The Vampire Happening

1971 film
  • June 4, 1971 (1971-06-04) (West Germany)[1]
Running time
102 minutes[2]CountryWest Germany[2]LanguageGerman[4]

The Vampire Happening (German: Gebissen wird nur nachts, lit. They only bite at night) is a 1971 West German comedy horror film directed by Freddie Francis.[4]

Plot

Cast

  • Pia Degermark as Betty Williams, Baroness Clarimonde Catani
  • Thomas Hunter as Jens Larsen
  • Yvor Murillo as Josef
  • Ingrid van Bergen as Miss Niessen
  • Joachim Kemmer as Martin
  • Oskar Wegrostek as Abt
  • Ferdy Mayne as Count Dracula
  • Lyvia Bauer as Gabrielle
  • Daria Damar as Kirsten
  • Kay Williams
  • Michael Janisch
  • Toni Wagner
  • Raoul Retzer

Production

In the early 1970s, Italian producer Pier A. Caminnecci was looking for a film for his wife Pia Degermark whose previous film Elvira Madigan (1967) was a critical and financial success.[3] Caminnecci set up an international production for her in West Germany directed by British director Freddie Francis and written by German screenwriters August Rieger and Karl-Heinz Hummel[3] The script features a sub-plot based on Theophile Gautier's short story "La Morte Amoureuse."[3]

Francis later stated:

I was aware from the start of the difficulties in shooting a horror parody. I really believed that I was working with normal people in the movie industry, and thought I could have made a decent film. With time, I became aware that the producer was an imbecile who treated the project like a home movie. He wanted to do the casting, make cameos in the film, and wanted his wife as an actress. It was a disaster which I can't say anything serious about.[5]

Reception

The film was not well received.[6] Allmovie gave the film one and a half stars out of five, stating that it is "not considered to be one of the crown jewels of the genre"[4] In his book Comedy-Horror Films:A Chronological History, author Bruce G. Hallenbeck referred to the film as "sort of a ripoff of Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers" and "doesn't come within lightyears of Polanski's vision".[7]

See also

Portals:
  • icon Comedy
  • Film
  • flag Germany
  • icon Speculative fiction/Horror

References

  1. ^ "Gebissen wird nur nachts - das Happening der Vampire". filmportal.de. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e Browning & Picart 2010, p. 91.
  3. ^ a b c d Hallenbeck 2009, p. 92.
  4. ^ a b c Fountain, Clarke. "Vampire Happening". Allmovie. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  5. ^ Zatterin, M., "Carreras, Francis, Guest, Lester", Fantafestival, 1986.
  6. ^ Hallenbeck 2009, p. 93.
  7. ^ Hallenbeck 2009, pp. 92–3.

Works cited

  • Browning, John Edgar; Picart, Caroline Joan (2010). Dracula in Visual Media:Film, Television, Comic Book and Electronic Game Appearances, 1921-2010. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786433650.
  • Hallenbeck, Bruce G. (2009). Comedy-Horror Films:A Chronological History, 1914-2008. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786433322.

External links

  • The Vampire Happening at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  • v
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  • e
Films directed by Freddie Francis