I Vampiri (lit. The Vampires) is a 1957 Italian horror film. The film was directed by Riccardo Freda and completed by the film's cinematographer, Mario Bava. It stars Gianna Maria Canale, Carlo D'Angelo and Dario Michaelis. The film is about a series of murders on young women who are found with their blood drained. The newspapers report on a killer known as the Vampire, which prompts young journalist Pierre Lantin to research the crimes. Lantin investigates the mysterious Du Grand family who lives in a castle occupied by Gisele Du Grand who is in love with Lantin. She lives with her aunt, who hides her face in a veil, as well as the scientist Julian Du Grand, who is trying to find the secret to eternal youth.
The film was developed during a growth in the Italian film industry which allowed for the market to expand beyond a local Italian audience and would allow Italian film makers to explore new genres of filmmaking. Freda made a deal with producers at the Italian film studio Titanus to create a low budget horror film by writing a story in one day and filming it in two weeks. The producers agreed and Freda began filming. On the final day of shooting, Freda left the set which led to the cinematographer Mario Bava to direct the rest of the film, which changed various plot points and added the inclusion of stock footage.
On the film's release in 1957, it became Italy's first horror film of the sound era. It was not successful in Italy, which Freda interpreted as an audience not interested in horror films made by Italians. The film was released theatrically as The Devil's Commandment and Lust of the Vampire in the United States and United Kingdom respectively. English critics predominantly discuss the film in terms of its cinematography and place in film history. Despite being the first of the Italian horror films, it was not until the British film Dracula (1958) and the international hit Black Sunday were released that a greater amount of horror films began being produced in Italy.
Plot[]
In 1957 Paris, a series of mysterious killings are committed against young women of the same blood type who are found dead and drained of their blood. The press reported these killings as being performed by a murderer coined "The Vampire". The journalist Pierre Lantin begins to investigate and becomes more involved when his fiancée, the dancer Nora Duval, is kidnapped. As Inspector Chantal examines the crime scene, Lantin arrives predicting that the crime was committed by the Vampire. Lantin investigates the school that the latest murder happened at to search for clues and finds that the woman was being followed by a tall man before the murder. Elsewhere, a man named Joseph begs for "his fix" in a dark room, but is told to go after a woman named Lorette and that he "knows what to do" at Rue Saint Etienne. Joseph arrives at the location and is spotted by Lantin, but manages to get away from him. Joseph arrives at the clinic of Professor Julian Du Grand and demands money to leave town or he will report what is happening to the police. He is strangled by Du Grand's assistant when a shadowed woman named Marguerite arrives and states that if the police track them down, it will be the end of Du Grand's career. A newspaper headline later reveals that Professor Julian Du Grand has died unexpectedly.
After a funeral procession for Julian, a group of men arrive and reveal that the body buried was that of Joseph. Joseph's corpse is taken to a castle, where he is experimented on by Julian who is attempting to discover the secret for eternal life. Later, Lorette meets a blind man in the street who asks her to drop off a letter. On dropping the letter off, she is kidnapped and finds herself locked in a bedroom with the skeletons of the Vampire's previous victims. As the police try and track down Lorette's kidnappers, Lantin is reassigned from following the Vampire story and is set to cover a ball at the castle of Du Grand. At the castle, he meets Gisele, who expresses admiration for Lantin as he reminds her of his father. Lantin leaves the party and is pursued by the photographer Donald. Lantin states he does not want to lead on Gisele with her emotions, which leads to Donald re-entering the castle to profess his love for Gisele. Gisele turns him down as her face begins to grow old before his eyes and she reveals that each person killed restores her youth for a short time. Knowing her secret is his death warrant as she reaches for a pistol and murders Donald. Gisele then calls upon Professor Julian to make her eternally young. Julian states that under her fragile emotional state it may not work, but begins an experimental transfer Lorette's youth and beauty to Giselle.
Gisele meets Pierre the next day when she is picking up a painting where he spots odd behavior in her such as writing with the wrong hand, which leads him to return to her castle to investigate further. Gisele begins growing ill from her previous experiment and calls upon Professor Du Grand to aid her. As he leaves, Joseph awakens in Du Grand's lab. Pierre triggers an alarm, which has him race out the castle where he meets the disoriented Joseph. Pierre takes Joseph to the police station where he reveals he was the kidnapper of the young women, but the people in the castle are the real murderers. The police arrive looking for Marguerite, but only find Gisele who denies any knowledge of Joseph. Pierre and the police explore the castle without finding clues. On leaving, Gisele begins transforming back into Marguerite before their eyes, prompting for an emergency search of the castle. A gun battle ensues between Du Grand's assistant and the police, leaving the assistant and Du Grand shot. This leads the police to open his grave, where they find Lorette. Lorette is sent home and Inspector Chantal reveals that Giselle confessed to the crimes and died shortly after.