You have to know what you're in for when you sit down to watch a movie like "Count Yorga." Leave your expectations of lavish special effects, intricate plotting, and deep character development at the door. This movie is about what most vampire movies are about cool confrontations with the undead, spiced with some lightweight eroticism. If that's your bag, you should like this.
But I'm already sounding too critical. I honestly think that "Yorga" has several strong points which elevate it above the standard bloodsucker flick. Chief among them is actor Robert Quarry, who cuts a striking figure as the Count. His performance walks a very fine line between camp and credibility, and somehow he pulls it off. He plays the best kind of vampire suave and smart and friendly, until of course he decides to dispatch his opponents with almost animal savagery.
There are some memorably horrifying moments, including the infamous cat scene and Roger Perry's final confrontation with Yorga in the crypt. I also enjoy the séance - a funny way to set the scene and introduce the characters (such as they are). On the downside, Perry is a faintly annoying actor (I much prefer the secondary hero, Michael Murphy, who later played the thankless role of the mayor in "Batman Returns"), and there are some strange cuts in the action where sex scenes were apparently excised.
On the whole, though, I have little to complain about. It seems that vampires are always up to the same tricks putting the bite on women and fighting off their vengeful boyfriends but as long as the vampires are cool and the women are pretty, I'll tune in.
But I'm already sounding too critical. I honestly think that "Yorga" has several strong points which elevate it above the standard bloodsucker flick. Chief among them is actor Robert Quarry, who cuts a striking figure as the Count. His performance walks a very fine line between camp and credibility, and somehow he pulls it off. He plays the best kind of vampire suave and smart and friendly, until of course he decides to dispatch his opponents with almost animal savagery.
There are some memorably horrifying moments, including the infamous cat scene and Roger Perry's final confrontation with Yorga in the crypt. I also enjoy the séance - a funny way to set the scene and introduce the characters (such as they are). On the downside, Perry is a faintly annoying actor (I much prefer the secondary hero, Michael Murphy, who later played the thankless role of the mayor in "Batman Returns"), and there are some strange cuts in the action where sex scenes were apparently excised.
On the whole, though, I have little to complain about. It seems that vampires are always up to the same tricks putting the bite on women and fighting off their vengeful boyfriends but as long as the vampires are cool and the women are pretty, I'll tune in.