The Kiss of the Vampire Hammer Horror Series

U.K. / 1963 Directed by Don Sharp Starring Clifford Evans Edward DeSouza Noel Willman Color / 88 Minutes / Not Rated Format: DVD (R1 - NTSC/ 2-disc set) Universal Home Video

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9     8   10 = Highest Rating   Guest Review by Troy Howarth

• A look at one of the films in the Hammer Horror Series • DVD Rating is for entire set

A honeymooning couple (Edward DeSouza and Jennifer Daniel) become the unwitting victims of a family of vampires in a small Bavarian village...     In between Horror of Dracula (1958) and Dracula — Prince of Darkness (1966), Hammer Studios experimented with the vampire formula, producing a in-name-only sequel to their Christopher Lee megahit (The Brides of Dracula) as well as this offbeat title. The story has often been compared to Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938), but it also plays like a variation on Edgar G. Ulmer's macabre masterpiece The Black Cat (1934). Despite the absence of their top horror icons — Lee and Peter Cushing — Kiss of the Vampire is every bit as effective as their first Dracula picture, and in many ways ranks as one of their finest contributions to the horror genre. First-time director Don Sharp (who later instigated the series of Christopher Lee Fu Manchu films with the excellent Face of Fu Manchu, 1965, and Brides of Fu Manchu, 1966) displays a flair for the Gothic reminiscent of the studio's resident auteur Terence Fisher, while at the same time making the most of the story's more action-oriented set-pieces. In his hands, Anthony Hinds' screenplay attains uncommon depth and feeling, with even minor characters afforded a chance for legitimate character shading and complexity.     The setup is a familiar one — a newlywed couple becomes stranded in a small village and is targeted by a family of vampires. Within this framework, Sharp and Hinds stress character over shock effect, though the director pulls out all the stops when the opportunity affords itself. As in the previous Brides of Dracula, vampirism is related to sexual perversion, with the Ravna clan, headed by the urbanely sinister Dr. Ravna (Noel Willman), reeking with implications of incestuous relations. The wide-eyed innocents plunged into their world are forever marked (literally) by the encounter, though the intervention of the emotionally wrecked, alcoholic Prof. Zimmer (Clifford Evans) saves them from eternal damnation. Compared to the earlier films, Kiss offers a more complex hero/villain dynamic — whereas Ravna is witty and charming, Zimmer is gruff and often off-putting. Ravna embodies the attraction of evil personified by Dracula, but the script allows Willman a chance to stress the social graces of the character in a way that Christopher Lee was never permitted in his Dracula films. Similarly, Cushing's heroic (if somewhat obsessive) Van Helsing is here substituted by a emotionally scarred alcoholic who spends the early part of the film in a drunken stupor. The contrast between the two characters is interesting, and it also allows DeSouza's husband — normally a colorless stock character in films of this kind — to take an active role in the action. He is literally seduced into abandoning his wife — Ravna's attractive daughter plies him with champagne at an elegant masquerade ball, while she is lured into the evil doctor's clutches — and spends much of the film in hysterics, but proves himself an able assistant to the newly energized Zimmer. Character arcs such as these give the film an emotional charge that sets it apart from many of Hammer's other vampire pictures, entertaining though they may be.     The performances are central to the film's success. Evans (Curse of the Werewolf) is terrific as Zimmer — evolving from a glum drunk to a sharp-witted man of action, he makes the most of every scene he is in without resorting to cliched stereotyping. Willman (The Reptile) has all the finesse and wit of a first-class James Bond villain, and he effectively conveys the character's perverse psychology while maintaining an appropriately deadpan air. Willman controls the frame without hardly raising his voice, making one regret that his film work was so sparse (he had a few choice roles in films big and small, including the 1956 Man Who Knew Too Much and The Odessa File, but was better known as a Tony winning theater director). DeSouza, fresh off a winning performance in Terence Fisher's The Phantom of the Opera (1962), again makes for a likable leading man. Yet where the Fisher film saw him in cool mode, here he is able to play a wider range of emotions; he overacts a little in some scenes, but is largely successful in conveying his character's bewilderment and terror. Jennifer Daniel, who later reteamed with Willman in The Reptile, is a charming and photogenic lady in distress, but the real standout is Isobel Black (Twins of Evil) as the innkeeper's daughter, transformed by Ravna from a doting daughter to a Lolita-esque temptress who wanders the misty cemeteries by night.     As mentioned above, Sharp's handling of the material is first rate. He gets inspired support from cinematographer Alan Hume (Dr. Terror's House of Horrors) — his use of colored lighting is less extreme than that of Jack Asher on the early Hammer horrors, but he creates some startling, poetic images. The famed masquerade ball, for instance, so impressed Roman Polanski that the Polish filmmaker would use it as inspiration for his brilliant Hammer homage, The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967). While Sharp makes the most of the various set-pieces, he is rather badly letdown in the climax by Les Bowie's special effects work — the idea of Zimmer summoning a horde of bats to dispatch the vampires is a good one, but the obviously rubber bats flapping about on strings don't have the desired effect. Even so, this is stylish and energetic horror film, certainly one of the finest Hammer ever produced.

Universal's release of The Kiss of the Vampire, as part of their Hammer Horror Series set, improves on the earlier Image release. The 1.85/16x9 transfer looks superb. Colors are vivid, detail is very sharp, and print damage is kept to a bare minimum; some minor speckling is evident in a handful of shots, but the image is sharper and in better condition than the earlier release. The film is presented fully uncut — the U.S. TV version, retitled Kiss Of Evil, was extensively re-edited (all the gory/sexy highlights were axed and some new footage shot by a different crew with different actors were shoehorned to create a pointless subplot) and robbed the film of much of its impact. The mono English soundtrack is very strong, doing ample justice to James Bernard's superb score. Extras are nonexistent for this and the other seven films in the 2-DVD set. 12/08/05

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