The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (TV Series) The Last Vampyre (1993) User Reviews

Sucks the blood out of a great series

[that_ealing_feeling · 6/10 · 17 January 2009]

I'm a great fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories and the Granada TV series starring the magnificent Jeremy Brett, but The Last Vampyre is among the worst Holmes adaptations ever made. The story has almost nothing to do with Conan Doyle's The Sussex Vampire, and Holmes just doesn't belong in a Hammer-type supernatural setting. His milieu was the real, material world of late-Victorian London, to which he could apply his supremely rational mind. Also, in a long career of strange roles, Roy Marsden never played a less plausible role than he does here. On another tack, it's sad to see Jeremy Brett looking as ill as he does here - he could almost pass for a vampire himself. It might have been kinder to retire the series and the star a year or two before this unworthy addition to series was made.

A rather ghoulish mystery

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 5 August 2016]

It's fair to say this season of feature length episodes was a little hit and miss, after reading the novel I always wondered how The Sussex Vampyre would translate into television. A unique story from the pen of Conan Doyle, so different in many ways, fair to say they altered the original text greatly, for dramatic effect I can only assume. The opening is fantastic, has the feel of a movie about it, and the production values are excellent as always. Maybe a story that's a little far fetched for some mystery fans, but a nice drama for Halloween. There is a quality to it, that somehow wasn't in the next offering 'The Eligible Bachelor.'

Brett and Hardwicke are fantastic as usual, at total ease with each other. In deed you actually get to see just how good a Doctor Hardwicke made as Watson. Maurice Denham, Juliet Aubrey and Keith Barron are all great, but it's Roy Marsden that steals the show, one of the best villainous actors I can think of, he's great, and that hair!!

Far from the best, but I disagree with the mainly negative reviews, it is well worth a look, they went for something a little different, and for the most part they succeeded, even with a little supernatural silliness. 7/10

"My boot, you kiss my boot if you want it so bad." Another fine Holmes mystery.

[poolandrews · 8/10 · 25 September 2005]

The Last Vampyre starts with a prologue set in times past where a group of villagers burn a house down belonging to someone they believe is a vampyre. Fastforward 100 odd years later & Reverend Augustus Merridew (Maurice Denham) contacts legendary detective Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) & his assistant Dr. Watson (Edward Hardwicke) about the mysterious goings on in the village of Lambery since a stranger named John Stockton (Roy Marsden) arrived. The local villagers believe Stockton is a vampyre, Carter (Andrew Abrahams) the Blacksmith gorily died shortly after having an argument with Stockton, Miss Ruddock (Hilary Mason) an old spinster who lives opposite Stockton claims he never sleeps & the Reverend himself has seen Stockton prowl the church graveyard many times during the dead of night. At first Holmes seems uninterested but the Reverend goes onto say that Recardo (Anthony Price) the baby of Bob (Keith Barron) & Carlotta Ferguson (Yolanda Vazquez) died shortly after coming into contact with Stockton & that a unexplained plague is spreading through the village. Holmes accepts the case & faces superstitious locals & growing evidence that something supernatural may indeed be going on particularly after the Ferguson's maid Dolores (Juliet Aubrey) is found with two puncture wounds on her neck...

This made-for-TV English, American co-production was directed by Tim Sullivan & a fine adaptation it is too. I will openly admit now that I have not read the short story 'The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire' by Arthur Conan Doyle on which The Last Vampyre is based upon so I simply cannot compare the two, sorry. The script by Jeremy Paul is nice & involving as it draws you into the mystery but I was surprised that for the most part it doesn't centre on a murder. In fact Holmes states early on that no crime has been committed but accepts the case out of curiosity & it's mysterious elements. Once I got over that fact I became interested & engaged in the story which gripped me throughout as I really wanted to see where it was going. The character's are strong with plenty of mistrust, arguments, affairs & friendships & I liked where the story went as it built up to a pretty decent double twist ending as all is revealed. I have too say I didn't guess the outcome & bizarrely I couldn't stop thinking about the cool scene near beginning when Dolores the maid tries to make her boss's son Jack (Richard Dempsey) kiss her boots & what significance it had, or indeed will have, to the plot although to be fair the scene does have meaning in the context of the film, it's just a brief scene for some reason I couldn't stop thinking about whenever the character's reappeared on screen. Technically The Last Vampyre is very solid, while the budget probably wasn't huge the production is suitably impressive although there are still villages that look like the one in this in the UK even now, the props & settings are not too extravagant or detailed which gives it a certain bleak minimalist look & the costumes look & feel right. The acting is impressive from a good cast & I'm warming to Brett as Holmes having also seen his portrayal of the character in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1988) made a few years prior to this. Despite the fact that there is no murder for Holmes to investigate the other mystery elements of the story managed to grab & maintain my interest right through to the very satisfying climax where all is revealed. I think this is a must for Holmes & mystery fans alike & definitely worth a watch for more casual viewers as well, recommended.

