YMMV / The Fearless Vampire Killers

• Awesome Music: Krzysztof Komeda's score contributes mightily to the film's atmosphere.
• Cult Classic: A flop in its original release, the film got a better reception after Polanski's Rosemary's Baby was released. The Director's Cut being made available,^note the original version was subject to heavy Executive Meddling attempts to cash in on Sharon Tate's murder, and Tanz Der Vampire fans curious about the source material also helped.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Roman Polański fails to save Sharon Tate from a murderous cult. OUCH.
  • Really, the fact that this was the film where Polanski and Tate's relationship started makes the whole goddamn film this.
  • Tate's character being turned into a vampire. Tate died from multiple stab wounds, and one of her killers allegedly licked Tate's blood off her fingers, declaring, "To taste death, yet to give life... Wow, what a trip!"
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In a dark way, Vienna being Alfred, the Professor, and Sarah's destination. Thirty years after the release of this movie, Vienna saw the world premiere of Tanz Der Vampire... aka The Fearless Vampire Killers: The Musical. The implication that Sarah and Alfred are going to spread vampirism gets even funnier with the current ending of Tanz, which takes place in a world where the vampires have taken over, including vamps walking into the house and biting the audience.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The Logo Joke in the original European release, involving Leo the Lion turning into a vampire as a drop of blood trickles down one of his fangs.
  • Count von Korlock attacking Sarah while she's helpless in the bathtub. The parallel to Real Life sexual assaults is obvious. This is not helped by Polanski's later conviction for child molestation.
• Special Effects Failure: When Hebert and Alfred sit on the bed together in front of a mirror, Alfred's movements clearly don't match the movements of his "reflection," which was obviously footage of Alfred recorded separately and displayed on the "mirror" while the actors played out the scene.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The three humans being the only ones reflected in a giant mirror in a ballroom full of vampires. Keep in mind this was decades before CGI was possible.

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