While José Ramón Larraz is most known for his 1974 blood thirsty picture Vampyres, he also made another film that same year (actually a few in 1974) that starred the daughter of the immortal Donald Pleasence, Angela, who gives us a very creepy performance here. I don’t believe this film has never gotten an actual video release here in the states other than in the bootleg market, but it is one that should be seen, if only because of Pleasence’s performance. The film has such a strange and eerie look and quality to it, with a good and slow burn, but worth seeing.
And now, thanks to Mondo Macabro, you will have that chance. They will be releasing this film this spring that will have plenty of extras, besides the film being fully restored from the original negative. The extras include a documentary on Larraz by Celia Novis called On Vampyres and Other Symptoms, the 1999 entry from the show Eurotika series that was on Larraz, a new interview with actresses Angela Pleasence and Lorna Heilbron, and editor Brian Smedley-Aston. Continue reading
John Ashley
Sometimes I am just amazed at not only some of the titles that get released on blu-ray, but in the huge special editions that they come out with. Case in point, a title that Arrow Video just announced. At the end of May, they will be releasing a special edition of the 1966 film Blood Bath. But this isn’t just any ordinary film that was made under the Roger Corman umbrella. In fact, it started as a film being made in Yugoslavia by someone named Rados Novakovic and called Operation Titan. But it didn’t really fit Corman’s approval, so he hired Jack Hill to take the film and see if he could make something out of it, which he did, and would be later called Blood Bath. But for various reasons, such as the film stock from the original footage and what Hill shot didn’t match up that too well. So because Hill went on to make Spider Baby, the film was set aside. Then Corman came back to the picture and hired Stephanie Rothman to see what she could do with it. She changed the title to Track of the Vampire and made it more of a vampire film! According to Hill, about 80 % of the film is what he shot, but I have to say that it is kind of a mess of a picture, even though it has one of the best posters from that era!
We meant to post this earlier this week but time just got away from us. But we hope to make up for it now. While Frank Finlay might have been known for his stage work, as well as plenty of TV work for the BBC, he did appear in enough horror titles that is worth noting.
