“Vampires? We don’t need no stinkin’ vampires”
In 1880 Carlstadt, Düsseldorf, a doctor (Vincent Ball) is sentenced to life-in-prison for malpractice in performing an emergency blood transfusion, which had never been done successfully. Instead of being sent to the prescribed penal island, he’s curiously transferred to a prison for the criminally insane where the director (Donald Wolfit) wants him to perform blood-typing research for some unknown reason.
"Blood of the Vampire" (1958) was obviously inspired by the success of Hammer's “The Curse of Frankenstein” because the producers hired the same scriptwriter, Jimmy Sangster, and it includes elements of both that flick and “The Horror of Dracula,” which started filming shortly after this one. While it lacks Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, it’s on par production-wise and certainly different enough to stand on its own.
It's worth seeing just for the beautiful Barbara Shelley, who plays the doctor’s fiancée and was only 25 during shooting. She went on to appear in Hammer Films’ “The Gorgon,” “Dracula, Prince of Darkness,” “Rasputin: The Mad Monk” and “Five Million Years to Earth,” aka “Quatermass and the Pit.”
Victor Maddern is effective as the Quasimodo-like assistant, Carl. The extensive make-up he had to wear gave him a headache.
The milieu of the grim, grimy and hellish prison hospital no doubt inspired “Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell” sixteen years later.
The movie runs 1 hour, 26 minutes, and was shot at Alliance Film Studios Twickenham, southwest of London.
GRADE: B-
