Malenka

Plot synopsis:
Just two weeks from her marriage, model Sylvia Morelle [Anita Ekberg] receives a
letter from her Uncle, Count Waldrick [Julián Ugarte], informing her that her mother has
died and that she has inherited a castle and the title of Countess.
Consequently, Sylvia leaves her fiance, Dr Piero Lufuani [John Hamilton], in Rome while
she goes to Castle Waldrick to sign papers and check out her good fortune.
However, the afternoon she arrives at the castle, her uncle is not there
to greet her, and she is told that he never rises this early and will see
her at 10 PM. At precisely 10 PM, Sylvia's uncle appears. For an "uncle",
he looks very young, and Sylvia can't help but notice the chill in his
cheeks. The first thing Uncle does is to show Sylvia a portrait of her
grandmother Malenka and point out how much alike they look (except that
Sylvia is blonde and Malenka has dark hair).Later that night, after Sylvia has gone to bed, she is awakened by a
dark-haired woman who calls herself Blinka [Adriana Ambesi] and who tells Sylvia that her
"Uncle" is not her Uncle, explains how he would lock Sylvia's mother in
her bedroom each night, and warns that he wants Sylvia to do something her
mother refused to do. As Blinka bends down to "kiss" Sylvia's neck, Uncle
interrupts Blinka and, angrily, escorts her to the dungeon where he
proceeds to whip her. When Sylvia confronts her Uncle, he tells her the
family curse. Seems that Grandma Malenka was a witch. It was her
mysterious alchemical rituals and her search for immortality that scared
the villagers, so they burned her at the stake. They didn't know, however,
that Malenka was successful in her search. In fact, Uncle claims to be
Malenka's husband and now lives on as an immortal nosferatu.Uncle commands that Sylvia cancel her plan to wed Piero, but Piero
isn't about to be put off so easily. He and friend Max [Guy Roberts] travel to Waldrick,
but they are turned away at the castle. They go to the village inn where
Piero is asked to examine Bertha Ziemsen [Diana Lorys], who has lately been feeling unwell. It's
a mild case of anemia, says Piero and writes her a prescription for iron.
Later, following a visit from the Count, Bertha is found dead by her
sister Freya [Rosanna Yanni]. Dr Horbinger [Carlos Casaravilla],
the local physician and drunkard, points out
the two holes in Bertha's neck and tells Piero the local legends about
Malenka. Of course, Piero doesn't believe in vampires, and the next day
Bertha is buried without the usual precautions.Meanwhile, back at the castle, tonight is the night of the ritual
that will make Sylvia immortal. First, the Count slices his arm and fills
a chalice with his blood. Then he bades Sylvia to drink it, but Sylvia
refuses. As the Count is about to pour it down her throat, Bertha comes
calling. As the Count is distracted by Bertha, promising to call her
tomorrow, Sylvia dumps out the blood and makes her getaway. Helpful Blinka
shows her a way out of the castle. Sylvia runs to the village inn and into
the arms of Piero, but when she tells him that she saw Bertha, he doesn't
believe her until one of the villagers wanders by and says that he also
saw Bertha.Dr Horbinger advises that they must drive a wooden stake through
Bertha's heart, so that night he, Piero, and Max go to the cemetery to
await Bertha's awakening. Meanwhile, the Count's coachman Vladis [Fernando Bilbao] comes to
the inn and forces Sylvia to return to the castle with him. When Piero
hears that Sylvia has been taken, he, Max, and Dr Horbinger pay the Count
a visit, but Sylvia tells Piero to go away, explaining that she is bound
by her heritage to remain at the castle. When Piero confronts the Count,
the Count has him placed in chains and then explains his plan to have
Sylvia declared insane by virtue of her believing herself to be a vampire,
her Uncle to be over 150 years old, and then killing Piero in order to
drink his blood.Seemingly in a trance and obeying her uncle's commands, Sylvia
approaches Piero to drink his blood. Blinka suddenly enters the room,
announcing that none of this is true. Bertha attacks Blinka, and, while
the Count watches them tussle, Sylvia releases Piero's bonds. Piero
punches the Count and sets him afire. The Count ages before his eyes, and
Malenka's picture begins to burn.Epilogue: The next morning, Sylvia and Piero prepare to return to Rome.
