Released in 1971 aka Cemetery Girls & Blood Lover, this is a rare woman directed exploitation genre film (Stephanie Rothman). The film has very mild nudity and tame love scenes done with art-house quality and visual style. It has achieved cult status, having been included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The director was clearly inspired by European art cinema and the film has a European production feel to it.
Roger Corman was a big supplier of drive-ins and hard-top theaters that catered to exploitation fans, and this film was just too classy for such venues. The ending does fall off an unnecessary cliff and just a bit more intrigue on the vampire's death would have improved the movie greatly.
The narrative centers on an attractive married couple, likely swingers, Lee (Michael Blodgett) and Susan (Sherry Miles aka DeBoer). While visiting the "Stoker" art gallery named after it’s owner Carl Stoker (Gene Shane), nod to Dracula’s Bram Stoker, the couple meet the captivating Diane LeFanu (Celeste Yarnall), nod to Sheridan Le Fanu (author of vampire novella Carmilla). Lee is immediately drawn to Diane and despite his wife’s dirty looks, flirts with Diane. Diane extends an invitation for the couple to spend the weekend at her estate deep in the Mojave Desert. Despite Susan's evident discomfort, Lee eagerly accepts. On their journey, their car breaks down. Diane rescues them in her canary yellow dune buggy. Instead of a dreary castle, there is a hip seventies architecturally alluring compound. The couple slowly realizes that their hostess is, in fact, a centuries-old vampire that is seducing them for fun before she sucks the life out of them. Susan catches Lee and Diane having intercourse but does not appear to be as upset as you’d think and Lee readily admits the sexual encounter to Susan the next day. As the hours go by, Diane’s primal vampire urge grows uncontrollable and she sucks the life out of her mechanic, her girlfriend, her servant, and Lee, but Susan successfully flees at the last moment. At the end, Susan and a gathered crowd hold crosses in front of Diane and she bursts into flames. The ending is abrupt & random. There may be another version out there where Diane is killed by Lee (my preferred outcome) but I could not find that version.
The film was produced on a modest budget. Corman made Rothman shoot at least one violent scene in order to make the film more exciting and dynamic. The film relies heavily on its central trio of characters: the titular vampire, and the gorgeous young swinger couple. Vampire Diane is seductive, entrancing, gorgeous, convincing and captivating. The couple are really just supporting eye candy pawns. The gallery owner Carl Stoker adds a unique twist at the end almost like they expected a sequel.
Interesting tidbits: Celeste Yarnall (vampire Diane) had just finished giving birth in real life. Much of the filming was at the Joshua Tree in the California desert. The film is dreamy, erotic, and surreal. The nude scenes were a first for the actresses and the director ensured privacy by closing the set during these shoots. The photography is handsome and striking and this film should be studied in classes to teach up and coming directors how to make a film on a budget. The use of bright color is bold, with strong blood red color tones at the right places. Diane is presented as the modern dominant predator that can handle bright daylight as long as she is fully clothed. She drives a dune buggy. She does not have fangs and has a reflection. By deliberately stripping away many traditional vampire trappings, while introducing ambiguity about Diane's true nature (that maybe she is not a vampire and just mentally ill), the focus becomes more about this story and less about vampire lore.
Variety delivered a particularly harsh assessment, crapping on the female director but praising the male producer. The Los Angeles Times offered faint praise. At the time of release the market was saturated with vampire movies (Lust for a Vampire, The Return of Count Yorga, Jean Rollin's Le Frisson des Vampires, La Noche de Walpurgis, Gebissen wird nur nachts, and Daughters of Darkness. The film was also released to the wrong audience. It played in art houses, drive-ins and hard-tops. Despite the slow start, audiences rediscovered its unique artistic style and theme, which was ahead-of-its-time and praised its unconventional approach to the vampire myth. Years later, the film was shown at festivals, retrospectives, and grabbed the attention of new generations of cinephiles.
