Fearless Vampire Killers
or
The Vindication of an Evening Misspent
By Amy Vaughn
December 2005
As a teenager, I listened to bands with names like Jody Foster’s Army and Jim Jones and the Kool-Aid Kids. I was fascinated by the idea that one person could hold such sway over another that the latter would kill in their name. I read everything I could find about it. (I eventually majored in Religious Studies—related fact?) Of course, Charles Manson was on that list.
So, I must protest Rich’s castoff summation of The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967). It is far more than a weak attempt at a genre spoof. It is a piece of cult history. This was the film which introduced director Roman Polanski and lead actress Sharon Tate to one another. They married in January of 1968. It was in August of 1969 that Tate, pregnant at the time, was among those murdered by the Manson family. Nine years later Polanski, far more famous for Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, and The Pianist than for the movie under consideration here, fled the US after being convicted of the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl. He has not returned since.
This made for an eerie psychological backdrop indeed. It was like looking at a snapshot of people oblivious of the boulder about to fall on them.
Sure, the goofiness was over-the-top, misunderstandings were terribly drawn out, and at one point even I regretted the lack of cleavage for scenes on end. But there was originality, too. For instance, I had never seen a Jewish vampire before. When confronted with a crucifix he replies, “Oy vey, have you got the wrong vampire.” And the overtures from the Count’s son toward the vampire hunter predate all that Anne Rice has taught the public about sex in the life of the undead. (For another take on this, see The Hunger (1983) with Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon.)
Let me be clear, all I am saying is that the movie has cult and genre significance. I am not saying it was a good movie. There was good reason to sleep through most of it. But then again, who would ever expect a good movie to come from us?
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