80 mins |
Rated
R
Directed by Stephanie Rothman
Starring Michael Blodgett, Sherry E. DeBoer, Celeste Yarnall
Vampire Weekends
In this cult exploitation skin flick, the lusty vampire trope, set by the story Carmilla, is thrust into the modern free love seventies in the heat of the Southern California desert. Continuing a tradition of such exploitation films, director Stephanie Rothman, creates an illusory, sensual desert mirage of a vampire film, playing into the hypnosis and stunning mind control aspect of vampire lore.
Sleepy-eyed nice guy Lee Ritter and his vapid, but pretty wife, Susan accept the invitation of mysterious vixen Diane LeFanu (A nod to "Carmilla" author J. Sheridan LeFanu) to visit her in her secluded desert estate. Tensions arise when the couple, unaware at first that Diane is in reality a centuries-old vampire, realize that they are both objects of the pale temptress' seductions.
FURTHER WATCHING:
DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (Harry Kümel, 1971, 87min) An unintended sister film of THE VELVET VAMPIRE, this Euro-Exploitation film of the same year stars JEANNE DIELMAN's Delphine Seyrig in markedly different role as Countess Erzsebet Báthory, herself a whole other vein of vampire lore to sink your teeth into.
FURTHER READING:
Vampire Cinema: The First One Hundred Years (2022) by Christopher Frayling (Available at the Chelsea!)
I Spit On Your Celluloid: The History of Women Directing Horror Movies (2024) by Heidi Honeycutt (Available soon at the Chelsea! Featuring Stephanie Rothman, director of THE VELVET VAMPIRE, 1971)
In A Glass Darkly (1872) by J. Sheridan LeFanu (A collection of stories featuring the highly influential “Carmilla”)
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Vampire Weekends
In this cult exploitation skin flick, the lusty vampire trope, set by the story Carmilla, is thrust into the modern free love seventies in the heat of the Southern California desert. Continuing a tradition of such exploitation films, director Stephanie Rothman, creates an illusory, sensual desert mirage of a vampire film, playing into the hypnosis and stunning mind control aspect of vampire lore.
Sleepy-eyed nice guy Lee Ritter and his vapid, but pretty wife, Susan accept the invitation of mysterious vixen Diane LeFanu (A nod to "Carmilla" author J. Sheridan LeFanu) to visit her in her secluded desert estate. Tensions arise when the couple, unaware at first that Diane is in reality a centuries-old vampire, realize that they are both objects of the pale temptress' seductions.
FURTHER WATCHING:
DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (Harry Kümel, 1971, 87min) An unintended sister film of THE VELVET VAMPIRE, this Euro-Exploitation film of the same year stars JEANNE DIELMAN's Delphine Seyrig in markedly different role as Countess Erzsebet Báthory, herself a whole other vein of vampire lore to sink your teeth into.
FURTHER READING:
Vampire Cinema: The First One Hundred Years (2022) by Christopher Frayling (Available at the Chelsea!)
I Spit On Your Celluloid: The History of Women Directing Horror Movies (2024) by Heidi Honeycutt (Available soon at the Chelsea! Featuring Stephanie Rothman, director of THE VELVET VAMPIRE, 1971)
In A Glass Darkly (1872) by J. Sheridan LeFanu (A collection of stories featuring the highly influential “Carmilla”)
