The influence of the Hammer horror films, with their stylish (and greatly exploitative) use of gaudy color, gushing blood, heaving bosoms, and romantic subplots extended far past Britain's shore, of course.   It definitely crept into American horror filmmaking (for example, Roger Corman's now classic "Poe" films) and it also managed to be felt is such distant shores and cultures as that of Japan (e.g., Lake Of Dracula).  And it made quite a splash south of the border in Mexican horror flicks (with German Robles filling in for Christopher Lee).  Now we know that Hammer Horror penetrated even further south of the border into a country that may well have entitled its first vampire flick...

By DAVE DUGGINS

Spoiler Alert! Major plot points are discussed in this article. Women’s breasts are also discussed in this article. There are far more breasts than plot points discussed in this article.

There. You’ve been warned.

Before I even get started on this month’s schlock selection, let me take a few moments to sing the praises of the company that released it – Mondomacabro DVD. Put simply, these guys are cool. Head over there and check out their full library of titles, including Mill Of The Stone Women, Seven Women For Satan, and a brand new print of Lady Terminator, a totally off-the-wall Indonesian exploitation flick I remember seeing at a midnight show in the UK about fifteen years ago. Lady Terminator is just insane stuff, chock full of sex, violence and senselessness. I can’t wait to see it again.

This month’s frightful flick is a little Argentinean corker called Blood Of The Virgins, released theatrically in 1967 and directed by Emilio Veyra. The actor-turned- director helmed a slew of schlockers with titles like Stay Tuned for Terror, The Naked Beast, and--I love this one--The Deadly Organ. I have to see that just to find out which organ they’re talking about.

As you can tell from the titles, the big draw of these drive-in double billers is gratuitous sex and violence. Lots of it. Fair warning to the prudish: if the sight of lots of naked flesh on display is offensive to you, give this one a miss. If, on the other hand, you have no problem with loads of utterly pointless footage of buxom Hammer-style babes taking their tops off, then you’ll probably have a good time. I sure did.

I used to see Hammer films playing at the Joyland Drive-In in Florence, Alabama, when I was a kid. This film practically begs to be part of a drive-in triple bill with one of those weird Italian westerns and a Santo picture. That would be a seriously fun evening.

Speaking of Hammer--a studio whose films influenced modern American cinema and pretty much everything else from the late 1950’s through the early 70’s--Blood Of The Virgins hits somewhere in between the classic Hammer Dracula cycle and the semi-porn films of Russ Meyer. Some of the sex scenes remind me a lot of Vixen, Meyer’s semi-acclaimed soft-core classic. A cross between Hammer Horror and Russ Meyer? That’s right up the street I live on, all right.

Veyra’s last horror film and the first vampire film made in Argentina, Blood Of The Virgins was apparently so controversial that it was banned for seven years by the military-controlled Argentinean government upon its release. It seems fairly tame now, but there is certainly more of the Hammer staples – blood and skin – than Hammer ever managed in conservative England.

The movie has a great title sequence, with artwork reminiscent of the classic Spaghetti westerns. A very creepy first impression – and then you’re launched into Act I, where basically everything happens. In the first ten minutes. The first ten minutes are like Act I and the first half of Act II in any other film.

This leads you to believe you’re actually watching a real story. The last cheapie I took a shot at (Barry Mahon’s Blood Of The Zombie--note the similar title) took about twenty minutes to get going. This one fools you into thinking there’s going to be some meat in your pie by telling you the whole story in the first ten minutes – after which you get to sit through fifteen minutes of chicks getting naked, people making out and cheesy go-go music. Hey, at least you get to find out what the movie’s about first.

Besides, in this film, the scenes of people getting naked and go-go dancing are fun. Barry Mahon even manages to make cute girls boring. Think about that for a minute. This stuff has a kind of "I shot this on my summer vacation" vibe that keeps things cranking along. If Veyra did shoot this on his vacation, he had a lot more fun than I ever did. We get to see these people being intimate long before we know one thing about them – including their names. Who are these people making out under a tree? Who are these people dancing? Who are these people skiing? The answer is: who cares? There are half-naked women covering every inch of screen space. Enough said.

