The Vampire Happening


The Vampire Happening is a 1971 West German comedy horror film directed by Freddie Francis.

Plot

Betty Williams, an American film actress has inherited a castle in Transylvania. But what she doesn't know is that her ancestor, the late Baroness Clarimonde Catani is a vampire who has been sleeping in her tomb at the family vault for many years. Betty and Clarimonde look exactly the same except for the fact that Clarimonde has black hair and Betty is a blond. Clarimonde died at an age similar to Betty's present age and like all vampires her body is well preserved. A man servant in the castle knows that Clarimonde is a vampire and informed it to Betty. Betty doesn't believe that vampires can exist and unintentionally sets Clarimonde free. Clarimonde starts causing mayhem by sucking blood from horny men. After sometimes Betty and her boyfriend realize everything. They also come to know that there are other vampires as well. Betty and her boyfriend goes to a party for vampires where Count Dracula is the guest of honour. When they are exposed in the party, Clarimonde saves Betty and her boyfriend from other vampires. Betty's man servant who also accompanied them to the party slowed the clock there by an hour. Due to this all the vampires are late to return to their coffins. Most of the vampires are exposed to sunlight and died. Betty unintentionally switches place with Clarimonde. While Betty stays in the castle, Clarimonde goes to America. The movie ends with Clarimonde sucking blood from a man.

Cast

  • Pia Degermark as Betty Williams/Baroness Clarimonde Catani
  • Thomas Hunter as Jens Larsen
  • Yvor Murillo as Josef
  • Ingrid van Bergen as Miss Niessen
  • Joachim Kemmer as Martin
  • Oskar Wegrostek as Abt
  • Ferdy Mayne as Count Dracula
  • Lyvia Bauer as Gabrielle
  • Daria Damar as Kirsten
  • Kay Williams
  • Michael Janisch
  • Toni Wagner
  • Raoul Retzer

    Production

In the early 1970s, Italian producer Pier A. Caminnecci was looking for a film for his wife Pia Degermark whose previous film Elvira Madigan was a critical and financial success. Caminnecci set up an international production for her in West Germany directed by British director Freddie Francis and written by German screenwriters August Rieger and Karl-Heinz Hummel The script features a sub-plot based on Theophile Gautier's short story "La Morte Amoureuse."
Francis later stated:
I was aware from the start of the difficulties in shooting a horror parody. I really believed that I was working with normal people in the movie industry, and thought I could have made a decent film. With time, I became aware that the producer was an imbecile who treated the project like a home movie. He wanted to do the casting, make cameos in the film, and wanted his wife as an actress. It was a disaster which I can't say anything serious about.

Reception

The film was not well received. AllMovie gave the film one and a half stars out of five, stating that it is "not considered to be one of the crown jewels of the genre" In his book Comedy-Horror Films:A Chronological History, author Bruce G. Hallenbeck praised the visuals but referred to the film as "sort of a ripoff of Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers" which "doesn't come within lightyears of Polanski's vision".

Works cited