Watching I Vampiri (1957) I was strongly reminded of another movie called Leech Woman (1960). They both have the basic same theme, women are seemingly obsessed with superficial beauty, that older women are jealous of younger women, and in extreme cases will kill them in order to try and make themselves young again. Thankfully in real life this is not possible, or middle aged women would be responsible for a mass wave of murder, instead of just being bitchy at the office. Back to the movie, this is an early Italian horror movie, but is it any good? Yes it is.
The plot to I Vampiri (1957) takes place in Paris. A killer is kidnapping young women and leaving their blood drained bodies for the authorities to find. A journalist named Pierre investigates these murders, his fiance was herself kidnapped. He finds a photograph showing a tall man stalking the woman. He asks questions at a local college and pretty soon the young lady he talked to is kidnapped too. The journalist is pulled off the murder story and instead told to cover a ball at the Du Grand castle, where he meets Giselle. Meanwhile the drug addict used to kidnap women is strangled, seemingly to death. The man is, however, not dead and escapes the castle with the journalist. They return with the police to the castle and look for clues. If I tell you anymore I will spoil the movie but I think you can guess what is going on. I have probably missed a few plot points but if go over them all it woukd become a very long review.
There is no doubting the historical significance of the movie. Apparently it was the first horror movie made in Italy, leaving out the movies made during the silent age of cinema. The movie has pleasant cinematography, and the acting is surprisingly good. The movie is, at least for me, rather slow paced. For the time the special effects are actually quite good. The dialogue is also surprisingly good, which for an Italian horror movie is quite remarkable.
The movie is certainly worth watching, but be warned the pacing is somewhat pedestrian.
7 out of 10