‘Blood-lusting fiend who preys on girls! Vampire-queen who feeds on lifeblood of men!’
The Vampire and the Ballerina 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.
The movie stars Hélène Rémy, Tina Gloriani and Walter Brandi.
Plot:
A troupe of beautiful young dancers finds themselves stranded in a sinister, spooky old castle, unaware that it is home to a group of vampires.
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“The transformed Herman’s prosthetics are rubbery and ineffective, but the sausage fingers and thickly swollen facial features do suggest that, in surrendering to vampire lust, he becomes a kind of grotesquely distended phallus. The film has a few drawbacks, including the sexy dance troupe’s spontaneous, yet all too obviously rehearsed routines which have a kitsch value, but little else.” Jonathan Rigby, Euro Gothic book
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Hélène Rémy performs well as the resourceful Luisa, who is a bit more aggressive than the average genre heroine in search of protection from a level-headed male […] there is some curiously absorbing black-and-white photography by Angelo Balstrocchi.” Lawrence McCallum, Italian Horror Films of the 1960s book
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“Overall, The Vampire and the Ballerina is a mixed bag – mostly because no one involved seemed to have a clear idea of what to do with a vampire film […] Polselli and Gastaldi liberally steal from Vampyr, most patently in the “premature burial scene”, which is a shot-by-shot rip-off of Dreyer’s film. However, although the black-and-white photography is suitably atmospheric, Polselli’s technique is crude… ” Roberto Curti, Italian Gothic Films, 1957 – 1969 book
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“It’s done in the style of a fairground show, with some well-judged horror effects and plot developments that are anything but dull.” La Stampa, 24 May 1960
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Trailer:
Super 8mm condensed version:
Cast and characters:
Hélène Rémy … Luisa
Tina Gloriani … Francesca – My Friend, Doctor 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
Original Italian title:
L’amante del vampiro “The Vampire’s Lover”
Filming locations:
Castello di Passerano (exteriors)
Palazzo Borhese, Artena (interiors)
Technical specs:
1 hour 25 minutes
Black and white
Aspect ratio: 1.37: 1 (original ratio) | 1.66: 1