Freya stops Max and asks if she can go to Rome with him and become a
model. Max smiles widely, showing vampire fangs and chases her.
[Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.]

Tags: gothic, flashback

Review:
Readers should NOT let the negative nellies dissuade them from seeking this film out -- it is a marvelous little bit of Eurotrash from one of the genre's finest directors when he was just flexing his muscles.Most literature I have encountered on MALENKA agree that Ossorio's main inspriration was THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS aka DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES, but he injected the film with a decidedly Medeterranian air that caught on: In many circles, it is considered classic must-have required viewing at the Academy, Mr Spock kind of stuff.BUT, you need to select your home viewing version carefully -- of the three most common forms that exist, the most familiar to us in America is a 75 - 80m "public domain" print that used to run on TV a lot, with the vampire chasing ending in place ...
Then there is a second 96 - 98 minute European cut exported from Holland in the late 1980's -- it contains some additional "scientific" scenes and other dialogue, but NOT the gag ending with the vampire chasing Rosanna Yanni.
The recommended version is actually out on DVD right now at places like Amazon under the name FANGS OF THE LIVING DEAD and released by a smallish company called Retromedia who "restored" a widescreen uncut British print for their DVD; uncut meaning that some of the slower scenes trimmed from the 80m public domain print are still in place.What makes their DVD really come to life, though, is the care that went into making the print look good again.
And after so many years of dingy, sepia rotted TV prints you will be shocked at what a beautiful, HARMLESS and fun movie this is -- I'd rather watch MALENKA with my eyes held open by toothpicks than ever have to sit through garbage like INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, DRACULA 2000 or FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA PRESENTS BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA: A FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA FILM ever again.
When her fiancé comes looking for her after she writes a letter breaking off the engagement it livens up the film a bit, but not enough to totally save it, rather he makes it a tolerable piece to watch.
"Fangs of the Living Dead" or "Malenka" (depending on which version) is a decent film of the genre.
I mean, yeah, there are a couple of scenes with red and blue lighting in some tombs underneath the castle that, when watched from a distance, vaguely look like something Mario Bava might have cooked up while he was drunk.
If you want the answer to that, I'll just advice you to take Mario Bava's OPERAZIONE PAURA (aka KILL, BABY, KILL), and put it next to Ossorio's MALENKA and then tell me which one is the good movie and which the bad.
Before director Amando De Ossorio made his classic blind dead films he helmed this interesting tale of vampirism.
She has always despised her father for taking her away from her ancestral estate and raising her in Rome, but her old man had a reason: he had married into a family of witches, warlocks and vampires.Engaged to be married to a doctor (John Hamilton), Ekberg tells her betrothed that she is going to her home country to retrieve her inheritance and will be back in time for the wedding.
This movie is hard to describe as it tells the story of a woman returning to her ancestral home where, perhaps or perhaps not, she is related to a family of vampires, witches, and other nefarious persons/creatures.
The film tries to make everything seem logical in the end as some kind of hoax to deprive this woman of her new worldly possessions(the castle, etc.), but it fails miserably because almost everything that happens in the end is devoid of any real logic.
Sundry characters abound such as an uncle that looks younger than his niece( Anita Ekberg plays the prodigal daughter...more on her in a bit), a fiance and his bumbling lethario/comedian friend, a woman who lives in the castle, enjoys being whipped, and wears a dress two sizes too small thus having her breasts almost spill out, a village doctor who is always drunk and believes in vampire folklore, two sisters that run a local tavern...one anemic and very busty - the other even more heavily bossomed, and, lastly, the strongman servant.
The Spanish vampire 'classic' Malenka plays like a Mel Brooks parody of a Gothic horror movie, only much funnier.
