The Vampire Happening (1971) is the product of a collaboration between Hammer veteran director Freddie Francis and producer Pier A. Caminnecci. The film is a bawdy horror comedy with an emphasis on sex that came into being as a vehicle for Caminnecci’s wife Pia Degermark (in dual roles) and so that Caminnecci and his friends could hobnob with topless women and party. This left Francis the thankless task of putting a film together that could make any sort of sense.
The star of the film is clearly Degermark’s breasts and breasts in general. The film is littered with horny old men (some of them monks) leering at nubile women. Any lampooning that could be afforded this modus operandi is ignored in favor of sexualized soft core spectacle. Social commentary of any kind is limited to the gag of horny priests and stuffy aristocrats. There is no depth or message behind what passes for humor.
Nonetheless Francis makes a valiant effort. The macabre Gothic trappings of Stoker’s Dracula are readily abundant in the film. Yet, these trappings are merely superficial and do little more than add to the ambience of the piece. Any suggestion that sex is a part of the lure of Gothic literature and film is purely circumstantial and lacks any significance.
The Vampire Happening really feels like an excuse for an elaborate costume party from start to finish. For Francis, The Vampire Happening was unfortunately only the first of such films that he had to direct. In just a few short years Francis would helm the equally problematic production Son Of Dracula (1974). But at least Son Of Dracula had the novelty of being a rock musical.
