Night of the Vampires (1964)

A mad scientist and his bevy of vampires terrorize a German village. A detective and a witch set out to stop them.

Director:

Ákos Ráthonyi (as Akos von Ratony)

Writer:

Kurt Roecken (original screenplay) (as C.V. Rock)

Stars:

Adrian Hoven, Erika Remberg, Carl Möhner

Cast

Credited cast:
Adrian Hoven	...	Insp. Frank Dorin
Erika Remberg	...	Maria, the Professor's Assistant
Carl Möhner	...	The Village Doctor
Wolfgang Preiss	...	Prof. von Adelsberg
Karin Field	...	Karin Schumann
Emmerich Schrenk	...	Thomas - the Deaf One
John Kitzmiller	...	John - Black Servant
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Laci Cigoj
Vida Juvan
Stane Sever
Tito Strozzi
Danilo Turk

Storyline

The German police cannot solve the mystery of the seven murders which have alarmed the local villagers. They call in Inspector Doren of Interpol,and the only clue the Chief Constable can give the detective is the fact that, each time a murder was committed, the electric lights in the whole neighborhood went out. The locals believe that the killings of the young girls are linked to the vague shadows in the caves under the local castle and to the mysterious Curse of the Green Eyes. They distrust inspector and offer no assistance when still another murder takes place in the village inn---in the room next to that occupied by the inspector---and the body disappears. There are many suspects: the chattering innkeeper; the servant John ; the deaf-and-dumb Tom; and the inscrutable doctor, Profesor Adelsberg who has been issuing strange death certificates. Doren moves to the castle where Professor Adelsberg is carrying out some scientific studies. There, he meets the Professor's pretty ...

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Plot Keywords:

village | castle | victim | scientific | police | 

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Taglines:

Beyond the black mouth of the cursed cave lurked the unfleshed...

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

West Germany Yugoslavia

Language:

German

Release Date:

1966 (USA)

Also Known As:

Night of the Vampires

Company Credits

Production Co:

Objectiv Film,Triglav Film

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the US, this movie was distributed by Richard Gordon and released under the title "Cave of the Living Dead" as a double-bill with Tomb of Torture (1963).

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Connections

Referenced in The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002)

User Reviews

Warning: Vampire attacks may cause power failures!

In practically every vampire movie that I've seen, and they're quite numerous, the plot attempts to add a strange characteristic or gimmick to the myth of vampires. Usually these are very common things that are closely connected with the traditional characteristics (garlic, crucifixes, sunlight, …) but some movies truly exaggerate and come up with the downright craziest things. In this West German/Yugoslavian goth-horror production "Cave of the Living Dead", for example, the vampire attacks are accompanied by the loss of electric power! That's actually how the police knows there has been another murder. How do you explain that? I really don't see the connection between sucking the blood of a virgin and causing the lights to blackout.

Apart from this curious little anecdote, "Cave of the Living Dead" is actually a rather decent and entertaining early 60's Gothic horror movie that can easily compete with the better Italian and Spanish efforts from that era. The story and execution are very straightforward, but there are more than a handful of memorably suspenseful highlights, a good cast of characters and a beautiful homage to the greatest German silent horror movie ever made; Nosferatu. The film stars Adrian Hoven, who might be better known amongst horror fanatics as the director/producer of films "Castle of the Creeping Flesh" and the notorious "Mark of the Devil" movies. Hoven is terrific as the slick Interpol inspector (and bona fide cool guy) Frank Dorin, assigned to solve a series of strange and horrifying murders in a remote German village. During the past six months, seven beautiful young girls aged between eighteen and twenty-two years old have been found dead, and the only explanation the local doctor can come up with is heart failure. The petrified and superstitious villagers believe in vampires, and they're right of course. You don't need to be a very intelligent inspector to figure out the first murders coincided with the arrival of the mysterious Professor Von Adelsberg. The professor is allegedly occupied with his experiments all day long and his castle is build on a giant cave full of bats and coffins. Hmm, I wonder who's the vampire in this town… "Cave of the Living Dead" is quite fun to watch, especially to spot all the clichés and stereotypes, like village witch and the hysterical black guy. The atmosphere is often unsettling and most of the filming locations, like the titular cave and the well, are outstanding. The film is fairly explicit for its time and there's even some enticing nudity I totally didn't expect to see.