Thirty-One Days O’Horror: Kiss Of The Vampire (1963)

Gaslighting Vampires

1963’s Kiss Of The Vampire takes vampirism to a different level. The film opens with a funeral service that is interrupted by a booze hound who proves to be the most brilliant man in town. That booze hound stabs his own deceased daughter in the heart and ends her reign of terror before it even begins. We are then introduced to a honeymooning couple that have car trouble on their way to their celebration destination. Luckily (or unluckily) for them, there’s a somewhat standoffish but welcoming man named Dr. Ravna who invites the couple to a party at his place while they are waiting on fuel to arrive. They also check into the local inn.

At the party the couple get swept up and separated by scheming vampires. The husband, Gerald Harcourt, begins to drink heavily and is slipped a mickey by the vampires. His new wife, Marianne, is taken to the bed chamber of Dr. Ravna and entranced by him. When Gerald awakens the next day, the family of Dr. Ravna and the innkeeper attempt to convince him that he was traveling alone the whole time. They go so far as to hide all of Marianne’s clothing and erase all other evidence of her existence. The local authorities believe that Gerald is insane and he soon finds himself alone…..until Professor Zimmer, the aforementioned drunkard, tells Gerald that he believes him and agrees to help him save Marianne and take down a growing vampire cult.

This was a fun film to watch. It was the first horror film ever directed by Don Sharp and I believe that he did a great job. Alan Hume’s cinematography was amazing. The bright colors and beautiful sets popped on the screen and the darker scenes were wonderfully designed. Professor Zimmer’s use of sorcery was a bit bonkers and the massive number of bats flying around looked hokey but they all worked well enough in the end. The idea of a vampire cult seems pretty original to me and I liked it very much.

The cast was excellent. Clifford Evans chewed his way through every scene as Zimmer. Edward de Souza and Jennifer Daniel were very believable as honeymooning newlyweds. Noel William was great as the evil Dr. Ravna and all of the vampires did fine jobs, but I want to point out Isobel Black and Barry Warren. Black portrayed Tania, who tricks poor Gerald. Warren played Carl Ravna, the doctor’s spoiled and snobby son. He stole the show in y opinion.

This was a great light horror film. You can watch this one with the entire family. It had a few fun moments early on but it was fairly serious most of the time. It’s not scary at all and there’s surprisingly very little blood when compared with other Hammer films. Give this one a look if you want something to watch on a rainy afternoon.

Thanks for reading my post. We’ve reached the homestretch and Thirty-One Days O’Horror is almost over. Let me know in the comments which films you’ve seen, which ones you like or dislike, and what films you’d like to see me review. I appreciate each and everyone of you for checking out my posts.