Happy Christmas!

Hello everyone from Amanda at Jigsaw's Lair Blog. I want to wish all my readers a Happy Christmas and New Year! I am taking a break over the festive period but I will be back in the New Year for more reviews. I have been making my way through some seasonal horror movies and of course, some non horror Christmas movies. Christmas Vacation is always on my list for this time of year along with classics like Gremlins, It's A Wonderful Life, Holiday Inn, Home Alone. Of course, Black Christmas from 1974 is always my favourite go to festive horror movie. It has everything that I want in a spooky Christmas movie. It wouldn't be Christmas without it.

Some others I like to watch are Silent Night, Deadly Night from 1984, Christmas Bloody Christmas, All Through the House, Christmas Evil, Don't Open Till Christmas, To All a Goodnight and more. So, I have a list ready and lots to watch. I hope that you all have a great Christmas and that you get to watch lots of movies. Don't forget that Die Hard and Lethal Weapon are actually Christmas movies!!! So include them in your Christmas list. Enjoy it, however you celebrate it and I will be back in 2026 for another year of movies!!

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.