VAMPIRA was a 1974 horror movie spoof from England that found some success in the US under the new title, OLD DRACULA, in the wake of Mel Brooks' YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. The two films have less than nothing in common, however, with this one decidedly British. The ever classy David Niven, who was working quite steadily in A list projects during this period, essentially plays himself as a classy vampire, and former LAUGH-IN star Teresa Graves (GET CHRISTIE LOVE) plays his resurrected love interest. Another former LAUGH-IN star, Jeremy Lloyd, wrote the picture. Lloyd also created ARE YOU BEING SERVED? around that same time and that series' star Frank Thornton appears here as well. Linda Hayden, Veronica Carlson and even the CARRY ON series' Bernard Bresslaw show up to heighten the British feel. I caught the film on a matinee at Cincinnati's Skywalk Cinemas, not having a clue what to expect, and enjoyed it immensely. I can only imagine how disappointed fans expecting Brooks-style humor must have been.
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