hardly Conan Doyle

[didi-5 · 7/10 · 8 August 2003]

Ridiculous meandering around the possibility that Roy Marsden's character might be a vampire like his forebears a century earlier - only the Granada team could pull this off. The fact that they do, make an entertaining tale and make the ending plausible, just goes to show the level of thought that went into these adaptations.

I just couldn't resist 'Ghosts need not apply.' Hilarious. And Keith Barron is good as the bereaved father with the tempestuous wife from foreign lands. No need to sing the praises of this Holmes and Watson - both an absolute joy to watch. The feature film length episodes complemented the short TV episodes perfectly.

Wonderful movie and actors, but...

[Leahcurry · 7/10 · 2 June 2005]

I recently ran across some Sherlock Holmes movies with Jeremy Brett as Holmes. There is much to be compared between this Holmes and Watson to Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, whom I consider to be the very best actors for the roles. This time Dr. Watson seems to be as intelligent as Holmes, caring, but he is no lovable Nigel Bruce. Brett's Holmes is morose and unenthusiastic (unlike Basil Rathbone). Why does Holmes even want to be a detective here? He's a deep thinker and investigator, but he doesn't love it. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce made their films (and radio shows) quite exciting, and this is too routine in comparison. However, this has plenty of suspense and vampire attacks (or were they?).

This isn't exactly a travesty to "The Sussex Vampire", but it had so many twists and turns and additional characters that it left me confused (especially at the end). The show is way too long and slow-moving. The addition of John Stockton was necessary, but the movie should have been shorter. It isn't exactly a travesty to the original story, but they had to add more stuff since the story is quite short, if not the shortest Holmes story Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote! The cast was great, particularly Richard Dempsey as Jack, the disturbed elder son of John Ferguson. By far the youngest to have a sizable role, his stage presence was equal or better than the adults, especially his father (John Ferguson), who seemed nice and caring but had a violent temper. What happens to the dysfunctional Ferguson family in the end isn't faithful at all to the original story, but it is still very interesting and is well made to make up for its flaws.

Nicely-done addition to the Holmes series

[smokehill retrievers · 10/10 · 22 June 2002]

The hard-core Holmes fans will be apoplectic since this is probably a pastiche, technically, just based on the Doyle characters and not on one of his original Sherlock Holmes tales ... it's just too far from "The Sussex Vampire" to be legitimately derivative. However, even as a diehard fan of the original works, I enjoyed tremendously this little adventure, though the first time I watched it with some interruptions I was a bit confused as to what was real and what might just be some imaginative fantasy of a character. The second time around it was clearer, but one does have to pay close attention and not fiddle about on the phone at critical times.

We purists have to learn to be more accepting of departures from the sacred canon of Doyle and not just immediately dislike something because it's not exactly one of the stories we've re-read so many times. When it goes a bit far, jumping time periods and such (as with Basil Rathbone's "fighting the Nazis" plots), that's one thing -- but an otherwise well-done drama like this, faithful in every way to the characters, the Victorian time period, and Doyle's spirit, we should sheath our pedagogical long knives and simply enjoy good work for what it is. And I believe this is just that. Two of my friends who have never been particularly interested in Holmes stories thought that this was a great, ripping tale and are now reading the whole canon since developing an appreciation for the characters. When the departures begin to include nudity and car chases we should certainly object, but this is easily close enough to the original work that all of us should enjoyit.

This production neither bites nor sucks

[ericksonsam60 · 6/10 · 25 October 2011]

This fourth Sherlock Holmes film from Granada is a loose adaptation of the short story titled "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire." Although the plot seems erratic at times and is difficult to follow, it still manages to hold your attention. In this story, Conan Doyle reveals his fascination with the occult as well a social commentary on how public and mass hysteria can create the illusion of something supernatural, when in fact it is something normal and natural - and easily explained. The production values are first class and the music by Patrick Gowers is dark and beautiful. The supporting cast is strong with Roy Marsden as Stockton. Jeremy Brett is still solid as Sherlock Holmes (even with his ongoing illness) and Edward Hardwicke makes an equally solid Watson. The film is overwrought but not the worst in the series either.

