Crypt of the Living Dead was filmed in colour, but my copy—part of a dirt-cheap Mill Creek box-set of vampire movies—was presented in black and white (despite the packaging stating otherwise); amazingly, the lack of colour might actually work in the film's favour, lending a touch of much needed Gothic atmosphere to an otherwise rather tedious tale of vampirism in a remote island community.The film sees archaeologist Chris Bolton (Andrew Prine) visiting the island to claim the body of his father, who was crushed to death under a stone sarcophagus while investigating an ancient burial site; when Chris attempts to lift the marble tomb, he accidentally releases 700-year-old vampire Hannah (Barbara Steele lookalike Teresa Gimpera) who begins to feed on the locals, aided in her task by a wild-man in a furry waistcoat and a member of the village who seeks immortality.Slow moving and devoid of action for much of the time, the film will definitely prove hard going for many, but director Julio Salvador achieves just about enough effectively haunting moments to make it a worthwhile watch for vampire movie completists: the local fishermen's hostility towards Chris's arrival on the island immediately provokes an unsettling 'Wicker Man' vibe; Hannah's ability to turn into a cloud of mist or a wolf makes her all the more menacing; and the finalé manages to pick up the pace a tad (albeit a little late, perhaps) providing a few reasonable chills in the process.4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.

"An archaeologist visits a remote island to bury his late father and, despite the warnings from the local people, opens the tomb of the vampire queen, buried over 700 years ago. This foolish act by the archaeologist and his reporter friend places the entire island in danger, including the local schoolteacher… With the schoolteacher in danger of being a sacrifice to the vampire queen, the duo sets out to stop the vampires, rescue the teacher, and destroy the vampire queen," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.Just so you know, the "schoolteacher" Patty Sheppard (Mary) is bad guy Mark Damon (Peter)'s sister. Andrew Prine (Chris) is the good guy. The film is atmospheric, and features an able cast - but, it takes an interminably long time for anything to happen. When it picks up, it isn't much. And, suddenly, after getting very long in the tooth, it flames out... How can a 1970s vampire film be so anemic? *** Hannah, Queen of the Vampires (6/73) Ray Danton, Julio Salvador ~ Andrew Prine, Mark Damon, Patty Sheppard

With a title like "Crypt Of The Living Dead" I guess I was expecting a little more in the way of zombie spectacle. Not that I'm particularly a fan of that type of genre, but you have certain expectations. What the picture lacks in horror and gore is suitably replaced by creepy atmosphere, which is probably the highlight of the film. In my case, the print I viewed was quite poor in sound quality; it was part of a twenty film DVD pack from Mill Creek Entertainment, and as one other viewer mentioned, the black and white format was certainly preferred for the subject matter. I actually learned more about the story from some of the other reviewers on this board than from watching the flick, but then again, I was able to pick up all the information I needed from a handful of scenes that moved the story along.OK, so Hannah (Teresa Gimpera) 1269 is a vampire looking none the worse for wear and fresh as a daisy from a seven hundred year long dirt nap. A little weak in the knees, her transformation into a werewolf is designed to buy time by feasting on other animals while gaining strength to do in some eventual humans. Not a bad concept, and actually quite sensible when you get right down to it. What really distracted me from the story was every single appearance of Andrew Prine on screen as Chris Bolton investigating his father's death. He looked like he could be the spitting image of a guy I knew about twenty years ago who's since passed away. That just added a certain intangible creepiness to the whole story for me.Anyway, you won't miss a whole lot if you pass on this one, but at the same time it's not the worst flick to while away a quick seventy five minutes. I'm still puzzled by the idea of a guy in a caveman get-up, but there's not enough there to get hung up about.

DVD title: Young Hannah, Queen of the Vampires. An archaeologist (Andrew Prine) visits Vampire Island to bury his father, who has died under mysterious circumstances. He ignores the warnings of a schoolteacher (Patty Shepard) and, prodded by an historical novelist (Mark Damon), he opens the tomb of the 13th-Century vampire Queen Hannah (Teresa Gimpera). This routine but decent little import benefits from a colorful Mediterranean location, good photography and an engagingly casual performance by the slumming Prine. Despite a tedious midsection and poor dubbing of minor roles, the film has a mildly distinctive flavor, like a failed Euro-Trash Count Yorga, Vampire (1970).Of the cast, Gimpera played the Crying Mother opposite Christopher Lee in Jesus Franco's El Conde Dracula/Count Dracula (1970), and Shepard (Spanish cinema's answer to horror star Barbara Steele) was Paul Naschy's co-star in the cult classic La Noche de Walpurgis/The Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman/Werewolf's Shadow (1971). Damon (House of Usher, 1960) had faced vampires before in Il Plenilunio delle Vergine/The Devil's Wedding Night (1973) and in Mario Bava's I Tre Volti delle Paura/Black Sabbath (1963). (Today a Hollywood producer, Damon faces a different kind of vampire.)Originally titled La Tumba de la Isla Maldita, the completed film (directed by Julio Salvador) was reworked for American release with new scenes shot by former actor Ray Danton, whose horror films as director include Deathmaster (1972) and Psychic Killer (1975).It is more interesting to learn about such films than to dismiss them out of hand.