The Playgirls and the Vampire (1960)

Lucas [Alfredo Rizzo], manager of five showgirls Vera [Lyla Rocco], Katia [Maria Giovannini], Erika [Erika Dicenta], Ilona, and Magda has just skipped out on their hotel bill and is trying to reach the next town in their bus when they learn that the road has been blocked by a landslide.

Since they can't turn back, they take the only other road, which leads to the Castle of Kernassy, a place where no local would dare to go. Lucas could care less about local superstitions. Thinking about the possibility of free digs, he heads for the castle. When they arrive at the gate, Vera senses a strange feeling of familiarity, but the caretakers tell them to move on, until Count Gabor Kernassy [Walter Brandi] sets eyes on Vera. Suddenly, he agrees to put them up for the night. There is a condition, however. No one is to leave their bedrooms at night, regardless of what they might hear. As a storm rages, Vera notices the Count looking at her through the window. She confronts him, but he only wants to talk about her background. Where does she come from? Vera provides little details due to the fact that her parents died when she was young. Later, Katia comes to Vera's room because she can't sleep and then decides to take a shower. Because it is rather cold, Katia slips into Vera's coat. Before showering, however, Katia goes exploring after hearing a kitten meowing. She follows it to a tower room. The next morning, Katia is found dead on the ground at the foot of the tower. It appears that she has fallen. Unfortunately, the river has risen, and the visitors are forced to stay longer at the castle, even though they now want to leave. Later, after Katia is buried and while the girls rehearse their dances, Vera returns to her room to rest. While walking through the corridor, she notices a painting of Margherita Kernassy, who looks remarkably like Vera herself. When Vera asks the Count to tell her about Margherita, he explains that she was an ancestor of his who died in the 1780s. Because he thinks Vera might be a reincarnation of Margherita, he warns her to leave the castle as quickly as possible. Vera admits that she feels at home in the castle and safe with the Count. They fly into each others' arms. Later that evening, as Vera is getting undressed for bed, she notices the shadow of a man slinking along her wall. She tosses on a coat and goes looking for him in the gardens. When she passes Katia's grave, she is horrified to find that Katia's body has been dug up and removed. Then she notices the Count standing in the bushes. When she attempts to speak with him about Katia's body, he runs off. The housekeeper is of no help either. In fact, she admonishes Vera for being too curious. The next morning, Vera goes looking for the Count and wanders into what looks like a laboratory where she discovers Katia's body. When Vera confronts him, the Count admits that he dug up Katia's body in order to continue his investigation into a "diabolical" force that turns men into immortal monsters and gives them an insatiable thirst for human blood. He also suspects someone murdered Katia, thinking her to be Vera because she was wearing Vera's coat at the time. But who would want to kill Vera? The Count warns her again not to leave her room after nightfall, not even if she hears his voice calling to her. That night, a naked Katia baring fangs appears to Lucas, but he goes into a faint. Vera hears someone outside her bedroom door, calling out the name "Margherita. " She throws her coat over her nightgown and goes to investigate. With bats squeaking over her head, Vera makes her way down into the crypt, where she comes upon two coffins.. one for Margherita Kernassy and one for Gabor Kernassy. Suddenly, the Count appears, bares his fangs, and sucks blood from Vera's neck. When Vera regains consciousness, it is the next morning. The housekeeper informs her that she has had a high fever and been delirious all night. Vera concludes that her encounter with the Count in the crypt must have been a fever dream. But when Vera sees the two holes in her neck, she realizes otherwise. Immediately, she packs her bags and goes looking for her friends. The first person she meets is the Count. Vera hightails it away from him. When the Count gives her chase, Vera opens a door to escape and runs into.. the Count. With Counts on both sides of her now, Vera faints. The two Counts struggle. When the vampire Count knocks out the human Count, he (the vampire Count) carries Vera down into the crypt and places her in Margherita's coffin. Katia is jealous and vows to kill Vera before the vampire Count can make Vera immortal. Not to be deprived of his Margherita again, the vampire Count drives a burning stake through Katia's heart. Meanwhile, the human Count has followed them down into the crypt. He informs the vampire Count that the serum is almost ready and that it will put an end to the vampire affliction, but the vampire Count is not interested. Indeed, he considers vampirism "a significant achievement of the intellect and the greatest joy known to mankind. " A little more fighting breaks out, the end of which results in the human Count pulling down the curtains and letting in the sunlight. In his struggle with the light, the vampire Count impales himself on a poker and fades away. The human Count carries Vera upstairs. Everyone is happy that the vampire Count is now dead. A short while later, Vera and her friends drive off in their bus, leaving the human Count behind to tie up a few loose ends at the castle, after which he plans to join Vera. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl. ]