Directed by: Roman Polanski
Stars: Jack MacGowran, Roman Polanski, Alfie Bass
Language: English | Subtitles: English (embed)
Country: Usa | Imdb Info | Ar: 16:9 | BRRip
Also known as: Dance of the Vampires, Vampire Ball, Your Teeth in My Neck
Description: A noted professor and his dim-witted apprentice fall prey to their inquiring vampires, while on the trail of the ominous damsel in distress.
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https://tezfiles.com/file/fac37bd00e252/The.Fearless.Vampire.Killers.1967.mkv
I agree with most comments, except that let’s not forget that back then Christopher Lee and Terence Fisher set the bar by which all other movie vampire counts and vampire films would be judged (but Ferdy Mayne is my close second favourite), just like Hammer Films is the very reason FVK exists. Polanski himself admits he wanted to inject humour and laughter in the traditional and “gravely” serious vampire film lore. “We were laughing at the horror scenes of the Hammer films”, he confesses, yet, as much as I’m a huge fan of his movies, this is my only gripe with his approach to the subject at hand: I remember distinctly being on the edge of my seat watching the Fisher Hammer films as a pre-teen (but those were the sixties)… We didn’t have a hundred options to watch horror films then: you had to wait for them to show either at the movie theatre or on TV. If you watch these films merely through your “adult”, judgmental eyes, you will not be able to fully enjoy the original intent of the film, in this case, a dark fairy-tale. Even if you think that Fearless Vampire Killers is a parody that makes fun of vampire films, you must identify with young Alfred and take a funhouse-type ride in vampire land, all the while looking for the love of your life (a haunted house mixed with a love tunnel, what? My apologies Roman…). And what a sublimely ghoulish adventure it is! FVK works, both on the conscious and subconscious levels, but only IF you let go and enjoy the ride, which is guaranteed to be full of surprises. Alfred is following his mentor, professor Abronsius, who despite his older age is still very agile and peppy, ready to face any Transylvanian peril. And it’s really them against everyone else, both alive and undead. The living are not very helpful, except the villagers at the beginning, which is a stark contrast with the usual uncooperative town folks in other vampire movies. And the undead, well, they just want to suck your blood (and play with you for a while before they do).
Aka Dance of the Vampires, FVK is a true masterpiece on so many levels. It draws you in its own airtight parallel universe, one from which you don’t want to escape, successfully mixing the fearful embrace of un-death (and what can await you on the other side should you choose to accept it) with the voluptuous pleasures of the flesh. You are seduced, by might and by fright, by the cold embrace of the vampire which permeates this chef-d’oeuvre of the fantastic cinema.
Even if slightly stereotyped, the characters are very endearing. Take Sharon Tate for instance, as Sara, she was the quintessential incarnation of innocence as the virgin victim, the good little Jewish girl trapped in small-town Transylvania, dreaming about escaping its confinement like she did at boarding school. And when she finally has a chance to flee the boring life set out by her traditional family, well, she grabs it, by the cloak, the count’s cloak as it were… Speaking of the devil; the main perp, the head of the vampire clan, count Von Krolock: Ferdinand Mayne as a Dracula-esque type is a one-off gothic movie vampire, yet he has a broader opportunity than in a Hammer film to show off his amazing acting talent in the hands of a genius director, namely Roman Polanski (also Alfred in the movie), here at the top of his form. BTW, this is his favourite film… Little bit of trivia: can you answer the following question: did Ferdy Mayne ever play in a Hammer film? And was he the vampire or was he bit by one? That would be full circle, wouldn’t it? Contrary to the Hammer count, Mayne has all the best lines (Lee had played the role only two times before for Hammer, with minimal dialogue, when none at all, but Hammer made “Kiss of the Vampire” 5 years before FVK, in which we were first introduced to an “oc-cult” leader, a certain “Doctor Ravna” – not Lee – and in which vampires also hold a “ball”, so Polanski had to have seen all of these – just saying), and he recites ample dialogue to slowly draw us in his character’s universe as a “ruler of the land”. Take his speech to Alfred and Abronsius atop the castle tower before the dance, as his family of undead feudal lords and noblemen who still dominate the land rise to rule (and dance) from beyond the grave. In FVK, the clash between classes is rich and subtle, as witnessed by Shagal, the innkeeper – for instance, when Koukol kicks Shagal out of the inner sanctum of his masters, or take also the snub vibes Von Krolock sends to Abronsius and Alfred during their first encounter. All fresh and funny takes on the genre. But on the serious side, Polanski hits all the right notes we expect in a vampire film, and exceeds them by a gothic mile: the creepy mood, with the wailing voices across the castle halls, the horror, when the count shows the BIGGEST fangs ever to attack Sara, the huge sets, much bigger than anything Hammer ever built, with the most ominous, built-on-site castle ever seen in horror movies, the extraordinarily atmospheric music by Krzystof Komeda, who works wonders with chords and voices, and so much more. It is definitely the most beautiful (and expensive in 1966 money) vampire film ever filmed: just think of the beauty of the opening moonlit scenery melting into the live landscape right after the opening credits, or the natural flow of the minuet itself at the end, interspersed with the protagonist’s dialogue, a directorial tour de force if there’s ever one! Fiddler on the roof’s Tutte Lemkow’s choreography for the ball sequence is something to behold. I remember sitting in the theatre time after time feeling so sad when the ball scene arrived, because I knew the end of this magical film was near.
There will never be another movie like Dance of the Vampires, just like there will never be another era to produce such a magical film experience… Few films have achieved a successful mix of horror and comedy like FVK has, and you must not make the mistake of pulling each joke out of its inherent context of horror: the horror is very real and the action, very intense (even if the pace is not as fast as you would expect in today’s thrillers – just take the time to enjoy it): Sharon Tate’s abduction into the cold winter night is a foreshadow of her sadistic murder in real life, and had I known this when I first saw it at 12 years old, I would have probably cried through the whole rapture scene! Instead, I was scared shitless! If it’s your first time watching, I envy you and I pity you. I envy you if you’re young at heart, because I wish I could still be scared while re-watching FVK for the 100th time (literally) like I was back then, and because you will get to witness a marvellous film depicting the happy encounter of Polanski and Tate, despite the prophetic tragedy that ensued only a few years after. And I pity you if you think you’ve seen it all and fail to appreciate a multi-layered sixties movie like FVK by watching it through the jaded eyes of a 21st century moviegoer. And if you complain about the East-European accent the actors put on in the original version, try the hard-to-find on blu-ray French soundtrack on for size (leave the English subtitles on if you need to – btw, rarejit, can you please upload the French version? I found it in the regular DVD version), which showcases by far the best voice over actors of all the other languages, even though Polanski picked out all the voices himself for the foreign versions. I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Gerard Brach first wrote LE BAL DES VAMPIRES in French, as the expressions and the pace of the dialogue sound French to me, even in English! Is it just me?). But in French, you will hear the vocal intonations in all the right places, each role very well typecast and masterfully performed by voice over actors who are simply super talented. Legendary voice actor Roger Carel, who does Abronsius, was a masterful actor himself, having been hand-picked by Disney to do Winnie the Pooh and the voice of Kaa the snake in the French versions, counting also C3PO, Kermit the Frog and Asterix among the hundreds of voices he’s done.
Enjoy the drawn carriage ride, and in a coffin no less! You’re in for a real bloody treat!
Ferdy Mayne = best vampire count ever. Also, the best sets, atmosphere, and cinematography of any vampire movie.
Thanks much.
A glimpse into the talent and the potential of the late Sharon Tate, whose realization the evil Charles M. Manson and family cruelly prevented in 1969.
Roman Polanski’s illegal involvement with an under-age girl followed not long afterwards, predating the #MeToo Movement and its corollary and ancillary #TimesUp Movement. He cannot be FULLY blamed THAT far; his mother was Zyklon-B’d in Auschwitz, and his wife and their never-to-be-born son were both slaughtered to feed one monster’s (Manson’s) deluded fraud. (“Helter Skelter” was the reference Manson gave to that fraud.) Mr. Polanski might have equated GROWN women with particularly horrid real-life violence as a direct result.
NONE of that is either to excuse his crime or to do more than provide some possible explanation for it.
THE vampire movie classic. Although a spoof on the whole genre it is probably the best vampire film in history (at least to me). Eerie, gothic and funny, a black-humored master-piece! thx!
Outstanding!