Uncle Was a Vampire

For those who care, this Italian film is dubbed into English and it's not a bad dubbing at all, though you might be surprised to hear a totally different voice coming out of Christopher Lee!

In "My Uncle Was a Vampire", Christopher Lee parodies his vampire roles with moderate success. The idea is clever, but the film, at times, is overlong and has trouble maintaining momentum.

When the film begins, the vampire, Rodrigo (Lee), is leaving his home and going to live with his Italian nephew, Baron Oswaldo (Renato Rascel). Little does he know that Oswaldo has fallen on hard times and the government is forcing him to sell his castle to pay back taxes. And, by the time Rodrigo arrives, Oswaldo is just a lowly bellboy in the new castle hotel. What follows is a strange little comedy--with Lee playing it straight and diminutive Rascel handling the humor. At one point, Oswaldo becomes sort of a part- time vampire---and a lot of other strange canon busting things occur in this one.

While I like the idea of the film (sort of like a precursor to "Love at First Bite"), the film is overly long and Rascel alone isn't funny enough to keep the film moving along at a good pace. Still, it's pleasant and diverting...and the ending is pretty cute.