Il plenilunio delle vergini (1973)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Luigi Batzella

Writers:

Ian Danby (story)
Alan M. Harris (writer)

Release Date:

April 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Dark desires unleash the legions of lucifer!

Plot:

Lady Dracula uses Dracula's ring to lure beautiful girls to her castle, where she murders them so she can bathe in their blood.

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Lesbian | Sex | Female Nudity | Vampire Bat

Cast

Mark Damon	...	Karl Schiller
Rosalba Neri	...	La Contessa Dolingen de Vries (as Sara Bay)
Esmeralda Barros	...	Lara
Enza Sbordone	...	Tanya (as Francesca Romana Davila)
Xiro Papas	...	Il Mostro Vampiro (as Ciro Papas)
Gengher Gatti	...	L'uomo misterioso (as Alexander Getty)
Giorgio Dolfin	...	First Villager at Inn (as George Dolfin)
Stefano Oppedisano	...	Second Villager at Inn (as Stephen Hopper)

Also Known As:

Full Moon of the Virgins (International: English title) (literal title)
The Devil's Wedding Night (USA)
Les vierges de la pleine lune (France) [fr]
Oi diastrofes tou Drakoula (Greece) [el]
Sexoualikes nyhtes tou Drakoula (Greece) (reissue title) [el]

Runtime:

80 min | France:90 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Telecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Balsorano Castle, L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy

Company:

Virginia Cinematografica

Trivia:

Italian censorship visa # 62028 delivered on 14-3-1973.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Dusk to Dawn Drive-In Trash-o-Rama Show Vol. 4 (1997) (V)

THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT (Luigi Batzella, 1973) **

This is another disreputable "Euro-Cult" item of the Horror/Erotica variety: its director, in fact, is likened to Renato Polselli – whose vaguely similar THE REINCARNATION OF ISABEL (1973) I recently watched. Mind you, this is nowhere near the incomprehensible mess that ISABEL was – but the plot also concerns vampires, sacrificial victims and lookalike protagonists (in this case, Mark Damon as twin brothers).

It all starts with the search for the mythic Ring of the Nibelungens, currently residing in Transylvania(!)…which, of course, is the home of Count Dracula. When one of the Damons goes there, he finds a Countess ("Euro-Cult" starlet Rosalba Neri) living in Castle Dracula; having lost his protective amulet, he soon falls under her spell and is himself turned into a bloodsucker. Soon after, though, his twin turns up at the castle but, being the more studious of the two, he resists Neri's advances and, thinking something's not right with the place, spends a good part of the running-time roaming its various corridors and, naturally, the crypt (virtually a given for Gothic chillers)!

As it turned out, the brothers happened to pick the time when five local virgins are to be sacrificed (presumably for the reincarnation of Dracula); the film's most erotic yet visually impressive sequence, as a matter of fact, shows the blood of a freshly-slain girl being spilled on the naked Countess – residing in one of the crypts – by her zombie-like black maid (yes, various horror myths are thrown in for no very good reason and with little real impact!). Anyway, it all ends with the afflicted Damon being initiated into the ways of the vampire – but he's actually been disposed of and replaced by his heroic sibling who, in no time at all, manages to disarm the various diabolists (who turn up out of nowhere) at the ceremony. Meanwhile, Neri retreats to the castle tower and, with the aid of the ring, draws the intended sacrificial victims to her – but Damon disturbs her plans even here, and she eventually perishes thanks to some providential lightning. The hero leaves the castle with a local girl he had befriended but, in a clichéd downbeat conclusion, she has been turned into a vampire (off-screen) as well – given that the driver of the coach is none other than the sinister-looking character occasionally seen prowling the castle grounds…

To be fair, the tone of the piece is characteristically dream-like and it all looks pretty good for the little budget the director must have had at his disposal; on the other hand, being at once insufficiently-plotted and highly derivative, it's not memorable enough to live in the memory.