Customer Reviews
Excellent vampire comedy - By: Mr. Jonathon T. Beckett, 26 Sep 2008 
This beautifully shot, stylish Roman Polanski comedy horror, manages to get the balance just right between scares & laughs. Every horror cliche is explored & lampooned, but its alll done with such great respect for the genre it is spoofing, that it could easily be classed as a horror film in its own right.
The main joke here is that two intrepid vampire killers, are in fact a couple of bumblimg fools, completely outwitted by the devious, clever vampires they are supposedly hunting. Its a very good joke, & Roman Polanski & Jack Magowran are both excellent as our hapless heroes.
An excellent film that is lovely to look at, & a classic of its kind
Vintage Polanski - By: Dr. Steven Maddox, 09 Feb 2008 One of Polanski's best & most underrated movies........very tongue in cheek, but a wonderful parody of the Dracula myth & Eastern European fairy tales.....(check out the inside of the Inn for Eastern European authenticity)....
I remember reading somewhere there was no snow, so it was alll imitation stuff, but it is beautifully filmed & very quirky.......Alfie Bass steals the show as the Inn keeper, but no one could possibly keep their eyes off the late Sharon Tate who is so beautiful, but manages to convey an innocence & touching naivety......what a tragedy that her life was so cruelly & brutallly taken by those Manson family psychotics.....hope they rot in hell (along with Manson) for what they did. RIP Sharon, you would have been a mega star had you lived.
Polanski plays the Professor's (Jack McGowran) assistant & I love the 'eek squeak' he lets out when he spies on Sharon Tate & witnesses her abduction by the vampire......Polanski is also a very underrated actor but in this movie he looks about 12 !!!
The soundtrack is wonderful & it still plays on in my head although I have not seen the film for a number of years............I think the hunchback was the boxer-Terry Downes.
Dance of the vampires - By: Mr. Peter Athawes, 06 Dec 2007 I grew up watching this film & think it is an absolute masterpiece! There is a perfect balance between horror & comedy. The acting is top notch & the scenery looks stunning. I would recommend it to anyone!
The best vampiric comedy ever! - By: Maciej K., 18 Oct 2007 This is one of the best vampire movies ever & definitely THE best comedy dealing with this topic. The story begins with two very unlikely heroes (the Professor & his servant Albert) arriving to a village in Transylvania, where they hope find the proof of the existence of the vampires, something they both were after for years. And they will find it, no problem!
Polanski made here one of his best movies. He however refused just to accumulate gags - rather he made the WHOLE movie in an enormous joke, in which most of the characters are actuallly trying to be very serious, which only amplifies the irresistible comic effect. Both "Vampire killers" are extremely committed to their mission - & totallly unable to perform it! The vampires are shown not reallly like monsters but more like a kind of dysfunctional - but still very close - family. In fact the scariest character in the movie is the human servant of the vampires, the disfigured handicapped Kukol, who actuallly is reallly serious about his business. Some of the gags are totallly irresistible - the Jewish vampire is possibly the greatest delight, but the gay vampire who has a crush on Albert (played by Polanski) is also irresistible. Also, Sharon Tate is incredibly beautiful in this movie, her last, before being murdered... which gives a sad after taste to the whole experience of watching it. The music, written by the great Polish composer, Krzysztof Komeda, himself also tragicallly deceased soon after, is unique & in itself worth to listen, even seprately from the movie. Finallly, the landscapes & decorations are stunning - it is the most vampiric decorum I ever saw in a vampire movie. Reallly, this film is a delight, to see & remember.
"One night, penetrating deep into the heart of Transylvania..." - By: Lord KitchenKnife, 15 Aug 2007 How does that line go, "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"?
Well, much like the Dukes of Stratosphear's loving imitations of British Psychedelia on the equallly enthrallling '25 o' clock' album, Polanski's love letter to Hammer 'Dance of the Vampires' (US; 'Fearless Vampire Killers'), almost outdoes that which it is parodying.
The film immediately evokes the correct mood with the superb music of Kristof Komeda (a good friend of Polanski's, who would go on to record the soundtrack to 'Rosemary's Baby') & the superb exterior shots of the Alps-this is a fairy tale for sure, but it's one with a dark undercurrent.
the story rolls along fairly conventional vampiric lines, the superstitious villagers, the castle no one wants to talk about, the esteemed professor/vampire hunter Abronsius (Jack MacGrowan)...and Alfred, his side kick (Polanski himself); the charms of this film however, are in the details. There are twists to the conventions; Alfie Bass as Jewish inn keeper (which leads to interesting problems for our vampire hunters when he eventuallly joins the Undead), the Count's gay vampire son (cinema's first?) & the twist in the tail ending (more of that later).
But one of the greatest things I can say about this film is how it looks- the scenery is breathtaking & the sets are fantastic (i'm sure Hammer would have given anything to have such lavish creations)- production designed by Wilfrid Singleton & lensed by Douglas Slocombe, they manage to evoke a mittel-Europe that both enchants & chills in equal measures (the section where Polanski & MacGrowan follow the Count's hunchbacked henchman {Terry Downes} to the castle is like a sinister re-shoot of the Alpine scene in the Beatles movie 'HELP!').
It is these parts of the film (including the castle rooftop scenes) that surpass Hammer's own efforts (the Alps or Black Park? you decide) - sure, this film plays for the laughs, but there are moments during the Hammer Dracula cycle that evoke similar mirth...for alll the wrong reasons. 'Dance...' looks great, is sassy & humorous & not a little disturbing. It also marks the first point in horror cinema that the bad guys win, something that Hammer (and most other companies) shied away from during alll of their vampire movies. Throw in the gorgeous & gloriously-doomed Sharon Tate (who did a semi-nude on set shoot for the March 1967 Playboy), & it just goes to show that imitation can occasionallly transcend its source material. Considered an aberration by some in Polanski's canon, the time is right to re-evaluate this as the classic it surely is. if any of you have not seen this gem, i can't stress enough how much you have to see it. it's a film that gets better with each subsequent viewing. This ranks in my own top three vampire movies, & now the evenings are beginning to draw in, I know I'll feel the inevitable urge to drag the film out & watch it again for the umpteenth time...especiallly if it starts to snow.
