyros Lesbos, She Killed in Ecstasy and The Devil Came from Akasava.

It was released by German cult soundtrack specialists Crippled Dick Hot Wax on CD and vinyl. In 2006, an extended version was issued as a double LP. In the UK, Redemption Films issued the film using the artwork featuring Soledad Miranda instead of their usual distinctive black and white covers, to capitalise on the popularity of the film.

CAST:

Ewa Strömberg as Linda Westinghouse
Soledad Miranda as Countess Nadine Carody
Andrés Monales as Omar
Dennis Price as Dr. Alwin Seward
Paul Müller as Dr. Steiner
Heidrun Kussin as Agra
Michael Berling as Dr. Seward’s assistant
Beni Cardoso as Dead woman (uncredited)
Jesús Franco as Memmet (uncredited)
José Martínez Blanco as Morpho (uncredited)

DF

The Dark Shadows Cookbook was published in 1970 by Ace Books to accompany Dan Curtis’ hit American TV horror soap opera series. Unlike Cooking Price-Wise with Vincent Price, which made sense given the genre icon’s status as a culinary expert and his British TV cookery show, the Dark Shadows Cookbook was simply an odd tie-in publication. It now sells online for for over $150…

Compiled by Jody Cameron Malis, the cover blurb boasted the delights of “Barnabas’s Beastly Beverages, Quentin’s Ghoulish Goulash, plus more than 150 unusual recipes, and including 65 complete menus: exotic beverages: and a “how to in the kitchen” section… if you like Dark Shadows, you can eat like they did on the TV show.”

Related: Cooking Price-Wise with Vincent Price | House of Dark Shadows

La momia nacional (which translates as “The National Mummy”) is a 1981 Spanish horror sex comedy directed by José Ramón Larraz (Vampyres, Scream – and Die!, Rest in Pieces, Edge of the Axe) from a screenplay by Juan José Alonso Millán. It stars Francisco Algora, Quique Camoiras, Azucena Hernández, Carlos Lucena, José Jaime Espinosa, Lili Muráti, Trini Alonso, Paloma Hurtado, Mabel Escaño, Pilar Alcón. 

This film was a domestic release that does not seem to have been sold outside of Spain except perhaps in some Latin American countries.

The IMDb‘s plot keywords include: werewolf, female nudity, brothel, prostitute, vampire, governess, erotica, political comedy, mummy, severed arm, sex and insane asylum, which all sounds like good/bad fun to us… although the song that plays over the opening credits is appalling, so perhaps this is one comedy horror that deserves to remain in Spain?

IMDb | We are most grateful to No, hija, no for some of the images above.

The Kiss of the Vampire also known as Kiss of the Vampire and Kiss of Evil, is a 1962 (released 1963) British vampire film made by Hammer Film Productions. The film was directed by Don Sharp and was written by producer Anthony Hinds using his writing pseudonym John Elder.

Originally intended to be the third movie in Hammer’s Dracula series (which began with Dracula and was followed by The Brides of Dracula); it was another attempt by Hammer to make a Dracula sequel without Christopher Lee. The final script, by Anthony Hinds makes no reference to Dracula, and expands further on the directions taken in Brides by portraying vampirism as a social disease afflicting those who choose a decadent lifestyle. The film went into production on 7 September 1962 at Bray Studios.

Plot:

Gerald (Edward de Souza) and Marianne Harcourt (Jennifer Daniel), are a honeymooning couple in early 20th-century Bavaria who become caught up in a vampire cult led by Dr. Ravna (Noel Willman) and his two children Carl (Barry Warren) and Sabena (Jacquie Wallis). The cult abducts Marianne, and contrive to make it appear that Harcourt was traveling alone and that his wife never existed. Harcourt gets help from hard-drinking savant Professor Zimmer (Clifford Evans), who lost his daughter to the cult and who finally destroys the vampires through an arcane ritual that releases a swarm of bats from Hell…

Reviews:

“Sharp’s ability to use his settings, including a beautifully photographed Bavarian wood, the sinister castle and a deserted inn, demonstrates his talent for mise-en-scène, the hallmark of his subsequent films, including Rasputin – The Mad Monk and The Face of Fu Manchu (both 1965).” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror 

“Kiss of the Vampire ends in the most lackluster way possible, a low for the studio. Our gruff vampire hunter conjures up a pack of bats to come flying to the rescue and it looks as cheap as special effects come. They bob through shattering stained glass windows and swoop down to feast on the flesh of the undead cult members, their white robes turning red with each new bite. The deaths are over dramatic and poorly timed as they shriek out through the rubber bats glued to their faces.” Anti-Film School

