L’amante del vampiro or The Vampire and the Ballerina, is a great example of early Italian horror though for the most part, while it is a little moody and slightly suspenseful, is very rarely scary.  Probably not the greatest thing to end up happening when you make and market a horror film, but as it is, the movie is a lot of fun purely for the fact that it is fairly campy and never really takes itself too seriously, which in the end is a good thing.

Being an early directorial effort by Renato Polselli, a man who go on to do many more horrors like The Reincarnation of Isabel among others, it does show moments of brilliance, particularly the atmosphere he creates which can go from spooky to ostentatious to absolutely batty, and sometimes all in the space of ten minutes.  Yet it is that atmosphere that keeps you tuning in because while it might all be insane, you want to see where this film goes and what happens to the women come the end.  The women of the film are probably the only other reason to stay tuned as these ballerinas, whose dancing is not very good, are all extremely attractive, as was usually the case in many Italian horror movies.  Maria Luisa Lombardo is our femme fatale, the vampiress who is held captive by an older vampire who will never set her free.  She wishes it were different and to that effect she tries seducing a young man to accomplish this goal.  Meanwhile, the older vampire is trying to seduce a couple of the ballerinas, who also happen to work with said young man and because of this, everyone comes together in the end for a final showdown that of course, sees good come out on the winning side.

While it is an enjoyable film, nobody in this movie knows how to act.  A couple of the women do, namely Hélène Rémy and Lombardo, but on the whole it was almost like amateur hour.  The only person who was exceptionally bad was the older vampire whose acting was over the top and far too exaggerated.  To make matters worse, he also had some of the worst makeup ever for a vampire to appear in any film.

When all is said and done though, the film is a win.  Coupled with the smooth direction from Polselli is some really fantastic cinematography that uses lighting and shadow effectively to make this film really come alive, as well as some great locales including the waterfall and the spooky castle.  Being an Italian horror film you can also expect a fair amount of eroticism and it is peppered throughout the movie like a trail of candy for you to follow.  Again, the chills and thrills are few, but The Vampire and the Ballerina does have charm and if you enjoy Italian horror at all, then this is a film you have to see.

3 out of 5