Grave of the Vampire (1972)

Kroft, a legendary vampire, returns from sleep. Kroft attacks a couple in a graveyard, raping the woman. The child born feeds only on blood from his mother's breast.

Director:

John Hayes

Writers:

David Chase (screenplay), John Hayes (screen treatment),

Stars:

William Smith, Michael Pataki, Lyn Peters

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
William Smith	...	James Eastman
Michael Pataki	...	Caleb Croft
Lyn Peters	...	Anne Arthur
Diane Holden	...	Anita Jacoby
Lieux Dressler	...	Olga
Eric Mason	...	Lieutenant Panzer
Jay Adler	...	Old Zack
Jay Scott	...	Paul
William Guhl	...	Sergeant Duffy
Margaret Fairchild	...	Miss Fenwick
Carmen Argenziano	...	Sam
Frank Whiteman
Abbi Henderson	...	Carol Moskowitz
Inga Neilsen
Lindis Guinness	...	(as Lindus Guinness)

Storyline

Kroft, a legendary vampire, returns from sleep. Kroft attacks a couple in a graveyard, raping the woman. The child born feeds only on blood from his mother's breast.

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Plot Keywords:

blood | vampire | blood drinking | child born of rape | vampire vs vampire | 

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Taglines:

Father and son--related by BLOOD! ANYONE'S BLOOD!

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 February 1975 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Seed of Terror

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Top-billed William Smith only appears after 35 minutes of screening.

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Quotes

James Eastman: [voiceover] My mother found it difficult to tell me that I wasn't like other children; I could never share a life with whole human beings. I slowly learned that the thing that raped my mother and fathered me was no living feeling man, but a malignant force of cancer that refused to be destroyed. It wasn't only her blood my mother gave to keep me alive, her youth and her own life was sucked up into the syringe that fed me.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the film, "Fin--ou peut etre pas," appears on the screen. It's French for "The End -- Or Maybe Not."

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Connections

Featured in Celluloid Bloodbath: More Prevues from Hell (2012)

User Reviews

Curious 70's gem, but with a strong opening half hour!

I wish I could be ALL praising about this odd, unknown horror gem and, for a good 30 minutes, it did look like "Grave of the Vampire" would become a totally unexpected pleasant surprise. Although terribly cheap looking, the opening sequences are very atmospheric and frightening. The substance, too, seems to be original and a totally new take on the classic theme of vampirism. The films opens at a spooky and very ancient cemetery, where an undead dude crawls out of his tomb and assaults a young couple that are making out in their car. The girl is raped, but she survives, and nine months later she gives birth to a baby that drinks blood instead of breast milk (illustrated by one of the coolest horror-sequences in horror history!). The boy grows up an outcast and wreaks revenge on his vampire-father that still walks around in disguise. This downright sublime and eventful introduction blew me away and it really looked like I had come across a true hidden horror-gem of the 70's. The setting is scary, the idea innovating, murders are gruesome…I couldn't wait to see what happened next. Unfortunately however, this is where the ingeniousness stopped, and the remaining hour turned out another dull and ordinary vampire flick. The half-man / half-vampire being discovers that his "father" is now a history teacher (!) and plots to kill him for good. There are still a couple of bizarre plot twists, but they're overly stupid and far from believable. Also, because the originality has vanished, you begin to focus more on the dreadful aspects, like the lousy acting, the monotonous camera-work and the cheap set pieces. Near the end, it's hard to believe that this movie started out so promising and you regret not having pressed the stop-button while it was still good.