A pair of bumbling vampire-hunters attempts to destroy an undead
nobleman and his cronies and rescue a buxom maiden in actor/director
Roman Polanski's playful update of the venerable vampire genre. Bat
expert and vampire obsessive Professor Abronsius (Jack MacGowran) barely
survives his journey through the Alps into snowy Slovenia to continue
his oft-maligned research into the undead. Thawed out by his hapless
assistant, Alfred (Polanski), and the frisky local innkeeper, Shagal
(Alfie Bass),
Abronsius quickly
notices the overabundance of raw garlic as a decorating motif in the inn
and its environs. Too ineffectual to save Shagal from having his blood
sucked, the professor and Alfred miss the boat again when the mysterious
Count Von Krolock (Ferdinand Mayne) kidnaps Shagal's built, beautiful
daughter, Sarah (Sharon Tate). The itinerant vampire hunters must travel
through the icy wilderness to Von Krolock's abode and evade his
manservant and his effete son Herbert (Iain Quarrier) before Sarah joins
the ranks of the ghouls.
They soon learn, however, that the
luxury-starved lass actually enjoys her captors' lavish attentions. The
action climaxes during a costume ball attended by a phalanx of
blood-suckers, although the laughs and surprises continue until the very
end. Sixteen minutes of unauthorized cuts have been restored in some
video editions of The Fearless Vampire Hunters, although the animated
credits sequence that replaced them is also retained. The film marks the
feature debut of Tate, who replaced Polanski's original choice, Jill
St. John, on the advice of producer Martin Ransohoff. ~ Brian J.
Dillard, Rovi http://www.rottentomatoes.com
Roman Polanski
http://viooz.co/movies/1736-the-fearless-vampire-killers-1967.html
