Count Yorga, Vampire (also known as The Loves of Count Iorga, Vampire) is a 1970 American vampire horror film written and directed by Bob Kelljan and starring Robert Quarry, Roger Perry and Michael Murphy. "Film Reviews: The Return Of Count Yorga". The sight of this rotting mass dragging a girl under a tree may be the movie's most frightful as audience imagination takes over. O'Connor to join him in a rescue-mission at Yorga's mansion. At the time, AIP was reportedly grooming Quarry to carry Prices torch as their new in-house horror star. Upon finding Erica missing, Paul rashly goes to Yorga's mansion to rescue her. When we think of great vampire portrayals, normally the names of Lugosi and Christopher Lee immediately pop into our heads. 1969 : 4 . Brudah attacks him, but Michael mortally stabs him and manages to reach the throne room. Cynthia's mother, father and sister, Ellen, are fed upon by the undead horde. Although Michael is skeptical, the three men consider the possibility of vampirism as an excuse for Erica's behavior and agree to look into it while letting Erica rest. See production, box office & company info, Cool horror bits, add up to a strange mix, but a fun film, Elvira's Movie Macabre: The Return of Count Yorga. Cynthia tries to run from him, but Baldwin pulls her back and promptly bites her. They try to check in on her via phone, but she drops the phone to the floor without answering. When the women don't respond to their question and continue tho silently advance on them. The film would pave the way for AIPs other popular modern-day bloodsucker, BLACULA (which repurposes footage of Yorgas coffin making its way stateside) as well as 1973s SCREAM BLACULA, SCREAM. Donna cannot recall seeing Yorga at her mother's funeral. In Los Angeles, a group of friends of Donna (Donna Anders) reunites for a sance conducted by Count Yorga (Robert Quarry) to make contact with Donna's mother, who has recently died and was having a love affair with the Yorga. Everyone at the seance agrees that the Count is refined, well-mannered, and eloquent. First of all, the sets and atmosphere are great. However, despite my fear that this would be another stale film, this one turned out to be better than average and well worth a look. Yorga sends the undead women to Cynthia's house, using mind-control to get Cynthia's family (along with Tommy, who was sleeping over) into the living room before his brides break in and attack them. And I have seen quite a few. This isnt the tragic, romantic vamp featured in so many gothic tales; Quarrys take on the Count displayed both a dry sense of humor, a proto-Studio 54 sleaziness, and a mouth full of fangs. What follows is a vampire film with the women predictably the victims/aggressors and the men predictably running around trying to solve things. Murphy, who would grow into a prolific character actor, isn't bad either, but most of the rest of the cast is weak. I was a bit surprised by this rather low budget 1970s incarnation of vampire films. Soon some of them are disappearing, the females falling under the spell of this stranger. As the vampire women are forced back toward a cellar, Erica glances ominously at Donna. It is the sequel to the 1970 film Count Yorga, Vampire. At the beginning of the film, not long after the seance. Lang is attractive and reasonably good (soap fans will be interested to know that her daughter Katherine Kelly Lang has played Brooke on "The Bold and the Beautiful" for many years!) A pickup truck snags a boxed-up coffin and head into the city. Erica gets bite marks on her neck, but she can't remember what happened. User Ratings "[4] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "extremely frightening" and adding, "Persons familiar with the original will find the sequel better photographed, better acted and containing more mayhem a minute. Hayes, Michael, and Donna go to the mansion themselves to inquire about Paul's whereabouts and keep Yorga active until sunrise. The following day when Paul and Erica return to the city, Paul tells Michael about the attack. Yorga awakens in his manor and heads to his basement which has been converted into a throne room where his two vampiric brides lie on slabs. Before long, Quarry has nibbled on Lang and enticed her to his side while Murray and pal Macready prepare to do battle with him. Quarry was never a fan of Vincent Prices over-egging the pudding (note: both men penned cookbooks) and opted to play Count Yorga straight albeit with a certain sarcastic wit. ; Gratuitous Rape: Does this to Donna in the first movie, much to Yorga's displeasure. Yorga pushes Donna's mother into Michael's stake and flees, when Michael tries to give chase