Uriah43 This movie begins in 1874 at a graveyard in Transylvania with a stake being driven through the heart of a corpse. Not long afterward a seriously deformed man enters the local tavern and requests the presence of the local doctor. Upon being taken to a nearby laboratory the doctor inserts a freshly removed heart from a man recently killed into the chest of the corpse from the graveyard. Six years later the scene shifts to the city of Karlstadt where another doctor named "Dr. John Pierre" (Vincent Ball) is sentenced to life in prison for accidentally killing his patient by using a certain procedure not recognized at the time by the medical community. However, rather than being taken to his assigned prison, Dr. John Pierre is instead taken to a place for the criminally insane which just happens to be supervised by the same person who had his chest punctured in Transylvania six years earlier, "Dr. Callistratus" (Donald Wolfit). Now rather than reveal any more I will just say the title is somewhat misleading as there isn't an actual vampire featured in this movie at all. At least not in the usual concept. Because of that this film doesn't contain the usual action or horror one might expect either. As such I found this movie to be slightly disappointing in that regard. Even so it was an adequate film for the most part and having an attractive woman like Barbara Shelley (as "Madelaine Duval") certainly didn't hurt. In any case, I have rated the film accordingly. Average.

dbborroughs The one enduring image from this film that has haunted me across the years is the weird hunchback assistant to the villain. Its an image that was splashed across horror magazines of my childhood. There was something about the twisted fellow with an eye that drooped to his cheek that made you want to see the movie. I never saw the film as a kid and it wasn't until tonight, well into my adulthood, that I managed to see the film. I can't say I was disappointed.The plot concerns Dr John Pierre who is wrongly thrown in jail. He is redirected to the asylum/prison run by Dr Callistratus so that John Pierre can help Callistratus with his experiments concerning blood. As those outside the prison attempt to free him through legal means Pierre is forced to deal with the strange goings on in the prison, including fending off the sadistic Carl, the hunchbacked assistant of Callistratus.Gothic, and grandly over the top in the way that most of the Hammer films weren't this is a cheesy but fun attempt at copying the Hammer Studios formula. It looks and feels very much like Hammer in it styling and plotting (Then again Jimmy Sangster of Hammer wrote the script) .Shot in color, the print I saw was well worn and a bit faded. I wonder how this would have looked at the time of its original release. It must have looked great. I loved the sets which were done in such a way as to give the illusion of space, unfortunately it turned every location into spaces the size of football stadiums (though in several sequences things were much too cramped).The whole thing reminded me of the sort of thing you used to run across at 2am on late night TV with too many commercials. Actually as much as I liked the film I do think it is a bit plodding and probably could have used either trimming or a commercial break or two.Strangely this film is very difficult to see. I'm at a loss as to why this film has fallen through the cracks over the last 40 odd years. Its not a bad movie, though it is a tad creaky and of a style they haven't done since Hammer stopped making movies. Perhaps its simply a matter of falling between the cracks in finding a distributor (it was not done by a "major producer"), or more likely the fact that there is no vampire with wings and fangs as promised in the title. What ever the real reason its a shame because this film is worth a look.If you like Hammer style horror or good but rarely seen films, search this one out and give it a try. Its certainly worth a bag of popcorn on a Saturday night watch movies.

KillerCadugen I'm not sure HOW this was accomplished, but Blood of the Vampire is both ghastly AND dull. I had taped this off AMC during the 2002 Halloween marathon and finally had a chance to watch it and while it had the look and feel of a Hammer movie it was amazingly, painfully dull. The fact that Dr Callistratus is resurrected from the dead is the only supernatural element in the movie and somehow it never becomes an issue or is talked about again. (SPOILER AHEAD) Although the visual elements of the Doctor's secret laboratory is stark, there is no attempt to generate any fear in this movie. Dull dull dull.

preppy-3 Silly horror movie. POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!! A mad doctor runs an insane asylum (how original--heavy sarcasm). For reasons not worth mentioning he needs the blood of inmates to stay alive. That's it. No vampires at all, but the film does open with a pretty bloody (and totally unnecessary) staking. The film looks great--beautiful sets, nice color and some fairly strong violence (for 1958). But that's about it. The plot is stupid, the pace is slow and it gets pretty dull.Donald Wolfit, as the doctor, really tries to give a good performance but he's stuck in some lousy makeup that makes him look like Bela Lugosi (WHY?)! Also check out the even worse makeup on his deformed assistant Carl (Victor Maddern). Vincent Ball (horrible actor but handsome) and Barbara Sheeley (beautiful as always but given nothing to do) are the obligatory nice, innocent couple.Not unwatchable but of very little interest either.