BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE (1958) a choice of DVDs

BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE(1958, UK)

Hammer films opened the bloodgates of sadistic melodrama!


A sadistic doctor is using 'lunatic asylum' patients for his merciless experiments – trying to separate human bloodtypes into categories in order to aid successful transfusions, utter madness!

This doesn't rate as a horror movie by modern standards, but pushed the boundaries in a different era. It's a useful indicator of the changing perception of violence. This was once a censors' nightmare but now appears on DVD uncensored and PG rated. Does this mean that in fifty years time the gory shock value of Hostel and Saw will be treated just as lightly?


For fans of early Hammer films, this is a must-see, especially as it's written by Jimmy Sangster who also scripted many of the first successful Hammer horrors, helping launch the studio worldwide. While this doesn't have the supernatural atmosphere, it's interesting for a story which concentrates more on the sex and violence that Hammer was vilified for.

Dr Callistratus is forced to eat at his desk

This could be classified as an Eros Film, the distributor used by this production team (Monty Berman and Bob Baker) who also made lower budget horrors The Trollenberg Terror, Jack The Ripper (1959) and The Flesh and the Fiends before successfully producing most of the jewels of ITC's TV hits like The Saint, The Champions and The Persuaders.


I'm a quality whore. My opinion of the film has changed now that I've seen a decent remastering of the film. It looks better than it ever has, less seedy, badly-shot and grainy than on tape and TV. Now it looks closer to an expensive, quality production, with lavish sets (far roomier than Hammer) and impressive matte paintings. The amount of sex and bloody violence for the mid-fifties makes this a worthy companion to Hammer's Curse of Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula, whose violent thrills it carefully emulates (a shot in the eye and a head in a jar, like Curse, a bloody staking like Dracula), presumably to sneak past the censors as much as possible ('well you allowed this when they did it').

The story is even a mix of Frankenstein and Dracula, a crossbreed of elements which is by definition supernatural but plays mainly as a nasty adventure in medical experimentation. OK, now we know he wasn't a mad doctor, he was on the right track. But his methods are a little unorthodox...



Sir Donald Wolfit (who you can also see in Lawrence of Arabia!) took a break from performing Shakespeare in British repertory, but still plays to the back of the movie theatre as the obsessive Dr Callistratus. He’s far better here than he was in the first colour version of Svengali (1956) and certainly makes this more enjoyable.

He's upstaged by his psychotic hunchbacked assistant, providing comedy actor Victor Maddern with a chance to both evoke sympathy and overact wildly. The hunchback provides a chronological bridge between between Bela Lugosi’s Ygor (Son of Frankenstein, 1939), and Richard O’ Brien’s Riff Raff (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1975).

Besides Wolfit, the best reason to see this is Barbara Shelley, one of the most accomplished actresses to appear in Hammer Films. Particularly Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966) and Quatermass and the Pit. She hasn't much of a character, but ably endures many difficult scenes, being ravished and ogled by the bad guys.

The original publicity photographs have long teased followers of this film since appearing in sixties monster mags. The photo of the flogging victim was strong stuff even in black and white. But some of these images used in the UK and US were of scenes specifically shot to spice up the film for the less censorious countries of continental Europe, like France, Italy and Germany. Extra scenes that would only have been included in their versions. Cheeky to use these photos to push the film elsewhere.

Hand-coloured lobby card - a scene still missing from all versions

As a result, we're still waiting to see these missing scenes and characters, though I think the US and UK DVDs now represent what was submitted to the censors back in 1958. Any cuts have been reinstated and I don't think we'll see any new footage until the 'Continental Version' is unearthed. Even then, they won't have English audio tracks.

Blood of the Vampire first surfaced on DVD in thisregion 1 release (from Dark Sky) as a double-bill with The Hellfire Club. Itincludes the censor cuts, but they are jumpily integrated into this print. Besides film weave and an unavoidably grainy image, this version is compromised by a zoomed-in image on several scenes,cropping off the bottom and sides of the picture. For the most part, the framing is acceptably tightened to 16:9 from 1.66 (the original ratio shown in the opening titles).

Some of the additional shots (that I hadn't seen on earlier TV screenings) reinstated here are of a head in a jar, and some spurting blood being decanted during a transfusion (this last glimpse is still cross-faded out in the UK DVD).

There's a jovial and informative commentary track, Hammer historian Marcus Hearn getting the most out of writer Jimmy Sangster and producer Bob Baker.

A young Barbara Shelley and Sir Donald Wolfit

While the comparison review (below) sides with the region 1 release, I really prefer the UK DVD from Simply Home Entertainment. The image is similarly grainy but has slightly more depth to both detail and colour. I'm not suggesting anyone double-dips as the difference is subtle, but certainly don't opt for the US version if you live in the UK. While the image suffers too much digitalscratch-reduction on both discs, I'm not expecting a practically unknown film to look any better without a ton of far more expensive restoration work.


The UK version is better framed overall, with none of the strangely zoomed-in scenes of the US DVD. The visual composition is a little tight at the head of the frame (on both), but is edge-matted throughout to better approximate 1.66. The opening scene and titles are better presented, full height and less cropped, on the US disc. Both DVDs are presented anamorphically for 16:9 screens.

Barbara Burke on the slab - a scene seen only in the UK DVD

The UK DVD has an entire extra scene with the housekeeper strapped to the operating table, though nothing scandalous happens. As far as I could tell, the other censor cuts have been restored, apart from the blood spurting into the jar!


The UK disc lacks any extras, sadly missing the commentary track. But most of the information that was discussed is included in a packed colour 16-page booklet of information, posters and photos.






For frame grabs and an alternate opinon of the DVD comparisons, see this page from Mondo Esoterica...



More examples of the fantastic lobby cards,here on Four Color Comics...



(Updated to include a review of the UK Simply Home Entertainment DVD - my initial review of the Dark Sky US DVD first went online on 30/03/2007).