The Playgirls and the Vampire – Vinegar Syndrome (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1960
Director: Piero Regnoli
Writers: Aldo Greci, Piero Regnoli
Cast: Walter Brandi, Lyla Rocco, Maria Giovannini, Alfredo Rizzo, Marisa Quattrini, Leonardo Botta, Antoine Nicos, Corinne Fontaine, Tilde Damiani, Erika Dicenta, Enrico Salvatore

Release Date: February 27th, 2024
Approximate Running Time: 81 Minutes 21 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Italian, DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $42.98

"A troupe of five showgirls, along with their manager, are traveling through a remote stretch of countryside when their minibus gets stuck after a rainstorm. Finding refuge at the castle home of the mysterious Count Gabor Kernassy, the women make the best of the situation by continuing to practice their burlesque routines. But little do they know that the strange Count is harboring a fiendish secret and is intent on subjecting the lovely ladies to his vampiric desires…" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm fine grain master".

The Playgirls and the Vampire comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 31 GB

Feature: 23.4 GB

The source used for this transfer is in great shape, print debris is minor, and this transfer is easily the best The Playgirls and the Vampire has ever looked at on home video. Image clarity, contrast, and black levels are strong, compression is solid, and grain remains intact, although it looks thicker in some moments than others.

Audio: 4.25/5 (DTS-HD Mono Italian), 3.75/5 (DTS-HD Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in Italian and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. The Italian-language track sounds more robust than the English-language track. Also, the English-language track has some distortion issues. That said, dialog comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Included are removable English subtitles for the Italian language track, removable English SDH for the Italian language track, and removable English SDH for the English language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a still gallery (lobby cards/newspaper advertisements/posters/other promotional materials), a theatrical trailer (1 minute 42 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), alternate The Playgirls and the Vampire opening title sequence (3 minutes 19 seconds, Dolby Digital mono), alternate Curse of the Vampire opening title (1 minute 44 seconds, Dolby Digital mono), alternate Des filles pour un vampire French title sequence (3 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital mono), a conversation with Mark Thompson Ashworth titled Striptease Gothic (25 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), reversible cover art, and a spot gloss slipcover (limited to 5,000 units).

Summary:

Directed by Piero Regnoli, he only directed 12 films, and The Playgirls and the Vampire is the film he is most remembered for. Besides directing, he was a prolific screenwriter whose filmography has over 100 credits. His notable films as a screenwriter include Lust of the Vampire (Italian cinema’s first sound horror film), The Third Eye, Cry of a Prostitute, Like Rabid Dogs, Malabimba: The Malicious Whore, Patrick Still Lives, Nightmare City, and Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror.

Five women who are part of a dance troupe, their manager, and their crew find refuge in a castle during a storm.

In the early 1960s, Italian cinema had a brief cycle of films that revolved around sexy girls and monsters. Some of these films are The Playgirls and the Vampire, The Vampire and the Ballerina, The Monster of the Opera, and Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory. Besides sexy girls and monsters, all of these films also take place in spooky locations.

Despite a solid opening credit sequence with striking imagery inside a crypt, this is the scariest moment in The Playgirls and the Vampire. That said, despite a few other ominous moments, there are no actual frights in The Playgirls and the Vampire. Fortunately, fright is not the main draw of The Playgirls and the Vampire; it is the gratuitous amount of time devoted to the women parading around the castle in nightgowns.

Also, The Playgirls and the Vampire is not a film that one watches for performances. That said, the cast are mere props, with no one performance standing out. The most famous cast member is Walter Brandi (Bloody Pit of Horror) in the doppelganger role of the count and the vampire.

Though it is clear that The Playgirls and the Vampire is a film working on a shoestring budget, the result is a film that often exceeds expectations, particularly when it comes to the visuals. With no moment more striking visually than the first onscreen vampire nudity, another strength is composer Aldo Piga’s (Terror-Creatures from the Grave) excellent score, which does a superb job reinforcing the mood. Ultimately, The Playgirls and the Vampire is a silly film whose absurd premise is a lot of fun.

Vinegar Syndrome gives The Playgirls and the Vampire a definitive release, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer