Robert Quarry is the main reason to watch this early 70s, California-set vampire favorite. Quarry plays the title character, a Bulgarian émigré hired by some young adults to conduct a seance. Soon some of them are disappearing, the females falling under the spell of this stranger. It's up to those that are left, including Michael (Michael Macready, who also produced the film), and doctor / blood specialist Jim Hayes (Roger Perry), to wage war with the fiend."Count Yorga, Vampire" is good fun for fans of the vampire genre. Writer & director Bob Kelljan creates some convincing suspense and atmosphere (as well as a few well timed shocks). Things also get satisfactorily gory without ever turning the proceedings into a true bloodbath. Of course, it's also quite sexy, with the young ladies dressed provocatively, and Yorgas' vampire brides taking up residence in his cellar. Standout scenes include our protagonists facing off against the bloodsucker, trying to keep him up until dawn. But Yorga always seems to have the upper hand. A dapper, aristocratic type, he clearly holds his opponents in contempt and doesn't doubt that HE can vanquish THEM. Quarry is absolutely aces in this role, and it makes one wish that he could have had more leading roles over the years (not that he did that badly for himself - his career was especially impressive during the 70s).Yorgas' nemeses come off as reasonably likable, if occasionally foolish. What's particularly amusing is the way that Dr. Hayes is so readily accepting of the concept of vampires and that it's actually him that has to convince the others of the possibility.The lovely actresses present include Donna Anders, Judy Lang, Julie Conners, Marsha Jordan, and Deborah Darnell. Future star Michael Murphy is amiable as Paul, another of our would be Yorga slayers, the hulking Edward Walsh is amusing as the Counts' ugly manservant, and that's Michael Macready's father, veteran actor George M., speaking the narration for the opening few minutes.Highlighted by an effectively grim ending.Seven out of 10.

Surprisingly enjoyable, helped enormously by splendid central performance from Robert Quarry as Cont Yorga. Unconventional but convincing and helped by the fact that almost until the end, everyone is still very sceptical, even when we have seen the ladies on the slabs. The sexy ladies help, as does the whole late 60s/early 70s low budget but earnest and well dressed film making. I thought this began to slow just before the final denouement but with the ladies in full flight and gore to the fore the lapse was soon forgotten and if the final frame was rather predictable it was nevertheless appreciated. Unusual non use of music in several key scenes seemed to add some mystery as did the whole seance ritual/ 'do you believe in Vampires?' naiveté vibe, allowing us to make our own way rather than slavishly follow the hero. Of course, the baddie is often the 'hero' in the world of horror anyway.

*Spoiler/plot- Count Yorga, Vampire, 1970. In the sexy 60's, a hip European guy is holding classes in the occult. A pair of sexy girlfriends attract the Count's attention and the jealous boyfriends try to save them from Yorga attentions.*Special Stars- Robert Quarry, Roger Perry, Michael Murphy, Donna Anders, Judy Lang, NARRATOR: George Macready.*Theme- Vampires are deadly as well as sexy to humans.*Trivia/location/goofs- Color. Started as low-budget soft-core porno movie. Count Yorga was supposedly to become an enemy of Vincent Price's character, Dr. Phibes. It was not developed.*Emotion- It's an updated vampire story in modern American with some of the nudity and sex scenes also updated. It's campy and titillating all at the same time. Worth a quick look from viewers.

Not owning the rights to the Bram Stoker creation, AIP decided to invent their own vampire myth: the result is Dracula-in-all-but-name, being suave (sporting gracefully graying hair), cunning (even when caught off-guard, he manages to assert himself and turn the tables on interlopers), psychic (amusingly, he doubles as a medium at private séances!) and feral (his creepy dashes for prospective victims, seemingly out of nowhere, with blood-red eyes and arms outstretched actually gave me a jolt on a couple of occasions!). As played by Robert Quarry, he is quite creditable and effectively gave Christopher Lee (Hammer Film's Dracula incarnate) a run for his money.Incidentally, he anticipated the other Count's transition to modern times by 2 years and actually managed it a whole lot better (with, thankfully, little resort to Camp). That said, in the attempt to look at the phenomenon with a contemporary mindset, we get a contradiction – people repeatedly scoff at the idea of vampirism in our age, claiming it is a fabrication of literature and cinema, which rather suggests that they are aware of what it entails…and, yet, they are still surprised at what should be its predictable outcome and are required besides to pore over ancient tomes in search of a way to fight it! Though the film was given the alternate title of THE LOVES OF COUNT IORGA, VAMPIRE {sic}, which is actually borne by the copy I watched (for the record, this had been shown on local TV in my childhood but I first caught it years later on British Cable TV), it does not overstress the romantic angle. Indeed, one girl is shown quenching her unnatural thirst for blood by literally draining the life out of a kitten! The presence of a sinister (that is to say, hulking and deformed) acolyte is, admittedly, a bit of a cliché – but Yorga himself seems to have moved with the times (in spite of his traditional attire), since he is shown jadedly presiding over a lesbian vampire show in his living-room! The stylish film was produced by Michael Macready (who also assumes the requisite heroic persona on-screen, though the doctor-turned-vampire-hunter played by Roger Perry actually has an even more central role!), son of distinguished character actor George Macready (who generously supplies the portentous narration here and which, at the start, erroneously refers to vampires as "The Living Dead"{!}: indeed, the whole film – scripted by Kelljan himself – aspires to a certain literariness but often merely results in being verbose…which, however, it often works around by having characters conversing about the unusual events in which they had been thrust presented as voice-over laid on exterior crowd scenes!). The climax is a downbeat one: while Yorga is almost comically disposed of by being pierced (typically, through the heart) with a splintered broomstick, the lone-survivor hero sustains a vampiric attack from his own girlfriend (herself newly-inducted into the ranks of the Undead)! AIP presumably turned a fast profit with this one, seeing how they immediately commissioned a sequel (and whose own viewing followed that of the original in the current "Halloween Challenge"). However, they would soon come up with yet another (and even more outrageous) variation on vampire lore with the cult Blaxploitation offering BLACULA (1972) – which, in turn, led to the as-yet-unwatched SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM! (1973; helmed by Kelljan himself!)...