everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A group of oddball horror buffs involved in organizing a horror convention discover that eccentric and enigmatic guest Malakai (robustly played with plummy eye-rolling aplomb by Jerry Walter) is a real-life vampire.Director John Stanley displays a winningly sincere affection for classic old fright fare (there are loving references to everything from Bela Lugosi to "The Thing from Another World"), keeps the clever and entertaining story moving along at a steady pace, presents a colorful and interesting depiction of the 1970's California horror scene, and delivers several cool bits of gore. Moreover, the witty script by Stanley and Kenn Davis not only offers a crafty and novel spin on the standard vampire premise (for example, the Van Helsing figure in this movie turns out to be a Jewish Nazi hunter known as the Avenger), but also possesses a knowing self-aware sensibility that prefigures "Scream" by twenty years. Granted, the acting by the bulk of the cast shows more raw enthusiasm than actual ability, but the quirky characters are nonetheless still likable -- flaky comic book aficionado Gary in particular is an absolute hoot throughout! -- and have a fierce camaraderie with each other that one can't help but admire. Kerwin Matthews has a small part as a swashbuckler at the very start of the picture while unsung hambone thespian Hy Pyke attacks his juicy role as creepy lackey Harris with his customary delightfully theatrical panache. An extremely fun fright flick.

I find the above, or below review, depending on where they place this, of not much use. I actually am a horror fan, and I did feel this movie was made for me. This is a bad movie written and directed by horror movie host John Stanley. Of course, probably over 90% of the horror movies I've enjoyed throughout the years are bad movies. If you're not real fan of the genre or just enjoy finding an oddball offbeat piece of crap to watch once in a while, you'll hate this. It's not made for you, anyway. Move on. But pointing out the obvious that this is a bad film seems like standing outside a burning building long after the fire department has arrived and yelling fire. This bad movie is plenty good in my estimation and worth a look from any real horror fan.

This is a quaint cultural artifact of the early '70s. It's an independent film, made by people who loved horror films but weren't able to actually make a scary or terribly involving movie. There are endless references to horror film icons and fandom which are nice but unless you have fond memories of Count Yorga, this movie is bound to disappoint... Because it's on about that level.The San Francisco locations (A murder at Lincoln Park golf course, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the BG - The Kerwin Mathews film-within-a-film was shot at a WWII gun emplacement in the Presidio - The theater where most of the action occurs was actually in Oakland)are nice and I have happy memories of Bob Wilkins, the San Francisco TV horror host on whom a character in the film is based. Beyond that, the film is slow, the characters are thin and the plot is weak.The protagonists, who are involved in putting on a Horror Convention at a San Francisco movie palace, include a horror novelist, a Sherlock Holmes buff and a mystical hippie comic-book guru (No, really, he wears a Jesus robe and goes on about the "comic ethos".) The villains are a horror film star named Makakai, who plays vampires and "lives" his role off-screen, and his pair of PR men, who are actually Burke and Hare, the 19th century body-snatchers. Oh, and Malakai is a real vampire - Not much of a spoiler there.The acting is good and, while it looks pretty dark on my TV, the film is technically well done... But, the writing is weak and despite a bit of gore, it never manages to be remotely scary.

This is dull, dull as hell. I can't say there is a single thing to recommend it. Is this supposed to aimed at horror fans? Count me out. Films like this give films a bad name.