Also released under the title of Cemetery Girls, The Velvet Vampire is a 1971 cult horror classic being given new life thanks to those fine folks at Cheezy Flicks, who've repackaged the 80-minute film and are releasing it on DVD for the rather ridiculously low price of $4.99 on their website.

The film centers around Lee Ritter (Michael Blodgett) and his wife, Susan (Sherry Miles), who accept the invitation of a mysterious vixen (Celeste Yarnall) to visit her secluded desert estate. Tensions arise when our vixen's vampiric seductions are resisted and she ends up killing one and hunting down the other.

While the film was originally rated R, by today's standards it's a remarkably tame film with the exception of the nudity of Yarnall, which also happens to be one of the few reasons to actually see the rather bland and timid film. While Michael Blodgett gives a decent performance, both Miles and Yarnall are generally lacking other than in the area of T&A.

The film was directed by Corman protege' Stephanie Rothman, though the film on the whole doesn't really distinguish itself from other similar films from the same period. Camera work from Daniel Lacambre is quite good, giving the film a look that the rest of the film never really lives up to.

© Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic