8mm Forum: What a Hammer Films find!

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Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on August 28, 2011, 09:32 PM:

As a Hammer film fanatic and avid Super 8 collector I thought I knew all there was to know... BUT I just received in the mail a 3X400' hour long digest of THE VAMPIRE LOVERS from Italy. It's has the Italian title, LA PREDA DELLA NOTTE(The Predator of the Night). A friend in Italy sent it to me. The box features images from a different film... so there's no way to know what the film really is. If that's not enough ... it has Ingrid Pitt's full frontal nudity scene that was cut from all American/British prints AND the beheading finale with all the gore that was also cut. I can't believe this exists and that I never knew about it. It's one of my favorite Hammer Films of all time... so needless to say I am thrilled to have it. Just wanted other Hammer collectors to know about it so they won't be in the dark like I was.

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on August 29, 2011, 10:39 AM:

That's astonishing - I'm a keen Hammer collector and had never heard of this. Is the distributor indicated? It looks like they were disguising the release in view of the box photos. What's the colour and quality like?

I'm puzzled about your reference to nudity being cut as I've never heard of anything seen anywhere that isn't in the British version. I have a 16mm print that I believe is the US theatrical version (rated R) and although this has a few brief cuts in comparision to the British version, most of the nudity is still intact, including the scene where Ingrid stands up in the bath. I'd imagine that a US print without this would be a TV version.

Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on August 29, 2011, 09:30 PM:

The distributor listed on the box is a company called "UNIVERSAL CINE S.R.L. ROMA" I'm guessing they didn't really have the rights and just snuck it out hoping Hammer didn't notice. In the 70's it appears super 8 was a bit of a free-for-all in Italy judging by all the Disney bootlegs that were out.

The quality on VAMPIRE LOVERS is good... not great. The color is a bit faded to the red side - but it's a nice sharp print otherwise. Not many scratches/imperfections on the master material.

The nudity that I was referring to is brief. When Ingrid stands up in the bath she showed her... what's the polite way to say it... downstairs. In most prints they inserted a cut away of Madeline Smith to cover it up. But in this print it's there in all its glory. As is the complete staking and beheading finale which was trimmed pretty heavily on most prints. It's definitely worth looking for. I'll try to get a scan of the cover up on the forum eventually.

The funny thing is I had passed it up on Italian Ebay once not knowing what it was... but I am know thrilled to now have it. I have watched it about 10 times over the last few days!

[ August 30, 2011, 10:17 AM: Message edited by: Brian Hendel ]

Posted by Adrian Winchester (Member # 248) on August 29, 2011, 09:48 PM:

Thanks for the information. It seems surprising that the film was never released on Super 8 in the UK or USA, considering that Derann and Walton released versions of the second and third films in the trilogy, and being a co-production with AIP, I'd imagine that Ken could probably have released it in the USA.

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