Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Uncle Was a Vampire Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 7, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection 2.

When is Dracula not Dracula? When Christopher Lee, obviously famous for playing that character, insists on "stretching" his range (and/or fangs) by frankly playing the character under a different name, as kind of comically happens at least a couple of times in this appealing second go round from Severin Films of some of Lee's European output. This sequel of sorts of (relative) rarities featuring Lee follows Severin's enjoyable The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection from last year, and my hunch is some Lee fans may actually enjoy the films aggregated in this set more than those that were part of this first release, perhaps due at least in part to the fact that Lee does get to strut his vampiric stuff on more than one occasion, no matter what name his character goes by. This is another nicely packaged release from Severin that also offers a really nicely done perfect bound booklet with some excellent writing by the always reliable Jonathan Rigby and a glut of great stills and promotional materials.

There are a couple of kind of amusing things about Uncle Was a Vampire, aside and apart from the built in humor offered by this breezy escapade. The first is that it stems from 1959, barely any time after Christopher Lee had made his mark (typically of the fang variety) in the now legendary 1958 Hammer opus Horror of Dracula, which actually may be testament to just how much of an impact Lee as Dracula made globally in an incredibly short amount of time. (This was actually Lee's first foray into Italian film.) The second funny element is the built in "comedy" derived from the fact, as it is with Dracula and Son in this set, that Lee is for all intents and purposes playing Dracula, but, a la Voldemort, no one dare speak his name (or least that name). Perhaps even more hilariously, given Lee's "other" big Hammer role from this period, he's given the surname of Frankurten.

All of this context which might be politely termed "homage" turns out to be actually kind of sweet, rather than a blatant rip off, since Uncle Was a Vampire almost goes a sitcom route, positing a hapless member of the Undead having to deal with modern day annoyances like power plants, tourists and a brain dead nephew named Osvaldo (Renato Rascel). The basic setup is that Osvaldo has had to sell the family castle to pay off debts, and it's been turned into a hotel, with Osvaldo staying on as a bellhop. Uncle Frankurten shows up and wants to "set up shop" in the place, and before too long whether or not he wants to be, Osvaldo is up to his neck (sorry) in problems.

Adding to the kind of madcap whimsy of it all is the fact that Uncle Was a Vampire is almost a musical, though its late fifties' musical sensibilities may be closer to Cliff Richard than, say, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The score was co-written by co-star Renato Rascel. The eclectic supporting cast features Sylva Koscina, but kind of interestingly Osvaldo's ostensible love interest is played by Kai Fischer.

Uncle Was a Vampire Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Uncle Was a Vampire is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. This presentation comes with a bit of "warning" text at the beginning: Uncle Was a Vampire was scanned from the only known film element: a dupe negative. Unfortunately when the dupe was created there were some stability issues printed into the element which are unfixable. This is probably the most problematic looking transfer in the second Eurocrypt collection, and as can perhaps be made out by looking at all of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, there's a really wide variance in color temperatures and saturation (contrast screenshot 2 with screenshot 3 for just one example). Those variances often go hand in hand with decreased detail in the less vividly suffused moments, to the point that individual snippets can look downright fuzzy and desaturated simultaneously. Perhaps due to the fact that this is presented in 2.39:1 while our database suggests 2.35:1 was the original aspect ratio, this looks just slightly anamorphically stretched to my eyes. I'm scoring this at 2.5 as a kind of "average" between the worst quality, which I'd rate down around 2 or so, and the (relative) best, which at least approaches 3 territory at times.

Uncle Was a Vampire Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Uncle Was a Vampire features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono in either Italian or English, though those wanting Lee's dulcet tones in the English language version should know he's been dubbed, too. Kind of interestingly, both tracks actually begin in Italian, which may account for the "partial English mono" listing in the extremely fine print on the back cover of this release, so don't panic, with the English language version kicking in with that language after the introduction featuring the surveying team scouting Dracula's, er, Frankurter's property. I found the Italian language track to be a bit louder and with better dynamic range overall. The echo effect when Frankurter speaks is probably more pronounced in the English language version. Despite the fact that there's the echo effect, both tracks sounded a bit "dry" (not a ton of ambient reverb), and there can be very minor crackling and distortion in the musical moments in both tracks. Optional English subtitles are available.

Uncle Was a Vampire Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commedia Dracula All'Italiana (HD; 12:35) is an interview with European film scholar Dr. Pasquale Iannone, from the University of Edinburgh.


• Alternate Cut from Italian Broadcast Master (SD; 1:37:13)


• Alternate Cut Audio Commentary with Christopher Lee Biographer Jonathan Rigby and Hammer Historian Kevin Lyons is another very enjoyable and informative discussion from this pair, but I had to wonder why it's appended to this just slightly shorter version rather than the uncut Italian theatrical cut, which despite its deficits is still probably better in the video department.

Uncle Was a Vampire Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Uncle Was a Vampire is kind of a big goof, and if it's accepted as such, it provides a decent amount of low grade, often schtick laden, entertainment. This has the least consistent looking transfer in Severin's second Eurocrypt collection, but the commentary and interview are both very interesting, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.