Cave of the Living Dead (1964)

Herr Director: Akos Rathonyi
Starring Adrian Hoven; Erika Remberg; Carl Mohner; Wolfgang Preiss
Germany; Objectiv Film, 87min
A/K/A Night of the Vampires (its US release title)
Tagline: "Beyond the black mouth of the cursed cave lurk the unfleshed ..."

 

~~~ O ~~~

 

I watched this Saturday night ... well, to be truthful, I had to watch it over the course of Friday and Saturday night, because this film takes a little bit to get going in the early parts. The synopsis is that there's a murderer on the loose in this small town, so a detective scarpers off to see what's up. He stumbles upon a vampire plot, run by one of a few shady characters in the village. This movie plays itself out more like a mystery than straight up horror.  There are a few creepy suspects - the village physician (played with menacing aplomb by Mohner) is an especially effective character.  But, seriously, once you hear the villagers talk of the scientist that lives in the abandoned castle that just recently moved to the area ... it's a no-brainer.

Wolfgang Preiss comes to this film having spent the better part of five years ushering in the role of Dr. Mabuse, starting with 1960's "The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse" and rounding out with "Dr. Mabuse vs. Scotland Yard," which was released the year prior to this film.¹ He portrays Dr. von Adelsberg with a satisfactory air of menace; however, because of that, if the director was going for a mystery angle with this vampire horror film, all pretense of anyone else being the villain goes out the window (as I mentioned before).

I also liked the character of John the man-servant, portrayed by actor John Kitzmiller.  He provided a strong supporting role for the inspector later in the film.  The Civil Rights Act was in its infancy - having been enacted the same year as this film was released - so there were still a lot of "mammy" and "Stepin Fetchit"² roles in films, so to see this butler play a mannered, erudite man of the world is actually pretty refreshing (the "colored" references and a brief bit where two characters joke about the possible existence of a "black vampire" notwithstanding).

The vampire kill scene is pretty creepy, so that gets some big points.  Upon the death of the lead vampire, the other vampires (which number all of one at this point in the film) die as well.  John the butler offers the denouement on the proceedings, and we fade to black under the same swingin' jazz tune that started the film.  All of this leaves the film a bit flat, but really, how do you end films like these the most effectively?  They can't all be "He tampered in God's domain," right?³

Rating: 2 1/2 count

¹Points in between are: "Return of Dr. Mabuse," 1961; "Invisible Dr. Mabuse," 1962; and, "Terror of Dr. Mabuse," 1962.
²Stage name of actor Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry; a controversial actor, since he was the first black actor to receive a screen credit, but he instilled his roles with negative stereotypes for black people in behavior, speech, mannerisms, thought process, etc.  See: Watkins, M.  (2006).  Stepin Fetchit: the life & times of Lincoln Perry.  New York: Random House.
³The final words (flatly) spoken at the end of Ed Wood's "Bride of the Monster," (1955), a prototype for awkward endings in films.