The Kiss of the Vampire (1963)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Don Sharp

Writer:

Anthony Hinds (writer)

Release Date:

11 September 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Giant devil Bats...summoned from the caves of Hell to destroy the lust of the Vampires!

Plot:

When car trouble strands a honeymooning couple in a small Southern European village, an aristocratic family in the area reaches out to help them with sinister consequences.

Plot Keywords:

Cult | Castle | Vampire Cult | Vampire | Masquerade

Cast

Clifford Evans	...	Professor Zimmer
Edward de Souza	...	Gerald Harcourt
Noel Willman	...	Dr. Ravna
Jennifer Daniel	...	Marianne Harcourt
Barry Warren	...	Carl Ravna
Brian Oulton	...	1st disciple
Noel Howlett	...	Father Xavier
Jacquie Wallis	...	Sabena Ravna
Peter Madden	...	Bruno
Isobel Black	...	Tania
Vera Cook	...	Anna
John Harvey	...	Police sergeant
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Carl Esmond	...	Anton (US TV version)
Virginia Gregg	...	Rosa Stangher (US TV version)
Sheila Welles	...	Theresa Stangher (US TV version)

Also Known As:

Kiss of Evil (TV title (longer version))

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated | UK:X

Filming Locations:

Black Park, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Trivia:

Universal Pictures delayed the release of this film by a few months so that a comparison could not be made with the concurrently released Hitchcock film The Birds (1963).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Marianne is seen wearing modern high-heeled shoes.

Quotes:

Professor Zimmer: When the devil attacks a man or woman with this foul disease of the vampire the unfortunate human being can do one of two things. Either he can seek God through the church and pray for absolution or he can persuade himself that his filthy perversion is some kind of new and wonderful experience to be shared by the favoured few. Then he tries to persuade others to join his new cult.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Pale Blood (1990)

Still Another Winner From The House Of Hammer

"The Kiss of the Vampire" is a Hammer Studios film from 1963 that should manage to surprise and impress even the most jaded horror fans. In it, British honeymooning couple Gerald and Marianne Harcourt run out of petrol near "Kronenbourg," Germany in the year 1910 or so (judging from their vintage automobile), and are soon befriended by the area's most prominent citizens: the family of castle-dwelling Dr. Ravna, a debonair host who just happens to head a clan of blood-loving vampires! Interestingly, these vampires differ somewhat from the type we've all come to know and love, in that they have a fondness for ordinary food and wine, and can walk about during daylight hours...as long as it's fairly cloudy outside. Still, they remain averse to garlic and definitely suffer from, uh, crucifixaphobia. But this film offers us much more than just a group of atypical neck noshers. "Kiss" has been beautifully photographed, boasts some truly striking sets (an "ornate coffin," Ravna calls his sumptuous home), and features a literate script and fine acting from its relatively no-name cast. There are also several impressive sequences: Ravna's son, Karl, playing his eerily dreamy piano composition; a flaming-hand cauterization following a vampire's "kiss"; a vampire masquerade ball; and perhaps the best pentagram/conjuration scene ever shown on film...at least, until "The Devil Rides Out" came along in 1968. And, without giving anything away, let me just say that the vampires are undone in this film in a manner I have never seen before. From its deliciously morbid vampire-funeral opening to its (perhaps too) abrupt conclusion, this concise little picture is still another winner from the great House of Hammer.