Yorga ambushes him outside the room intending to choke him to death. Marx was not a prince of darkness, but Hollywood royalty all the same: the adopted son of Harpo Marx and Susan Flemming, Marx had begun arranging music for his father at 16. Reverend Thomas is sent to distract Yorga while Baldwin, Madden and O'Connor sneak in to search the manor, armed with sticks they can cross and hold up to ward off the vampires. The film consists of Donna's friends trying to learn more about, and subsequently finding themselves further and further into trouble with, Count Yorga. Quarry plays the title character, a Bulgarian migr hired by some young adults to conduct a seance. In one scene, Yorga is seen watching a Spanish-language version of The Vampire Lovers on his television. In the meantime, Quarry is the bad guy with a clichd side-kick who resembles a monster and has super strength. COUNT YORGA brought the vampire to modern-day America in full bloody color as culture and fashion were shifting: the free love era of the late 60s was giving way to the cocaine and disco fueled 70s, and the popularity of pornographic films was inspiring a new era for libertines. The 80s saw a slew of modern-day vampire tales with Tony Scotts THE HUNGER bringing them to New Yorks goth scene, NEAR DARK to the Wild West, and FRIGHT NIGHT transporting the legend even closer to homenext door to a suburban teenage horror fan. Promising her immortality, he seduces Erica, drains her of her remaining blood, and takes her body back to his manor. After the party is over, Erica and Paul offer to drive the Count home. At the time this film was made, vampires were almost always slow and hypnotic. Robert Quarry, however, is as convincing a vampire as both of those great actors. 1970 : 5 (0) Gun Runner Producer . Most of the clichs of the vampire sub-genre are here, and it's only really the setting that has been changed. He is a stylistically refined character that obeys all the trope narratives that typically are attached to his vampiristically driven disposition. COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE (Bob Kelljan, 1970) ***, My Friend Will Have a Hamburger and a Quart of Blood, Please, Another Terrific Vampire Flick from the Sexy 70's, Different take on the legendary Dracula story. They asked me to read the script, Quarry explained to New Hollywood Gothique. 1970 : 5 (0) Gas-s-s-s Sound/Sound Designer . The brides wear a variety of night robes. The two split up, and Yorga confronts Hayes. From there, the audience moves along to a seance in a hip Los Angeles home. After making a . Quarry is a striking presence as Count Yorga (actually meant to be Iorga, and pronounced that way in the film, but changed by the distributing company in order to be more easily pronounced by the movie-going public!) Yorga is simply looking to put together an undead harem that he can voyeuristically watch make love from the throne in his dungeon and he does, in a sexy sequence probably leftover from the scripts original iteration. When Donna also disappears, Jim and Mike plan to hunt Yorga down to save Donna. Count Yorga (Robert Quarry) finds himself with a bit of a quandary on his hands. Count Yorga is one who's not to be trifled with. When not hard at work slinging margaritas, he tries to squeeze in as much adventure, excitement and romance as he can. Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. Plot [ edit] A coffin is loaded to a truck at the Port of Los Angeles. They also wear no shoes . Before becoming a genre icon Quarry would go on to appear in the blaxploitation zombie revenge film SUGAR HILL, as well as several Fred Olen Ray pictures in the 80s Quarry performed in radio plays before joining the Army in 1943. It was followed by a sequel, The Return of Count Yorga. The seance doesn't go as planned, but Yorga is able to implant some post-hypnotic control on poor Donna, and soon enough bodies are piling up as Donna and her friends try to figure out what's what. Watch The Return Of Count Yorga: Yorga's Brides Rise From The Grave, Watch The Return Of Count Yorga: Yorga's Brides Attack. Count Yorga is one of those films that came from the 70's, in my opinion, a very sexy vampire film, sort of soft core in some ways. Will they succeed in their intent? That night, Yorga visits Erica while Paul sleeps downstairs. Once at the mansion, Tommy disappears, while Jason is reunited with Ellen who has clearly been made into a vampire by Yorga. External Reviews Hayes notices she has lost a lot of blood but is unable to diagnose the cause. An old school vampire living in the early seventies. Meanwhile, Hammer Productions, which all but cornered the vampire market throughout the 