TUBI CONTINUED… NIGHTFALL: 100 YEARS OF VAMPIRE FILMS (2010) ** ½

From Nosferatu to Twilight, Nightfall:  100 Years of Vampire Films takes us on a century-long journey of bloodsucker cinema.  Things kick off with a brief history lesson of the vampire as the real-life Vlad the Impaler, Countess Elizabeth Bathory, and the publication of Bram Stoker’s Dracula are discussed.  Then, we plunge headlong into the movies.

Clips from such silent era films as The Vampire, Les Vampires, and (of course) Nosferatu are shown.  The ‘30s are represented by Dracula, The Vampyre, and Mark of the Vampire, and the ‘40s give us Son of Dracula, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and Scared to Death.  There are also segments on the Mexican film, El Vampiro, Hammer horror movies (including Horror of Dracula, The Brides of Dracula, and The Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires), Sci-Fi bloodsuckers (Queen of Blood, Planet of the Vampires, and Last Man on Earth), comedies (The Fearless Vampire Killers, The Vampire Happening, and Dracula the Dirty Old Man), and adaptations of Carmilla/lesbian vampire flicks (Blood and Roses, Vampyres, and Vampyros Lesbos).  There are even clips from a few movies I had never heard of before (like Sodium Babies).

While some of this is kind of fun, the documentary overall looks pretty cheap and ragged, especially when covering the historical aspects of vampires.  There are also odd detours that don’t really add much to the film, like the interview with a blogger who recreates Stoker’s novel in blog format.  In fact, the only “name” who is interviewed is Lifeforce director Tobe Hooper, but he’s only in it for about fifteen seconds.  It’s also odd that there’s a section devoted to Frankenstein in a vampire documentary.

Sure, it’s easy to pick apart everything that’s “wrong” with Nightfall:  100 Years of Vampire Films.  The nudity is blurred out, many shots are repeated, and most of the footage comes directly from trailers.  That said, it makes for a breezy, hour-long jaunt through decades of vampire moviemaking.  It’s ultimately inessential, but it’s definitely watchable and (mostly) entertaining.

AKA:  Nightfall.