Amando de Ossorio was one of the great directors of Spanish horror, and this film, also known as Malenka, occurs when he was really hitting this stride.There are reportedly three versions of this film, and this one is the best.
A beautiful model in Rome named "Sylvia Morel" (Anita Ekberg) inherits a castle and sets out to take legal possession of it.
But this film does offer some attractive women, most notably two barmaids named "Bertha Zemis" (Diana Lorys) and "Freya Zemis" (Rosanna Yanni) along with the aforementioned Anita Ekberg.
A beautiful woman (Anita Ekberg) learns she has inherited a family castle.
Also there's next to no blood or violence (this film is VERY PG rated) and the makeup on the vampires is pretty comical (the fangs are WAY too big).
She is warned numerous times by the usual scared villagers that there's a curse on her family (typical vampire movie plot fodder).
FANGS OF THE LIVING DEAD (1969) * Anita Ekberg, Julián Ugarte, Gianni Medici, Diana Lorys.
In this 1969 film by Amando de Ossorio (Tombs of the Blind Dead) Ekberg plays an Italian fashion model who inherits a creepy Spanish castle, only to learn that her ancestors were vampires.
Fangs of the Living Dead (1969) ** (out of 4)Malenka (Anita Ekberg) receives word that she has inherited a castle so she heads off to claim it.
Once she arrives at the castle she is greeted by Uncle (Julian Ugarte) who seems to be holding back some deep secrets.FANGS OF THE LIVING DEAD, the film's U.S. title, isn't the greatest film you're ever going to see but it became a public domain staple on television, VHS, DVD and that's where most people saw it.
The film was directed by Amando de Ossorio and this here was his first venture into the horror genre, although he would make his name several years later with the Blind Dead series.
The film also benefits from a nice music score.FANGS OF THE LIVING DEAD isn't an awful movie but there's no question that it's rather bland story makes for a boring film..
Swedish beauty Anita Ekberg plays Sylvia Morel, a model in Rome engaged to hunky doctor Piero Luciani (Gianni Medici).
Sylvia has inherited the family castle, and travels there to see the place and meet her uncle The Count (Julian Ugarte).
(Not that you can blame him.)Worth catching for fans of the celebrated director, but this viewer feels that he didn't really hit paydirt until the 1970s, when he made his best horror films (the "Blind Dead" series, "The Loreley's Grasp").Six out of 10..
Please note - when giving your non-vampire niece a tour of your crypt, please try not to use sentences like "This one in here is REALLY dead" because it just draws suspicion and when you don't answer any subsequent questions it just makes you look guilty.
Her fiancé and his mate turn up to stir things up a bit and most of the chicks run around with plenty cleavage on display and then the Uncle turns a local barmaid into a vampire and the first thing she does is turn up at his front door and start nagging him and then some other crap happens but this film is boring as hell and not worth your time.
A voluptuous model, Sylvia(..the well endowed Anita Ekberg) is to inherit a gargantuan castle from her mother and discovers from her austere, rather enigmatic uncle, Count Walbrooke(Julián Ugarte)that her blood is polluted by the evil curse of her great-grandmother, Malenka, a "practicing witch" who dabbled in alchemy and discovered the key to eternal life, burnt at the stake by superstitious locals.
Sylvia also discovers that her uncle could be a vampire..Director Amando de Ossorio's take on the vampire genre is a moderately entertaining effort with a dash of Bava(the use of colors and darkened areas of the castle), Browning(the reactions of the locals when Sylvia announces her reason for being in their village and the first moments in the castle, along with a cast of eccentrics), and Hammer(lots of heavy bosoms from sexy big chested European women in the cast, with big hair and theatrical acting).
Adriana Ambesis is a supposed vampire slave the Count keeps prisoner and assaults through lashings when she misbehaves and Carlos Casaravilla is a kooky village doc, Horbringer, a boozer who warns our heroes of the possible terror that awaits those who have the misfortune of coming in contact with residents of the castle.The version I watched is a mess.
