''The Vampire Happening'' (german: Gebissen wird nur nachts, ''They only bite at night'') is a 1971

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

and horror film directed by

Freddie Francis Frederick William Francis (22 December 1917 – 17 March 2007) was an English cinematographer and film director. He achieved his greatest successes as a cinematographer. He started his career with British films such as Jack Cardiff's '' Sons and ...

Plot

An American actress inherits a castle in

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

. What she does not know is that her ancestor, the Baroness Catali, was in actuality a

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deat ...

countess, and emerges from her tomb to ravage the nearby village and Catholic seminary.

Cast

Pia Degermark Pia Charlotte Degermark (born 24 August 1949) is a Swedish actress. She is best known for her role as Elvira Madigan in the 1967 drama film ''Elvira Madigan'', for which she won a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. Career Born Pia Char ...

as Betty Williams, Clarimonde * Thomas Hunter as Jens Larsen *Yvor Murillo as Josef *

Ingrid van Bergen Ingrid van Bergen (; born 15 June 1931) is a German film actress. She has appeared in 100 films since 1954. She was born in Free City of Danzig, today Gdańsk, Poland. Career Since 1954, Ingrid van Bergen appeared in more than 170 film and tele ...

as Miss Niessen * Joachim Kemmer as Martin *Oskar Wegrostek as Abt *

Ferdy Mayne Ferdy Mayne (or Ferdie Mayne) (born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel; 11 March 1916 – 30 January 1998) was a German-British stage and screen actor. Born in Mainz, he emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1930s to escape the Nazi regi ...

Count Dracula Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by some ...

*Lyvia Bauer as Gabrielle *Daria Damar as Kirsten *Kay Williams * Michael Janisch *Toni Wagner *

Raoul Retzer Raoul Retzer (1919–1974) was an Austrian actor. Retzer was a prolific film actor appearing in more than a hundred and forty productions between 1952 and 1975 generally in small or supporting roles. He appeared in the 1955 film '' The Last Ten Da ...

Production

In the early 1970s, Italian producer Pier A. Caminnecci was looking for a film for his wife

whose previous film ''

Elvira Madigan Hedvig Antoinette Isabella Eleonore Jensen (December 4, 1867 July 19, 1889), better known by her stage name Elvira Madigan, was a circus performer who performed as a slack rope dancer, artistic rider, juggler and dancer. She is best known today ...

'' (1967) was a critical and financial success. Caminnecci set up an international production for her in West Germany directed by British director

and written by German screenwriters August Rieger and Karl-Heinz Hummel The script features a sub-plot based on

Theophile Gautier Theophilus is a male given name with a range of alternative spellings. Its origin is the Greek word Θεόφιλος from θεός (God) and φιλία (love or affection) can be translated as "Love of God" or "Friend of God", i.e., it is a theoph ...

's short story "

La Morte Amoureuse "La Morte amoureuse" (in en, "The Dead Woman in Love") is a short story written by Théophile Gautier and published in ''La Chronique de Paris'' in 1836. It tells the story of a priest named Romuald who falls in love with Clarimonde, a beautiful w ...

." Francis later stated:

I was aware from the start of the difficulties in shooting a horror parody. I really believed that I was working with normal people in the movie industry, and thought I could have made a decent film. With time, I became aware that the producer was an imbecile who treated the project like a home movie. He wanted to do the casting, make cameos in the film, and wanted his wife as an actress. It was a disaster which I can't say anything serious about.Zatterin, M.
"Carreras, Francis, Guest, Lester"
Fantafestival, 1986.

Reception

The film was not well received. Allmovie gave the film one and a half stars out of five, stating that it is "not considered to be one of the crown jewels of the genre" In his book ''Comedy-Horror Films:A Chronological History'', author Bruce G. Hallenbeck referred to the film as "sort of a ripoff of Polanski's ''

The Fearless Vampire Killers ''The Fearless Vampire Killers, or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck'' (shortened to ''The Fearless Vampire Killers''; originally released in the United Kingdom as ''Dance of the Vampires'') is a 1967 British comedy horror film directed ...

''" and "doesn't come within lightyears of Polanski's vision".

References

Works cited

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vampire Happening, The 1971 films West German films German comedy horror films 1971 horror films 1970s comedy horror films 1970s German-language films German vampire films Films directed by Freddie Francis Films based on short fiction Films set in castles 1971 comedy films Films based on works by Théophile Gautier 1970s German films