Fri 11 Sep 2020
A Horror Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: THE KISS OF THE VAMPIRE (1963).
Posted by Steve under Horror movies , Reviews[7] Comments
THE KISS OF THE VAMPIRE. Hammer Films, UK, 1963. Universal International, US, 1963. Clifford Evans, Edward de Souza, Noel Willman, Jennifer Daniel, Barry Warren. Writer: Anthony Hinds (as John Elder). Director: Don Sharp.
Neither a Dracula film nor part of the Karnstein Trilogy (The Vampire Lovers, Lust for a Vampire, Twins of Evil), The Kiss of the Vampire is a lesser- known, but thoroughly enjoyable, stand-alone vampire movie from Hammer Films. Combining the standard tropes of vampire films with atmospheric dread, the movie neither aims for cheap thrills, nor does it condescend to its audience. Much of the on-screen horror in the film is psychological rather than physical. The battles fought here are as much internal as they are external.
The plot follows Gerald (Edward de Souza) and Marianne Harcourt (Jennifer Daniel), a newly married couple traveling on their honeymoon. When their car breaks down somewhere in Bavaria, they are forced to stay at a local inn run by an elderly, seemingly childless couple. Within hours, they receive an invitation for dinner from one of the village’s most prominent citizens, one Dr. Ravna (Noel Willman).
Ravna, along with his two adult children, seem to take a strong liking to the Harcourts and invite them back for a masked ball. But little does this mild-mannered English couple know that Ravna is a vampire and the leader of a demonic cult. Once Marianne gets swept up into their satanic grasp, it’s up to Gerald and the alcohol-ravaged Professor Zimmer (Clifford Evans) to harness supernatural forces to (literally) beat the devil.
While the film doesn’t tread too far off the beaten path in terms of storytelling, what it does, it does well. Indeed, it’s a film that I’ve already watched more than once, and I confess I enjoyed it even more the second time around. The masquerade sequence is exceptional. One wonders how much Roman Polanski was influenced by it, given how a masked ball plays a similarly important role in the third act of his The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967). Final thought: the final frame is hauntingly memorable and involves a swarm of vampire bats. Chillingly effective stuff.
September 11th, 2020 at 5:57 pm
Apparently the great ending that I am referring to only exists in the Universal International Pictures (US) release. The Hammer Films release in the UK cut that scene for being too violent and graphic
September 11th, 2020 at 7:32 pm
According to Wikipedia, when Universal got the movie ready to show on TV, all kinds of things got trimmed:
“Retitled Kiss of Evil for American TV, Universal trimmed so much of the original film for its initial television screening that more footage had to be shot to fill the missing time. Additional characters that didn’t appear at all in the original release were added, creating a whole new subplot. Every scene that showed blood was edited out, e.g. the pre-credits scene in which blood gushes from the coffin of Zimmer’s daughter after he plunges a shovel into it. Also, in the televised version it is never revealed what Marianne sees behind the curtain (Ravna lying on his bed with blood trickling from the corners of his mouth), a sight which makes her scream. A couple of the cuts result in scenes that no longer make sense: while the theatrical release had Harcourt smearing the blood on his chest into a cross-shaped pattern (keeping the vampires away as he escapes), the televised version omits the blood-smearing, leaving the vampires’ inaction unexplained.
“The additional footage shot for the televised version revolves around a family, the Stanghers, who argue about the influence of the vampiric Ravna clan but never interact with anybody else in the movie. The teenage daughter, Theresa, throws over her boyfriend in favor of Carl Ravna (unseen in these scenes) who has given her a music box which plays the same hypnotic tune that he plays on the piano elsewhere in the movie.”
September 11th, 2020 at 8:51 pm
KISS OF THE VAMPIRE was one of three Hammer movies horribly mauled by Universal in their network TV debuts. The others were THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN and Hammer’s remake of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. As Jonathan says of KISS OF THE VAMPIRE, some scenes deemed excessively violent and horrible were bowdlerized with cuts, and cheap new footage to fill the TV running time were inserted. The three Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns with Clint Eastwood suffered the same indignities in their network TV premieres. Some scenes in FOR A FEW DOLLARS were so gleefully butchered that what was left was incomprehensible. A new “opening” was added to A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (directed by Monte Hellman) to make it appear that Eastwood’s character was operating under sanction of the law, not for personal profit, in turning the border town of San Miguel into a bloodbath.
September 11th, 2020 at 9:04 pm
The film, despite the lack of Lee or Cushing, is one of my favorite Hammer films, remarkably self contained for a studio whos films were so often sequels.
September 11th, 2020 at 11:40 pm
I saw this film at a drive in like I did with so many Hammer horror films. My wife often came along and usually fell asleep during the second feature, leaving me to drink beer and eat Arby’s and french fries alone with the horror movies.
I look back on those days with deep nostalgia. Now I watch the films on dvd while eating dinner. It’s just not the same as the drive in experience!
September 12th, 2020 at 9:51 am
Trimmed and revised or not, this sounds like the perfect drive-in movie. And here’s a full column about drive-ins that Walker sent me to post on this blog over eight years ago:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=17790
September 12th, 2020 at 7:11 pm
I’ve only seen a little by director Don Sharp.
Mildly liked his version of “The 39 Steps”.
Mildly disliked “Bear Island”.
Never heard of this Vampire film.
Thank you for an informative review!