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Context Film / TheFearlessVampireKillers

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1[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_fearless_vampire_killers_1967_movie_poster.jpeg]]
2[[caption-width-right:310:Poster art by Creator/FrankFrazetta]]
3
4->''"Oy vey, have you got the wrong vampire!"''
5
6''The Fearless Vampire Killers, [[EitherOrTitle or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck]]'' -- universally known as ''Dance of the Vampires'' outside of the U.S. (except for Italy, where it's known as ''Per Favore, Non Mordermi Sul Collo''[[note]]Please Don't Bite Me on the Neck[[/note]]) -- is a 1967 HorrorComedy film directed by Creator/RomanPolanski (who also costarred and co-wrote the screenplay), which gives a good-natured ribbing to the vampire genre. It is today perhaps best known as the inspiration for ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire'', a ScreenToStageAdaptation which is very popular in Europe, as well as for being the film which introduced Polanski to his future wife, Creator/SharonTate.
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8Sometime in the late 19th century, the eminent -- [[SmallNameBigEgo in his own mind, at least]] -- vampire expert Professor Abronsius (Jack [=MacGowran=]) and his bumbling young assistant Alfred (Polanski) arrive in the dead of winter at a small Transylvanian village, seeking to track down and kill a nest of vampires that they believe are lurking nearby. Stopping to rest at a local inn, they become convinced that they are on the right track, both by the presence of garlic adorning every available surface, and by the reluctance of the innkeeper Shagal (Creator/AlfieBass) and the rest of the locals to discuss the whereabouts of the nearby castle.
9
10While Professor Abronsius spends his time surreptitiously searching for clues, Alfred meets and falls head-over-heels for Shagal's beautiful daughter Sarah (Tate). He is not the only one who notices her, however, and soon the lord of the local vampire coven, the elegant Count von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne), abducts her to his castle. When Shagal attempts to keep the interlopers out of the matter and heads out alone to rescue his daughter, he is quickly turned into a vampire himself. It therefore falls to our two heroes to travel to Castle von Krolock, rescue the fair Sarah, and put the curse of the undead to rest once and for all.
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12----
13!!Provides examples of the following tropes:
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15* AbhorrentAdmirer: Alfred sees Herbert, the Count's son, this way.
16* AbsentMindedProfessor: Abronsius is easily distracted by books, bats, and discoursing on how great a scholar he is.
17* AffectionateParody: Of GothicHorror movies -- particularly those in the Film/HammerHorror tradition, with a few nods to [[Creator/RogerCorman Corman]] and [[Creator/MarioBava Bava]] thrown in -- and vampire works in general.
18* AintTooProudToBeg: Shagal's reduced to begging when he realizes the Count has taken his daughter.
19-->'''Shagal:''' Your excellency...not ''her''. ''Please, not her.''
20* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: Sarah transforms into a vampire at the end and also infects Alfred.
21* AristocratsAreEvil: Shagal appears to be the only "commoner" vampire.
22* TheBadGuyWins: Unintentionally. Von Krolock only meant to have Sarah join his legion of undead within the castle, meaning she would just be another victim. He succeeds on that front but ultimately loses Sarah when Alfred and Abronsius escape. However, that only means the curse of vampirism has spread beyond his castle, which wasn't his intention.
23* BathingBeauty: One of the defining aspects of Sarah's personality is her obsession with taking baths: believing that it is good for your health and should be indulged in at least once a day. The first time Alfred sees her in the inn, she is in the bath, and when he find her in Count von Krolock's castle, she is taking another bath.
24* TheBlindLeadingTheBlind: Alfred hangs on Abronsius's every word, and doesn't seem to realize that he's more than a bit incompetent.
25* ABloodyMess: While chasing Shagal, Abronsius and Alfred drive a stake into what they think is his form hiding behind a canvas, and are saturated by a gush of red liquid. However, they have actually driven their stake into a barrel and the liquid turns out to be red wine.
26* {{Bookends}}: The film opens and closes with a shot of our vampire hunters sleigh-riding across the snowy Carpathian Mountains.
27* BreakingAndBloodsucking: Von Krolock captures Sarah this way by coming in through the window roof of the bathroom she's in. As she's taking a bath and naked, she can't run, leaving her in a perfect position for von Krolock to bite her.
28* CensorSuds: When Alfred encounters Sarah in the bath.
29* ClassicalMovieVampire: Count von Krolock.
30* CobwebOfDisuse: The castle is full of these.
31* CruelTwistEnding: Sarah has already become a vampire, and turns Alfred into one as Professor Abronsius unknowingly takes them to Vienna.
