Female vampires once ruled the world. Now they are overlooked for glittering guys with big hair. It's time to point out why the female of the species should be the center of attention.
The Gist: A girl attempting to learn the story of Dracula falls asleep and dreams she is in the story.
Clarification: Basically it's just the Dracula story but in German.
Selling Point: see below
Female Vampire Factor: Since it is the Dracula story you get your Lucy seducing Quincy and fanging out for the first time scene.
Then your Lucy rises from the dead and gets staked scene.
But the real selling point of this film is the use of Dracula's brides because on top of your standard scenes of them attacking Jonathon Harker but being stopped by Dracula and your end scene of them being destroyed....
They actually do get some individual screen time. One haunts Harker during his carriage ride to the castle as he's writing to Mina.
One repeatedly seduces Harker and bites him to prevent him from escaping the castle.
and one runs seductive interference allowing Dracula to get to Lucy by detracting and biting the men guarding her.
For that the film gets a Vampire Beauty Rating of 4 out of 5. More brides is never a bad thing in my opinion. This is one Mina fang out scene from a 5.
The Gist: A pair of sisters who are half vampires struggle to fit in when their family moves from Transylvania to Germany.
Clarification: This is a kids movie out of Germany. It follows two 12 year old sisters Darkarvia and Silvania. Their mother is a human and their father is a vampire and they move from Transylavania around people like themselves to Germany where they have to live with and interact with humans and go to a regular school. There they deal with bullies and making friends along with the fact that their nosy neighbor is on to them and makes it his business to try and destroy them.
Selling Point: It does actually have some vampiric moments
Female Vampire Factor: So the two girls have completely different personalities. Darkavia (Laura Roge) can best be described as gothic and wants more than anything to be a full vampire.
Silvania (Marta Martin) takes more after her mother and wishes to be human and lead a "normal" life.
In order to reach this goal they go to a magic shop where a man claims to be able to cast a spell that can grant them their wish. Problem is he mixes up the spell granting each girl their sisters wish. This results in Darkavia loosing all the vampire abilities that she depends on and Silvania pretty much becoming a blood thirsty monster.
The girls have rather small fangs for most of the film though Silvania files hers down when she's trying to fit in but after she's fully turned (about 1 hour in) she is full blown horror movie style vampire pretty much wanting to bite any human within arms length. Eventually they find a way to reverse the spell but for a brief period you got some great moments. I give this film a Vampire Beauty Rating of 3.5 out of 5 with the fact that it's a kids movie keeping it from a solid 4. The film has since had a sequel with another on the way so still time for improvement as the cast gets older.
The Gist: A pick pocketing street girl is targeted by a female vampire who wants her as her newest girlfriend.
Clarification: A vampire love story that absolutely doesn't suck (no pun intended), We Are the Night can be best described as Twilight done right. Made in Germany but dubbed in English (so there is a version with no subtitles) this film has the background love story but most important is that it is still meant to be a suspense/horror movie. The vampires in this film are still monsters who kill people, enjoy it and are to be feared by humans (for the most part). There is no part in this film that you will mistake for a slow moving soap opera and for that it has HEAVY rewatchability.
Selling Point: In the world that this film takes place, male vampires don't exist because all the female vampires killed them for being dumb and emotional and there is a rule amongst the remaining vamps to never turn another man again (yes, this conversation does take place in the film, take that Edward Cullen!)
Female Vampire Factor: As already explained all the vamps in the film are female and the main story background does involve lesbians but there is absolutely 0 smut factor in this film so if you're looking for "Seduction Cinema" style lesbian nudity you're barking up the wrong tree. Also if you're a fang fetishist that is also very few and far between (though they DO have them) but it doesn't take away from the enjoyment factor of the film. The main 4 female vamps are...
Nina Hoss (Louise)
Louise is the oldest vampire of the group and the leader. She leads a very luxurious lifestyle which includes traveling the world looking for new women to become potential partners with. She has a MAJOR thing for eyes and despite her complete disdain for monogamy is very loyal to the girls she turns.
Jennifer Ulrich (Charlotte)
Charlotte is the oldest of Louise' underlings. An actress during the silent film days of the 1920's She struggles with the party lifestyle of Louise as she gets older which often results in her seeming standoffish and unpredictable.