Excellent departure from familiar Holmes plots

[smokehill retrievers · 10/10 · 26 June 2003]

I echo the earlier comments that we hard-core Holmes fans should welcome new stories, or pastiches, when well-done and in keeping with the spirit of Holmes and Doyle. This effort is a perfect example of why we should accept some departures or "new," non-canonical material and not just criticize by reflex.

I also had a bit of trouble following the first viewing, mostly due to some interrupting phone calls, but for the second session I pulled the phone plug and it all made sense. Not a clear, straightforward plot as Doyle always gave us, but easy enough to follow if not distracted -- and definitely worth the effort.

I believe Doyle would have wholeheartedly approved, especially since his tale of the "Sussex Vampire" was arguably the lamest of all the canon. This is what Doyle COULD, and SHOULD, have done with the vampire theme.

I also draw the line at ludicrous time-jumps (like Rathbone's Nazi adventures), and I do not want to see Holmes fighting space-aliens, but offerings that are scrupulously true to Holmes' character and times are most welcome -- especially when this finely crafted and well-acted.

A VERY SEXY VAMPYRE

[georgigems · 4 January 2003]

I am a true fan of Mr. Holmes and the sublime Mr. Brett and have read the entire "Canon" a few times. Although this is barely based on the original story "The Case of the Sussex Vampyre"it does have one very redeeming quality and that is a superb performance by a truly underrated actor ,Roy Marsden. I love Roy as Adam Dalgliesh in the PJ James series and think he was not only brilliant as this title character but gave an aura of sex to the part that is missing in the original story.

You have to really watch this a few times to get the essence of the plot but after you do you might share my feeling about Roy Marsden.....he can bite my neck any time.

Brett's pallor and black suit looks sinister

[greenbudgie · 7/10 · 9 October 2021]

Jeremy Brett didn't like this feature-length episode/TV Movie because he couldn't bone up on Conan-Doyle's original story at rehearsal. Conan Doyle's 'Sussex Vampire' is switched to the Cotswolds and the suspicion of vampirism falls elsewhere from the original. In this hash Reverend Merrydew (Maurice Denham) is afraid that his superstitious parishioners will kill a strange outsider when it's not actually clear that Stockton (Roy Marsden) is actually a vampire. So the worried reverend takes his problems to Sherlock Holmes. Holmes and Watson travel to the village that has had a spate of sudden deaths which the villagers blame on Stockton. Brett himself has the look of a vampire in this production due to his pallor and he had put on weight. So he insisted on wearing black to try and disguise the fat he had piled on which only helps to further give him a sinister appearance in this. I like the Hammeresque setting with coach and horses being driven at speed through wooded scenery. Holmes almost gives credence to the supernatural in this production which will go against those who like the Holmes character done strictly by the book. I actually enjoyed this for the atmosphere and Hammer fans may like to try this one for the reasons already given. Some Holmes fans find this production boring but I was OK with it's slow sinister feel.

A Bloated Version of a Curious Holmes Story

[theowinthrop · 5/10 · 9 November 2008]

In the last two seasons of the Jeremy Brett "Sherlock Holmes" stories several two hour versions were written that were not really that good. Only one, THE MASTER BLACKMAILER, proved well done, because it illustrated the effects of the blackmail on society victims. It also was helped by Robert Hardy's performance as Charles Augustus Milverton, the subject of the story. But the version of THE MAZARIN STONE (actually combined with THE THREE GARRIDEBS), and the insane version of THE NOBLE BACHELOR called THE ELLIGIBLE BACHELOR demonstrated the obvious: whatever the weaknesses of his stories at their worst, as in the final collection, Conan Doyle was better at writing his stories than a bunch of screenplay writers for television.

THE LAST VAMPYRE is another failure (I've given it a "5" for some of the performances, but just for that). It is based on a story called THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE. Please note Conan Doyle used the modern spelling of the word, not the spelling of the 17th or 18th Century. THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE is a unique story in the Holmes canon because it is the only time that Conan Doyle decided to take his best know creations (Holmes and Watson) and have them deal with the supernatural. The story was published in the 1920s, but it may have been written earlier. Doyle had a habit of writing stories and putting them aside if he felt them inferior to his best work, but by 1921 or so he was committed to his personal crusade to such an extent that he did not really care if the stories he handed out were so good as his best anymore.

