Grave of the Vampire(1972) Movie Review

Trailer here.

Grave of the Vampire is a 1972 horror movie directed by John Hayes and starring William Smith and Lyn Peters.

The film opens with a grave opening. It is the grave of a man called Caleb Croft (Michael Pataki). He has come back to life. A couple called Paul and Leslie are in the graveyard and they hear the coffin opening. The corpse attacks them. It bites Paul's neck and it drags Leslie into the grave and rapes her. It then runs off to hide. An old guy goes to the cops and tells them what happened. Lieutenant Panzer(Eric Mason) is on the case. He visits Leslie in hospital and he shows her mugshots. She sees Croft in one of them and she gets upset. It turns out that in life he was a rapist.

Croft kills a woman. Leslie discovers that she is pregnant. The doctor tells her that the baby is not alive and it is not human. He wants her to have an abortion. Leslie will not. Panzer goes to the grave of Croft and he looks around. It is empty. Croft returns and kills Panzer. Leslie gives birth to her baby. It is a boy. The baby enjoys the taste of blood. Leslie cuts herself and draws blood for her son. The boy, James(Smith) grows up and his mother dies. He knows about Caleb Croft, who seems to be his father. He wants to destroy him. He enrols in school and he meets a classmate called Anita. Caleb is still killing people. A man called Professor Lockwood(Pataki) is teaching the class which is about the occult and stuff like that. Anita begins to talk about Caleb Croft.

A woman valled Anne(Peters) is a friend of Anita's. She is in the class also. James likes her more than Anita, They kiss. Anita wants to be a vampire and Professor Lockwood comes to see her. He is actually Caleb Croft. He promises her that he will make her a vampire. He ends up killing her. Anne finds her friend dead. Croft shows up and he confronts her. She screams. James hears her and he comes to help her. Professor Lockwood is having a seance. He chooses Anne as the medium. He calls his wife from the grave. Anita comes through. She wants to possess Anne. She tells everyone that Lockwood is a vampire. James takes Anne away. Lockwood faces the others. He admits to being Caleb Croft. He starts killing people. James and Croft fight. James tells him who he is. He kills his father. Anne comes and he tells her to run as he has become a vampire too. 

This film wasn't great. It was fun to watch, but I found it a little dull in parts. Maybe it just wasn't for me. I will give it a 4/10.

Blade of the Ripper(1971) Movie Review

Trailer here.

Blade of the Ripper a.k.a. The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh is a 1971 Italian giallo directed by Sergio Martino and starring George Hilton and Edwige Fenech.

Julie Wardh(Fenech) is a married woman who is on her way home when she gets stopped by a police man who tells her that there is a killer on the loose. She arrives home and she is met by a present from her ex lover, Jean(Ivan Rassimov). This makes her uncomfortable as they had an abusive releationship. She married another man to get away from him. Her husband is Neil(Alberto de Mendoza) and he is not the most attentive husband. Julie is having dreams of Jean. The killer is at large and he claims another victim. Julie meets her friend, Carol at a party and is introduced to a man called George(Hilton). They like each other immediately. They meet once again and then he turns up at her place. They kiss and get it on. 

Julie gets a call from someone who saw them together. The person demands money to keep quiet. Julie thinks that it is probably Jean. Carol tells her that she will go to meet the blackmailer in her place. This is a huge mistake as the killer is there and he kills Carol. The police investigate. They ask Jean to come to the station. Julie is convinced that he is the murderer. Julie informs them that she was being blackmailed. Jean has an alibi, so they can't hold him. George wants to take her away. The killer taunts Julie. He tries to kill her, but she escapes. She tells Neil what happened. They go over to confront Jean, but find him dead.

Julie is upset by the whole thing. The murderer gets killed by one of his victims so this makes her feel better.

She ends up being kidnapped by Jean, who has faked his death. He turns on the gas and runs off. She is rescued by George and a doctor. They arrive just in time. The doctor tries to save her. Julie is taken to hospital. The doctor later tells George and Neil that Julie has died. Jean is revealed to be working for George. He was hired to kill Julie and make it look like suicide so that her husband could get her life insurance money. Carol was killed so that George could get an inheritance. Jean gets shot by George so that there are no witnesses. Neil and George are working together. They think that they have covered all bases by giving each other an alibi for the killings. They are going to escape when they see Julie. She is not dead after all. She leads the police to them and they end up dying as the police chase them. The doctor figured out that there was something fishy and realised that the murderer was not the original killer but someone else, trying to make Carol's murder look like she was just another victim. Julie survives.

This is a good film with a lot happening. There are a few suspects and two killers and I didn't figure out what was going on until the end. I did enjoy it, though and it was entertaining overall. I always enjoy a mystery and this is an above average one. I will give it a 6/10.