THE VAMPIRE'S GHOST (1945) OR WHY I HATE STUPID VAMPIRES

The 1945 film, The Vampire's Ghost, is about to mark the end of an era for me. For the past 53 years I have been watching Horror and Science Fiction films with more delight than one man should ever have. As far as I'm concerned, the sillier the plot and the fuzzier the print, the better. However, this great source of this fun is about to come to a resounding end. For you see, The Vampire's Ghost is the last Monster Movie I have never seen.

Thanks to New York TV shows such as Million Dollar Movie, Chiller Theater with and without the great John Zacherley, Creatures Features and the 4:30 Movie and let's nor forget the advent of Video Tapes and DVDS, I have seen every cool movie there is to be seen. And probably like you, many I have seen hundreds of times. I must have seen King Kong and Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein over 300 times each during the course of a lifetime.

Which brings me back to my sad tale of The Vampire's Ghost. This film is so obscure that the only way I knew that it even existed at all, was from a photo printed in Famous Monsters decades ago. The photo was of a very frail looking guy in a safari outfit standing in front of an Idol with a jungle background. That photo and its caption must have stayed with me, because as the list of Monster Movies I had never seen drew smaller and smaller, the existence of The Vampire's Ghost always remained in the back of my mind.

So I started searching for a DVD of this elusive film, not knowing if I would ever find it on DVD or if the film was worth the hunt. I was finally lucky enough to find a DVD of it from The Horror DVD Warehouse. Although, I can't at the time of this writing, bring myself to finish the film because of the sadness it will bring, I have watched about 50 minutes worth. I have to tell you that this little gem is really starting to grow on me.

The film stars, John Abbott as the vampire who for some reason, as he pontificates about in the prologue, loves Africa so much that when he's really hungry, he always returns there. John Abbott, who does not appear to be any relation to Bub Abbott, makes one of the strangest vampires you'll ever encounter. He emotes his dialouge like he's in a cheap production of Shakespeare in the Park and pops his eyes out like Peter Lorre when he's hypnotizing a potential victim.

The craziest thing of all is that this vampire is the original daywalker, a trick he accomplishes with the use of .... hold on, sunglasses. Without ruining any of the story I've seen so far, I can also tell you that a potential victim can easily approach and touch him while he's sleeping in an army cot.

Now, why do I hate stupid vampires. It's gotta be for the same reason you do too. Like many of his vampire bretheren before and after, Mr. Abbott not only falls in love with the leading lady but keeps the hero alive for the entire film when he has the chance to polish him off in the first reel. It reminds me of one of the Christopher Lee Hammer films wherein, it takes about 75% of the film to revive Dracula, he pontificates how he is going to take over the world through vampirism and then is killed the very same evening he was resurrected.

That being said, The Vampire's Ghost is a ton of fun so far. I know I only have a few minutes left of it before it passes into the annals of films watched and enoyed and who knows how long I may milk those last few precious minutes. One thing I'm certain of is, that for sure, Mr. Abbott is going to regret not bumping off the hero when he had the first of his many chances.

You can grab a DVD of this obscurity from horrordvdwarehouse.com for only 5 bucks. The film was produced by Republic Pictures and has Povery Row written all over it but I have to state once again, this one really grows on you. The print is decent and enjoyable as the website says. Certainly not the old Monster Channel quality but good enough to enjoy immensely. And while we're on the subject, I for one, happen to like a little grain in my Monster Movies. It reminds me of watching them for the first time back when I was 6 years old. Brings back the good memories of when times were a lot less stressful. The Hi-Def prints that were shown on the now defunct Monster Channel were so clear that you could see all the strings attached to the Monsters and that's quite a buzz kill. As for DVDS, I love the film, The Brainiac (who doesn't) but the new top of the line master print clearly shows a rope attached to the rock that the Brainiac uses to land on Earth. Likewise, I certainly don't need to see strings attached to the candle Lou Costello uses in his famous candle routine. Last but not least, clearly spotting the strings on the space ship in Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman is hard to bear as well. When Zacherley showed that film on Chiller Theater 50 years ago, there were no strings to be seen. I can attest to that.

UPDATE

Son of a Bitch. Republic Pictures got me. I was 50 minutes deep into this film at our last get together and started her up once again. I was having so much fun watching this lost gem that, even though I saw it coming a mile away, I accidentally finished the entire film. Curse you Republic Pictures. I forgot that this film is the definitive example of a B Picture from the 40's and its running time coincided with its budget. So nine minutes later, this film was all gone. A running time of less than 59 minutes and that included the credits.

That being bemoaned over, here's what happened in the climax without ruining the fun for you. I finally got to see the still that so enticed me from Famous Monsters as its locale is the centerpiece for the finale. I'd love to report that the vampire's plans to turn the leading lady into his companion to walk the Earth with him succeeds but alas, I cannot. Actually, who would want some gal you just met to hang out with you for eternity anyway? Especially if she's a bad actress. Can you imagine it's 900 hundred years into their relationship and she's been nagging him for 899 years of them. "Why do you always get to bite first?" "Your last victim was pretty cute. You better watch yourself mister."

Oh yes, since the setting for the film is the African jungle, all you hear for the last 9 minutes of the film are those blasted jungle drums. "Communicate the vampire's location with the drums and tell each village to pass this message on with their drums", says the hero. So what do we wind up with aside from a drum induced headache? That's right. So many natives playing drums scenes that I thought Ginger Baker was gonna show up at any minute and show them all how it's really done.

All in all, I loved this film. Not only because it marks the end of a 53 year quest but it also shows what a director with no budget and crummy actors (Mr. Abbott excluded) can really pull off when the chips are down. There are some fantastic bits of business in this film that I wish Bela had the opportunity to pull off. There's a brief scene with a mirror that's classic. And speaking of Bela, there's a scene in the finale of The Vampire's Ghost, that's stolen directly from Return of The Vampire. Hold on, It just came to me. I've never seen the film, "The Vulture", from 1967 with Akim Tamiroff. The quest continues.