‘Blood-lusting fiend who preys on girls! Vampire-queen who feeds on lifeblood of men!’
The Vampire and the Ballerina – original title: L’amante del vampiro “The Vampire’s Lover” – is a 1960 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Renato Polselli (Mania; Black Magic Rites; Delirium) from a screenplay co-written with Ernesto Gastaldi and Giuseppe Pellegrini. Hélène Rémy, Tina Gloriani and Walter Brandi star.
A troupe of beautiful young dancers find themselves stranded in a sinister, spooky old castle, not knowing that it is home to a group of vampires…
Reviews:
“Coupled with the smooth direction from Polselli is some really fantastic cinematography that uses lighting and shadow effectively to make this film really come alive, as well as some great locales including the waterfall and the spooky castle. Being an Italian horror film you can also expect a fair amount of eroticism and it is peppered throughout the movie like a trail of candy for you to follow.” The Telltale Mind
“Don’t confuse this one with The Playgirls and the Vampire. That one is an Italian horror film from the early sixties about a troop of ballerinas being terrorized by a vampire in the form of Walter Brandi. This one, on the other hand, is – uh – an Italian horror film from the early sixties about a troop of ballerinas being terrorized by a vampire in the form of Walter Brandi.
“The Italian language being spoken over subtitles helps it keep that kind of shit arty, adding a neorealist edge to go along with a jazzy score. Theremin-goosed passages of the vamp moments contrast with the diverting muzak-style filler when the composer (or library cue DJ) can’t discern the emotional tenor of a particular scene. Ciao bene!” Erich Kuersten, Acidemic
“The movie does have plenty of classical style orchestral music endeavoring to make it scary, but in this scene Polselli opts for a more experimentally stylish approach. When they get to the castle it becomes quiet and seemingly more conventional, but the previous jazzy trip through the woods is just fantastic.” Giovanni Susina, At the Mansion of Madness
“It almost seems here as if antiquity has something of value to impart to a modernity preoccupied with spinning folk wisdom into sleazy entertainment (symbolized by jazz dancing) and the rote formation of interpersonal relationships out of allegiance to conformity and the status quo rather than desire or need.” Arbogast on Film
Main cast:
- Hélène Rémy … Luisa
- Tina Gloriani … Francesca – My Friend, Dr. Jekyll
- Walter Brandi … Herman – The Devil’s Wedding Night; Bloody Pit of Horror; Slaughter of the Vampires; The Playgirls and the Vampire
- Isarco Ravaioli …Luca – Mania; The Hanging Woman; La verità secondo Satana; Deadly Inheritance
- Gino Turini [as John Turner] … Giorgio
- Pier Ugo Gragnani … as Professor
IMDb | Image thanks/credits: The Telltale Mind
