‘Father and son related by blood!!! Everyone’s blood!!’
Grave of the Vampire is a 1972 horror film directed by John Hayes (Dream No Evil; Garden of the Dead; End of the World) from a screenplay co-written with David Chase (Kolchak: The Night Stalker), based on his novel The Still Life. Also known as Seed of Terror
The movie stars William Smith, Michael Pataki, Lyn Peters and Diane Holden.
Jaime Mendoza-Nava (The Town That Dreaded Sundown; The Brotherhood of Satan; The Witchmaker; et al) composed the soundtrack score.
Scream Factory released Grave of the Vampire in the USA on Blu-ray on April 16, 2019. Order via Amazon.com
Plot:
Several years after his death by electrocution in the late 1930s, ghoulish murderer Caleb Croft (Michael Pataki) rises from his crypt and brutally assaults young Leslie Hollander (Kitty Vallacher). Leslie becomes pregnant by Croft and delivers a baby boy, whom she nurses with bottles of blood.
The child matures into the ruggedly handsome James Eastman (William Smith), who sets out on a mission to find and kill his diabolical father. Eastman enrols in a college, where his father is teaching as Professor Lockwood. Following a séance hosted by the professor for his students, James confronts his father in a showdown between good and evil…
Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com
Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Amazon.ca
“Grim and unusual.” Kim Newman, Nightmare Movies
“Instead of a nothing entry in what was by then a pretty moribund subgenre, Grave of the Vampire rises above its generic origins. Rather than playing the vampire for camp amusement … it finds fresh and interesting nuances, nurturing hybrid possibilities that were perhaps only later embraced through the New Wave horror fiction of Clive Barker.” Stephen Thrower, Nightmare USA
book
Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
Trailer:
Cast and characters:
William Smith … James Eastman – Zombiegeddon; Maniac Cop; Moon in Scorpio; Invasion of the Bee Girls
Michael Pataki … Caleb Croft – The Bat People; Mansion of the Doomed; Graduation Day
Lyn Peters … Anne Arthur – Fear No Evil
Diane Holden … Anita Jacoby
Lieux Dressler … Olga – Kingdom of the Spiders
Eric Mason … Lieutenant Panzer – Kiss of the Tarantula; Scream Blacula Scream
Jay Adler … Old Zack
Jay Scott … Paul – Kiss of the Tarantula
William Guhl … Sergeant Duffy
Margaret Fairchild … Miss Fenwick
Carmen Argenziano … Sam – Hellraiser: Inferno; Graduation Day; When a Stranger Calls
Frank Whiteman
Abbi Henderson … Carol Moskowitz
Inga Neilsen
Lindis Guinness
Kitty Vallacher … The Unwilling Mother – Deathmaster
Production:
Filmed in eleven days on a budget of approximately $50,000.
Technical specss:
1 hour 35 minutes
Eastmancolor
Film Facts:
Grave of the Vampire is in the public domain.