60s, found themselves playing catch-up. And whoever did the make-up job on the count's slow-motion assistant deserves an Oscar for walking decomposition. | Robert Quarry ('Dr Phibes Rises Again') is excellent as Yorga. having been bitten by the count, begins her transformation by devouring her pet cat was all but removed from the film, but is now available in all of its uncut gory glory. Overseeing the seance is Count Yorga, a mysterious Bulgarian mystic who has recently moved to the states from Europe. Enter Robert Quarry, an American actor with transatlantic style and wit. He also grimly adds they might have to kill Paul and Erica too if they have become vampires, since the vampire curse will make them evil and loyal to Yorga. Cynthia hugs Baldwin, believing the ordeal over. Quarry asked the horror icon, Ill bet you didnt know I could sing, did you?, to which Price retorted, well I knew you werent a fucking actor.. He awakens them and commands them to have sex. For a low budget flick that's coming up on its 45th anniversary, 'Count Yorga, Vampire' looks practically flawless with this 1.85:1 1080p transfer. YORGA was a surprise hit for AIP in the summer of 1970, appealing to both audiences and critics. One would think a movie called the best horror film of the year by Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune would end up on countless greatest horror films lists. Just as he does, Erica, now a vampire and completely under Yorga's control, and a fellow redheaded vampire charge into the room to kill him. Ohhow could I forget to mention the count's brides; possibly the scariest-looking, fastest-moving bunch you've ever seen! Low-rung vampire pic "Counts" on Quarry to elevate it. It's also kind of slow and surprisingly dry with its tone. Too bad that Quarry never got the acclaim his magisterial performance deserved. This movie is a culture clash flick. While enlisted, he started a theatrical troupe and upon making his way into filmmaking, he took a contract with RKO and subsequently MGM. While only a nut would compare this to the greatness of Dracula or NOSFERATU, it still is a decent example of the franchise. Count Yorga (Robert Quarry), a vampire, comes from Bulgaria to 1970 Los Angeles and starts making a coven of beautiful female vampires. Variety wrote that Robert Quarry had an "aristocratically handsome look and plays the part with a certain sinister intelligence (and) even a sly humor that befits a guy who has been around for several hundred years," adding that "The dialogue has a believable sound to it, and the playing of the principals is low-key and convincingly realistic. Time capsule material. Paul (Michael Murphy) and Erica Landers (Judith Lang) drive Count Yorga home in an isolated manor and in the return, their Kombi gets mysteriously stuck in the mud. Returning to a small California coastal community to feed should be a pretty routine affair. Arkoff retitled the film COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE, explaining that nobody would know how to pronounce Iorga and that horror fans would be turned off by the loves of, particularly with the absence of any sex sequences. His performance and demeanor as a Bulgarian Count in this film is truly outstanding. Donna mentions in conversation with her friends that Yorga was her mother's boyfriend. Despite knowing how dangerous their chances are, they stock up on stakes and makeshift crosses before heading to Yorga's mansion as night falls. This is listed as Count Yorga, Vampire, but the opening title thinks it's going to be called "The Loves of Count Iorga"; the explanation in the Trivia section gives us the full story on why that is. Their van gets stuck in the mud outside of Yorga's mansion, although Paul insists the road was dry a minute ago. I enjoyed 'Count Yorga, Vampire' a lot and highly recommend it to fans of 60s and 70s vampire movies. One reason for that is that in some significant ways the movie isn't very good. But the decade also unleashed cinematic oddities galore, most of which were . He finds Hayes as he lays dying from bite wounds and blood loss. Count Yorga, Vampire (1970) Plot Showing all 4 items Jump to: Summaries (4) Summaries A couple invites a Count from Hungary, who recently immigrated to America, to conduct a seance for the woman's recently deceased mother, oblivious to the fact that he is actually a vampire. He is about to take her when he hears Baldwin scream his name, who seemingly has escaped the brides. Again, nobody gets a happy ending. Of course, I said yes, if its going to be a straight horror film.. She strikes Yorga in the chest with Baldwin's battle-axe. 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