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Creepy Classics TV Movie This Last Weekend: MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935) Fan Comments (Spoilers): Every week, readers here are selecting a movie to view...then we all try to watch it together utilizing our DVD/video library. This past Saturday night, many of us watched MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935). This was suggested by John DeGarmo of Georgia. Details about movie nights to come are HERE. Please include your name and location after your comments, so we can see how we're all joining together from diffeent locals around the globe!
Above: Hard to see here, but it's the eeries scene with Luna "flying" with huge bat wings through the great hall.
The opening graveyard scene with the old woman running ans screaching from an large bat is atmospheric and great. The perfectly oppressive howling wind soundtrack that seems to never end throug the movie, keeps you planted in this other world of horror. One of my favorite scenes is of Luna flying with bat wings inside the great hall of the castle ruins. More of this scene (and even creepier) can only be scene in the trailer for the movie. The few things I don't care for: Lionel Barrymore's acting (overshadowed by Atwill, Lugosi, Borland and everyone else) and naturally the "cheat" ending since many of the things we see during the film just don't add-up to that ending. Even with a few shortcomings THIS IS A GREAT movie to sit, unplug yourself and just watch. -Ron Adams, Ligonier, PA.
As an adult viewing the film it’s hard to be partial, but I know even as a 12 year old I had an issue with the whole setup to get a murderer to confess. Perhaps I was simply disappointed that the vampires were not real! And as many reviewers do of this film, I find much of it improbable and perhaps even leaning towards intentional parody. Was Todd Browning spoofing his 1931 hit “Dracula” at MGM’s expense? Wasn’t Lionel Barrymore (Drew’s great uncle and brother to John) sending up Edward Van Sloan with his over the top Professor Zalin? Were not the butler and maid exaggerations of the sanitarium workers? And wasn’t the innkeeper the, well, yes he was the same actor from “Dracula”!! Clearly some moments were played for intentional fun (the cat in the suit of armor, for example) but I am now viewing much of the production as perhaps Browning’s nose thumb to MGM for not supporting “Freaks”. Who knows? What I do know, is that when he settled down and went for the chills, he came up with chilling gold: The empty coffin of Sir Karrell, Luna flying in from the window half woman half bat, dead Sir Karrell at the organ, Luna in the mist, expressionless as the horse and carriage nearly topple at the sight of her, Count Mora appearing from the bat-mist and chasing the staff down the hall… yikes!!
Turns out they are actually investigating a series of murders and are doing this to flush the killer out. The Great Lionel Barrymore plays the Professor who is investigating the case and director Tod Browning does his usual good job.
Hey Bash Synchers!
Hi Ron: I think that the scenes with the are probably some of most eerie ever produced in the 1930’s. The opening scene with Lugosi and Borland, while extremely atmospheric and scary is actually a rehash of Lugosi’s first scene in “Dracula”. Lugosi is creepy and full of power but he really has nothing to do. The bullet hole in his head looks great but it is not explained. In Famous Monsters, Forry stated that the explanation for the bullet wound was cut from the final print. I thought that “Mark of the Vampire” was a well made and well acted film but the end makes all that came before illogical. Why would the actors make Luna fly when there was no need to do so? Why are they hanging around in the old castle when they should have been scaring the townspeople? These and other questions arose when the film reached its climax. I'm sorry to say the “Mark of the Vampire” is a film that the parts are better than the sum. It’s a shame because if Tod Browning revealed that Lugosi and Borland were actually vampires not actors, the film could have been one of the great classics of the 1930’s. Hey Ron,
thanks P.S. - "Count Mora rocks!"
