The Fearless Vampire Killers
Short description
A professor of vampire studies travels with his young assistant to Transylvania, hoping to prove that the undead really exist. At a remote inn in the snowy Carpathians the pair find garlic hung everywhere, and the locals insist there is no castle in the mountains nearby. The assistant falls for Sarah, the innkeeper's daughter, but a vampire nobleman carries her off to his castle, and the two visitors set out to rescue her before she joins the ranks of the undead herself.
Roman Polanski directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Gérard Brach, and also appears as the assistant Alfred, with Jack MacGowran as Professor Abronsius and Sharon Tate as Sarah. It is the third of the twenty-three features Polanski has directed, following Repulsion and preceding Rosemary's Baby. Gene Gutowski produced the film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Filmways, at a reported budget of 2 million dollars. It runs 108 minutes and mixes comedy with horror.
Audience response has been solid and durable: on IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from around 36,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.9 out of 10 from roughly 851 votes. A film critics' rating of 6.5 out of 10 from 33 reviews places it a little below the audience scores, though all three sit in similar territory.
What's left behind the scenes
- Initially, the film was intended to be shot in the then-fashionable spherical widescreen format. However, at one of the early stages of production, this idea was abandoned in favor of shooting in standard widescreen. This necessitated re-shooting some already filmed footage to adapt it to the chosen format.
- This is how director Roman Polanski and actress Sharon Tate met, and on January 20, 1968, they became husband and wife.
- Roman Polanski originally wanted to shoot the entire film on location at and around a Swiss castle that he had seen while on vacation in Switzerland and which had made a strong impression on him. However, he was unable to obtain permission to film at that location. Instead, the Alpine scenery was found in Italy, and the studio filming took place in London.
- Upon arriving on location in Italy, Roman Polanski ordered a large number of coffins from local artisans, needed for the film's shooting. This led to a number of curious situations with tourists who, seeing stacks of freshly made coffins, became very frightened, thinking they had stumbled into an area with a deadly epidemic. Hotel and tavern owners had to install special signs and post notices explaining the situation and assuring guests that there was no epidemic.
- The impressive ballroom scene, where the music stops and only three people are reflected in a large mirror despite the hall being full of vampires, was filmed without the use of visual effects or compositing. Behind the mirror frame, which held ordinary clear glass, a set depicting the reflection of the hall was constructed, with three stand-ins in the costumes and makeup of the main characters.
- The portrait hanging on the wall in Alfred's bedroom in the castle of Count von Krolock is a portrait of English King Richard III (1452 – 1485).
- The idea for a fantastical vampire comedy came to Polanski at a ski resort; he immediately decided that the film would feature a lot of snow, especially in the twilight lighting.
- When creating the role of the mad professor, reminiscent of Einstein, Polanski and Gérard Brach from the outset intended for McGowran to play it.
- Roman Polanski's first film to be released in American theaters.
- Producer Martin Ransohoff discovered actress Sharon Tate on the set of the family comedy television series "The Beverly Hillbillies" (1962-1971) and insisted that Roman Polanski cast her in the film instead of Jill St. John, whom the director had already approved for the role of Sarah.
- The film was initially released in the United States in a producer's version titled "The Fearless Vampire Killers or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck." The film was cut by 20 minutes, re-edited and re-dubbed – including a hasty overhaul of the musical score. This was done at the insistence of producer Martin Ransohoff without the approval of Roman Polanski, who subsequently refused to recognize this version as his film.
- Among the family portraits in the castle of Count von Krolock, one can notice a portrait of an ugly old woman, which was inspired by a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, believed to depict Margherita Maultasch, Countess of Tyrol (1318 – 1369), considered the ugliest woman in history. Her most famous portrait is a caricature by Dutch painter Quinten Massys, "The Ugly Duchess."
- The frescoes in the grand hall of Count von Krolock's castle are based on the famous painting by Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder, “The Triumph of Death” (1561), which was inspired by the plague epidemic.
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