Line #35 Film/CountYorga


1	[[quoteright:267:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/countYorgaVampire_It4F_cr_2_3914.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:267:A real lady killer, he is.]]
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4	A pair of horror movies from Creator/AmericanInternationalPictures about said titled vampire. [[ThematicSeries Though neither movie shares any continuity with each other, being stand alone stories]].
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6	* ''Count Yorga, Vampire'' (Original Title: ''The Loves of Count Iorga'' [[note]]Which for some odd reason is still on the title in the movie.[[/note]]): Yorga arrives in Los Angeles from a European country searching for fresh blood and to spread his curse in a land that only sees vampirism as fiction. He targets a woman named Donna who recently lost her mother after being hired to perform a seance. Yorga first goes after her friend, Erica, whose bite wounds and sudden behavior draw the attention of her doctor friend, Hayes, who suspects Yorga might be a vampire.
7	* ''The Return of Count Yorga'': Yorga arrives in a new community (to which the bridge "conveniently" goes out) and amasses an army of undead women. While out at a charity event for an orphanage, he meets a young woman named Cynthia and becomes smitten with her. He sends his brides [[FamilyExtermination to kill her family]] and bring her to him, brainwashing her into thinking that she was the sole survivor of a car accident and hoping to woo her into willingly becoming a vampire. All the while her boyfriend, Baldwin, investigates her disappearance.
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9	If it all sounds familiar, that's because it is essentially a '70s modern day take of ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', though Yorga was much more cunning and suave. Both films are very good popcorn horror movie flicks despite/because of the low budgets.
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11	Interesting side note: the first film started off as a softcore porn movie. Robert Quarry, the actor who played Yorga, agreed to do the film if it was just [[MidDevelopmentGenreShift turned into a horror movie]]. You can still see some of the original overtones of the film, however.
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13	Got a Blu-Ray DVD releases in Oct and Nov of 2015. The first movie by Twilight Time and the Second by Shout Factory.
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15	Fun fact: It was also one of the movies that ''Series/{{Svengoolie}}'' hosted on his show.
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17	----
18	!!The movies provide the following tropes:
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20	[[foldercontrol]]
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22	[[folder: Both Films]]
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24	* AmazonBrigade: Yorga's brides act as this for him.
25	* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: No one makes it out of these films alive. Or at the least with their humanity and morality intact.
26	* TheBadGuyWins: Even though he dies at the end of both films, Yorga winds up winning posthumously due to a combination of his vampirism being permanent, everyone who invades his compound being killed or turned, said surviving turned vampires still being evil, and that anyone outside those who knew about him being unaware that vampires exist.
27	* BreakingAndBloodsucking: In both films, in the first by Yorga himself. The second by his brides to kidnap a target.
28	* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler:It makes sense that Yorga's victims don't change back to normal once he's killed, as they're technically already dead. So even though they're vampires, the people they were as humans are indeed gone.]]
29	* CassandraTruth: Both movies have them in some form or another.
30	* ChokeHolds: Yorga's favorite method of execution. As he's a vampire and has superhuman strength, it's very effective.
31	* DeathOfAChild: While it wasn't used in the first film, there's mention of a baby being found dead in the woods with teeth marks on its neck and drained of blood. And somewhat unseen in the second, when the kid character runs into Yorga and is turned evil by his power.
32	* DevouredByTheHorde: Happens in both movies and both times involving the brides.
33	** ''Count Yorga'': Hayes is jumped from behind by the women while trying to keep Yorga back with his cross. They manage to knock him down then swarm over him to take his remaining blood as Yorga watches.
34	** ''The Return of Count Yorga'': Two times. The first happens when Yorga's brides invade the Nelson's household and feed on everyone save Cynthia and Tommy. The second occurs when Jason is choked to death by Yorga after escaping the trap involving Ellen. Afterward he has Brudah toss his body into the throne room where the brides are gathered. The women quickly crowd around his body and feed.
35	* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Erica in the first movie, Mitzi in the second. Both after becoming vampires.
36	* EvilMakeover: Yorga's a very old fashioned vampire, so a lot of his female victims wear gowns after turning. Their pale skin and wild unkempt hair help complete the ensemble.
37	* HopeSpot: [[spoiler:Both movies end with the final two survivors managing to kill Yorga. But one of them is revealed to have been recently turned into a vampire and feeds on the last survivor.]]
38	* TheIgor: Brudah, Yorga's deformed servant.
