The Silver Screen Oasis

The Playgirls and the Vampire (1960)


A troupe of catty exotic dancers fleeing a hotel bill are caught in a storm and have to take refuge in an old dark castle.

A good online dictionary would stream this movie as the definition of: 'camp'. It contains very nearly every trope of the vampire genre and embellishes them with a constant stream of girls in sheer nighties.

There are moments of wonderful cinematography, of excellent acting and of eerie erotica. I am sorry to say that all of these moments together compromise only forty-six seconds of the seventy minute run-time.

I can offer no rational explanation why it held my interest to the end. It was not as if I was watching a train wreck or that I kept anticipating that it would turn a corner and become a good movie. I found no parts of it either repulsive or captivating. It is quite flat. I doubt that I will want to watch it again soon but I am glad that I did watch it this one time.

5/10

It available for viewing free with commercials on: TubiTV.

A suitable companion feature to The Playgirls and the Vampire is The Vampire and the Ballerina (also 1960 and also starring Walter Brandi as the titular bloodsucker). As the title makes clear, the vampire in that "cult classic" has more refined and more cultured tastes in entertainment and women.

For a real Italian vampiro treat, toss in The Vampire of the Opera (1964), which is a sequel to The Vampire and the Ballerina.