The attractive women and the castle itself are reasons I'd recommend it, but for pure atmosphere and dread you should pursue the ending of de Ossorio's Tombs of the Blind Dead instead.
Along with many other European horror movies of the 1960s and 1970s, mainly Italian, Spanish, and/or Portuguese productions, this movie was a drive-in classic for us boys between the ages of seven and 14.Most adults probably found this to be quite un-scary after seeing movies like "Rosemary's Baby" and "Night of the Living Dead." It isn't 'too' scary for a child to have nightmares, but, it has vampires and rustic settings that made for a decent horror movie.After seeing this movie again as an adult, what I find best are the beautiful actresses - Anita Ekberg; Rosanna Yanni; Adrianna Ambesi; and, especially, Diana Lorys.
If he thinks vampires and their rituals are so silly, what's he so scared of?Anyhow, this is a good, even great, vampire movie, if you're a very young horror fan; or, an adult who scares easily.
The return of Count Dracula as played by Christopher Lee in the late 1950's set a trend of sexy blood-suckers, both male and female, and when England got on the Universal band wagon (ironically right after the death of famed vampire extraordinaire Bela Lugosi), other European countries on the main continent followed suit, usually with much T&A and an almost animated look in its filming technique.
Julian Ugarte is her older but still sexy "uncle" who has undead secrets of his own, and his goal is to keep Ekberg's modern day innocent heroine there as part of an effort to end the family curse.Certainly, this isn't anything that 1960's horror aficionados hadn't seen before with "The Fearless Vampire Killers" and other similar tales of the undead haunting second string movie theaters and drive-ins around this time.
***SPOILER ALERT*** Only worth watching for it's star attraction the bust-out Swedish actress Anita Ekberg in a duel role as top Italian fashion model Sylvia Morel and 17th Century burned at the stake witch Malenka.Sylvia gets the news that she inherited the Wadrick Castle and the title of countess on the eve of her wedding to handsome Dr.Pietro Lufuani.
It's also very obvious, from the moment you lay eyes on him, that the pasty looking and ice cold to the touch Count Walbrooke is actually a member of the living dead, a blood sucking vampire!
It also turns out that the Count later, after sucking them dry, turns his victims into vampires like himself to join his army of the walking dead.Traveling to Wadrick together with his friend Max Dr.Lufuani attempts to rescue Sylvia from Count Walbrooke's clutches only ending up a prisoner in his castle.
There is precious little atmosphere in this film, Anita Ekberg's character does indeed come off as annoying, engendering no sympathy.
It seems to me that Malenka was neither witch nor vampire, but an alchemist who died at the stake, but not before successfully prolonging the life of Anita Ekberg's 'uncle.' The girl in the castle and the one from the tavern were only pretending to be vampires, as we see the latter installing her fangs in a tiny compact mirror, and neither are seen after the fiery demise of the 'uncle,' disintegrating simultaneously with the burning portrait.
In the 74 minute TV version, titled "Fangs of the Living Dead," there is a gag ending not seen in the longer print, Rosanna Yanni, sister of the tavern girl, being chased by the dizzy friend of Anita's doctor fiancée, sporting a set of fangs.
I first saw this film on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater back in 1978, alongside superior Spanish horrors such as "The Murder Mansion," "Horror Rises from the Tomb," "The Bell from Hell," "It Happened at Nightmare Inn," and "The Night of the Sorcerers," another credit for Amando de Ossorio, who wrote and directed "Malenka." Such features became cherished friends for long-time horror buffs like me, but now we are able to see them in all their uncut gory glory, with nudity intact.
Besides, this silly Gothic horror from Amando de Ossorio, director of the Blind Dead series, mightn't be all that great, but it does offer up several very attractive Euro-babes who, although they don't get naked, do look extremely ravishing throughout, revealing about as much cleavage as a slip of a dress possibly can.
And hot babes always make the going a lot easier.Anita Ekberg is the leading lady in this silly vampire romp about an heiress, Sylvia Morel, discovering that her new castle is home to bloodsuckers, but she is easily eclipsed by buxom brunette Adriana Ambesi as sexy vamp Blinka, and Diana Lorys and Rosanna Yanni as beautiful barmaid sisters Bertha and Freya Zemis.
