- AKA “I Vampiri” and “The Devil’s Commandment”
- Directed by Riccardo Freda, Mario Bava
- Written by Piero Regnoli, Mario Bava, Riccardo Freda
- Stars Gianna Maria Canale, Carlo D’Angelo, Dario Michaelis
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 22 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4x52Ckchx4
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This looks good, with excellent sets and effects. It’s a bit of a mystery. Who is this vampire that is draining bodies of blood? It’s more complicated than that and worth the watch to find out.
Synopsis
Some boys in Paris find a body floating in the river. The body has not a single drop of blood or any injuries– just like the others. It’s been four girls in six months. They call the killer “The Vampire,” and reporter Pierre wants to break the case.
We cut to someone breaking into a file cabinet with medical records. The person pulls out a file for “Nora.”
Nora reads the newspaper about one of the murders. She’s waiting after work for her boyfriend, Georgia. We see a shadowy man approach her dressing room. The man walks up behind her and chloroforms her. She’s reported missing, but Pierre thinks The Vampire might be involved.
The forensic police say that all the victims were of the same blood type, and they all have traces of needle marks on their bodies. Pierre asks some schoolgirls about Mirelle, the girl from the river. They describe a man who was following them.
Giselle comes to see Pierre. She wants Pierre to stop up and visit her at the castle.
A man orders a drug addict to do something to Lisette. He gives the addict an injection.
Pierre follows a man home, but when he brings the police inspector later, the man inside is different. It’s a whole different apartment even, and the policemen think Pierre’s lost his mind.
Joseph, the strange man, goes to see Professor Julien Du Grand for more drugs. The professor’s assistant strangles the man. A woman talks from the shadows and says his death could mean ruin for all of them. Margherita, the old woman, demands that the old professor fake his own death.
The headlines read that Professor Du Grand is dead, and we cut to the funeral. Everyone is surprised that Giselle didn’t come to the funeral. Margherita, the old duchess, is there. Pierre mentions that no one has seen her face for years under all those veils. That night, men come and take Joseph’s body out of the coffin.
The professor, who is not dead, and his assistant place Joseph’s corpse on a table in the lab. He wants to extend the life of the dead man’s organs. He wants to find the secret of immortality.
The old duchess opens a secret door behind the “dead” professor’s coffin that leads to the lab. She demands that the professor hurry, as Giselle has to be there tomorrow.
A blind man on the street gives Lorette a letter to deliver to a woman in a big old house. Someone grabs her from behind. Later, her parents apologize to Pierre for her not showing up on time. They eventually report her missing. The police question the blind man and go looking for Lorette.
Later, Lorette wakes up, finds a skeleton, and faints.
Pierre’s boss insists that he cover Margherita’s party for Giselle for the social column. No one can understand why Giselle continues to live in that old castle. Still, Giselle clearly is infatuated with Pierre, but he’s not so interested. She says he resembles his father so much, but she’s too young to have ever really met him, right? Upstairs, Lorette screams, but Giselle says it’s her sick old aunt having an attack. The professor sedates Lorette to stop the screaming.
Pierre leaves the party, not wanting to lead Giselle on, but his assistant Ronald goes back because he is definitely interested in Giselle. He professes his undying love for her, but she’s offended and orders him to leave. He bemoans that Margherita was in love with Pierre’s father, and now Giselle is in love with the young Pierre. Ronald forces himself on her, but she suddenly starts to age in front of him. She admits that she became young again to gain Pierre’s love. Then she shoots the man. She then calls in her servants to clear away the body.
The professor tells old Margherita that he can’t perform miracles. He can make her young, but only for a short time. He warns her that it may not work at all in her agitated state, but she insists that he use Lorette to repeat the process. Lorette almost dies, but the duchess is young again.
Pierre and Giselle “accidentally” meet the next day. She needs to write a check for a painting, but there’s some confusion as to whether she’s left- or right-handed.
Pierre goes to the police when he notices Ronald has gone missing too, but they don’t believe him anymore. He goes back to the castle on his own and climbs over the wall.
The professor goes to help Margherita, but once he leaves, Joseph wakes up, not nearly as dead as he was before. Pierre soon finds the man stumbling around outside. Joseph tells the police everything he knows and what he did. When he gets to the part where they killed him, the police are skeptical since he’s right there talking to them. He admits to kidnapping the girls, but he also says he didn’t kill any of them.
Now, the police head to the castle. Giselle meets them at the door and says Pierre is a lunatic who makes up absurd lies since she rejected his advances. Meanwhile, the professor’s assistant goes up to the attic to knock Lorette out before she can alert anyone. Giselle offers to let the police search the castle if that will make everyone go away.
The police can’t find anything, so they apologize to Giselle and leave over Pierre’s protests. Suddenly, Giselle starts turning old in front of them. The police start searching more seriously now and shoot the professor’s assistant. And the professor too, but he was supposed to be dead and buried. They go to the chapel and open the tomb. Inside is Lorette, who isn’t dead.
The inspector apologizes to Pierre, who was right all along. They all go out for coffee.
Commentary
The scenery, sets, and cinematography are excellent. A lot of time went into creating some of the sets. It’s pretty slow-paced, and there aren’t any real vampires.
The transformations are amazingly smooth, and we get at least two of them. This was the first Italian-made horror film of the sound era– in 1957.