User reviews

Although this movie sports the cool word "slaughter" in its title, this movie is very much the old Dracula story all over again (with only a minor twist at the end). While there are a few differences (such as the vampire looking pretty weird--a bit like a blond Liberace with raccoon eyes) as well as more cleavage than usual, the essence of the film is the same old same old--though the names have been changed. Although there is no one named Van Helsing or Nina Harker, the characters are still there but with different names. The biggest difference is that the entire first portion of the book and original movies is absent--and it begins later in the story. The only serious negatives are the silly music (which might have sounded better in a sci-fi flick) and the silly look of the vampire. Because the story is so similar and there isn't any new innovation to make it memorable, this is a story horror fans don't need to rush out to see, as the Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee versions cover the same territory but do it much better.

By the way, there were some complaints about the dubbing, though for a 1960s import, the quality isn't bad (except for the little girl--which sounds like an adult trying to sound like a girl). The voices seem appropriate and it wasn't a noticeable problem. Still, like many viewers, I would have preferred this to have been subtitled instead of dubbed into English.

As they celebrate their honeymoon in a faraway castle, newlyweds Wolfgang (Walter Brandi) and Louise (Graziella Granata) are unaware of the bloodthirsty vampire (Dieter Eppler) who lives in the basement wine cellar below. With a knack for romancing female guests and seducing them into his lair, the undead Lothario racks up a string of tasty victims -- and as soon as he spots Louise, she'll be next. Can Wolfgang save his young bride?

Also appearing: Alfredo Rizzo, and directed by Roberto Mauri. This film is also known as "Curse of the Blood Ghouls", though that is in no way a good translation.

On the Netflix version, the sound editing is really poor, rough and abrupt going from scene to scene. The Dark Sky disc may be better, as they have a way of restoring old foreign films. And the little girl's voice sounds like an adult dubbing a child. It would be much better subtitled.

Luca Palmerini says this is a "dismal example of an Italian horror movie" and "amateurish". I don't think it was all that bad, but this may be based on a poor copy. If nothing else, even if the film is "eh" the costumes are still superb. I am not clear on why Dr. Nietzsche's name is apparently pronounced "Nitch" rather than "Neetch-uh", though.

I first watched this film on TV in the late 60's, early 70's. At that time i thought that it was a pretty good film. Recently, i purchased it on DVD and have, somewhat, changed my mind. The atmosphere, castle and surrounding settings are very good, however, the acting could be better. The opening sequence is great, however, the movie goes downhill from there. Graziella Granata, is drop dead gorgeous and Walter Brandi, her husband/male lead is OK. My main problem is with Dieter Eppler, the Vampire. He is way too stiff and his makeup is overdone. He,i assume, does his best with what he has to work with but looks like an extra in a stage play, who just comes in and out. The music is fine and the film, overall, is worth watching. I just feel that it could have been so much better. John R. Tracy

One would imagine that this film came out of those pocket books so popular with the ladies. It is a Gothic romance from start to finish with sumptuous sets, heaving bosoms and formal attire.

Graziella Granata is absolutely gorgeous even in black and white, and she falls into the vampire's (Dieter Eppler) trap immediately. Here husband (Walter Brandi) is absolutely clueless at what is happening right under his nose.

Don't worry, the fearless doctor knows what he is dealing with and chases the vampire and his minions to extinction - or , based on current HBO programming - to Louisiana.

Here's a "full-blooded", old-fashioned (some might say out-dated), baroque Italian vampire opus which deserves a better reputation than it's achieved. Although Hammer Studios merits credit for re-popularizing the moribund Gothic horror genre in the early 60s, the contemporaneous Latin (Italian, Spanish and Mexican) efforts usually evoke a more authentically Romantic and decadent atmosphere. This one features overwhelmingly ornate sets; voluptuous ingenues with inviting dark eyes and heaving bosoms; high-collared, flouncy-vested Don Juans; absurdly stilted dialogue; and a lush, intrusive score full of piano glissandos, piercing oboes, and even a theremin during the vampire seductions. The deliberate pacing serves to intensify the well-timed shocks, there are some clever camera set-ups, and fine shadowy photography (particularly during the dungeon-set climax). Fans of fast-paced, violent, revisionist horror will think it a dinosaur, but connoisseurs should find it greatly satisfying.

This was renowned as the best of the 3 virtually interchangeable vampire 'classics' emanating from Italy early into their Gothic Horror phase; however, while that may be so, it is still nothing to write home about! I am not sure about THE VAMPIRE AND THE BALLERINA (1960) since it has been some time from my sole viewing of it, but this at least maintains a period setting throughout (beginning with villagers rising up against a bloodsucking couple). Incidentally, while Walter Brandi also turns up here, he is not the monster – the latter, in fact, is played by Dieter Eppler and he proves one of the hammiest ever depicted, while hilariously looking like Criswell from the Ed Wood movies! Brandi, then, makes for an ineffectual lead (he is even bitten twice throughout, offering virtually no opposition to his female assailants!) – though he does contrive to ambiguously participate in the climax, where we are unsure whether he intends harming a little girl or not, before trapping Eppler and proceeding to impale him with the pointed edges of a wooden gate!

During the course of the film, Eppler manages to vampirize two ladies: Brandi's wife Graziella Granata (who is virtually put under a spell by the villain, whose coffin is hidden in their country-estate's wine-cellar!) – an unintentionally amusing scene has her responding to Eppler's disembodied voice, then he nonchalantly appears from behind a nearby tree! – and her maid (who looks an awful lot like a plumper version of Isabelle Adjani!). The most impressive member of the cast is Paolo Solvay, actually a pseudonym for director Luigi Batzella (best-known for the nonsensical erotic Gothic NUDE FOR Satan [1974]), here appearing as Dr. Nietzche(!) and evoking Peter Cook, of all people, in appearance – in his case, the most hilarious bit has him telling Brandi of Granata's imminent demise and getting no reaction whatsoever (incidentally, the English dialogue of this one is exceedingly stilted, which may well have been an intentional choice so as to complement Eppler's stagy performance)! Another future film-maker, Alfredo Rizzo, turns up here as well but in a minor role this time around.

In conclusion, I recently watched an interview with director Mauri on the "Stracult" program on late-night Italian TV: apart from SLAUGHTER itself (in Italian), this section included scenes from a number of his other efforts…and I was sufficiently intrigued to acquire the black-and-white Giallo NIGHT OF VIOLENCE (1965), the psycho-drama MADELINE, STUDY OF A NIGHTMARE (1974; with Camille Keaton, and whose failure through poor distribution Mauri particularly bemoaned) and THE PORNO KILLERS (1980; albeit in its softer original form) soon after!

SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES (aka: CURSE OF THE BLOOD GHOULS) stars Dieter Eppler as the be-fanged monster of the title.

Wolfgang and Louise (Walter Brandi and Graziella Granata) have moved into their new castle, unaware that a certain coffin is hidden in the wine cellar! Soon, an enigmatic stranger crashes their housewarming party, bewitching Louise. In no time at all, she is donating her blood to him, the old-fashioned way! Can Wolfgang and the vampire-hunting Dr. Nietzsche (Luigi Batzella) uncover the true cause of Louise's "anemia", before she is lost forever?

SOTV is a black and white Italian film that makes great use of it's location and gloomy atmosphere. Eppler is excellent in his sinister, bug-eyed role. Obviously drawing heavily from DRACULA, this movie still manages to remain interesting and creepy.

EXTRA POINTS FOR: The woo-woo musical score!...

I've been a fan of the horror genre for so long now that it's becoming dangerous to stumble upon a film I never heard or read anything about before. On one hand, it's exciting because this perhaps could be the hidden gem you've been waiting for forever (particularly since it concerns an Italian Gothic horror movie) but on the other hand you're very cautious with expectations because it's simply not normal that you never saw the title mentioned anywhere on forums or in magazines ever before. "Slaughter of the Vampires" definitely looks promising enough, with a title like that and very appealing DVD cover art illustrated here on the website (I'm a sucker for that) but the end result is overall sadly mediocre. It's a very rudimentary and straightforward vampire movie and you'll undoubtedly have a feeling of déjà-vu more than once. A young couple, Wolfgang and his bride Louise who boosts a massively impressive cleavage, moves into a castle unaware that a Christopher Lee wannabe vampire already inhabits it. During their Victorian house-warming party, when the butler goes to the wine cellar to pick up a few bottles, the camera zooms out and there suddenly comes a vampire emerging from his coffin from behind a the wine barrels! How could anyone have missed that during the open house showing day? There's a coffin in the wine cellar! Anyway, the nameless vampire carelessly joins the party upstairs and ends the night by biting the brand new lady of the house in her neck. He also turns out to be quite a smooth talker as he even offers flowers to the girl he enslaved as his immortal bride. Louise condition grows increasingly worse and the local doctor advises them to travel to Vienna and obtain help from the acclaimed Dr. Nietzsche. I don't think he's supposed THE world-famous Nietzsche, as he was more of a philosopher if my memory serves me well, but perhaps a cousin of his? The old vampire chap naturally finds his way to Vienna as well, where it will eventually become a virulent showdown.

