Friday 16 March 2012

THE PLAYGIRLS AND THE VAMPIRE (1960)

A landslide on a stormy night causes a bus with five showgirls, their manager and the driver to take the road less traveled - straight to Castle Kernassy. Count Gabor (Walter Brandi), is less than hospitable - until Vera (Lila Rocco), one of the girls, stands up to him, causing him to relent. They're told to stay in their rooms no matter what they might hear in the night. Vera seems intuitive about the place, almost as if she's been there before. Katia (Maria Giovannini), another in the troupe, decides to disobey the Count's orders and goes off in search of a shower. Not a good idea. While walking around the castle, Vera is surprised to find a portrait of Margherita Kernassy, a distant relative of the Count, who bears a striking resemblance to herself. Inexplicably, she goes for a walk outside the castle that night and discovers Katia's grave opened, her body missing and a pale, unresponsive Count standing nearby. Vera goes wandering around the castle herself to speak to the Count about Katia's disappearance and finds her way to his laboratory where she discovers Katia's body.

The Count explains his research into vampirism without explaining the presence of Katia's exhumed corpse on the table before them. That evening, a very much alive (and naked) Katia appears in manager Lucas' (Alfredo Rizzo) bedroom. Vera, on the other hand, notices someone (or something) attempting to enter her locked bedroom, naturally she unlocks the door and goes off wandering about the castle, accidentally opening a secret passageway that leads to the Kernassy family crypt. There she's confronted by the Count and vampirized. Coming to her rescue is...another Count! It turns out that Gabor's 200 year old undead ancestor is responsible for the murders associated with the castle and Gabor's promise of the release that the vampire seeks falls on deaf ears, setting up a final confrontation between the two.

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