Together, this trio of tasty totty ensured that, although the plot was unremarkable and the direction uninspired, I was able to see Fangs to the very end, which, while I'm on the subject, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever (at least in the version I saw): after revealing that the whole vampire thing is a ruse cooked up by Sylvia's uncle, Count Walbrooke (Julián Ugarte), to have his niece committed, the count turns out to be a vampire after all (he disintegrates in flames), after which Max (César Benet), comedy sidekick of Sylvia's fiancé Piero (Gianni Medici), also sprouts a pair of fangs.
This is a wild & wacky vampire flick from the same director who brought you the "Blind Dead" series, mixing up some busty go-go style ladies with campy vampirism chills.Anita Ekberg plays Sylvia, a woman who is surprised to learn that she has inherited a castle, from relatives that she didn't even know she had.
Sylvia also discovers her curious "Uncle", who doesn't look a day older than she does, and the castle is also haunted by some vampirish babes like the mysterious Glinka.
Soon Sylvia is told of her family's undead history, her grandmother Malenka, and her new role as the matriarch of the vampire clan.Meanwhile, Sylvia's fiancé doesn't take too kindly to her announcement that their engagement is off, and he travels with his doofus best friend to the castle to straighten it out.
Well, that is until someone touches a torch to her uncle and he immediately disintegrates.This has got all the makings of a charmingly awful movie, complete with a spook-a-rama harpsichord & organ soundtrack, horrendous dubbing (Anita Ekberg's voice appears to have been dubbed by one of the Gabor sisters, judging from the accent), non-existent special effects, and kooky dialogue ("There's something....going on here....something....EVIL.")If you can find a copy of this, you'd be wise in grabbing it up.
Sylvia (Anita Ekberg) Italy's most famous model inherits a castle on the eve of her wedding plans.
The movie is one of those poorly dubbed, poorly directed, poorly acted films that are fun to watch for that reason.
Sylvia Morel (Anita Ekberg), a famous model, inherits an Italian castle.
When she gets there, she finds it inhabited by her strange uncle (Julian Ugarte) and a bevy of women who Sylvia suspects of being vampires.
The acting is mostly mediocre, though Ekberg is passable in her dual roles as both Sylvia and Malenka (her slayed vampire grandma).
Unfortunately, Ekberg is not very well-dubbed--though, for most part, the dubbing is done reasonably well.When a stake is driven through the uncle's heart, he rapidly ages via lap dissolves in which he looks like an old man with Silly Putty on his face.
(It plays out funnier than I've described it.) At the very end, we see the bachelor, now a vampire himself, chasing a young barmaid—in the middle of the day, while the sun shines brightly.FANGS OF THE LIVING DEAD has its problems, but it was refreshing to see a film in which the vampires were evil and creepy, not sexy and hip.
When she arrives to take possession, she learns her castle is a home for the undead who want to bring her into the family.I really wanted to like Fangs of the Living Dead, but two things really hampered my enjoyment.
This is probably due to De Ossorio's lack of skill at this time, something he would polish considerably by the second film (Tombs of the Blind Dead).
De Ossorio believed at this time that the only way to scare someone was to show a lot of close-ups of pasty-faced vampire faces with fangs baring, something that was not the right way for a horror film.
Lovely young model Sylvia Morel (a charming and vibrant performance by the gorgeous and voluptuous Anita Ekberg) inherits a moldy old castle after her mother dies.
Sylvia discovers that her family has a surprising curse: Her grandmother Malenka (also played by Ekberg) not only was a witch, but also her sinister uncle Count Walbrooke (Julian Ugarte having a grand lip-smacking hammy time) and the castle staff are all vampires.
Some sort of nonsense about a woman inheriting a castle filled with vampires.Actually I'm not sure since the print I saw ran 75 minutes which is 25 minutes shorter than the original release version and 10 minutes shorter than the original American release.