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Count Yorga, Vampire
Count Yorga, Vampire
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bob Kelljan
Written by	Bob Kelljan
Produced by	Michael Macready
Starring	Robert Quarry; Roger Perry; Michael Murphy; Michael Macready; Donna Anders
Cinematography	Arch Archambault
Edited by	Tony de Zarraga
Music by	Bill Marx
Production; company	Erica Productions Inc.
Distributed by	American International Pictures
Release date	June 10, 1970;
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.3 million

Count Yorga, Vampire (also known as The Loves of Count Yorga, Vampire) is a 1970 American vampire horror film written and directed by Bob Kelljan and starring Robert Quarry, Roger Perry and Michael Murphy. It was followed by a sequel, The Return of Count Yorga.

Plot

Los Angeles woman Donna hosts a séance.^[2] Overseeing the séance is Count Yorga, a Bulgarian mystic and hypnotist who has recently moved to the states from Europe. Yorga dated Donna's mother weeks before her death and insisted that she be buried rather than cremated per her wishes. Donna cannot recall seeing him at the funeral.

After the party is over, Donna's friends Erica and Paul drive Yorga home. Their van later gets stuck in the mud, although Paul insists that the road was dry a minute before. They resign themselves to spending the night in their van. Yorga, revealed to be a vampire, knocks out Paul and bites Erica. The following day, the couple reaches Los Angeles, unable to recall what happened.

Their doctor friend, Jim Hayes, inspects the wounds on Erica, who has lost blood. Later, Paul and Donna's boyfriend Michael try to call Erica's phone, to no avail. At her home, they find everything in disarray, with a hysterical Erica eating her kitten. She first threatens with violence and then attempts to seduce Paul before coming to her senses and breaking down.

They restrain her and call Hayes, who begins an emergency transfusion. Afraid, Erica begs Paul to forgive her and to kill her.

At his basement, which has been converted into a throne room, Yorga awakens his two vampiric brides, one of whom is Donna's mother, and commands them to have sex. That night, Yorga visits Erica. Promising her immortality, he seduces Erica, drains her of her blood, and takes her body to his manor. Upon finding Erica missing, Paul enters Yorga's mansion to rescue her. Yorga chokes him to death and has his servant Brudah break his back.

Michael alerts Hayes that Paul has gone to the mansion. Hayes' girlfriend suggests involving the police, citing a similar case of a baby being found in the woods, drained of its blood. Hayes calls the police but is rejected as a prankster following a recent rash of such calls. Hayes, Michael, and Donna visit the mansion to inquire about Paul's whereabouts and keep Yorga active until sunrise. While Hayes distracts Yorga, Brudah rebuffs Michael's attempts to explore the mansion. Yorga eventually becomes insistent that his guests must leave.

After leaving, Hayes and Michael plan to kill Yorga in the daytime. Michael and Donna rest while Hayes studies vampire lore until he, too, falls asleep.

Yorga awakens Donna telepathically and has her sabotage Michael's alarm clock before having her come to the mansion. There, Brudah rapes her. Michael awakens and finds Donna gone. It is nearly evening when he calls to awaken Hayes. Despite knowing how dangerous their chances are, they grab stakes and makeshift crosses before heading to the mansion as night falls. The two split up, and Yorga confronts Hayes. He leads Hayes into his basement where Hayes finds Erica's corpse among the dormant brides. He then attacks Yorga with a cross and stake, while yelling out for Michael. Yorga silently commands his brides to awake and attack Hayes.

As Yorga reunites Donna with her mother, Michael finds Paul's mutilated body. Brudah attacks Michael, who mortally stabs him. In the basement, Michael finds Hayes. Before dying of his wounds, Hayes reveals where Donna is. The now-vampirized Erica and another bride attack Michael. As he fends them off, Erica pauses, giving him a chance to stake her. However, Michael cannot bring himself to kill her and leaves.

Michael confronts Yorga and Donna's mother. Yorga pushes her into Michael's stake and flees. Michael goes after Yorga and eventually kills him with a stake. Donna mourns her mother a second time before Michael collects her.

While starting to leave, they are confronted by Erica and the remaining bride. They chase Michael and Donna until repelled by Michael's cross. Michael forces the vampires into a cellar, locking them in, but drops his cross. Believing the danger is over, he turns to Donna. But she lunges at Michael, fully transformed into a vampire and kills him.

Production

The film opens with a narration by character actor George Macready, whose son, Michael Macready, produced the film and also played "Michael".

