adriangr 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.

BaronBl00d There is not a whole lot more that I can add to many of the very thought-provoking entries already listed. I will; however; reiterate. This film, for all purposes, is a Mario Bava film, and if you have seen any of that director's masterful direction then that will be self-evident. The Gothic feel. The fluttering drapes. The serialization killing. Pretty girls being killed/abducted. A castle. A duchess tired of the weary effects of aging enlists the help of some of her friends both willingly and some not so free with their time to help her with her distressing problems. The film opens with deaths being done by, what the newspapers call, a vampire. Bava then has a newsman follow the leads and what we get is one eerie, creative, beautiful film with all the aforementioned trademarks of what will be the very foundation of the Italian horror film of the next two decades. Ricardo Freda was the original director and his influence is evident as well, but Bava finished the film. The acting is all very solid, but the atmosphere is on center stage. the scene with the castle hallways, the dungeons, the laboratory, and the death scenes are all wonderfully shot. This is a must for the student of the horror genre and anyone interested in either Freda's work and more importantly that of Mario Bava.

Jonny_Numb No, no, NO! Just when the ice was starting to thaw on my indifference toward Mario Bava, I pop in "I Vampiri" (on which he retains an unofficial co-director credit) only to be reminded why I thought his films were boring and pretentious in the first place. I don't care how influential a work is--if it bores me, it bores me, and will take a hit as a result. The credited culprit behind the camera of "I Vampiri" is Riccardo Freda (though, for all practical purposes, the film's mood and appearance is pure Bava), and even though he finds a (then-) fresh spin on the classic vampire lore (that would be extended in George Romero's "Martin"), it can't help this film from going terminal in the ever-important Interest Department. So an old woman lives in a moodily-lit and -furnished mansion. So a younger woman occasionally shows up. So a scientist's death is faked so he can carry out vaguely-defined experiments on a local smack addict. So what? "I Vampiri" (translation: "The Vampires") aims for atmospheric shocks and mood, but underneath the decent plot and excellent photography lies a film that has very little to offer, save for a bunch of forgettable characters and a lot of talk. And perhaps I'm being a jerk, but is influence alone reason enough to hail a film? Bava fared much better with the colorized Gothic stylings of "Kill Baby Kill" and "The Whip and the Body," plus the contemporary haunted-house/possession flick, "Shock" (one of the finest in the genre)--seek those out instead. "I Vampiri," well, kinda sucks.

drspecter This movie is absolutely stunning! It combines Freda's knack for perverse plotting with Bava's excellent, atmospheric cinematography to produce a story about the parasitic sickness of love more than anything else. I've read a few whiny 'goth' teenagers complaining about the film's lack of 'real vampiric moments.' What idiots! An aging scientist keeps the Duchess Du Grand young, although she can't stand his touch. To acquire young women needed for his serum, he keeps a junkie locked up and strung out. Meanwhile, the Duchess is in love with Pierre, a young reporter investigating a series of mysterious murders in which young women are being drained of their blood. Ah, love... The mood of the film perfectly balances neorealism with fantasy to create an expressionist fairy tale. The antagonistic relationship between the reporter and the police investigator and the above-mentioned junkie make this an influence on the giallo as well as the revival of gothic horror in Italy. Ignore DVD (Idiot) Savant and the Ann Rice geeks. The rediscovery of this movie ranks up there with Whale's Old Dark House. It is an absolute classic, and the print is excellent!