THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (1967) (Warner Archive Blu-ray Review)

THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (1967) 

OR: PARDON ME, BUT YOUR TEETH ARE IN MY NECK

Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 107 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA MA Mono 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Roman Polanski
Cast: Jack MacGowran, Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate, Alfie Bass, Fiona Lewis, Ferdy Mayne, Ian Quarrier, Terry Downes 

Synopsis: It’s the living end, a fancy-dress ball for blood fiends in Count Von Krolock’s Transylvanian castle. Surely no mortal would be foolish enough to infiltrate this hemogobbling horror of a soiree. But partygoers notice something in the ballroom mirrors: the reflections of humans – vampire killers – dancing among them. Director/cowriter Roman Polanski (The Pianist, Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown) spoofs vampire movies with this droll balancing act of shocks and laughs. He also portrays Alfred, mousy apprentice to a doddering researcher of vampirism (Jack MacGowran)...and the lovestruck defender of gorgeous Sarah (Sharon Tate) when the Count (Ferdy Mayne) tries to make her the ghoul of his dreams. It’s all fang-tastic fun!

I remember watching Roman Polanski's vampire comedy The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) on TV as a kid still in the single-digits and really not liking it at all, I don't think I had even seen a vintage Gothic horror film yet, so I found it rather slow and not very funny. Years later I would revisit it and with a it more refined taste in cinema, arguably, and I was able to appreciate it for what it is, an affectionate lampooning of Hammer's Gothic vampire films with fantastic set design and a wry slant of humor. 

Set in the nineteenth century the film transpires in the mountainous area of Transylvania where the absent-minded Professor Abronsius (Jack MacGowran, The Giant Behemoth) and his trusty but dim apprentice Alfred (Roman Polanski) are searching for proof of the vampires of lore. During their travels they end up at mountaintop tavern owned by Jewish proprietor Shagal (Alfie Bass, Revenge of the Pink Panther) and his impressively large wife (Jessie Robins, Magical Mystery Tour), both of whom are overly protective of their attractive daughter Sarah (Sharon Tate, Repulsion), and for good reason. The tavern is decorated in strings of garlic, which gives the Professor hope that they are on the right path, and they surely are, for that very night Sarah is attacked by the vampire Count Von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne, Frightmare) while enjoying a forbidden bubble bath. 

Alfred has been smitten by the tavern keeper's daughter so he and the Professor travel to Von Krolock's Gothic castle, where they are welcomed by him, only for their host to disappear during the daylight hours, allowing for the pair of inept vampire hunters to explore the castle looking for both Sarah and for the Count's crypt. The plan is to stake the vampire through the heart while he slumbers, but this plan falls apart when the Professor gets stuck in a tiny window when entering the crypt, and then Alfred accidentally drops their vampire-hunting toolkit, which comically tumbles down the snow-covered mountain.

All the while they must contend with the Count's grotesque hunchback servant Koukol (Terry Downes, A Study in Terror), and the Count's bloodsucking gay son Herbert (Ian Quarrier, Cul-de-Sac) who becomes fixated on young Alfred! We also get a Jewish vampire by way of a turned tavern owner Shagal who offers some comedic hijinx, and I thought Ferdy Mayne was pretty terrific as the vampire Count Krolock, he has plenty of that aristocratic charm the role requires, able to come off as a real threat but also able to play it for laughs without being too jokey, which is something I could say about the whole film, it walks a fine line, balancing a finely tuned Hammer homage with satirical humor that manages to not be too slapstick for it's own good. 

The film culminates with an extravagant  fancy-dress ball happening at the castle, an event attended by the newly risen bloodthirsty undead who rise from their stone tombs in the castle's courtyard. The Professor and Alfed infiltrate the ball in disguise, only to be betrayed by their reflections in a gigantic mirror in the ballroom, then escaping in a horse-drawn slay through the snow covered mountains, comically pursued by the hunchback Koukol on a toboggan, with a fun ending that betrays the vampire hunters true intentions with a nice wink and a nudge.  

The film though a spoof is an opulent homage to the Gothic vampire films from Hammer, with the comedy playing much better for me now than it did when I was a kid in the single-digits, with the chemistry between the absent-minded professor and his dim but loyal assistant standing-out as the film's strong suit. Plus we have a strong supporting cast of quirky characters, especially Alfie Bass as the comically protective father, who also lusts after his busty barmaid (Fiona Lewis, Strange Invaders).

The Gothic sets and locations look fantastic on Blu-ray, the film is probably a bit better produced than most of the Hammer films it's sending up in truth, with excellent direction from Polanski that balances the vampiric threat with some goofy humor. The film looks absolutely gorgeous, I loved the snow-covered mountains and fairy-tale look to the nighttime mountainous area and crumbling Gothic castle. 

Audio/Video: The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) arrives on Blu-ray in it's full 107-min director's cut framed in the original  2.35:1 widescreen, this being a brand new 2019 2K scan presented in gorgeous 1080p HD. The vampire spoof looks fantastic on Blu-ray. The source is clean and blemish free, colors are vibrant when called upon, with finely resolved detail and some modest depth and clarity that brings new life to the opulent period setting. The Gothic castle location, snow covered mountains, and vintage clothing textures all look marvelous in HD, this is an impressive looking restoration through and through.

Audio on the disc comes by way of English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0, the presentation is clean and well-balanced throughout, the wonderful score from Krzysztof Komeda (Rosemary' Baby) sounds terrific, with optional English ALL CAPS subtitles included.    

Onto the extras we get a few vintage carry-overs from the previous DVD and the laserdisc release before it, beginning with a vintage 10-min pre-release promotional piece, an alternate 4-min animated opening sequence that originally appeared on the butchered American cut of the film, plus a rough-looking 2-min trailer that promotes this film as more of a slapstick comedy than it really is. 