The irony of this attitude is that by 1921 Conan Doyle was committed to his support of "spiritualism" and other forms of "occult" issues. It is with this in mind that the basic contradiction of this story pops up. Homes and Watson get a letter from one Robert Ferguson, an old school chum of Watson's, who is upset at recent activities in his home. He has caught his second wife apparently sucking the blood of their baby son. He is asking Holmes to look into it. Naturally Holmes has to look at all possible explanations, and asks for the volume of his research files dealing with the letter "V" for "Vampire". Soon we get a look at how he files things (one "Victor Lynch" is filed under "V", as is Holmes' account of the "Voyage of the "Gloria Scott"", which is the subject of an earlier story by Watson). Finally he finds the entry for "Vampire". He reads a bit of it to himself, and one can see him get annoyed. He flings down the volume of his files, and calls the material rubbish. Finally he tells Watson that his detective agency has its feet on the ground and is not swayed by such nonsense.

See what I mean? How could the Conan Doyle of 1921 have written such a sensible comment, and still championed the "occult"? Unless, of course, the creative Conan Doyle somehow managed to separate himself from the crusading Conan Doyle. We'll probably never quite know how this happened.

The story goes into Holmes and Watson visiting the Fergusons, observing the lady of the household, her love for the infant, and the activities of others in the house, including the older half-brother of the baby Jackie. Eventually Holmes figures out what is the truth in the situation, and suggests a sensible solution to Ferguson.

Now aside from the Fergusons and Holmes and Watson, no other plot line was dragged into this story. It concentrated on the problem, the investigation, the solution, and the way to eradicate the problem from reoccurring. While not the best story in the Canon, THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE was a good story and a reasonably intelligible one.

Not so THE LAST VAMPYRE. The screenplay writers suggested that there was an outside influence on the perpetrator - a mysterious man who has moved to the Sussex village the Fergussons live in. The man (Roy Marsden) always wears black, and rarely appears in the daylight. He is from a family with a sinister reputation in the village, involving "vampirism", and when he is confronted by one of the villagers he stares at the man, who suddenly is vomiting up blood and dies.

Now that interesting incident never appeared in Conan Doyle. It might have appeared elsewhere, but it has nothing to do with the story called THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUSSEX VAMPIRE. Nor does the subsequent fate of Marsden's character, or of two of the principles in the story. In fact it becomes a kind of ridiculous updating of some lesser Jacobean tragedy with all kinds of corpses littering the stage. The conclusion ends with a character going insane and dying as a result. Believe me, the original conclusion was far more calm, and - as said before - much more sensible.

Elementary, My Dear Viewer

[NoDakTatum · 8/10 · 31 October 2023]

Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) and Dr. Watson (Edward Hardwicke) come to the aid of a small village that may or may not collectively commit a crime. The elderly Reverend Merridew (Maurice Denham) visits the detective on Baker Street with a strange request. One hundred years earlier, the village of Lambley burned down a house and its inhabitants on suspicion of vampirism. A descendant of the family, Stockton (Roy Marsden), has returned to the village. He is already blamed for the sudden death of the blacksmith, who he was arguing with earlier, and another family has just lost an infant son. The townspeople suspect Stockton, so could Holmes and Watson come investigate the man before the village burns out its second suspected vampire? The dead infant belonged to Ferguson (Keith Barron) and his new Peruvian wife Carlotta (Yolanda Vasquez). Carlotta and her maid, Dolores (Juliet Aubrey) do not get along with Ferguson's crippled first son, Jack (Richard Dempsey). Michael (Jason Hetherington), the stablekeeper, has a fling with Dolores, and everyone in the family with the exception of Ferguson is acting strangely after the baby's funeral. Carlotta blames Ferguson for the baby's death, and suddenly befriends Stockton, a man she first found repulsive. Stockton stays up all night roaming around graveyards and does not enter the church. The vampire rumors spread quickly, thanks to small town gossip. Holmes and Watson arrive to investigate a crime before it is committed, and after many suspicious events and murders, they discover the truth.

