Vampyres opens to two women having a lesbian encounter when a man walks into their room and shoots them both dead. A young couple named John (Brian Deacon) and Harriet (Sally Faulkner) are travelling throughout the British countryside and decide to stop and park their caravan in the grounds of an old Stately house. They are unsure whether the house is occupied at first. It soon becomes clear that two women live there, Fran (Marianne Morris) and Miriam (Anulka Dziubinska as Anulka), the same two from the opening pre-credits sequence. Harriet notices Fran arrive at the house in a car with a man named Ted (Murray Brown) who stopped to give her a lift. That night Fran and Ted have sex together. In the morning Ted wakes up and Fran has disappeared. He notices that he has a deep cut in his arm. He decides to wait for Fran to come back. That night Fran and Miriam arrive back with yet another man they convinced into giving them a lift called Rupert (Karl Lanchbury). Again Ted and Fran have sex while Rupert and Miriam go off together. Before long Fran and Miriam kill Rupert and drink his blood. Harriet starts to become suspicious, as does Ted who Fran seems to like so hasn't killed him yet. Both Ted and Harriet eventually find out the shocking truth behind Fran and Miriam, but will they live long enough to do anything about it?
Directed by Jose Ramon Larraz the main thing I think about when I recall this film is about how many long boring stretches of people walking around doing nothing in particular occur during it's 90 minute running time. There is very little dialogue. Very few characters either and the entire film is set in or around the house, a graveyard makes an appearance occasionally but it looks much like everything else in this film. The script by D. Daubeney ditches just about everything we expect from a vampire film. They walk around in sunlight and they don't have fangs. The film is very slow, it's over 30 minutes before Miriam does or says anything, and longer before they kill anyone. There is no explanation given for the two 'Vampyres' unless you count the last couple of rather vague minutes of dialogue about a legend of two murdered women who supposedly now haunt the house. And what about the victims watches stopping? It's mentioned on more than one occasion but is never explained. And what about all the nonsense about the graveyard? It's seen on a few occasions when Fran and Miriam travel there for some unknown reason every morning, but is never worked into the story. The two campers John and Harriet both disappear for long stretches of the film and don't interact with Fran or Miriam for the best part of an hour and they feel almost redundant. There is a scene at the start of the film when Ted books into a hotel and an old man says that he's sure he recognises him and asks if he's been here before, this is never mentioned again or elaborated on. I just think it's severely under-scripted. There is a reasonable amount of sex, nudity and gore but nowhere near as much as it's undeserved notorious reputation would suggest, even in it's uncut state. Only three men are killed throughout the film and one woman, not exactly a huge body count. The gore is tame with noting more than just splashing blood. There isn't even that much nudity in it to be fair, the best scene showing a lesbian encounter between Fran and Miriam in a shower. The house looks nice and the lush production design is also good looking, the photography is simple yet professional enough. There are some bad continuity errors as the film seemingly switches between night and day in the same scene, one moment someone is driving along at night with their headlights on and the next it's in the middle of the day. This happens on more than one occasion. It's slow but somehow not that boring and it certainly kept me watching until the end, but I don't think I would be in a hurry to watch it again. It isn't bad but isn't great either, generally disappointing.
Directed by Jose Ramon Larraz the main thing I think about when I recall this film is about how many long boring stretches of people walking around doing nothing in particular occur during it's 90 minute running time. There is very little dialogue. Very few characters either and the entire film is set in or around the house, a graveyard makes an appearance occasionally but it looks much like everything else in this film. The script by D. Daubeney ditches just about everything we expect from a vampire film. They walk around in sunlight and they don't have fangs. The film is very slow, it's over 30 minutes before Miriam does or says anything, and longer before they kill anyone. There is no explanation given for the two 'Vampyres' unless you count the last couple of rather vague minutes of dialogue about a legend of two murdered women who supposedly now haunt the house. And what about the victims watches stopping? It's mentioned on more than one occasion but is never explained. And what about all the nonsense about the graveyard? It's seen on a few occasions when Fran and Miriam travel there for some unknown reason every morning, but is never worked into the story. The two campers John and Harriet both disappear for long stretches of the film and don't interact with Fran or Miriam for the best part of an hour and they feel almost redundant. There is a scene at the start of the film when Ted books into a hotel and an old man says that he's sure he recognises him and asks if he's been here before, this is never mentioned again or elaborated on. I just think it's severely under-scripted. There is a reasonable amount of sex, nudity and gore but nowhere near as much as it's undeserved notorious reputation would suggest, even in it's uncut state. Only three men are killed throughout the film and one woman, not exactly a huge body count. The gore is tame with noting more than just splashing blood. There isn't even that much nudity in it to be fair, the best scene showing a lesbian encounter between Fran and Miriam in a shower. The house looks nice and the lush production design is also good looking, the photography is simple yet professional enough. There are some bad continuity errors as the film seemingly switches between night and day in the same scene, one moment someone is driving along at night with their headlights on and the next it's in the middle of the day. This happens on more than one occasion. It's slow but somehow not that boring and it certainly kept me watching until the end, but I don't think I would be in a hurry to watch it again. It isn't bad but isn't great either, generally disappointing.