What a find this was, I had read and seen articles on "I Vampiri" before, but never seen it...now that I have, I am very impressed. The film is fairly simple, and is modestly told, but with style, atmosphere and simple, good cinematography, it succeeds.Plot is as follows...it is 1950s, black and white France. Local girls are disappearing then turning up dead with all their blood drained away. Police and the local press investigate, but it takes a some luck and freak connections to uncover what is going on. Unsurprisingly a family of aristocrats who inhabit a large ornate castle seem to be most heavily implicated...surely the frail and elderly "duchess" who is never seen without her veil couldn't be a prime suspect...could she? Although the action is not intense or gory, I still found the film very enjoyable. For a film with "vampire" in the title, there is a total lack of blood, biting or fangs to be seen. Instead it's more like a murder mystery film. The main characters are a reporter and his semi-girlfriend, a stunning lady who happens to be a younger member of the rich family, and a policeman who is doing his best to catch the killer. The Cinemascope format really enhances the appealing black and white photography - watching this in full screen would surely ruin it. The sets and decor are also fantastic, especially scenes set in the castle and several decaying apartments and chambers. The acting of the male leads is not that impressive, but the girl victims and in particular the gorgeous Gianna Maria Canale (as the young aristocrat) perform very well.There's a really good twist about halfway through the story, which I won't reveal, but it is the standout moment of the film - a character suddenly ages rapidly on camera without cuts or dissolves. This incredible effect is repeated twice more and on each of the three occasions I reversed and watched the scene again just to marvel at how good it looked. According to excellent UK magazine "is It UNCUT", the process was "a secret for many years" and I am not even going to explain it, as it is better if you don't guess how they did it. Most viewers today probably will work it out, but I can imagine it perplexed many moviegoers who caught saw it in 1959.Do yourself a favour and track this movie down. Apparently it was not a big success on it's release, so we should be thankful for the new Image Entertainment DVD release which presents a beautiful widescreen version of the film. Definitely recommended.

The way this movie is played out makes it more or a mystery than an horror really. It was also an early Italian horror production, so they were still mostly trying out some new stuff in this one. It was also the first one to involve the later to become legendary Italian horror director Mario Bava, who had some major influences on the future development of the genre.The movie its title might be a bit misleading. It's not really your average vampire flick, featuring blood sucking villains. It features a vampire like creature but she hardly gets her hand dirty in this movie. the movie picks more a detective like approach, in which the police is investigating the strange disappearances and murders of young women. Nothing wrong with this approach of course but you sort of have to know what to expect, in order not to end up disappointed.Can't always say that the story played out too well. They could had definitely done something better and more interesting with its premise at times. But like mentioned earlier, this was still being an early Italian horror production, from the time they were still searching for the right tone and balance. The movie is still lacking in its atmosphere, which is also one of the reasons why this movie doesn't really feel like an horror. It's definitely not an horrible movie, it's still being quite good to watch for most parts. It's a movie that knows to hold your interest and also still works out quite original, due to its unusual approach, for a movie of this sort.Definitely a good movie but be sure what to expect from it.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

This is a good film directed by Riccardo Freda who sometimes signed his names as Robert Hampton. Although in the headlines the make up is by Francesco Freda, it is clear there is a collaboration of M. Bava especially as regard the transformation of Gisele Du Grand, that is simply fantastic. She begins old within three seconds all in the same frame. It was an excellent example of visual effects. Unfortunately the film was a disaster from the economic point of view due to secondary unknown actors, except G. M. Canale in the role of Gisele Du Grand. Somebody said she was Freda's girlfriend in the sixties. Although the story is set in Paris many scenes have been shot in the studios. Freda was a good director but as many Italians he had few resources available. It is important to remember him for "I giganti della Tessaglia" too, that inspired Don Chaffey's "Jason and the Argonauts", but unfortunately he sank low with horror B films in the sixties. As it often happens the film was dubbed in post production with the following voices: Police inspector: E. Cigoli, Pierre the journalist: G. Locchi, Laurette's father: G. De Angelis

From Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava comes this ancestor of the giallo genre. It has a lot of the same moves as it's long lost offspring. Mystifying images and sexuality plays a big part. The story is rather simple. Girls are being found dead without a drop of blood left and a journalist must struggle with a nearly incompetent police force to solve the mystery.With genius cinematic touches the frames look nearly spot on perfect and the cinematography is magical. I must say that this has to be the only scientific vampire movie around. It's not you're usual mythical stuff but rather scientific experiments performed by a mysterious scientist and his flunkies under the lead of a old and evil duchess.Unlike the films it makes the way for this is much more of a mystery story and there are no gore. A few death scenes are needed of course. I was at the end of my seat through the entire movie and I just had to recommend it. It's definitely a film giallo and mystery/thriller/horror fans should check out.