As far as the other actors go- I found that Lionel Barrymore did a nice job with his "Van-Helsing" type role! Lionel Atwill is always great! Bela Lugosi does a super job as always- and I ABSOLUTELY love his lines at the end of the movie! ("This vampire business has given me an idea for a new act" "I WILL BE THE VAMPIRE!" and also "I was greater than any real vampire!" (with saying this line he swings his cape around himself and the film fades out- THE END.) And it is always nice to see character actor Michael Visiroff (the inn keeper in "Dracula") do his thing. Also, an unsung award should go to Elizabeth Allan in this film, for she does a super job in potraying a woman who is terrified of the unknown (at least we think so at first!) An Interesting bit of trivia here folks: actor Jean Hershholt, who is in this film, is the uncle of actor Leslie Nielsen! ("Forbidden Planet") Concerning the comedy relief in this film, I did find it to be rather irritating! (except for the cat coming out of the suit of armor trick) Lastly, even though I did enjoy this film alot (It was a first time watch for me!) I did find the trick/switch ending EXTREMELY disappointing. I really wish director Tod Browning and MGM would have made this a 'STRAIGHT" VAMPIE FILM and not a "CHEAT". I think it would have been considered one of the best of the 1930`s horror films then. As is, it is still an interesting, yet flawed movie with some really cool images and neat performances! So until next time, folks, when I see you from the volcanic lands of Mexico to watch, analyze and discuss "The Black Scorpion" I bid all of you a "GOOD EVENING"!! Dan Brenneis, Strongsville, Ohio - Monster Bash Staff Member and Lifetime FilmFan Extroadinairre. Hi Dan, While Browning was re-making his LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT (aka: THE HYPNOTIST), he definatrely was re-working it with elements of DRACULA, trying to make them better. Bringing in a "Van Helsing" rather than a multi-task detective (like in LONDON), the crawling animals in the crypt, the close by ruins....it was a mix of LONDON and bettering DRACULA where he could. Except he used the "catch" ending from LONDON rather than the real supernatural from DRACULA. You are so right about the "hissing" strong vampire female. That "hiss" became a standard through the decades. -Ron Adams, Ligonier, PA
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I was out of town for Easter this past weekend, but got a chance to watch this old, wonderful selection after returning. I'll be brief with my comments and let others speak there thoughts. Even though this movie is bashed a lot for having the "cheat" non-supernatural ending...it's still just amazing to watch. You have director Todd Browning re-creating his DRACULA with better photography and effects. Still, it's a different take too. 
“Mark of The Vampire” will always have a warm place in my heart for being one of the very few classic horror films I have seen in a real theater. Back in 1972, a triple bill of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (the impressive Fredric March version), “The Mask of Fu Manchu” and “Mark of The Vampire” played what even then was known as the Old Paramount Theatre in Salem, MA. I was all of 12 and loved every second of every film!
This is probably the weirdest movie from the 30's in my opinion. It seems like a straight horror film and then turns into a supernatural crime drama with Bela Lugosi as a psuedo vampire and Carol Borland as a psuedo vampire woman who terrorizes the countryside.
Bela Lugosi, after Dracula, is again called on by Tod Browning to play a vampire. He looks like Dracula, but with a difference. He has a bloody wound on the side of his head. Like Carroll Borland, he is not called on to do very much except grimace occasionally and to walk malevolently with his daughter. There is one great scene, however, and that occurs when a maid and a butler see him at an open window. Through their eyes they see a bat disappear into the mist and from the mist appears Count Mora. He crouches and starts to stalk them. It all occurs in slow motion. It's a great scene and it never fails to jolt me because, in the scene, Bela Lugosi resembles and acts like a hungry animal. 
Tod Browning continued a trend in this film that he started in Dracula. In the film Dracula there was a sweeping shot of the catacombs of Dracula's castle. There were several coffins and scurrying among them was an armadillo. In Mark Of The Vampire he upped the ante and showed not only a possum, but a crab as well. If Tod Browning's career had been more successful, he might have made another vampire film. If so, it would be interesting to imagine the animals he would use. Perhaps among the coffins of the undead there would appear a beaver, a moose, and a kangaroo. 
I was late again watching this weeks movie, with the holidays I couldn´t pick it up from the post office till Monday afternoon. I had vague memories of seeing this many years ago on Creature Features, and recently had my second viewing not too long ago after reading an article about it in Scary Monsters. I confuse this with Return of the Vampire and wondered, where is the werewolf? 
I haven’t seen “Mark of the Vampire” for some time. I thought that since the group was watching it, I’d join in. The film was just as I remembered it-great to look
at, but ultimately disappointing. The entire concept of having actors play vampire to scare a confession out of some one does not really make sense. I’ll give you an example: Elizabeth Allen is in the garden and sees Luna walking towards her. Luna leans over her and a scream is heard. The help comes running in to tell about Elizabeth’s attack. The problem I have with this is that she could have faked the entire incident without the use of Luna. There was never any real need for Lugosi or Borland.
I thought the "Mark of the Vampire" was very well done as far as the atmosphere goes. When the bats would fly by, they looked almost real as can be expected for the times. There was no jerking of the strings like in the cheaper movies. Bela looked excellent. Barrymore was intense as always. A very nice choice to view this week. I had not seen it for quite a long time. "The Black Cat" was also a welcome call for last week's viewing. The "Murder in the Rue Morgue" is also a great Bela flick. I love it when the girl tied up is screaming, because she has gorilla blood put in her, and Bela tells her OH! shut up! Or maybe Oh be still! His wig is a little too much though. Eric the gorilla is great in that flick as well.
Mark of the Vampire is just a great looking fun movie. It's a fast paced movie that's all over the place. Todd Browning's look of the film is impressive compared to DRACULA, even though the two films are similar. I love the fact that it even has real bats used in it. The fact that Mark of the Vampire is that remake of LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT makes it a stand. This maybe is the closest us horror fans will get to a complete look at LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT. I love the look and style of this moive still to this day. It's the best and I've got the tattoo to prove it
