The Fearless Vampire Killers

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Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski in The Fearless Vampire Killers.

The Fearless Vampire Killers is a 1967 movie directed by Roman Polanski. It has been produced as a musical, named Dance of the Vampires.

Plot

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Poster from the Film.

The film takes us into the heart of Transylvania where Professor Abronsius (Jack McGowran) and his apprentice Alfred (Roman Polanski) are on the hunt for vampires. Abronsius is old and withering and barely able to survive the cold drive through the wintry forests. Alfred is bumbling and introverted. The hunters come to a small Eastern European town seemingly at the end of a long search for signs of vampires. The two stay at a local inn, full of angst-ridden townspeople who perform strange rituals to fend off an unseen evil.

Whilst staying at the inn, Alfred develops a fondness for Sarah Shagal (Sharon Tate), the daughter of the tavern keeper. After witnessing Sarah being kidnapped by the vampire, Count Von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne), the two follow his snow trail, leading them to the ominous castle of Von Krolock in the snow-blanketed hills nearby. They break in to the castle, but are trapped by the Count’s lecherous hunchback servant (Terry Downes). Upon being taken to see the count, he affects an air of aristocratic dignity whilst he cleverly questions Abronsius about his interest in bats and why he has come to the castle. They also encounter the Counts son, the foppish Herbert (Iain Quarrier).

Despite misgivings, they accept the Count’s invitation to stay in his ramshackle gothic castle, where Alfred spends the night fitfully. The next morning, Abronsius plans to find the castle crypt and kill the Count, seemingly forgetting about the fate of Sarah. The crypt is guarded by the hunchback, so after some wandering they climb in through a roof window. However, Abronsius gets stuck in the window and it is up to Alfred to kill the Count, which he feels unable to do. He has to go back outside to free Abronsius, on the way coming upon Sarah having a bath in her room. She seems oblivious to her danger when he pleads for her to come away with him.

After freeing Abronsius, who is half frozen, they re-enter the castle. Alfred again seeks Sarah but meets Herbert instead, who tries to kill him, revealing his vampire nature. The two flee from Herbert through a dark stairway to safety, only to be trapped behind a locked door. They also realise night is falling. As they watch horrified, the gravestones below open up and they see that there are many vampires at the castle. The Count appears, mocking them and tells them their fate is sealed. He leaves them to attend a dance, where Sarah will be presented as the next vampire victim.

However, the hunters escape by blowing off the door and come to the dance in disguise, where they grab Sarah and flee. Escaping by horse carriage, they are now unaware that it is too late for Sarah, who bites Alfred, thus allowing vampires to be leased upon the world.

Production

Straight from Polanski's international success with Repulsion, it was mounted on a lavish scale - color, huge sets in England, location filming in the Alps, elaborate costumes and choreography suitable for a period epic. Previously accustomed only to extremely low budgets, Polanski chose some of the finest English cinema craft artists to work on the film: cameraman Douglas Slocombe, production designer Wilfrid Shingleton. Polanski engaged noted choreographer Tutte Lemkow, who played the actual Fiddler in Fiddler on the Roof, for the film's climactic Danse Macabre minuet.

During filming the director decided to switch formats to Panavision while filming on location. Flat scenes already filmed were optically converted to match.

In his autobiography, Roman, Polanski discusses some of the difficulties in filming The Fearless Vampire Killers: "Our first month's outdoor filming became a series of ingenious improvisations, mainly because the last-minute switch from one location (Austria) to another (Ortisei, an Italian ski resort in the Dolomites) had left us so little time to revise our shooting schedules. The fact that we were filming in Italy entailed the employment of a certain number of Italian technicians, and that, in turn, bred some international friction. Gene Gutowski (the film's European producer) rightly suspected that the Italians were robbing us blind.

Despite numerous production headaches, Polanski is said to have enjoyed making the film. His cinematographer, Douglas Slocombe, was quoted by Ivan Butler in his book, The Cinema of Roman Polanski, as saying, "I think he (Roman) put more of himself into Dance of the Vampires than into another film. It brought to light the fairy-tale interest that he has. One was conscious all along when making the picture of a Central European background to the story. Very few of the crew could see anything in it - they thought it old-fashioned nonsense. But I could see this background....I have a French background myself, and could sense the Central European atmosphere that surrounds it. The figure of Alfred is very much like Roman himself - a slight figure, young and a little defenseless - a touch of Kafka. It is very much a personal statement of his own humour. He used to chuckle all the way through."

When the film was first released in the United States, MGM wanted to market it as a farce by saddling it with a longer title - The Fearless Vampire Killers, Or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck. The director was less than pleased. Not only did Martin Ransohoff, the American executive producer, change the original title from the more eloquent Dance of the Vampires, he also chopped out 16 minutes of footage, redubbed some of the actors' voices, and tacked on an opening animated credit sequence which features the famous MGM lion as a grinning, fanged vampire.

Soundtrack

The score was provided by Krystof Komeda, who also scored Rosemary’s Baby.

Selected Quotations

Count Von Krolock:

"A year ago exactly on this same night we were assembled here in this very room: I your pastor, and you my beloved flock. With hopefulness in my heart I told you then that with Lucifer's aid we might look forward to a more succulent occasion. Cast back your minds. There we were, gathered together, gloomy and despondent, around a single meager woodcutter."

Abronsius: "Takes me for a nincompoop, that necrophile!"

After being chased by Herbert:

Abronsius: "He went berserk, did you provoke him or what? Alfred: "No he got excited all on his own."

Cast includes

• Jack MacGowran
• Roman Polanski
• Alfie Bass
• Jessie Robins
• Sharon Tate
• Ferdy Mayne
• Iain Quarrier
• Terry Downes
• Fiona Lewis
• Ronald Lacey
• Sydney Bromley
• Andreas Malandrinos
• Otto Diamant
• Matthew Walters

Alternate titles

• Dance of the Vampires (UK)
• Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck (USA)

External link

http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s44fearkill.html

http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/articles/1999/10_Nov---The_Fearless_Vampire_Killers.asp