“My favorite aspect of the film, though, is how concisely it encapsulates the contradiction between Hammer’s status as the foremost envelope-pushers in the British movie industry and the intense social conservatism that shines through practically all of their output in the horror genre. Just watch the scene that plays out between Ravna and Gerald when the latter comes to spring Marianne from the vampires’ clutches. In no other movie that I can think of from this era is it so glaringly obvious that the real threat posed by the vampires lies in their capacity as sexual emancipators of women, and it’s hard to think of anything more obnoxiously retrograde than horror at the prospect of women having a say in the expression of their own sexual identities.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“Kiss of the Vampire has a relatively tight script, one of the many penned by son-of-Hammer honcho Anthony Hinds, a typically effective score by James Bernard, quality performances, and both bathes in tradition and extends it. Those are all good reasons to seek this film out, but the best is that restrained but prolonged tension and ghostly ambience that Hammer did so well. While there are films that achieve it as well as Kiss of the Vampire, few achieve it better.” Brandt Sponseller, Classic Horror

Offline reading:

Rigby, Jonathan (July 2000). English Gothic : A Century of Horror Cinema (in English). Reynolds & Hearn.

Wikipedia | IMDb

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (or LXG on some early publicity material) is a 2003 science fiction action film with horror elements, loosely based on the first volume of the comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill. Released on July 11, 2003 by 20th Century Fox, it was produced by Don Murphy (From Hell) and directed by Stephen Norrington (Blade) from a screenplay by British comic book writer James Dale Robinson. It stars Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng, and Richard Roxburgh.

It is an action film with prominent pastiche and crossover themes set in the late 19th century, featuring an assortment of fictional literary characters, who act as Victorian Era superheroes. It draws disparately on the works of Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Rider Haggard, Ian Fleming, Herman Melville, Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allan Poe, Gaston Leroux, and Mark Twain.

On a stated budget of $78 million, the film grossed $179,265,204 worldwide at the box office, plus rental revenue of $48,640,000, and initial DVD sales of $36,400,000. Though not popular with critics or fans of the comic series, the movie has developed a cult following, particularly within the Victorian steampunk community for its production design.

Notorious for being a troubled shoot, Connery didn’t get on with director, Stephen Norrington. “On the first day I realized he was insane,” Connery subsequently told The Times. The veteran actor retired from lead roles after this taxing part. For his part, Norrington cited what he considered to be studio interference and he has not made another movie since.

Plot:

In 1899, men dressed as German soldiers attack the Bank of England and steal Leonardo da Vinci’s layouts of Venice’s foundations. Shortly after, led by their leader the “Fantom”, men dressed as British officers kidnap German scientists and destroy a factory, causing tension between the United Kingdom and Germany which could lead to an international war, with both attacks marked by highly advanced weaponry (for the time) such as tanks and machine guns. Sanderson Reed of the British Empire ventures to Kenya, to recruit world-renowned hunter and adventurer Allan Quatermain…

In London, Quatermain meets “M”, Reed’s employer, who explains that the Fantom plans to destroy Venice to prevent a meeting between the leaders of the world, his ultimate goal being to start a world war and arms race to profit from sale of his weapons. To combat the Fantom, a team of unique individuals known as the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is being formed – consisting of Quatermain himself, Captain Nemo, chemist Mina Harker, and invisible thief Rodney Skinner. M sends the group to recruit their fifth member, immortal Dorian Gray, who remains youthful while a currently missing portrait of himself ages. Dorian once was infatuated with Mina, but refuses to join the team. The Fantom and his assassins attack, but thanks to the presence of U.S. Secret Service Agent Tom Sawyer, the assassins are defeated, although the Fantom escapes. Mina is revealed to be a vampire, a result of her past encounter with Count Dracula. Dorian and Sawyer join the team and set off in Captain Nemo’s submarine, the Nautilus, to recruit their final member, Mr. Hyde…

Reviews:

“The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen assembles a splendid team of heroes to battle a plan for world domination, and then, just when it seems about to become a real corker of an adventure movie, plunges into incomprehensible action, idiotic dialogue, inexplicable motivations, causes without effects, effects without causes, and general lunacy. What a mess.” Roger Ebert, Rogerebert.com

“Logic and continuity fly out the window. True, the effects and sets are marvellously fantastical and there are one or two neat comical allusions to the heroes’ literary roots. But where’s the excitement, the thrills, the tension, the style?” Derek Adams, Time Out

“The problem with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is the filmmakers tried to give everyone a main storyline and ended up diluting everything. With so many characters, the film lost some focus. One guilty pleasure I had from the film was Mr. Hyde, who was expanded (literally) from the original Robert Louis Stephenson story to be a massive gorilla-like monster, filled with rage.” Kevin Carr, Film Threat

