Kiss of the Vampire (1963)
Written By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Don Sharp
Producer: Anthony Hinds
Screenwriter: John Elder
Date Released: September 11, 1963
Cast:
Clifford Evans as Professor Zimmer
Noel Willman as Dr. Ravna
Edward de Souza as Gerald Harcourt
Jennifer Daniel as Marianne Harcourt
Barry Warren as Carl Ravna
Brian Oulton as 1st disciple
Noel Howlett as Father Xavier
Rating = 2.5/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
When Gerald and Marianne are traveling, their vehicle suddenly breaks down. Forced to find another source of transportation, Gerald travels to get help while Marianne stays in the vehicle. Upon arriving with help, Gerald and Marianne are taken to what appears to be a desolate inn. While staying at the inn, they are invited for dinner by Dr. Ravna who lives in a castle nearby. When Gerald and Marianne accept the invitation, they meet Dr. Ravna’s family. Gerald and Marianne are then invited to a masquerade party while they are waiting for their vehicle to be repaired. But, when Dr. Ravna reveals his true form of being a vampire, Marianne gets captured and transformed into one of their own. Gerald with the help of another local, Professor Zimmer, must stop the vampires before it is too late.
Gore Factor
There is not much in terms of gore and blood. There is one notable scene where Professor Zimmer shoves a shovel through his daughter’s chest whereupon blood pours out from her chest. The film also picks up at the end of the film when vampire bats start attacking and sucking the blood from the vampires themselves. However, as a whole, the film does not have many gore scenes.
The Grave Review
Kiss of the Vampire (1963) starts with a subtle beginning building the story up to when Gerald and Marianne are introduced to Dr. Ravna and his family. For most of the film, not much was happening in terms of scare-factors or thrills of any kind. The story started to pick up at the end of the film when Gerald and Professor Zimmer try to retrieve Gerald’s wife, Marianne. In this way, the pace of the film seemed a little awkward.
Another criticism of the film was that there was very little character development. There is little to no backstory on Dr. Ravna and the family, or any other characters. As a viewer, you never related to the characters in any way. In addition, the story itself, was vague and created more questions about why or how something was happening rather than answering and tying the story together.
Nevertheless, Kiss of the Vampire (1963) is not a bad movie and still has some entertaining qualities but certainly is one of Hammer Productions best films.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Kiss of the Vampire (1963) two and one-half graves out of five graves.
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