Review of The Playgirls and the Vampire

"The Playgirls and the Vampire," an odd Italian amalgam of sexploitation and Gothic horror, was originally released in 1960 under the perhaps more fitting title "The Last Prey of the Vampire." The five gals who are forced to spend the night at the creepy castle of Count Gabor Kernassy, along with their manager and bus driver/pianist, are more showgirls than playgirls (and, judging by a few of their dance routines, bargain-basement showgirls at that!), and the "v" word, strangely enough, is never uttered by anyone during the course of the entire film...even when the 200-year-old, bloodsucking ancestor of Kernassy is revealed to be a resident of the castle crypts. The picture's scares are few, perhaps nonexistent, and the sex elements, naturally, are very tame by today's standards (a brief topless moment, a few peeks through a filmy negligee, and one striptease down to her scanties by one of the gals). Indeed, I'm hard pressed to put my finger on just what I found so likable about this film. Perhaps it is the moldering look of the castle crypts, or the overwrought and oftentimes oddball musical score of Aldo Piga. Director Piero Regnoli does a competent job, sometimes even contributing some striking visual flourishes (such as that 360-degree pan during a funeral); Walter Brandi, in his dual role of the count and the aged neck nosher, is pretty decent (although his vampire is quite lame looking); and Lyla Rocco is strangely interesting as she somnambulates through her role of Vera, one of the "playgirls" for whom the castle holds a special attachment. Ultimately, though, the film is a real head scratcher, with some glaring plot holes (can anyone tell me why Vera herself does not become a vampire after having her neck noshed on?) and very illogical actions on the part of the quintet. The picture is a bona fide curiosity, to be sure, but an atmospheric one, at least. Just don't go in expecting anything on the order of Mario Bava's "Black Sunday," which came out that same year....