By Melissa Antoinette Garza
THE VELVET VAMPIRE (1971) opens with Diane LeFanu (Celeste Yarnall) walking the streets in a gorgeous red dress with white lace. She is attacked by a would-be rapist, who is easily killed by this gorgeous dame. Afterwars, Diane cleans herself up and checks a small compact mirror, because this vamp has a reflection; and a very nice one at that!
Diane latter attends an event at the Stoker art gallery. There she meets the young naive couple Lee (Michael Blodgett) and Susan Ritter (Sherry E. DeBoer). Susan is instantly entranced by the beauty and questions her husband about who she is. When they are invited to Diane’s (Celsete Yarnall) desert estate, the green-eyed monster bites Susan. She argues with Lee about Susan’s beauty and nearly cancel the trip, but the next day they start the ride down.
On the way there, Lee’s car dies. Diane finds them and picks them up in her car. She assures them that theirs will be towed and gives them a ride back to her huge mansion.
At Diane’s, Susan feels a bit out of place. During dinner, she refuses to eat the steak tartar provided which irritates Lee. Diane cools the situation down by having her butler Juan (Jerry Daniels) make her a salad.
Juan does more than just make a salad. He’s also Diane’s right-hand murdering madman.
Susan continues to feel awkward when she notices her husband openly flirting back with Diane. The two make-up later in the bedroom, but Diane is bored and wants to play with her house-guests too. Wickedly, she sits watching. In front of a wooden chair, a red curtain and a table holding a skull, Diane gets ready to have a good show. Susan sensing a voyeur, stops the party early.
Later, Diane comes to Susan in a dream where she guides Lee away. Susan wakes up scared. Lee doesn’t do much to calm her down as he is an all too willing participant when Diane comes calling. While Lee is sexing up Diane, Lee is nearly attacked by a serpent. The snake bites down, but thankfully Diane returns to suck out the poison. She promises to take care of Susan and brings her home. She is kind enough to put Susan in the shortest white nightie in the house to relax in. I love the 70s!
After the snake incident, Susan is sold on Diane once again. After-all, Diane did save her life. Now, if these two crazy kids can get together and kill Lee; Juan, Susan and Diane can have fun together. Sorry, but Lee is just a boring distraction. He’s too unfaithful to be a protagonist and too heroic to be a real bad guy. He’s the every man. I’ll take the lesbian fanged goddesses and their sexy butler drac any day!
Susan sees Diane having sex with Lee, and though she’s initially pissed, she forgives him. I don’t know why. Lee has zero charm. Later when Susan confronts Diane, the two nearly make love. It isn’t until Susan sees the gravity of the crimes committed that she attempts to escape.
Overall, this is one of the tamest lesbian vampire films. The women aren’t given much time to play together, but their brief scenes are most enjoyable.
It’s currently on YOUTUBE and the plot is interesting enough to keep your attention, but the film isn’t quite great enough to be remembered.
Scared Stiff Rating 5/10
