Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

The Horrible Sexy Vampire Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 9, 2022

Jose Luis Madrid's "The Horrible Sexy Vampire" (1971) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mondo Macabro. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary by critics David Flint and Adrian J. Smith; newly remastered trailer for the film; and vintage promotional materials for the film. In English or Spanish, with optional English subtitles. Region-Free.

Even though I often had a difficult time hearing everything David Flint and Adrian J. Smith had to say in their exclusive new audio commentary, I found myself agreeing with plenty of their observations about Jose Luis Madrid’s The Horrible Sexy Vampire. For example, Flint and Smith point out that the suggestive title alone probably attracted many more casual viewers to see the film than any publicity campaign could have, which I think is the reason why it was recently fully remastered as well -- The Horrible Sexy Vampire is indeed an instant attention-grabber. Also, Flint and Smith rightfully identify the film as strange but not in a good way. Their comments after the resolution of the mystery is reached describe precisely how I felt about Madrid’s direction as well.

But Madrid also wrote the screenplay for The Horrible Sexy Vampire and its quality harms the film a lot more than his direction does. The most obvious flaw of this screenplay is the absence of, well, a horrible sexy vampire. Indeed, the catalyst of all the drama in the screenplay is a string of murders committed by a mysterious killer who turns out to be a conventional middle-aged man trapped in the cursed and very unsexy body of a centuries-old vampire. Also, the screenplay does not even keep the spotlight on the mysterious killer. Instead, it becomes fascinated with a young and very handsome relative (Waldemar Wohlfahrt) of the mysterious killer who leaves his home in London and arrives in Stuttgart to take control of an ancient castle that belonged to his family. Shortly after he moves into the castle, his girlfriend (Patricia Loran) also arrives in the area and the screenplay quickly links the two to an ongoing investigation that eventually identifies the mysterious killer as the original owner of the castle. As you can tell now, not only is the narrative oddly fractured, but the very particular genre thrills the catchy title promises never materialize.

Given the nature of the original material, it is impossible not to speculate that Madrid’s fellow countryman Jess Franco would have produced a drastically different and better genre film with the same screenplay. There are a couple of actresses in The Horrible Sexy Vampire that time after time very enthusiastically take their clothes off and, sadly, do not manage to spice up the drama because Madrid struggles to make their actions appear exciting. (The lone exception is the killing of the naked wife in the motel at the very beginning of the film, which is similar to one of the attacks on Barbara Hershey's character in The Entity). Franco either would have made the invisible vampire a lot more aggressive and produced a much darker material with his attacks, or he would have doubled the nudity and given the drama a very heavy psychedelic ambience. (To be honest, this is precisely the type of film I hoped The Horrible Sexy Vampire would turn out to be -- an erotic psychedelic mind-bender).

The acting is neither good nor bad. It feels right for the type of genre film Madrid wanted to deliver. However, it must be said that it lacks the enthusiasm that could have charged The Horrible Sexy Vampire with the correct energy to make it capable of producing proper thrills.

The most surprising aspect of the entire production is the inclusion of a very interesting music soundtrack that single-handedly makes a few segments of The Horrible Sexy Vampire appear far more effective than they really are. It was composed by Angel Arteaga, who a few years later scored Christian-Jaque’s Doctor Justice. (Dr. Justice is a French comic book character that had legions of fans during the 1970s and 1980s. His exotic and often quite violent adventures were chronicled in the famous French magazine Pif Gadget).

The Horrible Sexy Vampire Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Horrible Sexy Vampire arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Mondo Macabro.

The release is sourced from a new 4K master, which according to Mondo Macabro was struck from 35mm materials. I assume that some sort of a 35mm print was scanned because the density levels of the visuals are very similar to those of Road Games, which was restored in 4K from a 35mm release print.

This new presentation of The Horrible Sexy Vampire has good organic qualities, but it is very easy to tell that time has left its mark on the 35mm materials. Various density fluctuations affect delineation, clarity, and depth, though I have to make it clear that all of these fluctuations are pretty insignificant given the overall quality of the visuals. The bigger issue is the color grade on the new master, which almost certainly replicates a lot of what is present on the 35mm materials without taking into account that they have aged significantly. As a result, the overall temperature of the visuals ranges from cold to very cold, with prominent silver and grays usually affecting balance in pretty significant ways. Obviously, the entire film should have a different color scheme with better-saturated primaries and wider ranges of proper supporting nuances. (There is one particular sequence in which the young visitor from London has an exchange with the police inspector where the color temperature quickly shifts from cold to warm and back to cold that reveals what the film most likely is supposed to look like). There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. A few blemishes and specks can be seen, but there are no distracting large debris, cuts, warped or torn frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your Blu-ray player regardless of your geographical location).

The Horrible Sexy Vampire Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the Spanish track. However, if you decide to view the film in Spanish without the English subtitles, you will have to use your remote control to turn them off.

I viewed the entire film with the English track, which should be considered the original audio track since virtually all of the main characters appear to be delivering their lines in English. However, it is pretty easy to tell that some sort of overdubbing was done as well. As expected, there is quite a bit of unevenness and fluctuating dynamic contrasts, but this is how these types of dubs were done in Europe during the 1970s and 1980s. Occasionally, some very light background hiss is easy to detect, but I did not find it distracting at all.

The Horrible Sexy Vampire Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics David Flint and Adrian J. Smith. I listened to the entire commentary and found myself agreeing with many of the very honest observations the commentators made. For example, I do agree that The Horrible Sexy Vampire is a very strange film that does not live up to its promising title. I also agree that director Jose Luis Madrid, who also scripted the film, does not handle particularly well the suspense. And yes, the finale is clearly mismanaged as well. I must also point out that this isn't a very easy commentary to follow -- the voices tend to fluctuate quite a bit because the acoustic of the recording is as good as it should have been -- which is why a few sections of it were a bit tricky for me.

• Trailer - a newly remastered international trailer for The Horrible Sexy Vampire. In English, not subtitled. (4 min).

• Posters and Stills - a collection of vintage promotional materials, including articles, for The Horrible Sexy Vampire. Courtesy of John Bernard. With music. (4 min).

The Horrible Sexy Vampire Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Horrible Sexy Vampire is a tremendous title for a genre film, so when I sat down to view it last night, I expected it to deliver plenty of special thrills. Unfortunately, the only compliment I can pay this film is to say that it has a good music score. The rest? It simply rehashes several classic cliches about vampires and their usual targets while pretending to be a crime thriller with a few ladies that enthusiastically take their clothes off. It did not work for me. I think that Jess Franco would have produced a much better film with the exact same material that I would have enjoyed quite a lot. If you decide to pick up The Horrible Sexy Vampire for your collection, I suggest doing so when it goes on sale.