Many are right, Jeremy Brett was the quintessential Sherlock Holmes. While other actors played Holmes as an eccentric, Brett gives him a flamboyant self-confidence that endears the audience, not annoy them. This Holmes is very likable. Hardwicke's Watson is also a smart man, not the fuddy-duddy he is normally played as by other actors. The rest of the cast of the film, actually a two part episode of PBS' "Mystery!" and "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes" all shine. The case is a hard one to crack, and I did not figure it out at the end. There are no Agatha Christie-like gathering of suspects in the parlor, but the story gives us the clues as Holmes and Watson discover them. I did find the direction lacking a bit, and the script does slow down in a number of spots. I knew right away this was not a horror film, but the mystery is interesting and the film does contain some supernatural elements, all thoroughly explained. "Sherlock Holmes: The Last Vampyre" was based on Doyle's story "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire." While not excellent, it is rewarding to see Brett play the world's most famous detective. Also known as the episode "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes" (1991) {The Last Vampyre (#3.1)}.

Sherlock Holmes vs the supernatural

[grantss · 7/10 · 1 January 2023]

The vicar of a small village needs Sherlock Holmes's help. A strange man, John Stockton, has moved into the town and the villagers seem to think he has supernatural powers and may even be a vampire. Two mysterious deaths have occurred and the suspicion is that his black arts were the cause of them.

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes has certainly thrown up some strange episodes and adaptations. I didn't think anything could top the conclusion to The Creeping Man in terms of fantastical content but The Last Vampyre comes close.

Even more surprising, the adaptation works, to a dgree. It's not brilliant - was always going to be difficult to turn an episode involving vampires into a classic Sherlock Holmes episode - but it's quite interesting and engaging. The whole small town paranoia and superstition angle is explored well and such is the plot development and tension that you think you may be about to witness a radical departure from the usual Holmes script.

There's also a human drama side as we see how the suspected vampire is effectively driven out of the town by the small-mindedness of the inhabitants.

Certainly not your average Holmes episode but a refreshing change in some respects.

The Last Vampyre

[claudia_reynolds · 1/10 · 13 January 2005]

I am not in the habit of sending in my opinion, but I am such a fan of Conan Doyle's storytelling that I felt compelled.

The Sherlock Holmes productions with Jeremy Brett have always had a most impressive attention to authenticity, whether filming or adapting the writings of Conan Doyle. (The adaptations of almost all the other episodes were true to the characters of Holmes, Watson and the rest of the casts, and were sheer pleasure to watch.) This episode is a serious travesty to the original story, The Sussez Vampire. A very compelling story was totally ruined by the farrago of nonsense in this adaptation. It was presented as Northange Abbey on drugs. I have no idea why such a silly script was ever even considered. Other than to be able to say you saw this, please just fast forward over it.

Blah!

Disappointing

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 8 July 2010]

I haven't read the story in a long time, but I do remember it being better and a little more interesting, even if I preferred other Sherlock Holmes stories. This adaptation while not absolutely awful was a disappointment.

Starting with the good things the visual detail is excellent as always and the production values are top-notch. The music is beautiful and haunting, and the acting is not too bad, it's been better but it was certainly one of the better assets of this mystery. Jeremy Brett does look ill here, but he is solid as Holmes, while Edward Hardwicke is a dignified Watson and Roy Marsden is decent in his role.

However, the direction is a little too stodgy, but I have to say the biggest let downs were in how the story was told, the pacing and the script. The pacing is very pedestrian here, consequently the story is quite uninteresting and dull, while the final solution didn't do anything for me as it was too predictable. The writing was disappointing too, it was quite turgid and clumsy, with occasional flashes of intelligence and sophistication.

Overall, watchable but disappointing. It is worth watching for the production values and the acting, but the story and writing could have been much more. 5/10 Bethany Cox

What Was Wrong With the Story?

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 17 February 2014]

I guess the powers that be behind the Granada Holmes series didn't have enough of a story to tie up two hours when adapting the Sussex Vampire from the original canon. It sort of pulls the characters from the story and some of the basic plot, but beyond that, it is an entirely new plot. It's also exceedingly dumb. At least it banks on a group of characters who live by all sorts of foolish bits of knowledge, it drags Peru into the mix again, and proves that Holmes still rejects the supernatural as an explanation for murderous intent. I could see that the the series was coming to an end when the producers decided Conan-Doyle just wasn't up to the task.

Confusing Pastiche

[rmax304823 · 4/10 · 9 August 2012]

A stranger with piercing eyes moves into a small village and bad things begin to happen. A child dies. A dog is paralyzed. Young women show up with two small bloody marks on their necks. Holmes and Watson are call in, and it all gets very confusing.

