Why so much hype?

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

'What can we do to end all this nonsense?' asks one character in Fangs of the Living Dead. Well, there's always the stop button, but I'm made of sterner stuff than that. Besides, this silly Gothic horror from Amando de Ossorio, director of the Blind Dead series, mightn't be all that great, but it does offer up several very attractive Euro-babes who, although they don't get naked, do look extremely ravishing throughout, revealing about as much cleavage as a slip of a dress possibly can. And hot babes always make the going a lot easier.Anita Ekberg is the leading lady in this silly vampire romp about an heiress, Sylvia Morel, discovering that her new castle is home to bloodsuckers, but she is easily eclipsed by buxom brunette Adriana Ambesi as sexy vamp Blinka, and Diana Lorys and Rosanna Yanni as beautiful barmaid sisters Bertha and Freya Zemis. Together, this trio of tasty totty ensured that, although the plot was unremarkable and the direction uninspired, I was able to see Fangs to the very end, which, while I'm on the subject, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever (at least in the version I saw): after revealing that the whole vampire thing is a ruse cooked up by Sylvia's uncle, Count Walbrooke (Julián Ugarte), to have his niece committed, the count turns out to be a vampire after all (he disintegrates in flames), after which Max (César Benet), comedy sidekick of Sylvia's fiancé Piero (Gianni Medici), also sprouts a pair of fangs. Confusing, to say the least.

I can only speak about the "Fangs Of The Living Dead" version (which is the one more readily available on DVD), not the longer "Malenka" version: avoid it. Not only is the picture quality poor for a 1969 film, but this version features virtually no blood or nudity, making it a PG horror film. The head vampire in it is extremely weak - he can't even break through a wooden door, and at the end he is defeated by a single punch! About 90% of the movie (no exaggeration!) is taken up by discussions about whether vampires are real, as if the title (which sounds suspiciously similar to the previous year's hit "Night of....") wasn't enough of a clue. Anita Ekberg's justifiably famous cleavage is on brief display, and in the last 3 minutes there is a short but sweet catfight between Diana Lorys and Adriana Ambesi. But those are the only parts of the film worth seeing. I suppose the castle itself is an atmospheric location, but the film lacks atmosphere. *1/2 out of 4.

A voluptuous model, Sylvia(..the well endowed Anita Ekberg) is to inherit a gargantuan castle from her mother and discovers from her austere, rather enigmatic uncle, Count Walbrooke(Julián Ugarte)that her blood is polluted by the evil curse of her great-grandmother, Malenka, a "practicing witch" who dabbled in alchemy and discovered the key to eternal life, burnt at the stake by superstitious locals. Sylvia is told by her uncle that she must never associate with the outside world due to the curse and that includes her proposed betrothal to Dr Pietro Lufuani(Gianni Medici). Sylvia also discovers that her uncle could be a vampire..Director Amando de Ossorio's take on the vampire genre is a moderately entertaining effort with a dash of Bava(the use of colors and darkened areas of the castle), Browning(the reactions of the locals when Sylvia announces her reason for being in their village and the first moments in the castle, along with a cast of eccentrics), and Hammer(lots of heavy bosoms from sexy big chested European women in the cast, with big hair and theatrical acting). You have the mausoleum, eerie tunnels in and underneath the castle. You have the towering butler, the Count's hulking muscle when needed. You have the expected "rise from the grave" sequence featuring the luscious Diana Lorys as a pub bartender who "services" the Count when he has a "need to feed". Rosanna Yanni is Lorys concerned sister, Freya. César Benet is Medici's pal, Max, the comic relief of the film, who accompanies him on his journey to the castle to find out about Sylvia, why she would send him a letter calling off their wedding. Adriana Ambesis is a supposed vampire slave the Count keeps prisoner and assaults through lashings when she misbehaves and Carlos Casaravilla is a kooky village doc, Horbringer, a boozer who warns our heroes of the possible terror that awaits those who have the misfortune of coming in contact with residents of the castle.The version I watched is a mess. I have read that prints of Fangs of the Living Dead edit a lot of important details imperative in understanding the climax in better detail. It's not as atmospheric as I was hoping it'd be and is rather tedious despite being relatively short. The essence of the plot carries the usual vampire traits until the ending as chaos reigns. The attractive women and the castle itself are reasons I'd recommend it, but for pure atmosphere and dread you should pursue the ending of de Ossorio's Tombs of the Blind Dead instead. There are plenty of plot inconsistencies which may be better improved upon if a proper, more fleshed-out version is released in the future.

Plot: A woman inherits a castle from a distant relative. When she arrives to take possession, she learns her castle is a home for the undead who want to bring her into the family.I really wanted to like Fangs of the Living Dead, but two things really hampered my enjoyment. First, there are far too many stretches of the movie that are quite simply boring. It's not that I mind a slow moving story, but this thing is downright dull in places. Second, and this more of a personal preference, but the main character as played by Anita Ekberg is annoying. For a horror movie to be really effective, it helps if you care about the characters. I wanted Ms. Ekberg's character (and Ms. Ekberg for that matter) to die within 10 minutes of her introduction.