The plot is as simple as any of the far superior Hammer films it emulates. Ofelia loves Gustavo, but her parents don’t like him. They want her to marry Eduardo, a nice, responsible family guy who paints really good pictures of her. He also happens to be her cousin. Not a big deal in Argentina, I guess.

Gustavo won’t meet the parents, of course, because he’s a vampire. Hey, I understand. It’s not exactly the kind of thing you just pop into the conversation over dinner. Come to think of it, Dracula got away with it, didn’t he? "I have already dined. And I never drink … wine."

For whatever reason, Gustavo does not feel confident in his ability to remain suave and debonair in Ofelia’s house. So she ditches him to marry Eduardo. Gustavo has a major problem with this, of course, and like a thousand angry obsessives before and since he vows that no one will take her away from him.

From here, we head into familiar territory. Our horny little friends from the opening montage manage to run out of gas in the middle of their vacation, find their way to a deserted lodge...where the vampire happens to hang out, of course. Vampire bites girl. Female vampire seduces boyfriend. This scene actually has some pretty cool dialogue between Ofelia the vampire and the boyfriend:

"Who are you?" he asks.

"A damned soul," she replies. "Denied earthly happiness, and peace in the grave. Save me!"

"From what?"

"A living death. Save me. I beg you."

This is apparently accomplished by having sex with her, although in fact it seems to have no positive effect at all. She still ends up offing herself with a knife at the end of the movie. Bummer.

Eventually the friends realize what’s going on, the fearless vampire killers get together, etc. etc. Since Dracula, the basic mechanics of the tale haven’t changed much--can’t change much, in fact.

In this one, Ofelia – the first victim – actually kills the vampire who turned her, then kills herself, which is a mild twist. It’s a little inconsistent with vampire lore, as I understand it. If she kills the head vampire, doesn’t she become human again? Maybe not in Argentina. I’m willing to forgive and forget on that point. Vampire films tend to take on certain traditions as law, reject others, and invent new rules at will. I can live with it.

In any case, it really doesn’t pay to be too particular about such things as story logic, continuity and plot points in a flick like this. This is not a movie for people who love intricate, intelligent plots. This is a movie for people who like buxom Hammer-style babes taking their tops off. I already said that, didn’t I?

There are a few genuinely creepy moments in the film. Ofelia’s coffin rising from her burial earth, the lid tipping open, Ofelia inside, eyes open. Laura returning to her boyfriend after being bitten. "I’m cold, Raul," she says.

There are a far larger number of moments that just lie there and look sweaty. There is a lot of lying there looking sweaty. The two major sex scenes are both ridiculously long and obviously there just to give you plenty of time to see –ahem – what you paid to see.

And boy, do you see it! Oh well. What am I gonna do, pretend to complain about it? You get what you pay for. Hey, Ofelia’s got huge tracts of land, as Monty Python says. And the rest of the girls are lookers, too.

It’s worth checking the DVD out for an excellent print of the film itself, for the British documentary on Argentinean exploitation cinema and for the pleasure of discovering the rest of the Mondomacabro catalog. There’s enough for a year’s worth of HORROR-WOOD articles--and who knows? If Renfield’s game, you might just see something else from their collection in the future.

This article is dedicated to Jack Hunter Daves, my close friend of 23 years. Jack passed away in late August, while I was in the middle of writing the initial draft of this article. He shared my love of weird cinema, and would have gotten a huge kick out of this movie. At college together, we hung out on weekends watching anything weird we could find on late-night TV, sharing our passion for Hammer films, Italian horror, schlock, Republic serials, Hitchcock and British comedy.

Jack loved about a half million things, was equally passionate about all of them, and was able to engender that passion in anyone who met him. He is mourned by literally hundreds of people who knew him, either well or peripherally. Everyone who knew him remembers him fondly.

So long, Jack. Love you, buddy.

Thanks, Dave.  Yup, Blood Of The Virgins really delivers the groceries--lots of bloody scenes, lots of sex segments, nudity out the whatever, and a portrait of wild youth, Sixties south-of-the-border style.  As such, it couldn't have failed to please the Argentine viewers and it really is sleazy fun to watch today.  We're not sure how many drive-ins there were in Argentina back then. but, there's no doubt--they sure made some real drive-in movies.

Article copyright © Dave Duggins   

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