39	* LargeHam: Yorga when taunting his opponents:
40	-->'''Yorga''': ''(Over the intercom in his mansion)'' Dr. Baldwin. This is Count Yorga. You are going to die. You've been a fool, Doctor, and now you are going to die a horrible death.
41	* MessyHair: The brides in both films usually sport this. Though considering they're undead, there's no point in grooming anyway. It actually makes them scarier.
42	* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: The vampires' fangs in these films are more bat like with a row of smaller fangs and two big ones in the front. Oddly though, when Yorga bites his female victim, he only leaves tiny pinpricks.
43	* NoOntologicalInertia: [[spoiler:Subverted, vampire transformations are permanent. So even if Yorga dies, his victims will stay undead, remain evil, and continue to kill and turn people.]]
44	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: They have the usual weakness to sunlight and crosses, but their teeth are more akin to a vampire bat (a row of fangs with two larger ones at the forefront), albeit not to Nosferatu levels. The turned victims are also rather zombie-like with umkempt hair, they almost never speak ([[spoiler:Donna's mother]] has a few lines in the first film and Ellen in the second when she talks to her boyfriend, post-turning), and they are relentless in trying to catch their prey since their dead bodies don't have to worry about stamina or wounds (save a stake to the heart). They also can apparently decay if left underground too long after turning, as a few of the brides in the second movie have discolored skin.
45	* SpiritualSuccessor: 1972's ''The Deathmaster'' stars Robert Quarry (who plays Yorga) and was made by the same production team, though it features Quarry as a different vampire character. Many fans and reviews like to name it as an "unofficial" third Yorga movie since it has many of the same undertones.
46	* TooDumbToLive: Both the protagonists and Yorga. The former for trying to take on Yorga ''at night'' [[note]]Though to be fair they were planning to go in the daytime. Yorga's summoning Donna to him and sabotaging Michael's alarm forced their hand[[/note]] in his own home no less crawling with traps and his undead harem. And the latter for the ways he killed. In the first movie he was trying to choke the remaining hero but said person was holding a stake out at the time and he ended up running right into it, [[{{Self Disposing Villain}} killing himself.]] In the second movie, he was warned by his live-in witch (no, seriously) that if he tries to go after the girl he's targeting, she will kill him. He ignores this of course and at the end that's exactly what happens.
47	* TranshumanTreachery: Anyone turned is instantly evil, obeying Yorga without question and attacking friends and family with no hesitation. [[spoiler:If Yorga's killed, they continue on with their bloodlust as usual, as was the case with Erica and the unnamed redheaded bride who comes after Donna and Michael even though their master was staked moments before.]]
48	* UndeadBarefooter: Yorga's brides all go barefoot after they become vampires.
49	* UndeathlyPallor: Pretty much all vampires here.
50	* VampireBitesSuck: Oddly not Yorga, but his brides when they feed on anyone.
51	* VampiresHarem: Both of the movies feature Yorga being accompanied by female vampires identified as his brides, and seeks to increase their number even more.
52	* VampireHickey:
53	** In the first movie, after Erica is bitten, she has two noticeable bite marks on her neck that Hayes notes when examining her the following day. Yorga comes to her the following night and re-opens the wound to finish draining her.
54	** In the second film, one character named Mitzi encounters Yorga before she's about enter an auditorium for a orphanage fundraiser. He takes some of her blood before going in himself with her stumbling in some time after. When the guests examine her, they see some slight puncture wounds on her neck but aren't sure what to make of it while Yorga quietly leaves as they tend to her. Unlike Erica, no one makes the connection of her being a victim of a vampire attack, allowing Yorga to claim her later easily.
55	* VampiresSleepInCoffins:
56	** In the first film, Yorga makes his way to his new abode in Los Angeles in his coffin via a truck during the daytime. We later see that he has it tucked away somewhere deep within the manor to rest during the day. Subverted for his harem however, who sleep on stone slabs in his throne room.
57	** In the sequel, while we never see the vampires sleeping their coffins. The throne room Yorga has set up has rows of coffins on either side of it, where his vampire harem sleep during the daytime and are kept until he has need of them.
58	* ViralTransformation: Going by classic lore, vampire bites are dangerous and being killed via draining will turn you into one.
59	[[/folder]]
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61	[[folder: ''Count Yorga, Vampire'']]
62	* BadBoss: Briefly seen in the first movie when [[spoiler:Yorga pushes Donna's mother into a stake to distract Michael and run off]].
63	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Yorga's brides in the first film follow this hair color. [[spoiler:It was intially just Blonde (Donna's mother) and redhead. Erica joining fulfills the "brunette" of the three.]]
