The Velvet Vampire (1971) ** (out of 4) Lee (Michael Blodgett) and his wife Susan (Sherry E. DeBoer) are invited by Diane LeFanu (Celeste Yarnall) to her castle in the desert where before long she begins to seduce the couple. What Lee and Susan don't know is that Diane is a vampire who lusts for blood.THE VELVET VAMPIRE isn't a very good movie but at the same time there are enough campy moments that make it worth sitting through and at just 80 minutes it's short enough to where it never gets too boring. It seems that director Stephanie Rothman would have preferred a much bigger budget where she could have done more with the material. The film certainly appears to have been influenced by the sexy European thrillers but the lack of any sort of atmosphere killing the movie from being better.As I said, the film wants to be an ultra sexy European film but the budget probably prevented this as there's really not much of an atmosphere and the dream-like quality that Rothman was going for just never rings through. I will say that the film contains a lot of nudity so she obviously knew how to keep producer Roger Corman happy. With the nudity comes some sex scenes but none of them are all that erotic.What keeps THE VELVET VAMPIRE moving is the fact that it's quite silly at times. There were some moments where I really laughed out loud including the various seduction scenes where the husband falls for them and doesn't shy away from the fact that his wife is right there watching him. Even sillier is some of her over-dramatic reactions to his cheating and flirting. The performances really aren't all that good, which gives us a few more laughs as does the silly dialogue.THE VELVET VAMPIRE will never be mistaken for a classic but if you like cheap and campy horror movies it's certainly worth watching.

This film begins with a murder, one that some jurors would consider justified. After that it slows down somewhat. Do vampires live in the American desert? Well, not live exactly, but...The next death is accidental, but only because the victim ran into a sharp implement before he could be dispatched. The next scene worthy of note takes place in the dark, but you can just about see it, that's what you get for taking a trip down an abandoned desert mine with a mysterious woman in red. After that, it gets a bit silly. There is a certain amount of nudity in "The Velvet Vampire", but not enough or of the type that would cause any reasonable person to brand it pornographic. Sadly there is little plot to speak of, although the penultimate scene is creative, featuring a chase through a bus station followed by the recognition of the entire Catholic population of that part of the city that not only are vampires real but that the woman calling out for their help is her next victim rather than an escaped mental patient.

Sleepy-eyed nice guy Lee Ritter and his vapid, but pretty wife, Susan accept the invitation of mysterious vixen Diane LeFanu to visit her in her secluded desert estate. Tensions arise when the couple, unaware at first that Diane is in reality a centuries-old vampire, realize that they are both objects of the pale temptress' seductions.Like vampires, the movie sucks. Plain and simple. It rambles, is poorly directed and has no purpose. The script is non existent and the costuming laffable.One of the few Roger Corman bombs.BTW the vampires come out in the bright desert sun! Ugh

At first, this looks to be another of the "erotic vampire" movies that were so popular in the 1970's, especially in Europe. But this American movie is actually quite different from Hammer's "Carnstein trilogy", the Rollins and Franco vampire films, and other European cult classics like "Vampyres" and "Daughters of Darkness". It doesn't really have the lesbian vampire angle that was often the bane of many of the European films. It's more of a love triangle with a free-spirited hippie couple (Michael Blodgett and Sherry Miles) finding their swinging lifestyle tested by a mysterious and very seductive woman (Celeste Yanell). There is one incredible polymorphously perverse scene where Yanell sucks snake venom out of the Miles's leg, and there are several heterosexual scenes between Blodgett and each of the women (usually while the other is secretly watching), but the plot is never completely overwhelmed with softcore groping,lesbian or otherwise.The movie also has a very unusual (and very American)setting. It takes place in the Mojave desert near an abandoned mine and an old graveyard (where there are hints of cannibalism and necrophilia). It is atrociously acted (with Miles being the worst offender), but surprisingly well photographed, really making the most of its non-traditional horror setting. The vampire herself is also quite non-traditional. She has a reflection, is not overly adverse to sunlight, and may not really even be a vampire but instead someone suffering from insanity or a rare blood disease a la "Martin" or "Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary". This movie may not quite compare some of the European vampire classics of its time, but it's better than some (Franco's "Female Vampire", for instance),and it's miles ahead of recent, derivative crap like "An Erotic Vampire in Paris". I'd rank it among the more interesting American vampire films of the period such as "Count Yorga" and "Lemora, Lady Dracula".