Grave of the Vampire (1972)
Vampire Caleb Croft has awakened from his unholy slumber -- with an insatiable lust for blood and the pleasures of the flesh.
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i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.
Brilliant and touching
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
This is a very low-budget vampire movie and while it is far from great, at least it does have some original concepts that make it worth a look. First, unlike the 'nice' vampires in most films, the evil Croft is a convicted rapist who loves hurting women. This is, of course, unsavory but was original. Also original is his raping a young lady early in the film--and she subsequently gives birth to a hybrid human/vampire. This is a bit like the Marvel character, Blade, which appeared about the same time as this movie, though it's different enough that I doubt either influenced the other. Also, vampires in the film don't always bit their victims to drink but sometimes rip open their victims--something you see in some other vampire films but not the Dracula variety.Croft is a man who was supposedly accidentally killed, but instead runs about killing and molesting ladies instead of staying in his grace. His bastard son (William Smith) has made it his life's work to find and destroy his biological father--but determining who Croft is isn't that easy. And, along the way, Smith meets some interesting ladies--one who WANTS to be bitten and one whose English accent comes and goes with the wind--betraying bad acting and direction (isn't it the director's job to spot mistakes like this?!).Overall, the film has MANY lulls and the script could have used a re-write. But, considering how quickly and economically the film was made and how it is STILL watchable. Don't expect brilliance but it's still a lot better than the modern spate of whiny and gothy vampires!
A powerful, savage vampire, Caleb Croft(Pataki) rises from his tomb who destroys a man and rapes his woman(in turn, impregnating this poor girl who had just accepted her now dead boyfriend's wedding proposal). This vampire isn't through. In life, Croft was a serial rapist, and his sadism towards women will continue in vampiric form, the thirst of blood another motivating factor behind attacks on humans. After being chased into a Boston subway by police, Croft was electrocuted when he fell on the rails. Leslie attempts, with help from drugs, will attempt to pick up the pieces and move on with her life. Believing her unborn child is Paul's, Leslie will not accept the advice from her doctor that she should abort it(the child is considered a parasite, only nourishing itself through her provided blood, half-human/half-vampire). Along with a patient she befriends while recovering in the hospital, Olga, Leslie has the child. She extracts blood through a hypodermic and feeds her child with it in a bottle, substituting milk. Caleb Croft, an assumed name replacing his infamous true identity of Charles Croyden(a 17th Century nobleman), has metamorphosed from a wrinkled, shriveled corpse into a young, handsome professor thanks to the fresh blood of college students he drinks from as a professor. Lots of students pack his classroom, Professor Lockwood's course at night(as expected since he's a bloodsucker), regarding folklore and history(but mostly philosophy).William Smith stars as Croft's haunted hellspawn, James Easman, hungry for revenge for his mother's suffering and early demise(the blood she provided him shortened her own life)and a student in Lockwood's night class. Ann is a teacher of English literature who reminds Croft of his former bride, Sarah. Anita is a fellow student interested in James, finding out that Lockwood is Croyden, yearning to become one of the undead(even Lockwood's vampire bride, to serve him for all eternity to replace his dead wife, Sarah who was burned at the stake). Well, that notion is dismissed rather quickly. The ending concludes with Lockwood conducting a séance at his mansion, Ann, James, and other students gathered as participants. Exciting close with James and Lockwood locked in battle, engaged in a spirited dual. Lockwood, interesting enough, encourages his own downfall, by putting together the séance, because Ann is used as the medium for which Anita can inhibit to call Croyden out.It's not a surprise anymore to me that I turn up yet another gem from the 70s in regards to a previously undiscovered quality vampire horror drive-in flick. I think what makes this film stand out is Michael Pataki as the vicious, menacing vampire, Caleb Croft, who, once gaining his youth after draining enough blood from victims, can move amongst the living, albeit at night time. Pataki's Lockwood is rather snobbish and aristocratic, but when he is angered or threatened, he disposes of humans with relative ease and lack of empathy. He will kill your ass and not think twice about it..plain and simple. Smith steps out as a hero, in a change of pace role, until the evil within finally becomes too difficult to contain, but not before he unleashes his fury on the vampire that has caused him much pain. Lyn Peters and Diane Holden are the women of the film, Anne and Anita respectively. Not a traditional vampire film, set in the contemporary, swinging 70s, absent youth, adults portraying the college students here. Television veteran Carmen Argenziano has an early role here as cynical Sam who finds the séance to be a load of hogwash and learns that bullets fired from his gun have little effect on a vampire..and he learns the hard way, to say the least.
Average Hammer pastiche shot long ago by the Americans, conventionally atmospheric and scary, Grave of the Vampire has a disjointed and _resumative script, it takes almost half the movie to prepare the actual plot—a guy's hunt for his vampire father, whose nemesis the youngster became.Lyn Peters looks hot, though, and so does Margaret Fairchild (the sexy librarian). The cast in interesting; Carmen Argenziano plays one of the ghoul's guests at the séance. (And this reunion scene, the reunion at Croft's, is even worse than the rest of the flick. It happened I have seen Grave of the Vampire the same day I saw THE MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD, which is simply a very good adventure movie, a very well made exotic shocker.) The _ilogicallity naturally holds little interest; Dracula is interesting because he's explained, at least partly, while Michael Pataki's New England ghoul is simply assigned limitless magical powers, which makes him boring. A vampire holds the interest if he's a form of life—or of sickness within life; he's disposable if he's merely a superhero.
Now, when a body is found and a police lieutenant (Eric Mason) asks if the sun was completely up, you know there are going to be problems. The police do not automatically assume vampires. But, this one did.Leslie (Kitty Vallacher) was doing the nasty with her boyfriend (Jay Scott) in a cemetery when Caleb Croft (Michael Pataki) rises from the grave. The boyfriend is killed, and she is raped. An interesting twist on the vampire theme.30 years later the child (William Smith) is tracking down his father who has lost the ugliness of the grave and is busy raping and sucking the blood from young women.The movie is slow and there is no blood or nudity. I would have never watched had I noticed the PG rating. PG for a vampire movie. Lame!