This movie begins with a young woman named getting bitten by a vampire late at night in the forest. She is taken to a doctor's house where several young ladies are staying in preparation for an upcoming ballet. Since she seems to be okay she is taken back to the farm where she works but subsequently dies a little later and is buried. At least, all of the villagers believe she is dead. In any case, that same night a young man named "Luca" (Isarco Ravaioli) and two of the women by the names of "Luisa" (Helene Remy) and "Francesca" (Tina Gloriani) get lost in the forest and happen to come upon a castle which they take refuge in from an approaching thunderstorm. Not long afterward they are greeted by a woman named "Countess Alda" (Maria Luisa Rolando) who offers them some tea. When Countess Alda temporarily excuses herself, Luisa decides to look around the castle and it's at this time that she is bitten by the same vampire who attacked the young woman in the woods. From that point on Luisa is irresistibly drawn to the vampire by the name of "Herman" (Walter Brandi) and this endangers everyone who is close to Luisa. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that from what I understand this movie had some difficulty with the Italian censors due-strangely enough--to the graphic images exhibited during the death of the vampires and the special effects related to the mask worn by Herman. While it all seems rather tame in this day and age I suppose it goes with the territory back then. Be that as it may, although this film is definitely dated, it wasn't too bad as far as vampire films are concerned and because of that I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Great title and to my surprise there really is a ballerina, well several of them, more 'dancers' to be honest. These leggy ladies prance about a lot but the music for the film is so dreadfully inappropriate most of the time, it is to little effect. Shame really that the whole film is so mixed in quality. Some scenes are really effective, although these tend to be ones reminding one of earlier b/w horrors and others seem about to slip into farce. dialogue equally unreliable and overall the movie is confused and in turn confusing. I know the business of vampire victims coming back as vampires or remaining as 'blood banks' has always seemed a bit arbitrary but here even the characters don't seem to get it. This has to be the first such film when head vampire puts a stake through the heart of a potential fellow to prevent her from causing trouble on his patch. Worth a look, especially bearing in mind the director's later greats but a certain amount of patience required.

Here's an early entry in the Italian horror revival of the 60s, following on the heels of Freda's "I Vampiri". It fits in well with the contemporaneous Gothics "The Playgirls and the Vampire", "Slaughter of the Vampires", etc., but is more superficial and haphazardly constructed. Most horror buffs have dismissed it as a clumsy imitation of its cinematic cousins. As proved by his later, supremely bizarre contributions to the horror genre, Polselli was a hack with no interest in continuity or story structure, but he certainly could sustain a ferociously obsessional, surrealistic atmosphere, and this title can be quite hypnotic despite its poor make-up and effects and relentless lack of narrative drive.

On the other hand, if you're a fan of kitschy early-60s Euro-chic, then by all means check this one out (if you can find it -- it only seems available on hazy grey-market copies that may have been clipped of brief sights of nudity and lasciviousness). The proceedings come to a halt every so often to allow the (supposedly classical) ballet troupe of leggy, leotard-clad bambinas an opportunity to break into sultry, acrobatic jazz ballet (shades of Chicago and Cabaret),to some mind-bending cocktail lounge music. It's as if José Benazeraf checked in one afternoon as guest director on a Bava picture! Definitely a cheeky, retro-chic cross-pollination, along the lines of "The Hands of Orlac" (remake) and "Death on the Four Poster".