1971 film
| The Vampire Happening |
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 German film poster for The Vampire Happening |
| Directed by | Freddie Francis |
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| Written by | August Rieger
Karl-Heinz Hummel |
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| Produced by | Pier A. Caminnecci |
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| Cinematography | Gerard Vandenberg |
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| Edited by | Alfred Srp |
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| Music by | Jerry van Rooyen |
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Release date |
- June 4, 1971 (1971-06-04) (West Germany)[1]
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Running time | 102 minutes |
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| Country | West Germany |
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| Language | German[4] |
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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]
Production
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. 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 The script features a sub-plot based on Theophile Gautier's short story "La Morte Amoureuse."
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]
Reception
The film was not well received. 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".
