The Hand of Night (1968)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I saw this movie back in the late 70's, when I was in art school. I was home one day sick with a fever or something, and this movie came on. The fever and the weird images made for a one quite "singular" experience!! I recall laughing out loud at the bad acting and the cheesy costumes.But it was 'so bad it was good'!!! Which is why I'm giving it 9 out of 10. Oh hell, I'd give it 10 out of 10!! It's stayed w/ me all these years!! I even have drawings I made from it somewhere in a drawing book. I'll have to rent this again one day but it probably won't live up to my fond memories. :~)) (I keep trying to submit this review but there's a message that says I need 10 lines of text. I've counted this over and over and now it should come out to 12!!?)

William Sylvester (Carver) blames himself for the death of his wife and children in a car accident and has given up with life. He goes to Morocco to hopefully recuperate but he seems to have gained access to the ethereal world that is ruled by Aliza Gurr (Marisa), a dead princess who has put a curse on men she encounters as she wanders around at night-time.It's not a particularly good film but it does hold an interest because of the different feel to it - it is set in Morocco with spacious vistas to take in and the storyline involves vampires in the desert.The cast are not particularly wonderful. Apart from Sylvester and Gurr, only Terence De Marney (Omar), who plays a vampire henchman, does not attempt an accent. However, this very obviously looking Brit does not convince as an arab. As for the others in the cast, Diane Clare (Chantal) clearly can't act and is the worst offender when it comes to failing with an accent - it's really quite annoying.Still, the film scores for being different - those poor gypsy belly-dancers!

William Sylvester plays an architect Paul Carver,whose wife and children died in a tragic car accident.He goes on a business trip to Morocco and meets a stunning dark-haired female vampire named Marisa.The opening scene of "The Hand of Night" is wonderfully atmospheric and weird with the use of skulls and bloodied mechanical bats.The film was shot in Morocco,so the location sets are magnificent.Alizia Gur is particularly memorable as a beautiful vampire,who feeds on hope.Paul is also an interesting character.He is grief driven,defeated and obsessed with death.The score by Joan Shakespeare is quite eerie,but the direction is pretty weak and some scenes are very dull.6 Morrocan vampires out of 10.

I could only get hold of this film on a very dodgy video, and I'd have liked to have seen it in better quality. As other reviewers in old film magazines say, the dream sequence is intriguing and a little spacey. However, would I call it horror? Probably not, it's more of a psychological exploration of a man and his grief, and how that goes into a hyper-real state. The Moroccan landscape was good though - I guess that gave it the element of - is this real? or just his confused mind? Willaim Sylvester is a bit of a disaster as the lead. He was reliable stock actor in B movies of the time, and he doesn't have the power to lift his ability - which is really required - to play this character.