THE VAMPIRES' NIGHT ORGY 1974

  

       A busload of disparate people including Dyanik Zurakowska from FRANKENSTEIN’S BLOODY TERROR and THE HANGING WOMAN are all on their way to an unnamed aristocrat for employment purposes when they're suddenly stranded in the remote Spanish countryside when their driver suffers a fatal heart attack. The group finds themselves at desolate looking throwback village that is strangely deserted (along with not appearing on any map) and taking shelter in an inn they discover another a stranded traveler in form of Jess Franco stock player and Blind Dead alumnus Jack Taylor (HORROR OF THE ZOMBIES and DR. JEKYLL AND THE WOLFMAN ) who’s car has broken down. The group settles down for the night and discover the occupants in the village the next morning with the nominal head of the town "The Major" (José Guardiola) who informs them that the entire village was absent because there were at a ceremony at the local cemetery (!). 
       The overseeing matriarch of the village referred to as "The Countess" is played by the very welcome presence of Helga Liné (HORROR EXPRESS & THE LORELEY'S GRASP). She takes pity on the stranded travelers offering them money along with everyone in the village also offering free room and board. Things begin to get a little grim however as the the countess asks one of the stranded passengers up to her estate to recite Shakespeare Soliloquy's (!). The young man eagerly accepts and a bit later even more eagerly jumps into bed with her. Suddenly bearing fangs the countess attacks him and then throws his body out the window down to a group of the now ravenous villagers. Eventually, most of the other passengers fall victim to vampire-like villagers with only Jack Taylor and Dyanik left alive at the end as they attempt to escape.

       Directed by Leon Klimovsky the film as with most Spanish horror from the period literally oozes Gothic atmosphere. One of the great things about Spanish horror (along with Italian) is that unlike the set bound horrors of Hammer if they needed a crumbling castle or ancient village they pretty mush just had to just to drive down the road a bit to find the real thing. Seemingly to almost to have grown out of the earth itself the village here is almost a character in the film and Klimovsky takes full use of of its crumbling moss grown walls and narrow streets. Klimovsky directed eight of Paul Naschy's films and although he's the director most associated with Naschy (and Spanish horror in general), I always preferred Calos Aured's work with Naschy. Kilmovsky films while workmanlike and serviceable seemed to lack a certain spark -  Naschy would later complain that he rushed through the productions. With that being said however ORGY is one of his stronger efforts as there's a genuine atmosphere of lurking doom with the constant grey overcast skies and the above mentioned village setting.
      There are a few instances of black humor (uncommon in Euro horror) sprinkled in the film as the stranded visitors are fed with contributions from various unlucky villagers whose appendages (which are the past off as roasts of various types) are hacked off by an axe wielding giant who intones "I'm here at the behest of the Countess" before chopping off an arm or a leg. There's also a gruesome bit of black humor with Dyanik finding a finger in her pot roast (left over from the donated arm for the evening meal) and the cook hastily summoned to the kitchen to get his finger hacked off to explain it away.

  

      VAMPIRES' NIGHT ORGY would appear to have a myriad of films that it draws inspiration from including H.G. Lewis's 2000 MANIACS (1964), the brilliant & unsettling MESSIAH OF EVIL (1973) and bizarrely MGM's musical BRIGADOON from 1954 (which could also be looked upon as a precursor to H.G. Lewis's above mentioned early splatter classic). It's also probably the closest a Euro horror ever came to a classic 1950's E.C. horror comic story plot-wise, as it even has a bit of cribbing from Joe Orlando's "Midnight Mess" from Tales from the Crypt #35 (which was used in 1973 Amicus anthology VAULT OF HORROR).
     The film leaves a bit of mystery to the proceedings as it doesn't stick hard and fast to the usual vampire rules as only Liné (who perhaps was the mysterious "aristocrat" that summoned the victims for "employment") appears to be a true vampire with the other villagers seeming to be something akin to zombie/possessed ghouls who that infect the unlucky visitors. There's a few terrific sequences including a young girl who's the child of one of the stranded bus passengers and who's lured to a cemetery by a mysterious local boy where they bury her doll which leads to a very creepy conclusion - and is followed up by her now possessed Mother searching for her. Another sequence on the seemingly deserted bus is reminiscent of a scene in Stephen King's 'Salems Lot.
      It's unusual to see Jack Taylor in the role of good guy hero, but being Jack Taylor he does engage in a some "peeping tom" fun in regards to Dyanik and a convenient handy hole in the wall. Helga Liné's participation in limited to about eight minutes of screen time in what is basically an extended cameo, but she is pretty unforgettable and makes for one heck of vampire.
     Code Red's dbl feature DVD pairs this with DR. JEKYLL AND THE WOLFMAN (which makes it a Jack Taylor dbl. feature) and contains the unclothed export version - which is the one to see if your a Helga Liné fan.