Ann Fischer (Nora)
Nora is basically your "Alice Cullen". Very quirky and happy go lucky, is the first to welcome Louise's newest recruit to the group and is always looking to have fun. Her one downfall is she isn't exactly enthralled to the lifestyle change nor is she fully in control of her blood thirst which plays a factor during the later parts of the film.
Karoline Herfurth (Lena)
Lena is the delinquent who goes around pick pocketing people and getting in all sorts of trouble. She pretty much wouldn't even be in the movie if it weren't for the fact that the officer who is after her also has a mad crush on her. She meets Louise when she ends up at a club that Louise owns and attempts to pick pocket her. Louise then does the bite first and explain what I did to you later routine which pretty much forces Lena to go along with it. It also helps that Louise bribes her with expensive European sports cars and fancy dresses as well. Only problem with the whole thing being that Lena isn't much of a lesbian and that she thinks the cop that follows her everywhere is attractive. That is when we find out that Louise is a ridiculously jealous girlfriend in the unstoppable psycho murdering vampire sort of way.
So you get a vampire coming of age story that ends up a "run for you life" horror towards the end. With a high entertainment factor and a low T & A factor I give this film a Vampire Beauty Rating of 4 out of 5. I highly recommend it to anyone who has forgotten that vampires ARE monsters.
The Gist: The last victim of Count Dracula tries to live a normal life when she's revived in the 1970's.
Clarification: This film is a comedy (more of a spoof really) of the vampire genre but a lot more entertaining as a serious horror and less funny than your average spoof. Basically a girl who was bitten by Dracula is awoken in 1970's Germany, lives a somewhat normal life with a job at a funeral parlor and attempts to have a love life. Problem is, her self control is almost non existent so even though she primarily feeds from already extracted blood from her job or at blood banks, if the opportunity arises to drink from the tap, it's being taken and the bodies begin to pile up.
Selling Point: Evelyn Kraft is HOT
Female Vampire Factor: There's only one but she is the movie so that's ok. She starts off young as that is the state she was in after Dracula turned her and she got locked away in her coffin.
A young and hungry Barbara played by Marion Kracht
But after she feeds she grows up and in a major way
Evelyn Kraft (Barbara von Weidenborn)
The late German actress was a knockout to say the least, even in the ugly yellow EVERYTHING she wore throughout the entire film. The looks she gives her potential victims when that "I think I'm going to kill that person" light clicks on is beyond sexy not to mention the heavy breathing and moaning she does as she goes in for the kill (seems like she REALLY enjoys being a vampire). Her performance alone gives this film a Vampire Beauty Rating of 5 out of 5. Any actress that plays a vamp needs to study her in this movie as she is the standard when it comes to the act of feeding on camera. Directors on the other hand probably not because otherwise its very cheesy, she does after all transform into a rubber toy bat.
The Gist: A Hollywood actress flies to Transylvania after she inherits her families castle just to get caught up in major hi-jinx as she is the spitting image of her great grandmother who is a centuries old vampire.
Clarification: This German film is best described as "The Parent Trap" only with half naked women with fangs as opposed to teenage girls. The story revolves around the Countess Clarimonde and her using her resemblance to her great granddaughter as a cover in order to roam the night looking for victims without anyone noticing.
Selling Point: This film borders the line on being a softcore porn as it's pretty much guaranteed that if a female is in it, her top won't be on for long.
Female Vampire Factor: Pia Degermark plays a dual role in this film as both Betty Williams (identified by her red painted fingernails and blonde wig)
Pia Degermark as "Betty"
and Countess Clarimonde (identified by Black fingernails, raven haired wig and rose she wears around her neck).
Pia Degermark as "The Countess"
It's very easy to get confused as to who is who as they switch looks more and more the further in the movie goes. It gets especially confusing once the two finally meet face to face and you have no clue who is talking. Part of the issue being that the only personality difference between the two characters is that the Countess has bisexual tendencies and will hit on anything that moves while Betty is just slutty heterosexually. Either way, they are both very slutty. Below is a scene where The Countess seduces and takes a bite out of a monk after Betty seduced him during the day and invited him over to the castle.
It's not a bad movie and a great find (and in most cases very cheap if and when you do find it). There are a few classic movie collections such as 2005's "Vicious Vixens" 3 movie set that includes this film in it. Plus, when's the last time a vampire film had a giant vampire orgy in it? This film gets a vampire beauty rating of 4 out of 5.
