The Vampires’ Night Orgy (1973)

The Vampires’ Night Orgy (La orgía nocturna de los vampiros) is pretty much a stock-standard slice of 1970s eurohorror. There’s nothing to make it either particularly outstanding or especially disappointing. Directed by León Klimovsky and released in 1973, it lacks the baroque excess and the trippy weirdness of the best movies of this type.

Somewhere in central Europe a bus is heading towards its destination, a palatial country house owned by a wealthy old family. The passengers are in fact the newly employed staff. They are destined, however, never to each the country house. The driver dies mysteriously, apparently of a heart attack. One of the passengers takes over as driver, but it’s getting late and he’s not familiar with the roads, so when they spot a turnoff to a village only ten kilometres away they decide it might be wise to break their journey there and get some food and sleep. Oddly enough, the village is not marked on their map.

Even more oddly, the village is completely deserted. They’re too exhausted by this time to worry about such minor details - the main thing is there are beds in the village inn. The next morning sees the sudden appearance of the villagers. The mayor tell them they’re welcome to stay, and since the bus has now developed mechanical problems they have little choice, and besides the countess who appears to own the village offers them money to compensate them for their misfortunes. Also stranded is an American tourist, played by eurohorror stalwart Jack Taylor. Things don’t seem too bad, until the bus passengers start to disappear one by one.

There’s no gore, but there are some nicely macabre touches. The villagers of course are all vampires so there’s no food in the inn. The problem is solved by serving the weary travellers human flesh - several of the villagers having (rather unwillingly) given up limbs to provide the meat course for dinner! There’s also a mysterious little boy who seemingly appears from nowhere, and then simply vanishes. The idea that the village is entirely surrounded by mountains that effectively cut off all direct sunlight, allowing a whole community of vampires to thrive even during the hours of daylight, is rather clever. It also gives the movie a ghostly feel, with almost the entire film taking place either at night or in a strange half-light.

The ending is reasonably effective. It’s an idea that’s been used before in a horror context but it works, and I’m not going to spoil the film by revealing it.

There’s surprisingly little nudity for a 1970s eurohorror film, but this one (like many other Spanish horror movies of that era) existed in both a clothed version to satisfy strict Spanish censorship guidelines and another version with a lot more nudity for other European markets. Most of the DVD releases of this film seem to be of the clothed version. It’s competently directed and photographed and the acting is adequate. If you’re a dedicated eurohorror fan then this movie should provide decent enough entertainment. On the other hand if you’re not a fan of the genre it’s not going to convert you.