Dance of the Vampires (1967)

Director:

Roman Polanski

Writers:

Gérard Brach (story) &
Roman Polanski (story)

Release Date:

June 1967 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror

Tagline:

Who says Vampires are no laughing matter?

Plot:

A noted professor and his dim-witted apprentice fall prey to their inquiring vampires, while on the trail of the ominous damsel in distress.

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Professor | Castle | Gay | Inn

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Jack MacGowran	...	Professor Abronsius
Roman Polanski	...	Alfred, Abronsius' Assistant
Alfie Bass	...	Shagal, the Inn-Keeper
Jessie Robins	...	Rebecca Shagal
Sharon Tate	...	Sarah Shagal
Ferdy Mayne	...	Count von Krolock
Iain Quarrier	...	Herbert von Krolock
Terry Downes	...	Koukol, the Servant
Fiona Lewis	...	Magda, the Maid
Ronald Lacey	...	Village Idiot
Sydney Bromley	...	Sleigh Driver
Andreas Malandrinos	...	Woodcutter
Otto Diamant	...	Woodcutter
Matthew Walters	...	Woodcutter

Also Known As:

The Fearless Vampire Killers (USA)
The Fearless Vampire Killers or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck (USA) (subtitle)
The Vampire Killers (USA) (working title)
Vampire Ball (Europe) (working title)

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Netherlands:12 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Brazil:Livre | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | West Germany:16 (nf) (original rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Norway:16 (1968) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:12 (w) (f) (re-rating) | UK:A (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Cortina d'Ampezzo, Belluno, Veneto, Italy

Company:

Cadre Films

Trivia:

The portrait on the wall in Alfred's bedroom in Count von Krolok's castle is of Richard III, king of England from 1483 to 1485.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the Professor first enters Count von Krolock's library, he puts his spectacles on at the tip of his nose, so that he can read some of the books' titles. He nevertheless looks right above his glasses, thus making no use of them.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Narrator: That night, fleeing from Transylvania, Professor Abronsius never guessed he was carrying away with him the very evil he had wished to destroy. Thanks to him, this evil would at last be able to spread across the world.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008)

Dance with Vampires!

The title "fearless vampire killers" it's not so good as "Dance of the Vampires",outside U.S. this is the original title

I always will remember this film as "Dance of the Vampires" ALSO,CONGRATULATIONS to Mr Polanski for the Palme D' Or, he deserves it(without him just cinema "boring")

I enjoyed poetic scenes such as like moment in Sarah's bath comparing the textures of first soap bubbles, then falling snowflakes, and finally crimson blood. when Alfred(Polanski) carries his master across the castle battlements remind me of Polanski early short films. Krystov Komeda's music has been acclaimed as "the most innovative and haunting score ever devised for a horror movie" by the heavyweight Aurum Film Encyclopedia. Krystof Komeda's wondrous music, with its weird choral effects and little melodies Komeda's score communicates the Kafka-like isolation of the setting and the characters

Polanski chose some of the finest English cinema craft artists to work on the film: cameraman Douglas Slocombe, production designer Wilfrid Shingleton Polanski engaged noted choreographer Tutte Lemkow, who played the actual Fiddler in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, for the film's climactic Danse Macabre minuet.

Sharon Tate as Sarah was delightful(we should remember her in a good way,as a decent actress and person,her scene with Polanski is really cool ,especially "the bite scene") Jack MacGowran as Professor Abronsius is just great Polanski's films often deal in contrasts of master and servant, the empowered and the powerless. The supposedly benign Abronsius bullies Alfred for his own purposes, just as the vampires consider all of humankind a resource to be harvested.

The character called Shagal got the best lines in the movie,when A woman thrusts a crucifix in his face, only for Shagal - a Jewish rather than a Christian vampire - to go "Oy-yoy! You got the wrong vampire" and bite her anyway Count Von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne, who plays the Count)he looks really as a Nosferatu or a man that needs Transfusion!.

Also funny is Herbert, the openly gay vampire who is interested in Alfred rather than Sara, the sexual deviations implicit in early Hammer films like The Brides of Dracula (1960) and Kiss of the Vampire (1964) are brought out. Hammer would increasingly exploit this in their lesbian