Creepy, haunting near-masterpiece made by a one-time director, Richard Blackburn. In that way and in a few others, it reminds me of Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls. There are a few other films that it reminds me of, too, like Let's Scare Jessica to Death, Black Moon and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, but, really, it's entirely its own. Lila (Cheryl Smith) is a 13 year-old girl, a beautiful, moral, church-going girl whose long unseen father is a murdering gangster. One day Lila receives a letter telling her that her father is on his death bed in a secret location and that he wants to see her one last time. She embarks to the location on a creepy, empty bus, and it takes her to a forest full of murderous monsters. A strange woman named Lemora (Lesley Gilb), who claims to have been taking care of her father before he ran away in a delirium, offers Lila protection from the monsters outside. It doesn't take Lila long before she realizes Lemora might be every bit as dangerous. There is a surprising and disturbing strain of eroticism underlying the film. It's never exploitative, though, and there are metaphorical meanings to the film revealed (albeit confusingly) at the end of the film that I believe justify that particular theme.

As noted, there's a lot to like about Lemora. The cinematography in places is shockingly good, some of the night exteriors in particular. Robert Caramico, who shot it, was already a blooded professional, his first credit being Orgy of the Dead, and he went on to another dozen and a half movies before his untimely death. The low budget is apparent from time to time: note that at some point Caramico set up on a hillside overlooking a roadway at night, took the same shot half a dozen times of every vehicle used in the production passing by beneath, and then Blackburn scattered them throughout the picture. Anyway, the problem is the Big Finish, where vampires leap on churchgoers and vice versa. It sucks. It means nothing. You can watch the film a dozen times and it still makes no sense whatsoever. You want to know why a terrific little flick like Lemora isn't on everybody's top-ten list of cult masterpieces? The ending. Boo. Hiss. The little snapper at the finish, which you could see coming a mile away with its brights on, gives Cheryl Smith a chance to be a hot babe for about two minutes, after a marvelous, utterly believable performance as a simpering virgin 2/3 her real age. But boy that ending. As clear a failure of a scriptwriter's ability to produce as the ending of Blazing Saddles.

Late, great 70's drive-in movie goddess Cheryl "Rainbeax" Smith gives a smashing, touching performance as Lila Lee, a passive, ingenuous church choir girl who's lured into a remote and dangerous part of the Georgia wilderness by artful, poised vampire countess Lemora (a strikingly hypnotic portrayal by Lesley Gilb) under the pretense that she will be reunited with her errant mobster father. In all actuality, Lemora wants to turn the fragile, dewy-eyed innocent Lila into a vampire and induct the severely uptight lass into a darkly amoral, but liberating nocturnal netherworld of wine, sex, song and dance. Writer/director Richard Blackburn (who later co-wrote "Eating Raoul") does an expert job with this extraordinary period horror film (it takes place in the late 1920's), deftly creating and maintaining a creepy, oddly credible and most colorfully surreal alternate reality in which the fine line between right and wrong, good and bad, and purity and wickedness is chillingly blurred. Moreover, Blackburn acquits himself fairly well in a sizable supporting role as a hypocritical bible-bangin' preacher who secretly harbors illicit carnal desires for the delectable, but underage Lila Lee. Tense, atmospheric and often genuinely frightening (the giggling gaggle of little vampire kids is especially scary), with a perfectly pungent'n'potent brooding Southern Gothic-style ambiance, a bold and provocative subtext which bravely tackles head on such daring adult themes as incest, pedophilia, lesbianism, repression and the awakening of one's sexuality with the onset of puberty, and a wonderfully wigged-out bit by unsung fright film ham Hy ("Nightmare in Blood," "Vamp") Pyke as a fidgety, ill-fated wacko bus driver, this bang-up bloodsucker gem wholly deserves its substantial cult reputation.

The film is set in Georgia of the 1920s. Sweet innocent 13 year old Lila Lee (Cheryl Smith) goes to visit her sick father. Unknown to her it's a trap all set up by Lemora (Lesley Gilb) a woman vampire with distinct lesbian tendencies. Will Lila Lee fall into her clutches or escape? I caught this originally on late night TV many years ago. The print was faded, in terrible condition and (slightly) edited--but I knew I was seeing something different. I didn't see the whole thing--I was exhausted (it started at 1 am) and I couldn't stay awake...but it never left me. Now it's finally available in a truly stunning transfer by Synapse. The picture and sound are crystal clear and the colors very vivid.The film is very creepy--there are a LOT of sexual innuendos thrown at Lila at the beginning (but it IS needed for the story). The lesbian touches are there but not explicit--this movie is very PG (no blood, gore, nudity or swearing). Still they come through and actually help the movie. The low budget this film was made on shows often but it works in the films favor. There's atmospheric lighting, eerie sounds, creepy settings and a nonstop feeling of dread. Also Gilb is VERY imposing as Lemora. Despite the rating this is an adult movie--as others have said--a fairy tale for adults.There are plenty of things wrong with this however. The script wanders all over the place (but then fairy tales do too), the ending drags a bit and the acting is terrible all around (Smith is bland and Gilb's acting is SO bad I was giggling at times). Still, despite all that it works. A one of a kind vampire movie. Not for everybody. I give it a 9.