The first Yorga film is done in a very rough-and-ready way--it almost looks like a student film.  Robert Quarry as Count Yorga has moments that I personally find very reminiscent of Barnabas, and there's even a scene where the two vampire hunters visit the Count in his elegant drawing room that make me think of the original 1967 DS.  Some of the "actresses" in the film came from the soft-core porn industry but they are effectively used in the film's often bare-bones approach to horror.  There's one scene involving a female victim of the Count's and a kitty that I personally find really disgusting, stomach-churningly so, but it does hearken back to the Renfield sections of the original Dracula novel.

I still haven't seen the second Yorga film, but I have been told that it had a bigger budget and a glossier look.  I have seen a clip with this eerie scene of Robert Quarry sort of floating down a hallway with fangs bared.  I think this is also the one in which Ketty Wells, the legendary Sixties vocalist (who recorded the hit "Love letters") has a minor role--I hadn't known she was an actress.

For afficionados of Seventies camp and kitsch, Deathmaster is worth checking out.  It may also be on Youtube.  Quarry had to wear a big old hippie-wig in it and was made up to look like Charles Manson.  He runs a hippie vampire cult and everybody runs around in an old Victorian house in Malibu, or someplace.  I have vague memories of trying to watch it on the CBS Late Movies back in the mid 70s and just finding it all too ridiculous. Now it might be a bit of fun.  I wonder if Tim Burton is a fan of Deathmaster since the hippie stuff in Depp Shadows seems partly to allude to this.

G.

Thanks for that review, Prof. Stokes.  I would like to see the film but it sounds as if it may go direct to DVD after a couple of special showings such as the one you attended.

G.

Footage and dialogue from Grayson's role in the 1966 film Who are you, Polly Magoo? is woven into this music video from Cosmicolor, Magnifigue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNgOZ6Pizqg

I love the shots of Grayson speaking French on the telephone and... well, really, ALL of it.

Off to collapse on my fainting couch,

G.

The Hammer films had a huge impact upon the art direction of DS, particularly after the series went to color, so it seems odd to me to find fans of the series who don't like the Hammer product.  Hammer's Horror of Dracula in 1958 was the first vampire film to show a vampire baring his fangs (first seen in a shock close-up of Christopher Lee that is one of the most iconic moments in the history of horror cinema).  Hammer also devised a style of Gothic horror drenched in lurid color that had a definite influence on certain sequences on DS.

One of my personal favorite Hammers if "The Gorgon" from 1964 with Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Barbara Shelley.  It's just so atmospheric and beautifully shot, with some really unforgettable images.  A lot of fans diss the actual Gorgon FX but I think they're missing the point.  The story is supposed to be about mythic poetry, not literalism.  But I'll spare you all that particular rant.  I do find myself thinking about how interesting it might have been had DS done a gorgon story.  One was actually done for the Innovation comics inspired by the 1990/91 NBC series.

G.

According to the Facebook page for the show, this episode is available for free streaming on the AMC website, I think through next Tuesday or so.

G.

Gerard, your story made me think of the time on DS when David and Hallie made their own Barnabas doll, I think out of a clothespin and a bit of fabric, and put it inside Rose Cottage.  Remember that?

I'm not into the figures but I feel sorry for those who were looking forward to collecting them.  I have to say that in terms of modern toys, something retailing at $20 is barely above the level of a plastic decal, so I'm not surprised to read that the result looked very cheap.

I realize that $20 is a nice chunk of change for some of us, but in terms of the collectors market, I think it's close to bargain-basement.

G.

Cool!  I wonder how old he is.  Was she playing Sci Fi broadcasts for him, or videotapes, or is he old enough to have been around to watch it back in the Sixties?

G.

The cruise isn't until October.  There has been more reporting about the San Diego thing because it is coming right up now.

I would presume, pace the cruise, that they would need to have a minimum number of bookings in place by x date to make it feasible.  If they fail to garner that minimum, presumably we just won't hear anymore about the cruise.  (I don't know any of this for a fact--it is speculation on my part.)

Best, G.