The single-disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of featuring the original Frank Frazetta illustrated artwork for the film, with the disc featuring an excerpt of the same key art.  

Special Features: 
- Vintage Making of Featurette "The Fearless Vampire Killers: Vampires 101 (10 min) 
- Alternate Animated Title Sequence (4 min) 
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD

The Warner Archive Blu-ray of Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) looks gorgeous, it breathes new life into this vampire spoof, showcasing the opulent Gothic visuals and offering a cool selection of vintage extras. This comes highly recommended to fans of vintage Gothic horror who don't mind the genre being gently lampooned.

 

WHAT? (1972)

WHAT? (1972) 

Label: Severin Films 

Region Code Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated

Duration: 110 Minutes

Audio: English LPCM 2.0 

Video: 1080P HD Widscreen (2.35:1)

Director: Roman Polanski

Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Hugh Griffith, Romolo Valli, Sydne Rome, Roman Polanski

Synopsis: The director described it as “the ribald adventures of an innocent girl.” Critics called it “an amoral, depraved disaster.” More than three decades after its controversial release, it remains the most butchered, debated and least-seen film of the Oscar-winning director’s entire career. The succulent Sydne Rome stars as an oft-naked American girl lost inside a Mediterranean villa inhabited by priests, pianists, perverts and a syphilitic pimp (a deliciously bizarre performance by Marcello Mastroianni) while indulging in madcap acts of gang rape, sodomy and ping-pong. Hugh Griffith (Tom Jones), Romolo Valli (Boccaccio ’70) and Polanski himself co-star in this surreal and sexy comedy, now finally restored to its original running time from a vault print reportedly stolen from the wine cellar of producer Carlo Ponti!

What? Exactly. 

I do love me some Roman Polanski movies, I have not seen even half of his filmography but Chinatown is on a short list of my all time favorite movies. I am most familiar with is work from Repulsion (1965) on through to The Tenant (1972), there's some great stuff buried away in his early filmography worth seeking out for genre fans, from the Hammer Films vampire send-up The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) and the surreal Cul De Sac (1966) starring Donald Pleasance of Halloween there's some truly wonderful movies to be explored within his body of work, not to mention Rosemary's Baby (1968). So I have an appreciation for his early work and some knowledge of  other films, but What? was a pretty obscure slice of cinema, it wasn't until Severin the Blu-ray that I'd even heard of it, which is always an exciting prospect, to watch a movie from a director you are a fan of for the first time, but this is a challenging movie to a degree. 

This is a surreal sex comedy of sorts that begins with young American tourist Nancy (Sydney Rome) who is abroad in Italy who one night finds herself in the company of a trio of Italian men who attempt to gang rape her on the side of the road, which sounds awful but the execution is pure comedy, when an errant erection causes some confusion among the men Nancy is able to escape via a nearby sky tram that brings her to a strange villa inhabited by a weird variety of weird folk. 

The movie lacks much of any story or plot, we basically have the gorgeous Synde Rome wandering from one strange and surreal sex-comedy scenario to he next, contending with a wild array of characters which include a former pimp named Alex (Marcello Mastroianni) who enjoys a good slap now and again, and the harpoon-wielding Mosquito played by director Roman Polanski, who likes to sting with his big stinger. Meanwhile Nancy is largely nude topless or streaked with paint for large swaths of the movie, and she is certainly easy on the eyes/ Actress Rome might bean American but she has the curves and charm of a 70's European woman, her tight blond curls and expressive eyes with long lashes makes for easy viewing, even if the story such as it is seems to be a series of disconnected vignettes that borders on both the surreal cinema and a playful sex comedy, though with no actual onscreen sex or much raunchiness. 

Audio/Video: What? arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Films uncut and in the proper widescreen scope aspect ratio (2.35:1). Colors are vibrant and the Mediterranean villa and views look wonderful, as does star Sydne Rome, who the camera loves. There's some good depth and clarity to the image, though some scenes seem a bit too smooth and the image is marred by some sort of digital noise or compression artifact that looks like anomalous digital grain which hangs over scenes like sheet of transparent cheese cloth, not sure what this is but I have noticed it on a few of my Blue Underground HD releases as well, once I noticed it I found it a bit hard to ignore. 

The English PCM 2.0 audio sounds good, not razor sharp but perfectly clear, the classically inspired score Claudio Gizzi comes through with some nice clarity and depth. There is also an option to watch the movie with the Italian dubbed score, without benefit of any subtitle options, unfortunately. . 

The extras from the previous Severin DVD only release are carried over, we have about an hours worth of interviews with  Star Sydne Rome, Composer Claudio Gizzi and Cinematographer Marcello Gatti. Rome speaks about pursuing the role and her feelings on appearing nude in movies, and her experiences working with Polanski 

 

Special Features: 

- Sydne In Wonderland – Interview With Star Sydne Rome (17 Mins) 

- Memories Of A Young Pianist: Interview With Composer Claudio Gizzi (22 Mins) 

- A Surreal Pop Movie – Interview With Cinematographer Marcello Gatti (16 Mins) 

- Theatrical Trailer (2 Mins)

- What Feature?: Italian Soundtrack 

Kudos to Severin for bringing one of Roman Polanski's more obscure tiles to Blu-ray with some cool extras, the new HD transfer is not perfection but overall this is a solid presentation. The surreal Alice in Wonderland movie is carried along by the naive and often nude charisma of star Sydney Rome who is very easy on the eyes, the movie lacks traditional narrative structure but as a surreal sex comedy from the '70s I found it a fun watch. I can see the less adventuress types scratching their head trying to make sense of this one... What? Exactly.