I Vampiri
| I Vampiri | |
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Italian film poster for I Vampiri
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| Directed by | |
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| Screenplay by | Piero Regnoli |
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| Starring |
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| Music by | Roman Vlad |
| Cinematography | Mario Bava |
| Edited by | Roberto Cinquini |
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| Distributed by | Titanus |
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Release date
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Running time
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81 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Box office | ₤125.3 million |
I Vampiri (lit. The Vampires) is a 1957 Italian horror film. The film was directed by Riccardo Freda and completed by the film's cinematographer, Mario Bava. It stars Gianna Maria Canale, Carlo D'Angelo and Dario Michaelis. The film is about a series of murders on young women who are found with all their blood drained. The newspapers describes the killer as the Vampire and young journalist Pierre Lantin researches the crimes. Lantin investigates the mysterious Du Grand family who lives in a castle occupied by Gisele Du Grand who is in love with Lantin. She lives with her aunt who hides her face in a veil as well as the scientist Julian Du Grand who is trying to find the secret to eternal youth.
The film was developed during a growth in the Italian film industry which allowed for the market to expand beyond a local Italian audience, and would allow Italian film makers to explore new genres of filmmaking. Freda made a deal with producers at the Italian film studio Titanus to create a low budget horror film by writing a story in one day and filming it in two weeks. The producers agreed and Freda began filming. On the final day of shooting, Freda left the set which led to the cinematographer Mario Bava to direct the rest of the film, which changed various plot points and added the inclusion of stock footage.
On the film's release in 1957, it became Italy's first horror film of the sound era. It was not successful in Italy, which Freda interpreted as an audience not interested in horror films made by Italians. The film was released theatrically as The Devil's Commandment and Lust of the Vampire in the United States and United Kingdom respectively. English critics predominantly discuss the film in terms of its cinematography and place in film history. Despite being the first of the Italian horror films, it was not until the British film Dracula (1958) and the international hit Black Sunday were released that a greater amount of horror films began being produced in Italy.
In 1957 Paris, a series of mysterious killings are committed against young women of the same blood type who are found dead and drained of their blood. These killings are reported in the press as being performed by a murderer coined The Vampire. The journalist Pierre Lantin (Dario Michaelis) begins to investigate, and becomes more involved when his fiancee, the dancer Nora Duval is kidnapped. As Inspector Chantal (Carlo D'Angelo) examines the crime scene, Lantin arrives predicting that the crime was committed by The Vampire. Lantin investigates the school that the latest murder happened at to search for clues and finds that the woman was being followed by a tall man before the murder. Elsewhere, a man named Joseph (Paul Muller) begs for "his fix" in a dark room is told to go after a woman named Lorette (Wandisa Guida) and that he "know what to do" at Rue Saint Etienne. Joseph arrives at the location and is spotted by Lantin but manages to get away from him. Joseph arrives at the clinic of Professor Julian Du Grand (Antoine Balpêtré) and demands money to leave town or he will report what's happening to the police. He is strangled by Du Grand's assistant when a shadowed woman named Marguerite arrives and states that if the police track them down, it will be the end of Du Grands career. A newspaper headline later reveals that Professor Julian Du Grand has died unexpectedly.
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Wikipedia