64	* CannotKillTheirLovedOnes: Near the end, Micheal gets ambushed by two of Yorga's vampire women, one of whom is his friend Erica who was bitten, kidnapped and ultimately turned by Yorga. Micheal manages to ward the women back and chase off one of them, but Erica oddly doesn't flee and allows him the chance to stake her. Despite knowing she's no longer the friend he knew and is now just an undead being. He can't bring himself to kill her and leaves her in the room as she hisses at him.
65	* CruelTwistEnding: [[spoiler:Michael is the only one left to rescue Donna after Hayes is killed by Yorga's brides (among them friend turned vampire, Erica). He manages to kill Yorga, rescue Donna, and chase off his remaining vampire brides. But just as he relaxes and turns to Donna, she lunges at him, fangs bared. He was too late to keep Yorga from turning her.]]
66	* DeathOfAChild: During Hayes talk with his girlfriend, she mentions a baby being found dead in the woods with teeth marks on its neck and drained of blood.
67	* EatTheCamera: [[spoiler:Donna does this at the end of the first film as she attacks Michael upon turning. The screen freezes just as she lunges at him.]]
68	* EatsBabies: One of the more infamous scenes in the first movie involved one of the bitten characters, temporarily succumbing to her bloodlust, eating her pet cat. A unused scene from the film [[http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s56/Retro7/19643eb0.jpg showed one of the brides actually eating a baby]], though it is mentioned later in the film.
69	* {{Expy}}: The film gleans many things from ''Dracula'' with Count Yorga being the title character. Baldwin stands in for Dr Steward and Helsing, Michael is Harker, Paul is Quincy, Erica is Lucy, and Donna is Mina. Yorga even has three brides as Dracula did.
70	* HolyBurnsEvil: Naturally crosses are used as a weakness against vampire in this film. However Yorga seems more annoyed when Hayes thrusts a cross at him, apparently still feeling its effects, but having built up a bit of immunity to it that it doesn't scare him. His brides, however, being modern-day vampires, aren't quite as powerful. When Michael uses a cross against them when they try to chase both Donna and him down some stairs, they instantly cower back from the symbol, throwing up their arms to shield themselves and even hiding behind the other to try and avoid it.
71	* IDoNotDrinkWine: After the seance at the start of the film, Erica notes Yorga hasn't eaten or drank anything since he came to Donna's home. He claims to just have a troubled stomach but cites he'll get a "snack" later, eyeing Erica ominously as she goes to get some brandy for the other guests. Needless to say, he makes good on that claim later.
72	* LuredIntoATrap: Three cases:
73	** After Erica is taken by Yorga. Her boyfriend, Paul, tries to go rescue her despite ''knowing'' that Yorga is a vampire, the (confirmed) probability that Erica is beyond saving, and he's going ''[[TooDumbToLive at night]]''. Not surprisingly, Yorga is waiting for him and easily kills him.
74	** Near the end, Yorga hypnotizes Donna to sabotage Michael's alarm clock before having her come to his manor. Michael and Hayes soon awaken, find out what happened, but proceed anyway despite knowing the disadvantage. Hayes splits up to distract Yorga to give Michael time to find Donna. However Yorga humors Hayes, leads him into his throne room to showcase Erica as his newest addition to his brides, then proceeds to mess with him till his brides awaken and feed on Hayes.
75	** And lastly, when Michael finally reaches the throne room, he finds he was too late and Hayes is dying on the floor. Hayes tells him where Donna is before passing on. But just as he does, a door to the room opens and the vamped Erica along with a red-haired bride rush into the room to kill him. Unlike the last two examples however, Michael manages to foil this attempt.
76	* ScrewThisImOutOfHere: A vampirized Erica and the nameless red-haired bride try to attack Michael after he discovers Hayes' body. He manages to fend them off and raises his stake threateningly. [[http://i.imgur.com/ShO287x.gif The red-haired bride wisely decides to retreat when he does.]]
77	* SexSignalsDeath: Subverted and played straight in the first movie.
78	* StakingTheLovedOne: Averted. Michael is given the chance to stake the newly vamped Erica (she even stands there and waits for him). He tries but ultimately can't do it and leaves her in her undead state.
79	* WhamShot: In the middle of the film, Yorga goes downstairs to his lair where two of his brides are sleeping on slabs. [[spoiler: The blonde of the two is Donna's mother.]]
