";s:4:"text";s:15945:"She strikes Yorga in the chest with Baldwin's battle-axe. Arrow Video has announced a limited edition Blu-Ray release for THE COUNT YORGA COLLECTION, available in the UK from 24th October 2022. He also intends to take a new wife, while feeding his bevy of female vampires.Count Yorga continues to prey on the local community while living by a nearby orphanage. Hayes is forced to the floor and fed on by the vampire women. On top of this, we hear narration telling us a bit about vampire legends. The rest of the cast are pretty much unknown to me apart from Michael Murphy, an Altman semi-regular who also later appeared in 'Manhattan' and 'Magnolia'. Several ingredients really help to lift this modern-day tale above the raft of similar competitors. As with many genre pics of the period, the acting and direction are pretty nondescript, and the whole thing looks like it was filmed through a screen door. Later, Baldwin finally finds the half-mind-controlled Cynthia and attempts to escape; however, he is nearly beaten by Brudda. Yorga distracts Hayes and strengthens his hypnotic control over Donna. Falling into a suit of armor, Baldwin grabs a metal mace and knocks Brudda out with a violent blow to the face. Hayes notices she has lost a lot of blood but is unable to diagnose the cause. 'Count Yorga, Vampire' is interesting because it is set in contemporary America, quite a rarity at the time. Marx was not a prince of darkness, but Hollywood royalty all the same: the adopted son of Harpo Marx and Susan Flemming, Marx had begun arranging music for his father at 16. Count Yorga (Robert Quarry), a vampire, comes from Bulgaria to 1970 Los Angeles and starts making a coven of beautiful female vampires. It is flawed, but I still think it is the most effective vampire film I have ever seen. And whoever did the make-up job on the count's slow-motion assistant deserves an Oscar for walking decomposition. Actor Robert Quarry, for one, makes a pretty good vampire, giving his character intelligence and elegance while at the same time showing he is a formidable threat. They restrain her and call Hayes, who finds that Erica has suddenly lost a lot of blood and begins an emergency blood transfusion. However, as she does, Bruhda silently arrives drags away the corpses of Cynthia's mother and father to a quicksand pit on Yorga's property, disposing of the physical evidence. It's up to those that are left, including Michael (Michael Macready, who also produced the film), and doctor / blood specialist Jim Hayes (Roger Perry), to wage war with the fiend. On the one hand, they are early examples of the modernised gothic, taking the genre out of the costume drama and into the real world (at one point in Return, Yorga watches Hammer's The Vampire Lovers on TV - an amusing comment on the difference between the cozily distant gothic and the modern day . He praised the acting as being "of a generally high standard" and the castle set as "skilfully utilised to give the impression of a labyrinth of Borgesian proportions," though he criticized "a totally unnecessary and feeble attempt to make the Count into a sympathetic figure through such lines as, 'The most fragile emotion ever known has entered my breast.'"[7]. They transported Christopher Lees Count and Peter Cushings Van Helsing to swinging London, sinking his fangs into a modish group of attractive young people (including Caroline Munro) in DRACULA A.D, 1972. Even Van Helsing had a hard time convincing his peers and the authorities of supernatural goings-on in the 1800s, and that became increasingly difficult in the 70s and 80s. That's preferable compared to Franco's pitiful attempt to remain faithful to the source despite a lack of funds. Cynthia tries to run from him, but Baldwin pulls her back and promptly bites her. A third Yorga film, which would have featured a broken Count Yorga living in Los Angeles's sewers and creating an army of undead street people, never materialised. the guys spend most of the film running around, looking for the girls. Director Bob Kelljan (Scream Blacula Scream) delivers a one-two punch of classic cult cinema mixing chills, thrills, style, and suspense with a knowing wit that revels in the . Another Dracula film in all but name, "Count Yorga, Vampire" was one of quite a few early-1970s reworkings of Bram Stoker's novel. The opening sance scene is an intriguing attention-getter since the reactions seem so normal at the same time the super-slick Quarry sorts through prospective victims. She begs Paul to forgive her and to kill her. It is the sequel to the 1970 film Count Yorga, Vampire. On the way to the staircase, Michael encounters Brudah in the living room who eventually dies of his wounds. Seeing Dracula in seventies Los Angeles makes for a rather different atmosphere surrounding the tale, but it's definitely a welcome one and one that has influenced many films since the release of this one. By the end of the 1960s the boom in Old World gothic horror had begun to wane in the face of present day terrors like the Vietnam war. Count Yorga is a mysterious Bulgarian mystic who resides in a gated mansion in the Southern California hills. Furthermore, Yorga had insisted that her mother be buried rather than cremated per the deceased's wishes. 