Grave of the Vampire (1972)

Very well executed

To me, this movie is perfection.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

If you're trying to figure out my summary line, it's a reference to Michael Pataki's character in "Happy Days", which many may remember him by, as I do. Look for veteran character actor William Smith, who's always solid, although he probably needed slightly better material to work with in this film. I'm a fan of most 70's vampires, and while this won't be tops on my list, I still enjoyed this slightly different "bite" than what I'm used to. Pataki was solid as the main vampire, although he lacked the charm that many have playing the lead dude, but he was still convincing, and sometimes creepy, save for the silly fangs. Something that stood out to me was the mother feeding her "baby vampire" blood, although it was an odd scene to watch, but I never saw anything like it before, and I've seen tons of vampire films. The atmosphere, especially the college campus at night, worked for me; there was also a slick fog throughout the cemetery too. A few things made me scratch my head, such as the rushed love scene between James(Smith)and Anne(Lyn Peters), who just met minutes before. There was an interesting police angle early on, but after one detective gets killed, that's the end of the police hunt. Overall, this was a different type of vampire film than you may be used to, but it's worth a try.

Seed of Terror aka Grave of the Vampire (1972). This one is has a different twist on a vampire story. It's a pretty good film from the 1970s that worth watching for vampire fans.There is a rape which leaves the victim pregnant with a monstrous child - a child that drinks the blood from it's mother instead of her milk. When full grown, he become a vicious killer - a vampire.This is somewhat comparable to Hammer Horror but not exactly like the Hammer films - at any rate if you like the Hammer, Tigon or Amicus films then you might like Grave of the Vampire.7/10

Grave Of The Vampire is a very low budget 70's horror movie that was made quick and cheap. However, what it may lack with poor production value and editing, Grave Of The Vampire had some fresh ideas and has an interesting take on the vampire genre. When vampire Caleb Croft awakes for a midnight snack and attacks a couple, he feeds off the blood of the boyfriend and rapes the girlfriend, leaving her pregnant. The mother, against the idea of abortion gives birth to the child. The child is half vampire and needs blood to survive. The child grows up and is B movie bad ass William Smith and vows revenge on his father for making his mother suffer and plans to put an end to his evil for good. William Smith is of course, awesome and Michael Pataki gives a good, campy performance as Caleb Croft. Plus, he had some wicked sideburns to boot! There is a grim tone to the film as well as dark ambiance. If Grave Of The Vampire had a larger budget and the right director, this film could have been huge. Even still, I found this to be very entertaining and original. Also as a fan of William Smith, I loved his performance as he kills it as the lead actor in this film.

I wasn't expecting much from this . With a title like GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE you expect sheer exploitation especially if the synopsis reads " A vampire rises from his grave and attacks a young couple killing the male and raping the female getting her pregnant " and the film almost lives down to expectations when it's revealed " the young couple " look like they're in their late 30s . Honestly if that's what horny teenagers look like no wonder so many British celebrities are being facing historical under age sex charges Strangely and unexpectedly the film doesn't pan out the way you expect it to do . The rape scene itself is rather restrained and actually takes place off screen . The film itself despite have rather poor production values due to a low budget does concentrate on atmosphere . It's also very dead pan as characters reflect on the meaning of life and death and never resorts to gore or camp humour . It's a not great film but is relatively good and better than expected