i must have seen a different film!!

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Another Dracula film in all but name, "Count Yorga, Vampire" was one of quite a few early-1970s reworkings of Bram Stoker's novel. 1970 alone includes two Dracula sequels from Hammer Films, a Jesús Franco Dracula and a Dracula-esque picture called "Jonathan." "Count Yorga" doesn't distinguish itself in any interesting ways from this pack. A low-budget production, it updates its bare-bones reworking of Stoker's story to the then-present of about 1970 and resets the action in Southern California. That's preferable compared to Franco's pitiful attempt to remain faithful to the source despite a lack of funds.Although made and set during the Sexual Revolution, the film is more misogynistic than Stoker's Victorian-age novel, as the film treats women as victims, and men perform the action and do most of the talking. One of the women goes on for a while about how much she likes the Count and is defensive about the size of her posterior. Another one becomes hysterical during a séance, and then she's hypnotized by the Count into submission. The producers also submitted the film to several cuts to receive a more favorable MPAA rating, and the result is a film that is tame in blood and sex compared to its contemporaries, including the Hammer series and Franco's films, especially, as for sex, his tellingly-titled "Vapyros Lesbos" (1971).The dead cat scene, however, has been restored, and it may be the best part here. Erica is essentially the Lucy character from Stoker's novel, in which Lucy, after turning into a vampire, feasted on children. A cat gets the same point across, and it's one of the more disturbing depictions of Lucy's vampiric behavior ever filmed. The lesbian scene while the Count watches and the implied rape by Yorga's servant are cut too short to be as shocking.A blood transfusion, like in the novel, is also performed. The doctor here plays both Stoker's Seward and Van Helsing types. Roger Perry's performance is off-putting. He plays with Erica's hair in her medical appointment with him, but he's not otherwise presented as creepy or perverted in the way, say, Anthony Hopkins's Van Helsing is in the 1992 Dracula movie. And, he's otherwise conceited and stupid. When arguing for the possibility of the existence of vampires, he haughtily shouts, "But can you prove that vampires don't exist?" I don't care if he smokes a lot and has some naked, randomly-introduced and quickly-forgotten clingy chick in his bed, he's not cool. Meanwhile, Robert Quarry's Count is almost too suave in the tradition of Bela Lugosi (as opposed to the more anti-social Dracula from Stoker's book); his disdain for rudeness nearly prevents him from avoiding the sunrise in one scene.Instead of any wolves, there's Rin Tin Tin, although it's not laughable as with the use of German Shepherds in the more faithful adaptations of Franco's 1970 film and the 1974 TV movie by Dan Curtis. The audio includes some bad ADR, including an extensive sequence of long shots where two of the guys walk the streets talking. Worst of all is the candle-lit, non-explicit erotica in a van. It's even worse than the love scene in the 1979 dime-romance-novel "Dracula." The ending isn't bad, though. Although the Count isn't as smart as he pretends, and he's weak for a vampire, at least crosses are less effective here than in the Hammer series; the Count laughs maniacally when the Doctor tries to hold him off with one.

Personally I found Count Yorga, Vampire a breath of fresh air. For one thing it actually makes vampires creepy and disconcerting again. And if you disagree, fine, but just think about my little cat reference in the summary.Robert Quarry was at one time being groomed by American International Pictures to replace the Merchant Of Menace himself, Vincent Price. And it's clear from this movie why they thought so highly of him. Quarry makes a terrific vampire Count, capable of a charming urbanity that Hammer Films rarely allowed Christopher Lee to display; and fully portraying the demonic fury bit that Lee was so good at. For me this is a much better film than Hammer's Scars of Dracula and The Vampire Lovers from the same year, and I say that as a Hammer fan! The movie does have some flaws, of course. Not all the actors are good and Yorga's comedy servant could have done with a, er, revamp. The photography, especially at night, is a little on the murky side. Perhaps this was just the print I saw.And of course in a way, the vampires win. Which must be a first. This is a good little low budget horror movie that deserves to be better known.

Made on a decidedly low budget, this contemporary vampire story is noted for placing a Dracula-like figure in a modern setting for perhaps the first time and for the captivating performance of Quarry in the title role. Anderson plays a young lady who holds a séance with her boyfriend and two other couples along with Quarry who leads the event. She is trying to connect with her recently deceased mother, who was also the lover of Quarry from three weeks prior to her death. Following a jarring and somewhat harrowing experience in the séance, the party breaks up and young Murphy and Lang give Quarry a ride home. Lang becomes intrigued by Quarry, a recent transplant from Bulgaria who lives in a musty castle on a gated estate. Before long, Quarry has nibbled on Lang and enticed her to his side while Murray and pal Macready prepare to do battle with him. They enlist the aid of blood specialist Perry, who acts as a sort of modern day Van Helsing, trying to come up with ways to combat the vampire. Quarry is a striking presence as Count Yorga (actually meant to be Iorga, and pronounced that way in the film, but changed by the distributing company in order to be more easily pronounced by the movie-going public!) The actor clearly relishes the chance to perform this type of role and brings a gravity to it, despite some of the lighter and campier aspects of the movie. Perry gives a skilled, knowing performance as well, obviously aware that a blend of seriousness mixed with levity was called for in the production. Lang is attractive and reasonably good (soap fans will be interested to know that her daughter Katherine Kelly Lang has played Brooke on "The Bold and the Beautiful" for many years!) Murphy, who would grow into a prolific character actor, isn't bad either, but most of the rest of the cast is weak. Macready, who produced and directed the film (and enlisted his more famous father to provide a ripe, flavorful voice-over), while nice enough looking, is almost laughably expressionless and wooden during most of his screen time. Initially conceived as a sort of T & A horror flick, it eventually morphed into a standard horror outing, though some sexually prominent elements remain. Quarry watches as two of his undead brides ALMOST make out and Lang has a self-caressing sequence as she's falling under his spell. Perry has a bedmate who was clearly chosen more for her body than her ability to recite dialogue, though he scene is amusing whether intentional or not! The low budget is revealed occasionally such as when two men carry on a conversation done entirely in voiceovers as they are shown walking, in long shots, through L.A. (these scenes afford priceless glimpses at the city at that time, however) and in the Volkswagon minibus scenes in which the actors are clearly emoting during daylight hours for a scene that takes place late at night! However, the visible snags are all part of the charm, for the most part. The non-polished production aspects lend the film a somehow more realistic and accessible feel. Memorable moments include Quarry enduring a late night tete-a-tete with Perry and Macready and Lang experiencing a gruesome encounter with her cat. The popularity, primarily at drive-ins and other theaters of that ilk, led to a sequel ("The Return of Count Yorga") one year later.

After the sudden death of her mother a woman , Donna, invites her mother's present boyfriend Count Yorga, to give a séance, in the hope of contacting her. Yorga hypnotises her and soon strange things begin to happen in the area. After some disappearances of friends from the séance, the remaining friends seek the help of their friend Dr Hayes, who soon believes the culprit is a vampire, but logic says it can't be, however the facts say otherwise and they point to Yorga being he culprit. Hayes then tries to outwit the Count to save his friends. Robert Quarry is excellent in the role of Yorga, he portrays just the right air of gravitas and menace required for the role. The film has its cheesy moments, but retains a fine sense of doom and has some gory surprises too, to keep all serious horror fans interested.