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. During the seance, Count Yorga builds a strong bond between Donna, the grieving daughter, and himself. Marx composed quite a few exploitation scores throughout the 70s, returning for the following years sequel RETURN OF COUNT YORGA, its pseudo-sequel THE DEATHMASTER, as well as Kelljans SCREAM BLACULA, SCREAM, ACT OF VENGEANCE (aka RAPE SQUAD), and the sci-fi cheapie, THE ASTRAL FACTOR. By what name was The Return of Count Yorga (1971) officially released in Canada in English? Count Yorga is one who's not to be trifled with. Directed by Kelljan, COUNT YORGA was shot independently for a budget of less than $100,000 and distributed by Samuel Z. Arkoffs American International Pictures. 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. As Yorga reunites Donna with her mother, Michael finds Paul's mutilated body while navigating the crypt. Some friends gather at the mansion of Robert Quarry (Count Yorga) so that they can hold a sance and Donna Anders (Donna) can contact her recently deceased mother Marsha Jordan. COUNT YORGA brought the vampire to modern-day America in full bloody color as culture and fashion were shifting: the free love era of the late 60s was giving way to the cocaine and disco fueled 70s, and the popularity of pornographic films was inspiring a new era for libertines. It was a letdown for Quarry as well. She reacts erratically to their presence, first threatening them with violence and then attempting to seduce Paul before coming to her senses and breaking down. From there, the audience moves along to a seance in a hip Los Angeles home. The sequence resembles a Bob Newhart/Benny Hill Halloween special. | The film was given a second VHS release by MGM Home Entertainment in September 2000. The result is a pretty silly show. The film was released theatrically in the US by American International Pictures in 1971. In contrast to her exuberant personality on the night before, Erica now seems despondent and listless. User Ratings 1970 alone includes two Dracula sequels from Hammer Films, a Jess Franco Dracula and a Dracula-esque picture called "Jonathan." After making a . The film would pave the way for AIPs other popular modern-day bloodsucker, BLACULA (which repurposes footage of Yorgas coffin making its way stateside) as well as 1973s SCREAM BLACULA, SCREAM. Alterations to the movie's soundtrack were also required to lessen the impact of violent scenes that remained in the film. At the time this film was made, vampires were almost always slow and hypnotic. He recommends rest and a high protein diet. Things get spooky when a group of. The end result is Count Yorga, Vampire, a wonderfully fast-moving, edge of your seat scare ride that keeps you taunt until the shocking end. These films opened with a horse-drawn carriage making its way through the countryside, and ended with the honorable Van Helsing doing away with eviluntil next time that is. Actor Roger Perry, who had a lead role in the first film, appears again but as a different character. However, as he turns to leave, Donna hisses and lunges at him, fangs bared, fully transformed into a vampire; he was too late to prevent Yorga from turning her (although there are no bite marks on her throat). Yorga has all of. Again, nobody gets a happy ending. I was a bit surprised by this rather low budget 1970s incarnation of vampire films. Yorga was originally spelled "Iorga" but was changed presumably because American studios give zero credence to the . At the beginning of the film, not long after the seance. Quarry plays the title character, a Bulgarian migr hired by some young adults to conduct a seance. Most of the clichs of the vampire sub-genre are here, and it's only really the setting that has been changed. Tired of the same old vampires? Arkoff retitled the film COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE, explaining that nobody would know how to pronounce Iorga and that horror fans would be turned off by the loves of, particularly with the absence of any sex sequences. Robert Quarry ('Dr Phibes Rises Again') is excellent as Yorga. Up until then all vampire films had been set in Europe in the 1800s or early 1900s. Count Yorga, Vampire (1970) Plot Showing all 4 items Jump to: Summaries (4) Summaries A couple invites a Count from Hungary, who recently immigrated to America, to conduct a seance for the woman's recently deceased mother, oblivious to the fact that he is actually a vampire. Erica is a young and attractive woman in her age early 20's with shoulder length brunette hair, green eyes, and fair skin color. They asked me to read the script, Quarry explained to New Hollywood Gothique. The film contains some truly startling moments (such as the count's toothy grimace as seen through a van's window), restrained but effective use of gore, a deliciously downbeat ending, and even a nice little shocker as a final capper. Michael reaches upstairs and confronts Yorga and Donna's mother. Copping the ending of Dance of the Vampires, Count Yorga climaxes with a flurry of vampire-fighting action and an apparent escape