(Some spoilers)

Although the packaging of Dark Sky's new DVD indicates an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, their transfer actually looks to be framed at 1.66:1, as far as I can tell. The 1.66 AR seems fine, however, as the compositions look good and the film doesn't appear to have been lensed using any sort of widescreen process. Are my calculations correct here, regarding this being a 1.66 transfer?

SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES was made in 1962, but, according to various references, it was not released in the US until Pacemaker issued it as CURSE OF THE BLOOD GHOULS in 1969. (Amusingly, a lobby card I have for this release sports a "G" rating.) Oddly enough, according to the book "Italian Horror Films of the 1960s," it frequently aired on broadcast TV in the US a few years PRIOR to Pacemaker's release. As far as we know then, its only US theatrical release was in 1969, correct? (My main point of curiosity here is whether it was released in the US in say '62 or '63, after it was completed.)

Only two sources that I own (Maltin's guide, and the previously-mentioned "Italian Horror Films" book) list the film's original Italian running time, which is 84m. (Phil Hardy's horror encyclopedia does not have an entry for this film.) Pacemaker removed 12m for its '69 release, and that running time, 72m, is listed on the IMDb and also in Walt Lee's "Reference Guide to Fantastic Films". Retromedia's DVD--which runs shorter than Dark Sky's disc--appears to be Pacemaker's 72m cut, reflecting its theatrical release. Dark Sky's disc runs 78m18s and also sports the title, "Slaughter of the Vampires"--and the obvious conclusion would be that this 78m version is what ran on broadcast TV in the US. Is that right? (Tim? Anybody?) The old Monterey pre-record also contains this longer 78m cut.

I noticed a couple cuts in the longer, 78m version: when Dieter Eppler first enters Graziella Granata's bedroom, there's a cut-away as he nuzzles his mouth against her neck and slides down to her bosom. Also, when house servant Alfredo Rizzo's wife is bathing, there is a cut before she stands up in the bathtub and covers herself with a towel. It makes me wonder if there was any nudity in the original 84m Italian version.

SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES is the third film in what we affectionately refer to as "Walter Brandi's Vampire Trilogy," and it's the only one with a period setting. (The other two, PLAYGIRLS AND THE VAMPIRE and VAMPIRE AND THE BALLERINA, were both made in 1960.) It all started here, with these three films, paisans: a unique blend of Euro-horror, vampires, dusty castles, gothic atmosphere, and--si, lascilo liberamente!--leering sexuality. Sure, BLACK SUNDAY has undercurrents of eroticism, but it seems fair to say that Brandi's trilogy historically marks the first cinematic collision of Italian horror and sexploitation. (Not full-on sexploitation but, at least, a 1960s, cheesecake-styled lustfulness.)

SLAUGHTER's pre-credits sequence, of the male and female vampire running from the angry, torch-bearing villagers, seems out of step with the rest of the film's narrative. If the male vampire was Dieter Eppler, then it would make sense: his female companion destroyed, he then goes to search for a new lady, with the amazing Graziella Granata being his victim of choice (more on her later--much more). However, though his face is usually obscured, the vampire in the opening is clearly NOT Eppler, so the connection between this sequence and the rest of the film is not clear. What is the relationship, if any, between Eppler and the other vampires? Again, it's not clear. It's still a fast-paced start (in fact, it would've been nice if they'd brought the villagers back for the film's climax), and the female vampire, while hiding from the villagers, has one of my favorite goofy lines: "C'mon, let's make a break for it!" (This is the way they talked in older times? It sounds more like a line from a crime or JD film.) I wonder, though: what's the name of the actor who plays the vampire in the opening?

Watching Dark Sky's new disc, the sequence that really caught my eye--a sequence that totally escaped me on prior VHS viewings--was Graziella Granata's moonlit garden walk around the castle grounds, leading to her rendezvous with the mysterious vampire (Eppler) who is quickly closing in on her. (Remember: it's Chapter 5 on the DVD.) From the standpoint of sheer, unbridled lust and sensuality, Ms. Granata rivals--perhaps even surpasses--BRIDES OF DRACULA's Marie Devereux for a one-time portrayal of a female vampire in fantasy cinema. As she glides through the trees in the garden, the camera spotlights her raven hair cascading across her shoulders, her beautiful facial features in glorious closeup, and her diaphanous, lowcut nightgown flowing like the wind around her exquisite curves. Now, I haven't yet mentioned her breasts, but that is simply because I'm at a loss for words to describe them... Soft and voluptuous? Yes. Ample and heaving? Yes. Full and round, like two alabaster moons... (Just quit it, Mariano!) Though Ms. Granata has no actual topless scenes, we must thank the filmmakers for displaying her cleavage from just about every vantage point imaginable--in the garden sequence, while lying in bed, and while being vampirized. By the way, did I mention the scene where she is sitting outside during the day, as Brandi reads to her? Watch as she stands up and turns around...her waist is sooo tiny! (Alright...ENOUGH!) It's worth noting that an IMDb user was also taken by this garden interlude, and has some interesting comments about the film's style. Calling SLAUGHTER an Italian vampire thriller that is a "Gothic romance novel on film," MLRaymond writes:

This is by no means a great film, but it has a certain over the top romanticism about it that's very effective in creating a strange, other worldly atmosphere.

[After a description of the film's beginning, he continues]:

The best part of the movie comes next. The wife wakes up next to her sleeping husband, and goes out into the moonlit garden in her revealing negligee. She sits on a marble bench and looks frightened, but also as if she were waiting for someone. A man's voice calls to her and she looks around fearfully, asking who it is and why she can't see him. The vampire comes out from behind a hedge and hands her a bouquet of flowers, and declares his love for her. She takes the flowers, even as she stammers that she's married. The vampire makes a poetic speech about how her beauty outshines the stars. By the time he gets through, she is flinging herself passionately into his arms... This is great stuff. The vampire nobleman is obviously derived from Stoker's Count Dracula, and his courtship of the wife is unadulterated romanticism, even if a bit corny for some viewers. Graziella Granata is one of the most stunningly beautiful women ever to appear in any Italian horror movie, and her low cut gowns and night dress reveal plenty of her fabulous figure.

The only thing I can add to MLRaymond's perceptive comments is that even the dialogue in this sequence seems ripped from the pages of a gothic novel. Consider these lines, spoken by Ms. Granata to the predatory Eppler: "Who can you be to have this mysterious power over me? Who can you be that you poisoned all the love I bore my husband and made me become your slave?" Great stuff? You bet your bodice-bursting bodaciousness...(Hey, knock it off!)

Aldo Piga's brooding, flowing theme music is heard over the opening credits and frequently throughout the film. Piga is a skilled composer and his theme is suitably lush and romantic, but at times it seems too topheavy (oops) and overbearing alongside the film's images. More effective is the less ornate, more ominous music heard over the moonlit garden sequence, which finds Piga weaving in some subtle motifs on an actual theremin among the sparse strings and woodwinds.

I could go on and on, but it's getting late and it's dark, and I could swear I see a shapely, dark-haired woman, calling to me from my garden outside...

Any further comments, or ideas about any of my questions?

:blink:

Well...now...I gotta see this...!!!