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THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS
aka
DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES; THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS OR PARDON ME BUT YOUR TEETH ARE IN MY NECK
Rating: 
UK. 1967.
Director – Roman Polanski, Screenplay – Roman Polanski & Gerard Brach, Producers – Roman Polanski & Gene Gutowski, Photography – Douglas Slocombe, Music – Krzysztof Komeda, Makeup – Tom Smith, Production Design – Wilfred Shingleton. Production Company – Cadre/Filmways/MGM.
Cast:
Jack MacGowran (Professor Abronsius), Roman Polanski (Alfred), Ferdy Mayne (Count von Krolock), Terry Downes (Koukol), Iain Quarrier (Herbert von Krolock), Alfie Bass (Chagal), Fiona Lewis (Magda), Sharon Tate (Sarah Chagal)
Plot: The vampire hunter Professor Abronsius and his bumbling assistant Alfred arrive in a small village in search of vampires. Alfred falls for the innkeeper’s beautiful daughter but she is snatched by a vampire. Alfred and the professor head to the nearby castle in search of her where they welcomed by the urbane Count Von Krolock and his son Herbert who develops somewhat of an interest in Alfred.
The Fearless Vampire Killers is the one weak link in the otherwise considerable brilliance of Roman Polanski’s genre oeuvre – Polanski’s other horror films being Repulsion (1965), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Tenant (1976) and The Ninth Gate (1999). It was even a disappointment to Polanski himself who totally disowned The Fearless Vampire Killers after the distributor cut it from his original 148 minute print down to Dance of the Vampires, the 107 minute English print, and The Fearless Vampire Killers, sometimes subtitled Or Pardon Me But Your Teeth Are in My Neck, the 91 minute US print.
But if the truth be told, the film could have been cut even further. Even the cut version feels long and padded and one has doubts that Polanski’s full-length version would make it a better film. Polanski is far too meticulous a director to work in the genre of knockabout slapstick that the film aims for. The film seems to consist mostly of clonks over the head, stumblings, inane gibberings, kicks in the ass, or in having the erstwhile vampire hunters stake barrels of wine or trip over coffin lids by accident. The middle of the film is taken up by at least a half-hour of running around the castle that seems to go on forever. It leaves one with sympathies with the distributor’s decision to cut the film. The film has a body of supporters but mostly it seems a work whose virtues are argued in isolated pieces rather than as a whole.
Certainly, there are one or two moments of imagination in the unenlivening silliness – the scene where the dance wheels around in front of a mirror and the three live people are the only ones reflected. The film is better when it comes to its puncturing of the cliches of the vampire genre, in particular the ones created by Hammer Films – the masque is a direct spoof of Kiss of the Vampire (1962), for instance. This film’s Van Helsing equivalent (an amusing hopped-up performance from Jack MacGowran) is seen as a bumbling idiot who, far from succeeding, instead ends up transporting vampirism to the rest of the world. Or the handsome blonde vampire of the piece, modelled after David Peel in Hammer’s The Brides of Dracula (1960), who has more of an interest in the hero than the heroine.
The production values for the film are excellent – rather than the painted backdrop that would stand in for the standard Hammer castle, the castle is built with impressive three-dimensional detail over an entire soundstage. There is also a fine score from Polish composer Christopher (Krzysztof) Komeda.
Copyright Richard Scheib 1999-2011
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