The Vampire Happening | |
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![]() German film poster for The Vampire Happening | |
Directed by | Freddie Francis |
Written by | August Rieger Karl-Heinz Hummel[3] |
Produced by | Pier A. Caminnecci |
Cinematography | Gerard Vandenberg[2] |
Edited by | Alfred Srp[2] |
Music by | Jerry van Rooyen[2] |
Release date |
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Running time | 102 minutes[2] |
Country | West Germany[2] |
Language | German[4] |
The Vampire Happening (German: Gebissen wird nur nachts, lit. They only bite at night) is a 1971 West German comedy horror film directed by Freddie Francis.[4]
In the early 1970s, Italian producer Pier A. Caminnecci was looking for a film for his wife Pia Degermark whose previous film Elvira Madigan (1967) was a critical and financial success.[3] Caminnecci set up an international production for her in West Germany directed by British director Freddie Francis and written by German screenwriters August Rieger and Karl-Heinz Hummel[3] The script features a sub-plot based on Theophile Gautier's short story "La Morte Amoureuse."[3]
Francis later stated:
I was aware from the start of the difficulties in shooting a horror parody. I really believed that I was working with normal people in the movie industry, and thought I could have made a decent film. With time, I became aware that the producer was an imbecile who treated the project like a home movie. He wanted to do the casting, make cameos in the film, and wanted his wife as an actress. It was a disaster which I can't say anything serious about.[5]
The film was not well received.[6] Allmovie gave the film one and a half stars out of five, stating that it is "not considered to be one of the crown jewels of the genre"[4] In his book Comedy-Horror Films:A Chronological History, author Bruce G. Hallenbeck referred to the film as "sort of a ripoff of Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers" and "doesn't come within lightyears of Polanski's vision".[7]