I Vampiri is notable for many reasons, among them the fact that this was the first horror movie to come out of Italy after a ban on them was lifted and also because it was co-directed by Mario Bava who stepped in when Riccardo Freda stepped away from the project.  Due to this little fact, the film was supposed to go in certain directions at one point, but when Bava took over he made a few changes here and there.  So whatever the movie might have been under Freda will never be truly known as his finished product does not exist.  The completed project that did come to fruition is a wonderful little Gothic horror that is very atmospheric and features some great cinematography courtesy of Bava who really knew how to stretch a budget and make a movie better than it should have been.

The film revolves around the poor Duchess Giselle du Grandan.  Like all things with the passage of time, the Duchess is getting older and that is unacceptable.  Why should she have to grow old like everyone else?  So it is that she employs various people including Professor Julien du Grand to find a cure for her predicament, which he does.  But said cure will only work with the blood of virgins and to that end, young girls are kidnapped for their life-giving fluids.  Of course, when girls start to go missing, it does not go unnoticed and soon the Duchess will have to answer for her crimes.

For a movie with a micro-budget and being shot in only twelve days, the cast and crew did a remarkable job and it is so well done you would almost think it to be a big budget feature instead of the B picture that it is.  Most of this is thanks to Bava whose exceptional use of lighting really helped to perpetuate the horror of the Duchess’ actions, not that they needed any.  Everything looks grandiose in the film, bigger or better than what it is, whether the costumes the actors sport or the sets they work upon with the best one being the that gigantic foyer the Duchess meets them in at the end of the film.  Putting the story aside for a minute, if Bava did not do as good a job as he did, the entire vibe of the film and that Gothic element might have been lost.  Thankfully the man, even back in his early days, was a master of his craft.

One of the more interesting aspects of the film is that there really is no vampire to speak of, at least not in the traditional sense.  The Duchess, played by Gianna Maria Canale, has no fangs to speak of except for that of her mind, sharp and biting as ever in her old age.  Blood is lost and it is consumed, but only through injection so that this magical serum might bring the Duchess a more youthful look.  It also helps her in her quest to woo Dario Michaelis’ character Pierre, the son of her lost love who just so happens to be Pierre’s father.  It is a bit lurid, yes, but it really adds to that unorthodox vampire aspect that the film is trying to bring across.  To procure her victims, a man is kept doped up and strung out whereby should he fail to bring her the young women she needs, he will not get his next fix.  If there was one true bit of horror in this film, that was it.  In fact the way the Duchess uses and manipulates everyone around her is masterful on her part, but it really nails down just how evil she can truly be.

The film is fairly slowly paced for most of it, especially during the first half of the film and while some might tune out because of it, sitting through it all pays off in the end.  There is a lot to love in this film like how slick it looks, the mood and atmosphere and the beautiful Gianna Maria Canale among them, but it is the combination of them all that really makes this movie as good as it is.  There might be not be any blood-draining vampires like most are used to seeing in horror movies, but the film is a good one and a great example of early Italian horror.

4 out of 5