Origin of the film

The film was originally to have been a soft core porn film called The Loves of Count Iorga, and some prints of the film display this as the on-screen title. Quarry told actor/producer Michael Macready he would play the vampire role if they turned the story into a straight horror film. AIP head Samuel Z. Arkoff was responsible for changing the title from Iroga to Yorga to make it easier for buyers to pronounce.^[3]

Difficulties with the MPAA

Stephen Farber's 1972 book, The Movie Rating Game, details the problems that the film's distributor American International Pictures had in securing a GP rating (formerly known as M, later renamed to PG) from the Motion Picture Association of America, which initially was divided as to whether to give the film an R or X rating. AIP insisted that they needed an unrestricted GP rating for the film in order to get the film released into the largest possible number of theaters, most importantly drive-in theaters.

The film ended up going before the MPAA ratings board six times before being granted the GP rating, and two or three minutes of violent and sexual content were ultimately removed by AIP. Alterations to the movie's soundtrack were also required to lessen the impact of violent scenes that remained in the film.

Cast

Robert Quarry as Count Yorga
Roger Perry as Dr. James "Jim" Hayes
Michael Murphy as Paul
Michael Macready as Michael "Mike" Thompson
Donna Anderson as Donna (credited as Donna Anders)
Judy Lang as Erica Landers (credited as Judith Lang)
Edward Walsh as Brudah
Julie Conners as Cleo
Paul Hansen as Peter
Sybil Scotford as Judy
Marsha Jordan as Donna's Mother
Deborah Darnell as Vampire Woman
George Macready as Narrator

Reception

Variety wrote that Robert Quarry had an "aristocratically handsome look and plays the part with a certain sinister intelligence (and) even a sly humor that befits a guy who has been around for several hundred years," adding that "The dialogue has a believable sound to it, and the playing of the principals is low-key and convincingly realistic."^[4] Roger Greenspun of The New York Times called Robert Quarry "the best chief vampire I have seen in years."^[5] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune declared it "the best horror film of the year."^[6] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "writer-director Bob Kelljan has freshened up the formula pretty well ... he and his attractive cast of unknowns do succeed in persuading us to go along with the hokum for the duration of the film's fast-moving 90 minutes."^[7] Kenneth Turan of The Washington Post called it "as good a horror film as we have had for some time" and "90 minutes of supremely diverting entertainment."^[8] Kenneth Thompson of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that "the understated acting and the tightly controlled, increasingly staccato tempo make this the most distinctive essay in the macabre since Night of the Living Dead."^[9]

Legacy

After the sequel The Return of Count Yorga, a third Yorga film was planned, which would have featured a broken Count living in Los Angeles's sewers and creating an army of undead street people, but it never materialised.

American International Pictures had planned at one stage to revive Count Yorga as an adversary for Dr. Anton Phibes in Dr. Phibes Rises Again.^[10] This plan was dropped, however, and Quarry appeared as the artificially young Dr. Biederbeck.

Home video release

Count Yorga, Vampire has been the subject of several home video releases in nearly all formats since the 1980s. In April 1991, the film was packaged as a Laserdisc double feature (Catalog Number ID7661HB), paired with the Vincent Price horror film, Cry of the Banshee; both films were not letterboxed, but employed a full screen, pan-and-scan process.

In 2004, MGM's Midnite Movies DVD line (which redistributed much of the American International Pictures horror catalog previously owned by Orion Pictures Home Video) released Count Yorga, Vampire and its sequel, The Return of Count Yorga as a DVD double feature. Both films were presented in the widescreen format, and included original theatrical trailers.

References

^ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 301. ISBN 9780835717762. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
^ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. pp. 68–69. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
^ Biodrowski, Steve (2008-05-07). "Count Yorga Speaks!". Cinefantastique Online. Archived from the original on 2009-01-12. Retrieved 2013-05-27.
^ "Film Reviews: Count Yorga, Vampire". Variety. June 17, 1970. p. 24.
^ Greenspun, Roger (November 12, 1970). "Screen:'Count Yorga, Vampire' and 'The Crimson Cult' Bow at Local Theaters" Archived 2022-05-06 at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times. p. 49.
^ Siskel, Gene (June 17, 1970). "Kremlin Letter". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 6.
^ Thomas, Kevin (June 12, 1970). "New Vampire Movie Cites Local Peril". Los Angeles Times. Part IV, p. 17.
^ Turan, Kenneth (July 8, 1970). "A Good Vampire Film". The Washington Post. B8.
^ Thompson, Kenneth (January 1971). "Count Yorga, Vampire". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 38 (444): 6.
^ Smith, Gary A. (2017). Vampire Films of the 1970s. McFarland & Company. p. 42. ISBN 9781476625591.