32* DamselInDistress: Sarah, though she never seems aware of the danger she is in or shows any desire to be rescued.
33* TheDeadCanDance: Count von Krolock throws an elaborate ball for the previous generations of vampires. All of the vampires on the dance floor are experts in the courtly dances, and the two humans Professor Abronsius and Alfred stick out like sore thumbs when they attempt to infiltrate the dance due to their clumsiness.
34* DepravedHomosexual: Let's just say that Herbert is interested in sucking more than just Alfred's blood.
35* DirtyOldMan: Shagal, who attempts to seduce the inn's young maidservant. [[spoiler:He finally gets her after turning.]]
36* DistractedByTheSexy: A constant problem for Alfred via the two well-endowed young ladies in the inn.
37* EdibleBludgeon: During one of the slapstick sequences, Rebecca Shagal mistakes Professor Abronsius for her husband sneaking up behind her and hits him over the head with a garlic sausage, knocking him out.
38* FailureHero: Both Abronsius and Alfred prove to be terribly incompetent and useless hunters, to the point where they end up not only failing to destroy any of the vampires, but inadvertently helping to spread the scourge to the rest of the world by bringing the vampirized Sarah along with them.
39* {{Fanservice}}: Sharon Tate in a bathtub. Yikes.
40* FantasticReligiousWeirdness: Crucifixes ward off vampires...but only Christian ones.
41* FauxAffablyEvil: Count von Krolock
42* FrozenFashionSense: Count von Krolock throws a [[VampireDance Midnight Ball]] for the previous generations of vampires from the castle. They attend in tattered finery from a variety of time periods ranging from the Middle Ages to Regency.
43* HauntedCastle: Practically ''de rigeur'' for a vampire film, isn't it?
44* HelpImStuck: Happens to Abronsius while trying to enter von Krolock's crypt through a tight window. Alfred "helps" him by trying to pull him through with his scarf, nearly strangling him.
45** ''Then'', Alfred is told to go through the castle and back outside so he can get Abronsius out that way. Halfway through doing so, however, he gets distracted by Sarah's singing and temporarily forgets about his task, only getting back after the professor has been ([[HarmlessFreezing harmlessly]]) frozen solid.
46* HenpeckedHusband: Shagal
47* HollywoodDarkness: The exterior scenes during full moon are clearly shot in daylight.
48* HolyBurnsEvil: Subverted when Magda holds up a crucifix to ward off the Jewish vampire Shagal, only to be told, in a heavy Yiddish accent, "Oy vey, have you got the wrong vampire!" Apparently holy symbols only hurt if they were ever holy to the vampire.
49* IdiotHero: Abronsius and ''especially'' Alfred.
50* TheIgor: Alfred is a rare heroic version to Abronsius, and Koukol is a straight version to von Krolock.
51* ImprovisedCross: Abronsius and Alfred manage to ward off the vampires with a cross fashioned from a pair of long swords.
52* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Sarah
53* JewishComplaining: The vampirized Shagal bitches to Koukol about the poor location of his coffin.
54* KarmicDeath: Koukol, who catches and kills a dog early on, gets eaten by dogs at the end.
55* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Professor Abronsius's advice is singularly unhelpful at just about every stage of the film.
56* LogoJoke: Leo the Creator/{{MGM}} lion morphs into an animated [[LooksLikeOrlok Orlokian vampire]], whose fangs drip blood that trickles down through the scrolling credits. The drama mask at the bottom also disappears.
57* LosingAShoeInTheStruggle: When Alfred is attacked by [[spoiler:the vampiric Sarah]] in the sleigh, he loses a shoe that falls off the sleigh into the snow.
58* LoveAtFirstSight: Alfred's reaction to Sarah, and Herbert's reaction to Alfred.
59* MissingReflection: Vampires do not show up in mirrors. This becomes important in the ballroom scene.
60* MoodWhiplash: The film shifts on a dime between slapstick comedy and straightforward [[Film/HammerHorror Hammeresque]] horror.
61* MuggedForDisguise: Professor Abronsius and Alfred take out two vampires so they can [[DressingAsTheEnemy use their clothes and wigs to get closer to Sarah at the vampire ball]].
62* MundaneLuxury: Sarah indulges in warm baths.
63* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Vampirized Shagal after realizing he had just killed Magda, who was meant for the party guests.
64* {{Narrator}}: Heard at the beginning and end of the film. Voiced by Ferdy Mayne, who also plays Count von Krolock.
65* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The fearless vampire killers [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom unwittingly]] bring a vampire back to civilization, where it can spread the curse and continue the supernatural evil of vampirism.
