| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director:José
Ramón Larraz
Starring: Marianne Morris,
Anulka, Murray Brown, Brian Deacon
Screenplay: Diane Daubeney
Music: James Clark
Tagline: "They
share the pleasures of the flesh…And unleash
the horrors of the grave"
Country:Spain/ UK
AKA: Daughters of Dracula;
Vampyres: Daughters of Darkness |
A curious mix of hot blooded Mediterranean
sex and good old English stiff upper lip; this
immoral tale of two beautiful bisexual vampires
draws in its audience with its hypnotic style
and erotic tension. Vampyres stars Marianne Morris and Playboy Playmate Anulka
as the sultry blood suckers Fran and Miriam. They
live in a gloomy English mansion deep in the heart
of the fog filled countryside. Picking up lonely
men on the streets, they lure them to their abode
with salacious promises of the carnal delights
ahead. Unluckily for the men the torrid sex soon
unleashes the girl's carnivorous passions
and they are soon dead or dying as their blood
supply is sucked away.
A young couple are camping nearby, their caravan
in view of the girls stately home. Their suspicions
are aroused as various male guests enter but never
leave. Eventually one of the victims escapes,
barely conscious and staggers to the caravan,
the couple try and help but are savagely murdered
for their act of kindness. The girls vicious shenanigans
cannot, however, continue. Knowing that they will
soon be discovered they flee into the wilderness.
Vampires, ghosts or psychopaths, all are hinted
at but none are confirmed.
The graceful images as the girls run through
the house's dark corridors or brush through
the wooded grounds are beautifully shot. In sharp
contrast the sex scenes are down and dirty, the
urgent grappling before the men fight for life
are some of the most graphic sex scenes in the
genre. Way beyond the Hammer horror films of the
era, The Vampire Lovers and Lust
for a Vampire are tame in comparison
even though they were being hailed as the ultimate
in erotic horror just a few years before. Its
amazing how tastes and sensibilities can change
in such a short time. Saying that Vampyres has a long history of censorship throughout the
world and has only recently been seen uncut, US
company Anchor Bay proclaimed their initial DVD
release was uncut but it was shorn of just under
a minute of footage. This was followed last year
by Blue Underground's region 1 disc that,
at last, was the real deal. Magna Pacific's
disc, full of naked flesh and gushing blood is
also a fully uncut print.
Director Larraz was also involved in another
video nasty, the sleazy Udo Kier and Linda Hayden
starring sexploitation epic Exposé,
also known as House on Straw Hill.
Both films have a certain charm, maybe it's
the English countryside locations that set them
apart from other films of the era. The performances
are generally very good, Morris and Anulka flaunt
their voluptuous charms in brave and uninhibited
performances. The male cast is also unafraid to
disrobe but that's maybe not a good thing
in those days of hairy Seventies beefcake! In
these days of big budget Van Helsings it's
great to see a film that isn't afraid to
show the squalid side of vampirism. |
