The Horrible Sexy Vampire is a 1970 Spanish horror film (original title: El vampiro de la autopista “The Vampire of the Highway”) written and directed by José Luis Madrid (Seven Murders for Scotland Yard). It stars Waldemar Wohlfahrt [Wal Davis], Barta Barri, Anastasio Campoy, Susan Carvasal, Victor Davis, Kurt Esteban, Luis Induni and Patricia Loran.
A rash of murders leads the local doctor to believe the person responsible is connected with a deceased excentric Baron. The manner in which the killings were performed indicates the murderer to be an inhuman sadist. The closer the doctor comes to the truth behind the murders brings him into greater danger.
‘There’s very little horror in The Horrible Sexy Vampire, and although the girls on display are a welcome sight (after all these are the days when women were shaped like women, rather than either skin-and-bones or plastic-on-bones), these scenes often feel awkward and voyeuristic at best. The invisibility and other special effects are done on the cheap and the whole film feels tired and languid. Acting is horrendous, with Wohlfahrt in particular coming off an uncomfortable.’ Octavio Ramos, Examiner.com
‘As a prime example of the boring and under-achieving co-produced European horror cinema of four decades past, 1970′s The Horrible Sexy Vampire is, well, boring and under-achieving. Funded with pocket change forked forth by Spain’s Cinefilms and Italy’s Fida Cinematografica and filmed in Germany, Vampire is a pulse-free skin flick that tries to excuse itself with a tiresome Gothic horror framework. The only noteworthy aspect of the production is its own inherent awfulness, for which the title gets things at least partly right – it’s certainly horrible.’ Kevin Pyrtle, Wtf-Film
‘The pacing of The Horrible Sexy Vampire is on par with most European trash-horror films from the seventies. Meaning it is languid. It is slow. It is plodding. It doesn’t have enough character, violence, or plot to make it engaging. There are exactly zero twists. It even lacks atmosphere, which is a shame because this movie takes place in Stuttgart, which I imagine is a place that only has atmosphere and nothing else.’ Bleeding Skull
‘The film is awful, a little flesh and a story that drags on and on… but, strangely, it is Wohlfahrt’s performance – as bad as it is – that keeps you watching. He hasn’t the skill or presence to pull off one character, never mind two, but somehow he manages to keep an interest going in between the gratuitous booby shots.’ Taliesen Meets the Vampires
‘ … the film is hamstrung by laborious direction and particularly dim-witted writing, the product of which is several almost static dialogue scenes elaborating on an already illogical plot. The sole redeeming feature is the lighting, which produces a suitably Gothic atmosphere.’ David McGillivray, BFI Monthly Film Bulletin, May 1976
‘The action is restricted to the vampire’s endlessly repeated attacks on anonymous women as they come out of the shower, go to bed, and so on – in fact, as soon as a woman undresses, an attack can be expected. The castle’s atmosphere is largely provided by the repetition of a hollow-laughter track at regular intervals. The rest consists of static, overwritten dialogue scenes.’ The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror, edited by Phil Hardy, Aurum Press, 1993
Thanks to VHS Wasteland and Vampyres Online for some of the images above