"Slaughter of the Vampires" is like a very basic and primitive re-telling of the Dracula saga in which the character names have been changed and certain sub plots have been removed in order to make it even more simplistic. There's no Renfield, no Carfax Abbey, etc. So, not a hidden gem, unfortunately, but a rather dull and redundant Gothic vampire movie that fully deserves its obscurity status. The lead actresses are beautiful, Graziella Granata who depicts Louise is particularly exquisite, but none of the cast members appear to be very interested in the in the script. They just stand there motionless and bring their lines in the most random fashion. I'm not too familiar with director Roberto Mauri, but if Mario Bava or Antonio Margheriti had directed this film, surely there would have been a lot more passion and intensity bursting from the screen. Apart from the occasionally atmospheric music, a few nice touches of scenery and the impressive rack of our lead actress (which is exactly right to plan a wooden stake in between), there's absolutely no reason to track this movie down.

Notable actors: Walter Brandi! Crap director Luigi Batzella!

While running away from an angry torch and pitchfork wielding mob, our vampire shows his true colours by ditching the vampire lady he was with an saving his own arse. The lady of course gets a couple of pitchforks stuck in her for her trouble, while the vampire takes a carriage to a nearby castle and gets the driver to help him hide his coffin in the basement.

Back in the nineteenth century one of the greatest causes of marriage failure was vampire intrusion, and this jerk starts on this newlywed couple right away by diving out of his wine cellar coffin and crashing their wedding party. He then starts dancing with the blushing bride, putting the moves on her and generally acting like a twat before heading to her room later and giving her a rather extreme love bite. This happens almost right away and while I was impressed that he was much more efficient than the crap vampire in Vampire of the Opera, it leaves an awful lot of room in the film for people to jaw about what's happening.

There's not really much scope beyond the 'guy whose girlfriend has been turned in a vampire' routine, so I kind of kept losing interest in this one. The girl gets sick, the guy goes looking for help, girl dies, comes back as a vampire, yadda yadda. Everything is carried out well enough, but sometimes that means that the film becomes mediocre due to the lack of craziness or random dance routines or stripteases.

I suppose things picked up a little in the end what with the caretaker's family getting targeted by the vampires, but there's very little to make this one stand out. Next!

Released in the U. S. as SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES and under the even more ridiculous title CURSE OF THE BLOOD GHOULS, which means it had two gory-sounding, exploitative English language titles writing checks its tame script couldn't cash. Although the character names have been changed (or in the case of the vampire, dropped altogether), it's really the umpteenth remake of DRACULA. Or the last two-thirds of it is, anyway. Popular German star Dieter Eppler is miscast and wasted as the peculiarly unidentified Dracula clone, who skulks around the castle home of young Count Wolfgang and vampirizes his attractive new bride. The Van Helsing counterpart is Dr. Nietzsche, an arrogant, cigar-smoking alleged expert on matters of vampire extermination. After the usual nocturnal neck-biting and subsequent melodramatics, the dull leads race to rescue a little girl from the bloodsucker's clutches. The fine cinematography and careful lighting are no match for the poorly staged action sequences and stiff character reactions, and the crude English dub track offers too many unintentionally funny moments to ignore. An angle about a relationship between the vampire and the family's governess is never presented in enough detail for it to make sense, and the script offers no comment whatsoever about the fact that the family crest on the vampire's coffin lid is also seen on a wall in the castle, suggesting that the creature (who looks like an average middle-aged man sporting a long cape and very black lower eyelids) may have originally been written as a blood relative of the castle's current occupants. The vampire hunter and the gardener spend hours searching the cellar for the vampire's coffin when the audience can plainly see that they'd only have to walk around a few pieces of set decor to see it lying there in the open, giving the impression that these earnest heroes are about as sharp as Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker were in THE GHOST BUSTERS. This may not be the worst film adaptation of Stoker's novel, but it easily qualifies as one of the least involving. The Italian title is LA STRAGE DEI VAMPIRI. Mauri also directed THE INVINCIBLE GLADIATORS and KONG ISLAND.