80	* VirusVictimSymptoms: Erica in the first movie displays these the day after she gets bitten by Yorga. In contrast to her perky self at the start of the movie, she becomes despondent and listless when Hayes looks her over. When her boyfriend tries to call her we see from her end that she's trashed her house and just throws the phone to the floor, staring at it blankly as her boyfriend tries to get her to answer as if she doesn't know what it is. When her boyfriend decides to visit her personally, he's shocked to find her feeding on her pet kitten and screaming like a banshee. And finally when he tries to get in close she growls for him to stay away. She suddenly acts seductively, opening her arms to him, before coming to her senses and crying in his arms, frightened at what she's becoming.
81	[[/folder]]
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83	[[folder: ''The Return of Count Yorga'']]
84	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: At the party at the beginning of the second movie. Ellen, Cynthia's sister, mentions how cool it would be if vampires were real. [[spoiler:A few scenes later, Yorga's brides raid her house, kill her parents, kidnap her sister and turn her into a vampire herself where she promptly helps kill her boyfriend.]]
85	* BigNo [[spoiler: The last thing Cynthia says as a human before the newly vamped Baldwin bites her.]]
86	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Tommy, one of the orphan kids who has the misfortune to run into Yorga as he's trying to escape the vampire brides. We don't see what Yorga does to him (though it's obvious he isn't turned since he still moves about in daylight), but it makes him subserviant to the vampire and the vampire brides don't touch him during their invasion of the Nelson household. The crazy part comes in later when he's caught almost bashing a fellow orphan with a rock. Then later lures Jason into a trap by Yorga that results in Jason's death. [[spoiler: And in the end he directly kills one of the cops with a knife as well. Unlike most examples, it isn't undone at the end of the film, with Tommy remaining fully under the control of the vampires even after Yorga's death.]]
87	* CreepyChild: As stated, Tommy after he's brainwashed by Yorga. Going from a CheerfulChild to a stoic one who aids Yorga with his plans.
88	* CruelTwistEnding: ''Return of Count Yorga'': [[spoiler:Like the first movie, it only comes down to one rescuer, Dr. Baldwin, after the others are killed. He finds Cynthia and makes to escape, but are cornered by Yorga and his army of brides (which include some of their friends and even Cynthia's sister who were turned during the movie). Yorga takes Cynthia to be bitten but Baldwin escapes the brides and continues his pursuit. Things climax on the balcony of the manor where Yorga is killed (by Cynthia no less) and thrown off the building. But just as Cynthia starts to celebrate, she finds to her horror that Baldwin is a vampire (likely bitten by the brides). He promptly grabs and bites Cynthia, ironically dooming her to the undeath that he was just trying to prevent not moments ago.]]
89	* FamilyExtermination: Yorga becomes smitten with a girl named Cynthia and wants her to willingly accept him and become a vampire. To do so, he sends his brides to her household and has them feed on the entire family save her (though Cynthia's sister, Helen, is turned and becomes a bride) then having Cynthia brought to his manor, where he claims she was in a car accident that killed her family. Over the course of the movie however she slowly starts to regain her memory.
90	* FromBadToWorse: Cynthia's boyfriend, Jason, arrives to rescue her only to find her sister instead, turned and in the company of Yorga's coven of vamp brides who move to attack him on sight. In trying to escape them, he literally runs right into Yorga himself and is throttled to death.
91	* ImmuneToBullets: In ''Return of Count Yorga'', two cops are beset by Yorga's vampire brides in a hallway. They shoot at the two front-most brides. But of course, being walking corpses, they barely flinch or react to the bullet wounds in their stomachs as they keep advancing on the two.
92	* LuredIntoATrap:
93	** Jason, the boyfriend of Cynthia Nelson, is told by Tommy that he managed to find her. Unbeknowest to Jason, Tommy has been brainwashed by Yorga to serve him. Tommy leads Jason to Ellen where, not surprisingly, she's been turned into a vampire. Her fellow brides jump Jason and, though he manages to escape them, runs right into Yorga who kills him.
94	** Late in the film, Yorga lures the vicar into the [[QuicksandSucks quicksand pit]] he uses to dispose of his un-turned kills. Yorga can walk over it, the other guy not so much.
95	* RiseFromYourGrave: The opening of the movie has Yorga command his vampires brides to crawl out of their graves.
96	* SlasherSmile: A now undead Ellen (Cythia's sister who, unlike her parents, joins Yorga's brides) sports one of these while being confronted by her boyfriend in the second movie.
97	* VaguenessIsComing: The beginning of the second movie sees a priest and Donna discussing the "Santa Anna Winds" which the priest perceives as a bad omen that evil forces are coming. [[spoiler:Cut to the graveyard where Yorga is commanding his vampire brides to rise from their graves.]]
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Context Film / CountYorga