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The Vampire Happening (German: Gebissen wird nur nachts, lit. They only bite at night) is a 1971 West German comedy and horror film directed by Freddie Francis.[4]

The Vampire Happening
German film poster for The Vampire Happening
Directed by	Freddie Francis
Written by	August Rieger Karl-Heinz Hummel[1]
Produced by	Pier A. Caminnecci
Cinematography	Gerard Vandenberg[2]
Edited by	Alfred Srp[2]
Music by	Jerry van Rooyen[2]
Release date	June 4, 1971 (1971-06-04) (West Germany)[3]
Running time	102 minutes[2]
Country	West Germany[2]
Language	German[4]

Plot

An American actress inherits a castle in Transylvania. What she does not know is that her ancestor, the Baroness Catali, was in actuality a vampire countess, and emerges from her tomb to ravage the nearby village and Catholic seminary.

Cast

• Pia Degermark as Betty Williams, Clarimonde
• Thomas Hunter as Jens Larsen
• Yvor Murillo as Josef
• Ingrid van Bergen as Miss Niessen
• Joachim Kemmer as Martin
• Oskar Wegrostek as Abt
• Ferdy Mayne as Count Dracula
• Lyvia Bauer as Gabrielle
• Daria Damar as Kirsten
• Kay Williams
• Michael Janisch
• Toni Wagner
• Raoul Retzer

Production

In the early 1970s, Italian producer Pier A. Caminnecci was looking for a film for his wife Pia Degermark whose previous film Elvira Madigan (1967) was a critical and financial success.[1] Caminnecci set up an international production for her in West Germany directed by British director Freddie Francis and written by German screenwriters August Rieger and Karl-Heinz Hummel[1] The script features a sub-plot based on Theophile Gautier's short story "La Morte Amoureuse."[1]

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.[5]

Reception

The film was not well received.[6] 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"[4] 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" and "doesn't come within lightyears of Polanski's vision"[7]

See also

• List of comedy films of the 1970s
• List of horror films of 1971
• List of German films: 1970s

References

Works cited

• Browning, John Edgar; Picart, Caroline Joan (2010). Dracula in Visual Media:Film, Television, Comic Book and Electronic Game Appearances, 1921-2010. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786433650.
• Hallenbeck, Bruce G. (2009). Comedy-Horror Films:A Chronological History, 1914-2008. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786433322.

External links

• The Vampire Happening at IMDb

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