This film begins in Austria with a newlywed couple by the names of "Marquis Wolfgang" (Walter Brandi) and "Louise" (Graziella Granata) moving into an old castle and inviting all of their friends over for a lavish party. What they don't realize, however, is that a vampire (played by Dieter Eppler) has also moved in and occupies the wine cellar beneath them. To that effect, upon being awakened by the butler who has gone to retrieve some wine, he happens to spy Louise and become so enchanted with her beauty that he decides that he has to have her for himself. So that very night he sneaks into her bedroom and proceeds to feast upon her but, upon being interrupted, decides to flee for the time being. Not long afterward, recognizing that his wife is ill, Wolfgang summons a doctor who subsequently recommends that he contact another physician in Vienna by the name of "Doctor Nietzche" (Luigi Batzella) immediately. Unfortunately, the vampire has not remained inactive and by the time Wolfgang returns to the castle with Dr. Nietzche the damage has already been done--and things are about to get much worse for all concerned. Now, rather than reveal anymore, I will just say that this film had the potential to be a pretty good vampire film as it featured an interesting plot, excellent cinematography and an exquisite leading lady in Graziella Granata. Unfortunately, there were a couple of major flaws which essentially outweighed some of these positive attributes. For starters, it seems highly likely that the English dubbing used in this film didn't quite capture the passion inherent in the original Italian. That said, English subtitles would probably have been much better. Likewise, Dieter Eppler was terribly miscast in the role of the vampire and this certainly didn't help the overall movie either. Neither did the annoying piano soundtrack. Be that as it may, while I don't consider this to be a bad vampire film necessarily, it didn't really impress me all that much and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

"The Slaughter of the Vampires" tells what is a pretty standard story. It does things competently but never extravagantly. Written and directed by Roberto Mauri, it stars the creepy looking Dieter Eppler as a blood sucker. On the run from angry villagers, he holes up in the basement of a castle. This castle belongs to newlywed couple Wolfgang (Walter Brandi) and Louise (Graziella Granata). In no time our night stalking antagonist is seducing Louise. Fearful for her life, Wolfgang turns to a specialist, Dr. Nietzsche (Luigi Batzella), who's a pretty fair stand-in for Van Helsing.

The atmosphere is decent, the dialogue fairly eloquent, and some of the performances are adequate. Eppler and Batzella are clearly standouts. It doesn't hurt any that there are some very attractive ladies present. However, Wolfgang is a pretty big dummy, as one will see, and it's a good thing Dr. Nietzsche is so competent. Pacing is deliberate, and the running time is a reasonably short 79 minutes. Overall, the film is romantic and sexy, and eerie enough, if never exactly scary. However, none of this really makes up for what is such trite material.

Certainly watchable, but hardly inspired.

Six out of 10.

A VERY badly dubbed Italian vampire film from 1962. A young couple, Louise and Wolfgang (!!) in the 16th century (I believe) are menaced by a vampire.

Nice black and white photography and a beautiful score can't save a very dull horror film with lousy dialogue, atrocious dubbing (I know I'm mentioning it a third time but it IS that bad!) and poor acting. More laughs than anything else. I was especially amused that the victims of the vampire have no marks on their necks! And some of the dialogue had me laughing out loud. However, both Wolfgang and Louise are VERY attractive and Louise wears incredibly low-cut dresses. Still, that's no reason to see this film.

Let's put it this way---this is a vampire film with a G rating! What does that tell you? Avoid--unless you have insomnia.

Under THE SLAUGHTER OF THE VAMPIRES title, in 2018 the AMC cable channel offered a ten-minute or so abridgment of this film, reminiscent of the 8mm film reels sold in the 1960s and '70s in US department stores and five&dimes, for pre-Hallowe'en viewing. One was able to note how attractive the women of the cast were, and get the sense of what the story was, and not much more...but I haven't seen too many other examples of a feature-length film trimmed down to filler-length for telecast in recent decades. One wonders if that actually was the sound-version edit of the Castle Films release ca. 1970.