” … like The Mummy Returns and other failed fantasy blockbusters, The League falters around halfway through, and becomes the type of bloated, CG-driven video game that the first previews had indicated. The film loses its sense of excitement in favor of some very cheesy special effects (particularly another cousin of the Hulk, only blood-red). There also seems to be a strong effort to make the film bigger and bigger right up until the finale. There are some exciting moments even then, but the climax turns out to be a major letdown.” Cinema Blend

“By the time the League actually does something, the film drowns in its own forced spectacle. Fight scenes are shoddily edited, ridiculous set-pieces fail to hide woeful effects and worse are the bewildering array of continuity errors. Anyone who has seen Blade knows that Norrington can direct slick action fare, but there’s scant evidence here. No matter how troubled the shoot was, the movie was shanghaied from the off, courtesy of Hollywood’s dependence on market-defined ‘success’.” Danny Graydon, Empire Magazine

“The problems pretty much begin and end with Sean Connery. On paper, he’s a natural choice to play the ageing - no, aged - Quatermain. But Connery, who also acts as an executive producer, isn’t content to be a team player. So what we’ve got here, ladies and gents, is a star vehicle, the revered Scotsman moulding Quatermain from the opium addict of the comic into an unstoppable septuagenarian with Arnie-style quips. Too often, this feels like a League Of One.” Total Film

“The trouble with having seven protagonists is that you need seven antagonists, seven backstories, seven ‘struggles against adversity’ and seven resolutions. So some of it gets a bit rushed, quite a few backstories are recounted in a matter of nanoseconds, and towards the end the action switches constantly between about four or five different battles, with Mina fighting Dorian and Quatermain fighting Moriarty and Skinner fighting another invisible man and Hyde fighting another Hyde. It’s all done in a very fast-pace, but at least it does get done at all; at least all the characters have character.” Fully Ramblomatic

Wikipedia | IMDb

Vampyres (aka Las Hijas de Drácula) is a 2014 Spanish horror feature film remake of the 1974 British cult movie of the same title. Produced by Artistic Metropol, the screenplay is by José Larraz (director of the original) and and Víctor Matellano. Larraz worked on the project before he sadly  died last year so Matellano has taken over directorial duties. The film stars Caroline Munro (Dracula A.D. 1972, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, At the Earth’s Core), Anthony Rots, Veronica Bacorn, Alina Nastase, Luis Hacha, Marta Flich, Almudena Léon. Joining them will classic stars of Spanish horror such as Lone Fleming, Antonio Mayans, May Heatherly and Conrado San Martín.

FX are being coordinated by Colin Arthur (The Never Ending Story) who was in charge of FX in the original film.

Space Station Nerva have posted the first on set pics of Caroline Munro

Teaser trailer introduced by Larraz:

Trailer for Vampyres (1974):

Do-It-Yourself Vampire Kit was a novelty sold from the advert pages of American comics in the 1960s by Victor Specialties of Connecticut. For just one dollar eager ghoulish kids could “Become a vampire … and join the ranks of the undead”. The contents of the bargain kit speak for themselves!

Witches’ Tales - not to be confused with the 1950s comics of the same name – was a black-and-white horror-anthology comics magazines published by Eerie Publications, a New York-based company run by comic-book artist and 1970s magazine entrepreneur Myron Fass, between July 1969 and February 1975. New material was mixed with reprints from 1950s pre-Comics Code horror comics. Writer and artist credits seldom appeared, but included Marvel Comics penciler/inkers Dick Ayers and Chic Stone, as well as Fass himself, with brother Irving Fass and Ezra Jackson serving as art directors.

As with other Eerie Publications, such as Weird, Horror Tales, Terror Tales, Tales from the Tomb and Tales of Voodoo, Witches’ Tales featured grisly, lurid colour covers.

Buy The Horror! The Horror! Comic Books the Government Didn’t Want You to Read! book from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Buy Witches’ Tales Volume 1 book from Amazon.com

We are eternally indebted to Monster Brains for posting these ghoulish cover images.

Curse of the Undead (aka Mark of the West) is a 1959 American vampire/western hybrid film directed by Edward Dein (The Leech Woman) rom a screenplay by himself and Mildred Dein. It stars Eric Fleming, Michael Pate (Tower of London), Kathleen Crowley, John Hoyt, Bruce Gordon, and Jimmy Murphy.  The film features a theremin-heavy soundtrack score by Irving Getz and was distributed by Universal-International Pictures.