66* NoSell: Someone tries to fend a vampire off with a cross, but the vampire doesn't care because he's Jewish, meaning Christian religious symbols have no effect on him.
67* NotQuiteSavedEnough: At first it seems Alfred made it [[VampireRefugee in time to save Sarah from turning into a vampire]] which he unfortunately finds out too late that he's wrong about at the end of the film.
68* OurVampiresAreDifferent: They can be warded off with religious symbols (but only the symbols of the religion that they believe in -- Alfred tries a cross on one, but he turns out to be Jewish and he just snickers in response).
69* OutsideRide: When Professor Abronsius orders Alfred to follow Koukol, Alfred does so by clinging to the back of the sleigh. This works fine until the hunchback stops to deal with a dog.
70* ParasolOfPain: In the opening sequence, Alfred uses his umbrella to beat off the dogs which are attacking the sleigh.
71* PlummetPerspective: Abronsius loses his hat while navigating ThePrecariousLedge at von Krolock's castle, and we see it fall the long way down. We also watch the satchel full of crucifixes, garlic, and wooden stakes roll aaaall the way down the snowy mountain after it's dropped.
72* TheProfessor: Professor Abronsius likes to think he is this.
73* RedheadsAreRavishing: Sarah
74* TheRenfield: Von Krolock's hunchbacked servant Koukol, who is also TheSpeechless.
75* SceneryPorn: Wilfrid Shingleton's production design and Douglas Slocombe's cinematography make this a spectacular-looking film. The interior sets are stunning, as are the exteriors filmed in the Italian Alps.
76* ScreenToStageAdaptation: Became the popular European musical ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire'' (and, allegedly, the much less popular American version, ''Dance of the Vampires'').
77* ShadowDiscretionShot: Subverted when we see the shadows of Abronsius and Alfred hammering a WoodenStake into the heart of... a pillow.
78* ShieldSurf: Koukol uses a coffin as a makeshift toboggan to chase the sleigh down the mountain.
79* ShiksaGoddess: Shagal has the hots for his blonde serving wench, though anything would be preferable to his wife.
80* ShoutOut:
81** Count von Krolock's name sounds suspiciously similar to that of Count Orlok from ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'' (1922), and Alfred's appearance is similar to Thomas Hutter's in that film.
82** Professor Abronsius's appearance resembles that of the Village Doctor in ''Film/{{Vampyr}}'' (1932).
83** The [[SpookyPainting grotesque family portraits]] lining the hall at von Krolock's castle are reminiscent of those in ''Film/HouseOfUsher'' (1960).
84** The climactic vampire ball is similar to one in ''The Kiss of the Vampire'' (1963).
85** Shagal the innkeeper and (presumably) his family are Jewish, and the artist Marc Chagall (pronounced as 'Shagal') was one of the more famous Jews in France, where Polanski had been based for most of his life after escaping Poland.
86** A number of historical figures -- some of them long dead -- can be glimpsed among the dancing vampires at the ball. The limping, malformed [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_of_England Richard III]] is easily spotted; another vampire with a particularly impressive wig may be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV Louis XIV]].
87%%* SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror
88* SnowySleighBells: Heard at the beginning of the film as Abronsius and Alfred ride through Transylvania.
89* StereoFibbing:
90-->'''von Krolock:''' So, you lost your way?\
91'''Abronsius:''' ''(as Alfred nods)'' No.
92* TheyCalledMeMad: Professor Abronsius's vampire obsession eventually got him fired from his post at Königsberg University, where his colleagues dubbed him "The Nut."
93* ThroughTheCeilingStealthily: Count von Krolock slips in through through a skylight on the roof of the inn using some implied power, right into the bathroom where Sarah is bathing, catching her off guard, only learning of his appearance due to the snow that falls down through the now-windowless hole, and powerless to stop him from biting her.
94* {{Uberwald}}: Transylvania gets this treatment, natch.
95* {{Undercrank}}: Utilized at various points for supernatural as well as comedic effect.
96* VampireBitesSuck: The movie.
97* VampireDance: The climax occurs during the vampires' annual ball.
98* VampireHunter: What does it say in the title?
99* VampireVords: The Count talks like this, but Herbert, oddly, does not.
100* VampiresAreRich: Shagal appears to be the only lower class vampire.
101* VampiresSleepInCoffins: Count von Krolock and his son sleep in wooden coffins while the rest of the vampires sleep in stone crypts.
102* TheVirus: Vampirism
103* TheVonTropeFamily: Count von Krolock and his son.
104* YiddishAsASecondLanguage: Shagal, the innkeeper.

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