The Fearless Vampire Killers(1967)
Oh man, that Roman Polanski. Boy, oh boy, oh boy.
He's made so many great films in a whole variety of genres, and yet, it's hard to appreciate his films knowing what he did. It's just so hard. You just can't overlook stuff like that. It's a real moral dilemna you have to ask yourself. How can you appreciate his oveure knowing that he also committed such an unpardonable sin such as....
Directing Pirates.
I know. His hardships as a youth and the death of his wife are tragic, but they just can't excuse such an atrocity! His making of that movie was just totally unacceptable!
Regardless of your feelings about Polanski, it's amazing how even when he directs a misfire he still scores a hit in some way. Take for example, his 1967 Hammer horror spoof Dance of the Vampires/The Fearless Vampire Killers/The Fearless Vampire Killers or Pardon Me but Your Teeth are in My Neck. It illustrates this point perfectly.
As a comedy, Fearless is almost a complete failure. Much of the humor consists of cleavage shots, people getting kicked in the ass, bashed on the head, tripping, getting stuck and rambling old men who never shut up. Despite the presence of such able comedians like Jack MacGowran & Alfie Bass, most of their talents are wasted. There are a few funny scenes, some even memorable, but for the most part the jokes fall as flat as the characters do when they trip over coffins, something which happens a lot. One hates to say it, but Carry on Screaming and the Family Matters Halloween special Dark & Stormy Night (where Urkel imagines himself as a 19th century vampire hunter, Carl as his nemesis and Laura as the heroine) were both more effective as parodies of Hammer films.
Yes, that episode actually exists.
And yet, as a horror film, FVP makes up for it's shortcomings in the comedy department by being quite possibly the most effective and haunting vampire film ever made! I'm dead serious. The music is incredibly creepy; a haunting chant that succeeds at raising more shivers than any of James Bernard's bombastic scores for Hammer films. The sets feel more authentically european than any in Hammer and Universal's films, and there is genuine menace provided by the villains, courtesy of Ferdy Mayne's vampire count and Terry Downes's hunchback assistant.
The plot is fairly simple stuff, two vampire hunters named Professor Abronsius(Jack MacGowran) and his assistant Alfred(Polanski himself) arrive in a snowbound Transylvanian village after being run out of Koenigsburg university. After Sara(Sharon Tate), the daughter of a lecherous innkeeper named Shagal(Alfie Bass), is kidnapped, they decide to infiltrate the castle of the sinister Count Von Krolock(Ferdy Mayne), who is initially welcoming. Our heroes end up losing their weapons however, and "hilarity" ensues.
Polanski has shown himself to be a talented actor(see The Tenant) as well as director, but he's just wrong in this, he's just too distant and serious to come off as the goofy nebbish his character was intended to be(Roger Corman regulars Jonathan Haze or Dick Miller would have been better) and the scenes of him lecherously groping women and spying on a naked Sara come off as creepy rather than endearing, which is clearly how the character is intended to come off. As Abronsius; MacGowran clearly isn't suited to 'dialogue humor', which is what comprises much of Abronsius's "rambling, senile old man" schtick, but he's excellent when it comes to physical comedy, ranging from subtle body language(watch him cut up his food) to outrageous slapstick. He would have made an excellent silent comedian. I may also be wrong about him handling dialogue humor, too, supposedly he is well-remembered for his readings of Samuel Beckett(As a big Beckett fan, I can't believe I didn't know this). Sharon Tate has little to do but look pretty in the role of Sara, but that she does well.
The supporting cast is sadly underutilized, as they contribute most of the film's funniest scenes. Alfie Bass's characterization of Shagal the innkeeper-turned-vampire may strike some as disturbingly close to being anti-semitic, but it's hard not to enjoy watching him creep around like a cartoon character and unsuccesfully try and engage in all the evils he wanted to as a human. He gets the film's most well-remembered line when confronted with a cross: "Oh vey, have you got ze wrong vampire!" Iain Quarrier(who would also star in a bizzare comedy with Jack McGowran; 1968's Wonderwall) is also quite amusing as Krolock's gay musician son Herbert, who has the hots for Alfred. The scenes with this character are pretty homophobic in tone, but at that point in the film you're so desperate for humor that you don't care. I was laughing out loud when he reads Alfred passages from a guide to lovemaking. This character deserved much more screentime than he got, and possibly he did, much of the film was extensively cut and Herbert apparently has a bigger role in the musical.
The actor who really makes this memorable, however, is Ferdy Mayne as Count Von Krolock. What could have been a lame parody of Lugosi is instead turned by Mayne into a role which beats out just about every actor to play Dracula in terms of alternating between urbane and charming, dangerous, and in some scenes genuinely creepy and malevolent. It's a performance that could easily have carried a serious horror film, and when times come for the character to overract or engage in humorous antics("IN THE NAME OF HELLFIRE AND BLOOD---CAAAATTTCCCHH THEMMM!!!"), he never once ceases to be threatening. His speech about the inevitable triumph of evil and it's liberating aspects is chilling, and a lot closer to Stoker's characterization of Dracula in the novel than most others. I also just love how he drags out his syllables when speaking. If Mayne had ever gotten a chance to play Dracula, it's likely he would be considered one of the definitve portrayals. As it stands, it's my favorite vampire portrayal of all time.
Certainly not one of Polanski's best, FVP is easily one of his best-looking films. The music, sets and cinematography all give it a hypnotic quality that feels truly otherworldly at times. Perhaps the film wopuld be best evaluated if seen not as a spoof of Hammer, but as a 30's horror film that was never made until years later. Many older horror films utilize excessive comedy relief but are regarded as serious affairs, so FVP should be judged that way, since so much of the forced comedy takes a backseat to the amazingly eerie horror atmosphere anyway.
There's not much here for actual Hammer film fans to enjoy, but much of the film seems to have been influenced by Hammer's Kiss of the Vampire & Brides of Dracula. The relationship between Alfred & Abronsius also seems to recall that of Hans & Baron Frankenstein in Evil of Frankenstein(1964), though why Polanski felt the need to parody that in a vampire film is questionable. FVP has also been quite influential itself; inspiring a musical in germany, a band-named after it, frequent stock-footage use and fan-art. It must also have been a big influence on the makers of Konami's Castlevania games; Dracula as he appears in the first game looks an awful lot like Krolock with his hooked nose, gray skin, white hair and red, robelike cape. Herbert also seems to have influenced the look of Dracula's good-guy son, Alucard from the same series in the game Symphony of the Night, particularly the way he is dressed in the ballroom sequences. I think it's safe to say that FVP is a genuine cult film, if not the masterpiece it's sometimes made out to be.
Herbert?
Best appreciated as a horror film with just a lot of intrusive comedy relief, FVP is neither the scariest or funniest film Polanski has ever made, but it's easy to get lost in the film's slow-pacing and to let the snowy atmosphere, ominous music and faux elegance work it's power over you.~
