I think I seen this once on some Showtime channel. Can't remember much about it.

I just watched this tonight. It's interesting! In most ways it's basically just a straight vampire story, just about exactly what you would expect it to be.... you already outlined it in your post. I think there are a few moments where you can pretty much tell it was originally conceived as a soft core porno, but there are only a few moments where that kind of thing is implied, they never really take things in that direction in the finished product.

It is interesting to place this in the chronology of vampire movies. I could swear I could feel the inspiration for both Salem's Lot and Fright Night, at certain mments in the course of the film. The way the Count hypnotically delayed the vampire hunters from coming after him until dark was a very big deal in the BOOK version of Salem's Lot, although I can't remember if it was a big deal in the miniseries. Also, several moments with Count Yorga's human henchman ("familiar?") Brudah were probably the inspiration for the Billy Cole scenes in Fright Night. Especially the question of whether he has actually been killed when you think he was killed. Fright Night took that much, much, much further, and made it a lot more dramatic and hilarious, but you can see the beginnings of it here. And the Donna character kept making me think of Amy in Fright Night.... both Donna and Amy are probably derived from Mina Harker in Dracula. Count Yorga has almost no comedy at all, except arguably a few tiny moments when some dry humor is implied. So... wait, I'm saying that wrong... in Fright Night, the movie is mostly somewhat lighthearted and fun, (except when Evil Ed is turned), and what happens with Amy is ultimately less serious than Donna.

It's also interesting to think of what this movie grew out of. You can really see a lot of 60's-ness in the set deisgn, especially the interiors in Count Yorga's mansion. The basement was almost exactly the same as what we see in tons of 60's horror movies. I also thought of the original Star Trek show a few times, just in the way the Count and Dr. Hayes interact with each other. I guess it shows something about the zeitgeist of the times. It was probably filmed in 1969, or very early 1970, so it was right on the border of the 60's and 70's.

Anyway... it's not exactly FUN in the way that Fright Night is, but it is interesting to see, and mull over a bit. Good stuff.

So glad you watched it, tommix! I really do love it, even if it's as generic of a vampire tale as it gets. Then again, it's only generic because the parodies could emulate it through and through. It is a basic story, but in that sense, it's such a classical tale of man going up against something he stands no chance against.

Robert Quarry is the shit!

Another thing: this is a very minor observation, but, whatever... there was a scene or two along the side of a road, surrounded by wooded land, and it made me think of both Vampyres and A Clockwork Orange. I'm not sure if this is just a stupid, random, insignificant thing, or if it was part of an early 70s trend to show isolated spots along roads going through the woods. You know, sometimes there are minor details that become fashionable for a little while, then go away, like saxophone music and neon tubing in 80s movies. They don't exactly MEAN anything, but they are a giveaway for what period the film was made, if you are channel surfing and come upon the movie without knowing what it is. In the 70s there were scenes showing plentiful houseplants in people's homes, and sometimes they would have scenes where a whole bunch of pigeons take flight all at once, froma city park. I think of those details as 70s things. Maybe a scene along an isolated stretch of a road through the woods is another hallmark of 70s cinema?? I'll have to think about it more. Hey, that reporter lady in Omen 2 died on an isolated stretch of road too... I'm not sure if it was wooded, but there were at least a few trees around, I think. Hmmm.

Another thought: Erica was sort of a hybrid of Renfield and Lucy Westenra, if you think about it. That's unusual, you don't see that in every vampire movie. Think about the kitten scene. They don't exactly explain it, but it has to be a little homage to Renfield. Erica was more like Lucy Westenra though... sort of a filler babe, whose seduction and envampening fleshes out the character of Yorga, and adds a good chunk of time to the movie.

Wait, one more thought: a few scenes made me think of Vampyres. Just the part with the VW van on the dirt road, I guess. Something about the way they shot it is a lot like Vampyres. This movie came out first, so maybe it was an inspiration for Vampyres.