Guest
It’s a cool, very atmospheric 70’s Spanish origin vampire flick featuring Helga Line, A tour bus of passengers is heading up a mountainous terrain en route to an estate mansion and suddenly the driver drops dead behind the wheel. One of the other passengers quickly commandeers the vehicle before it careens over the cliff, killing the rest. Obviously shaken by the event, the remaining commuters decide to drive to a local town they see a sign for (but isn’t on their map) rather than travel for hours to their final destination. Little do they know that the nearby town will be the final destination for most of them. When they get to town, they’re surprised to find the town empty, though it’s still daylight (nighttime would have been a dead giveaway as to where this was heading). They enter the Inn/Tavern, and it too, is empty, but there’s plenty of spirits (the alcoholic kind) to keep the men pacified. Moments later, they meet another male traveler, who has ventured all over the place, and confirms that they indeed are apparently alone. After much imbibing, they all retire to various bedrooms to get some deserved rest. When the clock strikes midnight, the sole sleeping drunkard of the group is startled and awoken downstairs at the bar, and decides to stretch his limbs outside, first to discover that the bus drivers body has disappeared from the bus, and after lighting a cigarette, finds himself being stalked by odd, menacing figures that emerge from the shadows, and it isn’t long before he finds himself a midnite snack. To clarify, he’s the snack. The next morn, we find the town is indeed populated and the apologetic mayor explains that the townfolk were attending a funeral of one of their own at the nearby cemetery, hence the lack of a welcoming committee. The town is governed by ’The Countess’ (Helga Line, a lovely staple in Eurohorror films from the 60’s/70’s) who invites the troupe to her mansion for the duration of their stay, even offering oodles of cash to get them to stay for a spell (pun intended). Everyone has a price, so lingering seems most lucrative, albeit unwise. (If they left, we wouldn’t have much of a movie, would we?). Food, especially meat, is a shortage here (for reasons unknown), which means that periodically we come up short a villager or three, but the guests are infatuated with the cuisine as the chef is showered with compliments. But one by one, the guests are picked off and cast to the villagers as finger food or fall prey to the seductions of the dear Countess. At least they are treated to her succulent endowments before being bled, so that amounts to something, doesn’t it? How many times have all you red-blooded gents out there thought to yourself, “I’d die for a piece of that“... well, here’s your chance. The few survivors are desperate to get out of Dodge, and there’s a nice frantic finale as they attempt to do so - to say more would spoil it. A somewhat predictable though enjoyable ending is unveiled, and end credits roll. All in all, another adequate endeavor from director Leon Klimovsky, who made quite a bunch of Euro and gothic horror films during this era. The desensitized young’ins of today won’t find much merit here, as there’s not a lot of gore, torture, and women kept in cages to keep them amused, but for those a bit older who are rabid and toothy for Eurohorror from the 70’s, this one’s a nice way to spend a quiet night at home - Vampires, cannibalism, ghouls and Eurovixen nudity - you know, the simple pleasures in life...
