Slaughter of the Vampires is a Gothic horror film that finds its star Graziella Granata newly married and then soon turned into a vampire. She of course has no idea what is going on, only that she feels funny and that she is sick. Everyone can see that there is something going on with her and when she finally dies, they think that is the end of it when in fact, it is not.

The title of this film is not exactly spot-on as there is no slaughter going on at any point in the movie as it would suggest a whole lot of vampires milling about for someone to do said slaughtering or someone literally going to town on a vampire or two in a most brutal manner. There are in fact only a few vampires in this picture, one who awakens and succeeds in wooing the lovely Granata over to the life of the undead and another woman later on. Of course they do eventually get killed so there is that, but there is no real slaughter. The filmmakers know though, that if you want to get people to come out and see your film, a catchy title is needed and it is better than ‘The Eventual Killing of a Few Vampires.’

The film is sumptuous looking and beautiful, much like its lead actress and it is a veritable feast for the eyes for those that enjoy period pieces with all the trappings that tend to go with them. In fact, there is more romance than horror in this film and while it is not necessarily a bad thing, it would have been nice to at least have had a couple of scares. As it is, the movie fails as a horror as those moments when we see the main vampire played by Dieter Eppler or anyone else if fact are more dramatic than anything else. The film is entertaining though and even quite fun as we see Granata start to turn throughout the movie and her husband being unable to do anything about it. There is a little bit of overacting as various characters try to feign shock, dismay and concern, but overall Walter Brandi who plays Louise’s husband and Granata herself do a fair job of it.

While the movie might have looked good and its stars even better, especially the gorgeous Graziella Granata, the script in contrast was lacking with some fairly cheesy dialogue and the story being somewhat unoriginal. Both were fine if a little unexciting and nothing that we have not seen or heard of before, but the film as whole could have been a lot better if it could have had a stronger writer at the helm than Roberto Mauri who also directed the picture. The main reason to tune into this film is if you are looking for something a little akin to Dark Shadows as this Gothic horror is more soap opera than anything else, yet Slaughter of the Vampires was decent and not wholly without merit and it will pass the time without wasting yours.

3 out of 5