Video Details
Made in 1960, Piero Regnoli's "The Playgirls and the Vampire" is one of the earliest Italian horror films. After skipping out on an unpaid hotel bill, a busload of curvaceous showgirls is forced off the road by a thunderstorm. They prevail on the hospitality of a nearby castle, where the reclusive Count Kernassy nearly orders them away--until he sees Vera, a leggy dancer who's a dead ringer for his beautiful ancestor Margherita! Unfortunately, Vera is also attractive to the Count's 200 year old, bloodthirsty ancestor--who's a dead ringer for his descendant!
Synopsis
In this grindhouse favorite that blends '60s sexploitation with Euro-Horror, five exotic dancers are travelling through Europe with their manager (Alfredo Rizzo) and an accompanying musician. When bad weather stands them in the middle of nowhere, they seek shelter in a castle that, conveniently enough, has been turned into a hotel by the master of the house, Count Gabor Kernassy (Walter Brandi). With no money to pay their bill, the dancers "work" off their debt by showing off their dance routines (which in turn allows them to show off their figures). However, it turns out that Kernassy isn't the only count who lives at the castle; another member of the Kernassy family, a vampire who has been undead for the past 200 years, also haunts its halls, and the bloodsucker soon discovers that one of the dancers, Vera (Lila Rocco), bears a striking resemblance to the great love of his life from two centuries ago. L'Ultima Preda del Vampiro has been released in the U.S. under a variety of titles (including The Playgirls and the Vampire, Curse of the Vampire, Daughters of the Vampire, Desires of the Vampire, and Last Victim of the Vampire) and a number of different running times, ranging from 66 to 85 minutes (depending how much of the original film's nudity and dancing had been cut), though the complete version is now available on home video. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
