Nice effects though.

A lot of fun.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A newly wed couple's car breaks down near a small village whilst travelling across Europe, only to find themselves targeted by a cult of vampires. No Dracula here, no Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, not even Michael Ripper, but that is partly what sets it apart. Some people don't like that it lacks the blood or sex of other Hammer movies (it is now rated BBFC 12). However, this film is just so beautifully shot & has an amazing use of colour, it is also well acted & it introduces magical rituals & a cult, elements that become popular in the later films. It also appears that vampires here can be active during the day, providing they keep out of the sun. But the reason that I have scored this 8/10 is for the glorious masked ball scene, simply wonderful.

Hammer seems to have had a creative crisis of sorts regarding its vampire output in the eight-years absence, between the 1958 "Dracula" and the 1966 "Dracula: Prince of Darkness," of Christopher Lee in the Dracula role. "The Brides of Dracula" (1960) had Peter Cushing return as Van Helsing, but it's a dull retread, and kid-vamp Baron Meinster was a poor heir to Lee. Absent Lee, Cushing and any Dracula connection this outing, "The Kiss of the Vampire," at least, has a grown man in the role of its head vampire. And although it's slow going for a while after the opening credits, if you stick with it, you're in for a few treats.This probably would've benefited by being cut down to closer to an hour's length. The early automobile-out-of-gas episode, for instance, where the wife is left alone and, gasp, nothing happens, could've been left out. Or the innkeeper's sad wife, who disappears in the second half of the film, may as well have not been in the first half either. There probably could've been fewer protentive looks early on, as well. You can't really create mystery with such eyeballing when the movie's title tells us there's going to be vampires.Now, for the treats, we get one to start off when the Professor thrusts a shovel through the coffin and the heart of his turned daughter—resulting in the kind of blood splatter Hammer is beloved for. Vampires as decadent cultists is another good idea. Roman Polanski must've seen this for his ballroom sequence in "The Dance of the Vampires," a.k.a. "The Fearless Vampire Killers" (1967). The husband gives us Hammer's best makeshift cross yet by drawing it on his chest in his own blood. And for the grand finale, they realize the black-magic climax that, reportedly, Cushing thought (probably rightly) unwholesome for his Van Helsing in "The Brides of Dracula." Fortunately, the Van Helsing stand-in here, the Professor Zimmer, has no such qualms. The fake-bats biting the vampire cultists to death is just deliciously trashy.

Bavaria 1910: Young honeymooners Gerald and Marianne Harcourt (Edward de Souza and Jennifer Daniel) are left stranded when their car runs out of fuel. Marianne runs into the alcoholic Professor Zimmer (Clifford Evans) when her husband goes to look for some petrol and he warns her to keep away from the château on the mountain top. The couple end up taking a room at a dilapidated hotel where they learn that the only other guests bar themselves is the elderly, drunken Professor. Despite Zimmer's warnings, they accept an invitation to dinner from Dr Ravna (Noel Willman) and his family who own the château. Ravna's son, Karl (Barry Warren), plays a piano rhapsody that seems to put Marianne into a hypnotic trance and, the following night, they attend a masked ball at the château. In reality, Dr Ravna and his clan are vampires in search of prey and have the entire village surrounding the château under their thumb. Gerald is drugged and Marianne is abducted and taken to Ravna's crypt where he puts her under his spell. Gerald awakens to find all traces of the party have disappeared and is thrown out of the house by Ravna's manservant Hans. Back at the hotel, Gerald discovers that everyone denies that his wife ever existed and all of her belongings have disappeared. However, Professor Zimmer tells him the truth about the Ravnas and that they are responsible for the death of his daughter and that it is his intention to destroy the vampire cult. The Professor and Zimmer manage to rescue Marianne from the château and all exits from the place are sealed off with garlic preventing the vampires escape. Next, Zimmer starts to perform an ancient ceremony which will destroy the cult but Ravna, using his telepathic powers, summons the entranced Marianne back to the house...A fine example of Hammer horror from the company's golden era. Producer Anthony Hinds (under his usual pseudonym John Elder) provided a basic but more than serviceable, well-knit storyline and director Don Sharp in his debut for the studio showed a natural flair for it giving the film a rich Gothic atmosphere and a strong feeling for place and period - just look at the Harcourt's vintage automobile! There are some wonderful shock sequences such as Zimmer driving a shovel through a vampire's coffin at a funeral procession; then treating a vampire's bite by pouring holy water on to it before holding his hand over a Bunsen burner. But, the best of the lot, rightly reserved until last is the climatic scene where the vampire cult are destroyed by a swarm of bats conjured by the Professor using an ancient ritual. Believe it or not, this remains surprisingly effective despite the rubber bats being apparently bought from Woolworths! Alan Hume's Technicolor cinematography is gorgeous and James Bernard's piano rhapsody which plays over the opening credits and is used by Karl to hypnotise Marrianne is simply awesome. Despite the fact that Hammer seemingly decided that they could do without either Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing for this one, the acting is of a high standard all round.

This is a fine horror film that is strictly by-the-numbers Hammer fare. The only thing new to the vampire genre this offers is the end scene when the vampires are eradicated in an unusual way--a way that would make Ed Wood proud.The film centers on newlyweds Edward de Souza and Jennifer Daniel who get lost and suffer car trouble in a remote location. The only people that seem to live in the area are the kindly old innkeeper (Peter Madden) and his wife and the eccentric, lavish, and quite uppity Dr. Ravna (Noel Willman) and his children Carl (Barry Warren) and Sabena (Jacquie Wallis). The Ravna's invite the newlyweds to their mansion but they have designs on the lovely Jennifer Daniel. They have no use for her husband however. After they attend a ball at the Ravna's mansion, Jennifer Daniel is abducted and de Souza must save her with the help of drunken professor Zimmer (Cliff Evans) who has a score to settle with the Ravnas.STORY: $$$ (The story is that old hat about a young couple out of place in a rustic, country setting. The wealthy Ravnas take an interest in the wife while the husband must save her. We also get the know-it-all character in Zimmer who does the Van Helsing routine. The only thing original about the script is the end--I won't ruin it for you).ACTING: $$$ (The acting is fine. Both Noel Willman and Barry Warren are quite good in their crotchety vampire roles. They each exude arrogance and don't bother to mask the fact that they fancy Jennifer Daniel in front of her husband. Jacquie Wallis looks good as Sabena but has little to do, and the same can be said about Isobel Black as the innkeeper's daughter the Ravnas abducted. Edward de Souza is merely adequate as the hero while Cliff Evans is effectively aloof and curmudgeonly as Zimmer. Jennifer Daniel, who possesses an uncanny sophistication, is quite good as the object of the vampire's desire).NUDITY: $ (Jennifer Daniel has a topless scene but since this was made in 1963--before Ingrid Pitt and Madeline Smith gave Hammer some high quality skin--her back is to the camera).