It hasn't got anything to do with Conan-Doyle's "The Sussex Vampire." It looks instead like an attempt to make a traditional horror film with settings like foggy graveyard, bare ruined estates, a mysterious tree, a crippled boy, a stake through the heart of a staring corpse. Holmes seems to suffer an hallucination while the stranger with the exopthalmia cackles like a maniac a few feet away.

The stranger has learned the power to cloud men's minds, and women's too, from time he spent investigating mysteries of the Peruvian Indians. Something like that. There seems to be an infinite number of subplots involving mothers and maids.

It's a hash. You can find some quietly amusing nuggets in it. Holmes is at his desk, fiddling around with chemical junk, test tubes, and a bunsen burner and has asked Watson to read him any interesting items in the morning paper. "There is a new trend in women's headgear," reads Watson, and something goes poof and a small cloud rises at Holmes' desk, followed by an instant cut. The location shooting was as good as the best of any of the episodes and the acting isn't bad, except for Jeremy Brett's somewhat swollen features, a result of both age and the congestive heart failure from which he was suffering.

I just don't know why it was made.

Sherlock Holmes meets Adam Dalgliesh

[standardmetal · 5/10 · 31 January 2011]

This is one of those late Jeremy Brett Sherlocks in which the actor's nostrils almost seem to emit smoke and fire!

Looking quite puffy and ill (he was near his actual death), he was demonstrably over the top in a role he should have abandoned years before, if only for his own health. And I say this as someone who thinks he was the greatest Sherlock ever! Yes, even greater than Basil R.

The story, loosely based on a much more modest Conan Doyle original (The Sussex Vampire) is also over the top with everyone chewing the (fine) scenery amid extreme histrionics and buckets of fake blood.

Roy Marsden, famous for playing P.D. James' detective Adam Dalgliesh, also emotes with his own "mad scenes" as the title character but Edward Hardwicke as Dr. Watson manages to keep his dignity unlike most of the others.

If you are a fan of the series, I recommend you see this (unnecessarily endless) episode only at your peril.

The Last Vampyre

[Prismark10 · 3/10 · 20 April 2019]

In the early 1990s, ITV had a fetish for two hour murder mystery films. It was all down to the success of the Inspector Morse mysteries.

They even bought Van der Valk back as a series of two hour movies.

The trouble with the feature length Sherlock Holmes films. Most of them are based on short stories and the producers conceded it that it was not easy to expand them into the one hour length. It is a different matter with the longer Holmes novels such as The Sign of Four.

In The Last Vampyre, I first thought it was all about Holmes. Jeremy Brett looked ghostly pale in this. It is clear that even if he was over his mental health issues, his physical health was not good at all as he suffered from heart disease. Brett's matinee idol looks had gone and I think Brett had no spirit left to fight Granada from shifting so much away from the Conan Doyle's stories.

Loosely based on the The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire. Holmes and Watson are called in by a vicar to investigate the death of a baby. The vicar thinks it is linked to a mysterious newcomer to the village, Stockton (Roy Marsden.) Stockton has hypnotic powers, he stays up all night, he is descended from a family of vampires and he can bewitch the ladies. Stockton had touched the baby's hand before it had died.

Of course all this could be superstitious nonsense based on just coincidences.

The trouble here, Holmes does little to investigate. Frankly the script has given the character little to get his teeth into. Holmes and Watson are just observers in a nonsense script where little happens. There seems to be some stuff from South America thrown is to give the episode some exoticism and allows a few characters to be racist.

I hesitate to blame the regular producers and writer Jeremy Paul for this mess. The ITV network demanded an all star feature length movie. The producers had to throw away the regular one hour scripts they had and Jeremy Paul had three weeks to write this. He obviously did not succeed.

A Blotch on an Otherwise Brilliant Series

[rickchris-141-832806 · 4/10 · 8 February 2017]

As a long-standing fan of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories and four novelettes--I have read them all many times--I found nearly all of the video adaptations starring Jeremy Brett to be outstanding, with just a few only very good and a couple of them below that. If DVDs wore out the way VHS tapes did, mine would be ready for the fire that consumed the poor Stockton's worldly possessions at the hands of the villagers following his death in "The Last Vampyre." What a sorry production--not from any technical standpoint, given that everything else was its usual superb self--but because of the meat-axe butchering of a wonderful story, hacked and bludgeoned beyond recognition to fill two hours.

