Hannah, Queen of the Vampires (1973)

Wonderful character development!

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Crypt of the Living Dead AKA Hannah, Queen of the Vampires (1973)The copy I have seen of this film was in black & white and honestly I could not imagine seeing this in color. As someone said the B&W really added a Gothic touch this film was missing. I found it enhanced the film.The editing is pretty sloppy at times but the story is kinda good. It's a very slow moving story that starts out more as a drama than horror really but the ending does turn into a horror show.Others have mentioned that Hannah moves slow - that she does. How is her moving slow any different than Dracula or even Michael Myers? She's a vampire that can transform into mist and wolf form - she doesn't have to travel fast on foot. Add more mystery to her moving slowly.It's not the world's greatest vampire film - but it's not all that bad either. I enjoyed it.6/10

Crypt of the Living Dead was filmed in colour, but my copy—part of a dirt-cheap Mill Creek box-set of vampire movies—was presented in black and white (despite the packaging stating otherwise); amazingly, the lack of colour might actually work in the film's favour, lending a touch of much needed Gothic atmosphere to an otherwise rather tedious tale of vampirism in a remote island community.The film sees archaeologist Chris Bolton (Andrew Prine) visiting the island to claim the body of his father, who was crushed to death under a stone sarcophagus while investigating an ancient burial site; when Chris attempts to lift the marble tomb, he accidentally releases 700-year-old vampire Hannah (Barbara Steele lookalike Teresa Gimpera) who begins to feed on the locals, aided in her task by a wild-man in a furry waistcoat and a member of the village who seeks immortality.Slow moving and devoid of action for much of the time, the film will definitely prove hard going for many, but director Julio Salvador achieves just about enough effectively haunting moments to make it a worthwhile watch for vampire movie completists: the local fishermen's hostility towards Chris's arrival on the island immediately provokes an unsettling 'Wicker Man' vibe; Hannah's ability to turn into a cloud of mist or a wolf makes her all the more menacing; and the finalé manages to pick up the pace a tad (albeit a little late, perhaps) providing a few reasonable chills in the process.4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.

"An archaeologist visits a remote island to bury his late father and, despite the warnings from the local people, opens the tomb of the vampire queen, buried over 700 years ago. This foolish act by the archaeologist and his reporter friend places the entire island in danger, including the local schoolteacher… With the schoolteacher in danger of being a sacrifice to the vampire queen, the duo sets out to stop the vampires, rescue the teacher, and destroy the vampire queen," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.Just so you know, the "schoolteacher" Patty Sheppard (Mary) is bad guy Mark Damon (Peter)'s sister. Andrew Prine (Chris) is the good guy. The film is atmospheric, and features an able cast - but, it takes an interminably long time for anything to happen. When it picks up, it isn't much. And, suddenly, after getting very long in the tooth, it flames out... How can a 1970s vampire film be so anemic? *** Hannah, Queen of the Vampires (6/73) Ray Danton, Julio Salvador ~ Andrew Prine, Mark Damon, Patty Sheppard

DVD title: Young Hannah, Queen of the Vampires. An archaeologist (Andrew Prine) visits Vampire Island to bury his father, who has died under mysterious circumstances. He ignores the warnings of a schoolteacher (Patty Shepard) and, prodded by an historical novelist (Mark Damon), he opens the tomb of the 13th-Century vampire Queen Hannah (Teresa Gimpera). This routine but decent little import benefits from a colorful Mediterranean location, good photography and an engagingly casual performance by the slumming Prine. Despite a tedious midsection and poor dubbing of minor roles, the film has a mildly distinctive flavor, like a failed Euro-Trash Count Yorga, Vampire (1970).Of the cast, Gimpera played the Crying Mother opposite Christopher Lee in Jesus Franco's El Conde Dracula/Count Dracula (1970), and Shepard (Spanish cinema's answer to horror star Barbara Steele) was Paul Naschy's co-star in the cult classic La Noche de Walpurgis/The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman/Werewolf's Shadow (1971). Damon (House of Usher, 1960) had faced vampires before in Il Plenilunio delle Vergine/The Devil's Wedding Night (1973) and in Mario Bava's I Tre Volti delle Paura/Black Sabbath (1963). (Today a Hollywood producer, Damon faces a different kind of vampire.)Originally titled La Tumba de la Isla Maldita, the completed film (directed by Julio Salvador) was reworked for American release with new scenes shot by former actor Ray Danton, whose horror films as director include Deathmaster (1972) and Psychic Killer (1975).It is more interesting to learn about such films than to dismiss them out of hand.