only for the heroine to reveal her newly-sprouted fangs and pounce in a much-imitated shock punchline. with some remnants of the original plot left in. This film's color palette is one aspect of this transfer I found exceptionally pleasing. One of the orphans, Tommy, wanders into the nearby cemetery where he faintly hears a voice ordering, "Rise, rise, it is time." She wears a variety of clothing in the film prior to her turning, but upon ultimately joining Yorga's coven. More than a low-budget footnote, COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE is a highly influential take on the vampire mythos, eschewing spooky Victorian castles by bringing the bloodsuckers to contemporary Los Angeles. The sance turns slightly chaotic, and Donna's friends begin to suspect that there's something odd about the Count, especially when they learn that he had been dating Donna's mother, requested that she not be cremated, as her earlier wishes had it, but didn't turn up at the funeral. The popularity, primarily at drive-ins and other theaters of that ilk, led to a sequel ("The Return of Count Yorga") one year later. Meanwhile, Hammer Productions, which all but cornered the vampire market throughout the 60s, found themselves playing catch-up. Count Yorga continues to prey on the local community while living by a nearby orphanage. The films climax features our heroes storming Yorgas home at dusk, having overslept despite their plan to attack during daylight hours. It is no mystery, due to the title of the film, that he is a vampire. A memorable sequence in which Erica (Judy Lang), having been bitten by the count, begins her transformation by devouring her pet cat was all but removed from the film, but is now available in all of its uncut gory glory. As they start to leave, they are confronted by Erica and the redheaded bride, who remain vampires despite Yorga's death. Bloodsuckers were rife in the 1970s, from gothic Hammer horror to European arthouse sleaze (Rollin and Franco) to kung-fu vampires to more contemporary takes on the genre, such as Romero's Martin, and this film from writer/director Bob Kelljan. "Count Yorga" doesn't distinguish itself in any interesting ways from this pack. That film did not fare as well with critics, despite being a favorite of this writer. Yet COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE has found itself a B-movie oddity, relegated to late, late showings on UHF stations throughout the '80s and '90s and all but forgotten if ever seen by a generation that reveled in the modern horror era of slashers and special makeup effects. Of course, I said yes, if its going to be a straight horror film.. Madden tries to find a way to him, but he gets lured in by a voice from the shadows (thinking it is Baldwin) and then killed by Tommy who stabs him in the same way he murdered Jennifer. Yorga's Brides are a collection of unnamed vampire bries seen in The Return of Count Yorga, the sequel to Count Yorga, Vampire. They are preparing the orphanage for a fundraising costume party. Meanwhile, Hammer Productions, which all but cornered the vampire market throughout the 60s, found themselves playing catch-up. 1970 : 5 (0) Gun Runner Producer . Its easy to pick out where the money shots would have occurred, had. Yorga quickly kills him by choking him to death, then having his servant Brudah (who has seemingly supernatural strength himself) break his back. In the dark, this is still a pretty intense film. He bites one of the pretty guests, Mitzi, outside the event room before going inside and introducing himself to those present. Not long after they leave, Donna reveals to the others that she knows Yorga because he was her mother's boyfriend. The climax is also pretty memorable, and there are a few other scenes (like when the protagonists try to keep Yorga around for sunrise) that come across as pretty original. Robert Quarry is second only to Bela Lugosi in my book as far as vampire lords go, even beating out bonafide legend Christopher Lee whose Dracula performances are legendary. and even when the bodies start piling up, the police don't seem to be interested. Good subdued erotica, as the bat-toothed girls slink around in filmy gowns. However, the visible snags are all part of the charm, for the most part. Meanwhile, Erica and Paul drop off Yorga at his home. Return of Count Yorga, The (Blu-ray) Anthony Arrigo |. If that's your bag, you should like this. The film begins by showing us a coffin being removed from a ship, then trucked out to an estate in modern day (circa 1970) Los Angeles. He's very charismatic and cool and I think this character deserved more than only two movies. Really, the film is an update of the classic Dracula story, only with more of a seventies horror swing to it. Sure, it's done on a shoestring, but director Kelljan gets the most out of the cavernous mansion interiors and clever camera set-ups. External Reviews Hayes, Michael, and Donna go to the mansion themselves to inquire about Paul's whereabouts and keep Yorga active until sunrise. ";s:7:"keyword";s:18:"count yorga ending";s:5:"links";s:343:"1000 Spraddle Creek Rd, Vail, Co,
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