When someone is as good as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was at this particular thing--no one ever was better at detective fiction, and many would say he was unequaled--it is an unforgivable offense to go beyond the reasonable necessities of converting a written work to a visual work. This exceeded those bounds by orders of magnitude and is especially offensive in dropping Holmes into supernatural ridiculousness that anyone familiar with him knows to be completely alien to the character.

They should have changed the characters slightly, added a few pratfalls and some trick bubblegum, and called the movie "Pee-Wee's Great-Grandfather's Big Adventure."

A truly horrible screen write of a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story, really really bad.

[Tedo-574-631981 · 1/10 · 5 November 2009]

Don't get me wrong; Jeremy Brett and David Burke do their normal first rate acting jobs, the horribly written screenplay and plot give them a poor vehicle for their skills.

Most of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories in the Granada series hold true to the original. Sure maybe some of the dramatizations are over the top, still they stick to Sir Doyle's original story and allow Brett and Burke to give flesh to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Unfortunately the last vampyre (left lower case on purpose) was written so poorly with TV type scenes and situations that even Basil Rathbone would have been embarrassed to play Sherlock in. He__, even Huckleberry Hound would have been embarrassed.

Preserve the image of Brett and Burke doing an incredible job of bringing Holmes and Watson to life; do not watch this episode.

Turgid, boring, predictable and poorly plotted.

[alexanderdavies-99382 · 2/10 · 29 August 2018]

Jeremy Brett looked most unwell in the last few years of his time as Sherlock Holmes. His pallid appearance and his lacklustre energy would mare his remaining performances. This feature length adaptation of "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire" is a prime example of Brett's poor physical health. Even so, he is a real trouper and is not to blame for this rambling mess of a production. From the beginning, "The Last Vampyre" loses its way via being confusingly plotted, containing some ridiculous references to the "Hammer" films, a thin telepathy that is certainly not good enough to be sustained for over 90 minutes and a highly unsatisfactory conclusion. Nothing is really solved, regarding the vampire-like character. There are only loose references made to the original story but these offer little compensation. Highly respected character actor Maurice Denham is on hand as the local vicar.

Dreadful adaptation

[mikemikeparker · 3/10 · 24 January 2021]

I am a fan of the whole Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series - undoubtedly the closest to Doyle's vision and usually faithful to the original stories. This adaptation of the Sussex Vampire is an abomination. The original story had a very clever twist and was short and entertaining . In order to flesh a short story out to 2 hours the writer and director changed the whole thing, and in so doing changed the nature of Holmes, making him believe in things which his rationalist nature could never agree to. The plot is sill and utterly unbelievable: Conan-Doyle would turn in his grave!

I never thought I'd see a bad installment in the series...but here it is!

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 20 September 2023]

When the various series starring Jeremy Brett came out in the 1980s and 90s, I saw nearly all of them and loved them...mostly because they were truer to the original spirit and plots of the old Conan Doyle stories than other Holmes movies and TV shows. Somehow I missed seeing "The Last Vampyre"...and now after seeing it, I wish I'd never seen it even now! Why? Because it's simply terrible and has little to do with the original story, "The Sussex Vampire"...and sadly, this original story by Conan Doyle was a poor one already!

The biggest problem is that in these later shows, they were more movie length. Now, with a few of the original stories, making them movie length would have been great, as Conan Doyle did write a few Holmes stories which were novel length. But the ones they stretched to about 105 minutes (more or less) were NOT the longer Holmes stories...which means modern writers had to add a lot. In this case, 90% of the episode was NOT in the original story. And, what was added managed to violate the spirit of the original stories...as the original stories were NOT filled with mumbo jumbo. In fact, one of the major characters in the story wasn't even in the original short story AND the ending is quite different. All in all, it's a case of a poor original story being made MUCH poorer by bad writing. And, saddest of all, Holmes was left with very little to do in this story other than to stand there and just watch the story unfold. A HUGE misfire and a really dopey story.

This one shouldn't have been made.

[pfr1685 · 1/10 · 18 October 2021]

This story is the only one that was made that had nothing to do with the original stories written by Doyle. People familiar with the Doyle story "The Sussex Vampire" will note that the only thing this story had in common was the word "The" in the title, and almost the word "Vampire". And that's basically it. Nice to see Maurice Denham in a minor role, but this episode has nothing else to its credit. It's not even an entertaining story.