Plot teaser:

The Old West, circa 1880. In an unnamed town, young girls are dying of a mysterious wasting disease. Dr John Carter (John Hoyt) and his daughter Dolores (Kathleen Crowley) have been tending to patients for hours on end, but lost one patient an hour ago. Another patient, Cora (Nancy Kilgas), looks like she will pull through after Preacher Dan Young’s (Eric Fleming) nightlong vigil; he and the Carters are offered breakfast and coffee by Cora’s parents (Alan Reynolds, Amzie Strickland). In the kitchen, however, they hear Cora scream – by the time they get to her room, she is sprawled dead on her bed, her window open. As he kneels to pray, Dan notices two small, bloody holes in Cora’s throat…

Returning to his ranch along with Dolores, Doc Carter finds his son Tim (Jimmy Murphy) extremely upset after the actions of their neighbor Buffer, who has been doing everything possible to get his hands on the Carter property, including damming a stream on the Carter ranch and having his men assault anyone who complains. To restrain his hot-headed son, the Doc drives back into town to have a word with the local sheriff (Edward Binns). The Sheriff’s discussion with Buffer (Bruce Gordon) in the local saloon proves less than successful, however, and a black-clad stranger (Michael Pate) follows Doc Carter’s buckboard. By the time he gets home, the Doc is dead, his throat bloody…

Reviews:

” … an old-school Gothic horror film with a Western setting, made in a year more commonly associated with rampaging aliens, insane scientists, and radioactive dinosaurs. More surprising still, it is clearly the result of a well thought-out effort to combine elements from two not-obviously-compatible genres in a way that both makes good sense and comes across as more than just a ticket-selling gimmick.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“Quirky but inconsequential, Curse is one of many misguided Hollywood attempts to breathe new life into the genre after Universal discontinued the Dracula series.” Gene Wright, Horrorshows: The A – Z of Horror in Film, TV, Radio and Theater

“A neat idea which doesn’t come off, apart from the bright idea of having the campire killed with a bullet containing ‘a Thorn of the True Cross’”, Alan Frank, The Horror Film Handbook

Choice dialogue:

“A bartender’s like a free gal. She’s bait for whoever’s got a free buck, right?”

“Ah, the dead don’t bother me, it’s the living who give me trouble.”

Wikipedia | IMDb | Wrong Side of the Art! | Zombos’ Closet | 50s Westerns from the 50s

What We Do in the Shadows is a 2014 New Zealand horror comedy film about a group of vampires who live together in Wellington, New Zealand. It was directed and written by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, who also star in the film. The remainder of the cast are: Jonathan Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, Stu Rutherford, Jackie Van Beek, Ben Fransham.

What We Do in the Shadows is based on a 2006 short film of the same name by Waititi and Clement. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2014.

Official synopsis:

Follow the lives of Viago (Taika Waititi), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), and Vladislav (Jemaine Clement) – three flatmates who are just trying to get by and overcome life’s obstacles-like being immortal vampires who must feast on human blood. Hundreds of years old, the vampires are finding that beyond sunlight catastrophes, hitting the main artery, and not being able to get a sense of their wardrobe without a reflection-modern society has them struggling with the mundane like paying rent, keeping up with the chore wheel, trying to get into nightclubs, and overcoming flatmate conflicts…

Reviews:

“takes pleasure in poking fun at various aspects of vampire lore, but not surprisingly (given the filmmakers), What We Do in the Shadows is more deadpan, clever, and silly than it is simple, “schticky,” or mean-spirited. And while Shadows is most assuredly a full-fledged comedy in horror clothing, fans of the darker genre will certainly enjoy how colorfully gory the movie gets during some of the best visual gags.” Scott Weinberg, FEARnet

“Some genre fans who prefer the silly to the satiric may bite, but the anemic pic isn’t remotely weird or witty enough for cult immortality. Feeling eternal at 87 minutes, the film introduces a rival gang of G-rated werewolves (“We’re werewolves, not swearwolves!”) and drags its way to the Unholy Masquerade Ball, populated by hard-partying vampires as well as zombies — the movie’s final act of desperation.” Rob Nelson, Variety

“It’s also as silly as it is smart, unloading plenty of easy gross-out gags involving gushing blood and projectile vomiting plus some token childish moments — a character audibly masturbating from inside his coffin, for example — and some the movie gets away with by having its characters act immaturely in spite of their ages ranging in the hundreds to thousands of years … There’s always a smart bit within seconds of something stupid.” Christopher Campbell, Film School Rejects

“If there is any justice, What We Do in the Shadows, will break out into the light of day as a crossover hit. This film is absolutely hysterical, came as a complete surprise to me, and even breathes life back into the withering corpse of the doc-comedy style of The Office.” Ed Travis, Cinapse

Wikipedia | IMDb