This is one of those movies that few people have heard of and even fewer have seen. You'll find people that espouse this movie as being a long lost gem of 70s art horror, or those who saw it as a child and it hits a special nerve with them. For the average horror aficionado, though, I think you will find that this movie is very hit or miss, having some great highs, but a lot of lows, as well.A young, innocent virgin is a singer in a church, but also the child of a notorious gangster. At the beginning of the movie, the man kills his wife and her lover and goes into hiding in the countryside, where he reaches out to his daughter to come visit him. Eager to do right by her father, the young girl sets out on her own.What follows is a story that definitely plays on the ideas of sexual repression, lesbianism and the male fascination with underage girls, as every character in this movie seems to leer at our young heroine in sexual longing. The movie starts off rather slow and off, leaving you to wonder just what you are watching, but things start to pick up as her journey begins. The bus ride into the wilderness is fantastic, as a creepy ass driver makes wild faces, while regaling our heroine with stories of why she should fear these swamp marshes, which all leads to our first encounter with monsters. The creature design reminds me a lot of the zombie films of the time, such as CHILDREN SHOULDN"T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS or LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE. They are colorful monsters, with oddly heightened tones, rather than being rotting, undead shamblers. After being imprisoned for a time, we finally meet Lemora, a semi- masculine lady vampire (with a bad acting issue and even worse makeup), who can't quite seem to make up her mind how she feels about the young girl. Is she going to seduce her, love her, destroy her or eat her? It seems to go through all of the gamut. There are times that the bad production values of the movie threaten to destroy it entirely. None of the acting is great, by any stretch. The story meanders a bit here and there. The music has that bad early 70s LAST HOUSE vibe where everything is far too pretty and nice to fit into a horror film and much too indicative of its' time era to be anything but a 70s film. Certain scenes are almost laugh out loud, such as the dancing scene with the children.Still, the movie has just enough Gothic vibe to keep you engaged, playing with the idea of two rival breeds of vampires, the suave, intelligent brood of Lemora and the bestial monsters that live in the woods around the house and remind me a lot of the beasts in Moreau's island. This movie is not, at all, going to be for everyone. I love low budget horror. I love 70s horror. I love artsy horror. I found myself slowly drifting my attention away here and there, though, as the movie definitely requires an acquired taste for finding subtle strengths in low budget horror and appreciating theme when story is lacking.

I vaguely remembered this movie from watching Elvira ( Mistress of the Dark) back in the early 80's. So this movie must have been categorized as a low-budget amateur production for being featured as a relic on Elvira. But it did strike a chord with me since I remember the creepy villain, Lemora, and her prurient obsession with this nubile girl. Perhaps it was the sexual innuendo that drew my attention. But I was only a teenager at the time so I was undergoing the early stages of my sexual awakening and couldn't form my thoughts about this theme.Fast-forward 30 plus years later and I notice this movie on Youtube under some 1970's Horror video of some sort. It was then I had to watch this movie to satisfy that vague memory that left me latently curious. I have to say that the overall idea of the Vampire lesbian was enticing. The atmosphere, as noted numerous times by other reviewers, is remarkable considering the production's meagre budget. But the plot has a couple of problems that don't follow through with the initial setting. The gangster fugitive never gets resolved. It only serves as a premise to lead our nubile character, Lila Lee, into an inexplicable and random world of evil and witchcraft. The zombie characters that roam the forest and attack readily are unclear to me. Are they helpers of the Vampire Lemora or are they just wandering mutants to serve as haunting background? I understand that this is a morality tale that shows how the holy are tempted into sin and that evil can ruin anyone's salvation, but the meandering pace and deliberate tempo seemed to drag. The standout of the film is the presence and performance of Lesley Taplin, Lemora. She has a truly unnerving and frightening presence. Her skeletal features, deep-set eyes and black coif are enough to affect the most unshakable viewers. Watching her overpower and seduce the fragile Lila is curiously sinister and uncanny. Her purpose is to make this young and angelic girl her bitch and transform her into one of her everlasting victims. The set designs, lighting and camera angles are quite effective as well. The sound effects are horrifying and chilling, if not a bit over the top. Cheryl Smith's performance is adequate if not totally bland. But she is too pale and thin to pass off as some sexually enticing dish. Sorry, but this was a miscast. The finale was just a ridiculous mess. It simply didn't work. Watching those vampires, dawned in black cloaks and brim hats, bounding over church goers in slow motion didn't make sense on a logical or even a symbolic level.

A young girl (Cheryl Smith) who returns to her hometown to see her dying father finds herself being drawn into a web of vampirism and witchcraft.All I can say about this film is that it strikes me as the sinister version of "Alice in Wonderland". A young girl enters a world she is unfamiliar with, with people and places that are far outside the norm and outside of logic.The idea of their being the higher, classy vampires and the lower, more monstrous vampires was an interesting idea and one you rarely see. In fact, no other examples immediately come to mind. This does make some level of sense.Of course, the film also has a slight "erotic" side to it (very slight, but still there). And there is a strange use of religion that probably deserves an essay all its own, but is not going to be getting it from me.

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.