"Gebissen wird nur nachts" or "The Vampire Happening" is a West German German-language film from 1971, so this one has its 45th anniversary this year. The director is probably the star here: Freddie Francis won an Oscar for Cinematography a decade before this film was made (and another one much later), but maybe he wasn't the greatest artist as the man in charge of the film. Or this film is an example of how it always comes down to the script as writer Hummel has not worked on another film ever and writer Rieger is mostly known (well not really known anymore) for his work on trashy German films. The 1970s were really not a glorious decade in terms of German film if you ignore the likes of Fassbinder, Herzog and Wenders. This one here is a trashy vampire film. It runs for 100 minutes and stars Swedish Golden Globe nominee Pia Degermark. It is never a creepy film and it is really almost never a funny film either. The erotic impact is negligible too. It's just there, without making any impact at all with regard to anything. The only reason I can appreciate this one somehow is as a guilty pleasure as the film knows very well how it's really bad and never aspires to be anything memorable in terms of quality. Without the bad, we cannot appreciate the good right? I personally do not recommend the watch though, unless you are a vampire film addict and have seen everything else. Thumbs down from me.
Review of The Vampire Happening
