The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)

I have never been the worlds biggest fan of vampire movies and I'm not to fond of most horror comedies but considering this is an early example of Roman Polanski's work and it stars a naked Sharon Tate I figured this one was worth a go.

To say the least The Fearless Vampire Killers wasn't exactly my bag of sleaze. Its only redeeming values were the slick camera work and of course the scenes of a pre-forked Sharon Tate bathing in the nude. The cinematography is very interesting with unique camera angles and Polanski really shows off his directors eye in a scene that takes place at a vampires ball. The camera pans between a very long and perfectly choreographed dance scene with the vampires. Other then this the movie is way to long. The Fearless Vampire Killers clocks in at 118 minutes and we all know that this is just to long for a movie about vampires. It becomes boring and repetitive. I'm sure there are some who might get a few laughs from this sort of thing but I found the jokes and gags to all be pretty dry. I think I am going to stick with Polanski's more serious stuff like Repulsion from here on. Looking back at Repulsion and The Fearless Vampire Killers the two films came out only two years apart but the style, mood and outcome couldn't be more different. Repulsion is hands down the better film. While The Fearless Vampire Killers certainly has a bigger budget the cinematic experience does not compare.

This one doesn't work so well for lovers of exploitation movies. I think its safe to say that The Fearless Vampire Killers plays better for more mainstream movie goers. So if you are into movies from mars, you might want to just skip this one all together, unless of course if you can not resist some bare breasted Sharon Tate action.