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Stars:
Jack MacGowran, Sharon Tate, Alfie Bass and Ferdy Mayne
Writers:
Gerard Brach and Roman Polanski
Director:
Roman Polanski
Feature
length: 107 minutes
Extras:
Vintage Promotional Featurette and Theatrical Trailer
Languages:
English, French, German and Italian Language Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 26
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1966/DVD Release: 2004
Theatrical
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Home
Video Distributor: Warner Home Video
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
I
wonder what films motivated and inspired filmmaker Roman Polanski to co-write
and direct “The Fearless Vampire Killers Or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are In
My Neck”? Was it the old Universal horror classics, German expressionistic
cinema, or the gothic films produced in the heyday of the Hammer Studios reign
on the classic characters? Ferdy Mayne has an uncanny likeness to Christopher
Lee’s portrayal of the Prince of Darkness in the Hammer studios “Dracula”
feature film series. Perhaps it was all of them and more or perhaps it was not
so much the horror genre that interested Polanski, but playing with the
conventions as an homage to the type of comedy seen in the early days of cinema
before there was sound. Whatever those inspirations were, there is no denying
that Polanski’s horror dark comedy classic is a visually beautiful film to
gaze upon. The vampire makeup effects, which at times looks quite zombie like,
is excellent and the production and costume design is only matched by
Polanski’s own flair for creating distinct onscreen compositions. This is a
film that literally takes place in it’s own world long before filmmakers like
Tim Burton or Terry Gilliam would introduce the concept of every film taking
place in a hyper-realistic world all onto itself. It looks familiar, but yet
Polanski never forgets to remind his audience that it is only a movie whether it
is the pale moonlight scenes over white snow covered vistas or the standout
vampire’s ball sequence, which is one of the film’s highlights, Polanski’s
vision is nothing short of fantastic. Add to that the fact that he portrays
Alfred, the bumbling, but ever-fateful assistant to the buffoon like vampire
hunter Professor Abronsius, and I am amazed at how much responsibility Polanski
was able to take upon himself as the Director, Co-writer, and one of the Actors
in this film and make it all work so well. It is very easy to take this for
granted when in the last few decades so many filmmakers have made cameos in
their own motion pictures, but few have ever taken on a large role in a genre
spoof and have it been carried through to fruition so successfully. Even Mel
Brook’s comedic homage to the Universal horror classic “Young
Frankenstein” did not feature Mr. Brooks in a trademark cameo as he has in so
many of his hilarious sophomoric comedies.
The
evil vampire Count Von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne) has a sinister plan to take over
the world by unleashing a plague of vampires. He snatches an innkeeper’s
beautiful daughter (Sharon Tate), who is somehow integral to his devious plans
and also happens to be the object of the affection to poor hapless Alfred. Thus
through a series a misadventures the fearless vampire hunters eventually find
themselves trapped within the confines of Krolock’s Transylvanian castle
intent on rescuing the young red haired beauty and defeating Krolock with
hilarious results.
Warner
Home Video’s DVD edition presents “The
Fearless Vampire Killers: Or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are In My Neck” in an
anamorphic (2.35:1) aspect ratio that preserves the manner in which the film was
exhibited theatrically as close as possible for home video users. The transfer
is somewhat marred with flecks and artifacts from the source materials used, but
there are still moments and sequences in the film where the visual style is
mesmerizing on the screen. A clear English Monaural Soundtrack is encoded onto
the dual layered DVD and is free from any analogue background hissing and
whatnot. French, German, and Italian Language Monaural Soundtracks are encoded
onto the DVD as well along with English Captions and Closed Captions for the
hearing impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles as options.
A
vintage promotional featurette (10:19) that is both sort of like a short film
spin-off as well as an extended commercial for the film is included on the DVD
along with the theatrical trailer (2:13). The main menu is animated while the
subsequent menus are all standard interactive still frames and all are easy to
navigate.
A
true horror and dark comedy classic, “The Fearless Vampire Killers Or: Pardon
Me, But Your Teeth Are In My Neck” is available on DVD-Video now at retailers
on and offline courtesy of Warner Home Video.
©
Copyright 2004 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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