(imdb)BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE-1958-Transylvania 1874-Some yokels put a stake in a corpse. While burying the body a gravedigger is murdered. Then a limping guy with a deformed face gets a doctor to do a heart transplant on a dead man. When the doctor wants more money and threatens blackmail he's killed. Cut to Dr. Jean Pierre (Vincent Ball) convicted of malpractice and murder and sentenced to life in prison. He's sent to a hell hole led by the mysterious Callistratus. His cell mate Kurt (William Devlin) befriends him and tells him there's no escape. While they are working Pierre says a fallen man is too sick to work but when the boss passes by he gets up and starts working again. Later he meets Callistatus (Donald Wolfit), the dead man at the beginning. He puts Pierre to work in his lab, doing research on blood. The deformed killer is Callistatus' henchman Karl (Victor Maddern). It turns out the mad doctor had Pierre railroaded into his prison with help from a corrupt official. When Pierre's and Karl's escape plan fails, Callistatrus says Pierre was killed much to the sadness of Pierre's fiance Madeline (Barbara Shelly) who later goes undercover and poses as a housekeeper. They eventually find out Callistatrus's secret: he's a mad scientist trying to find a cure for a blood disease he acquired when he got a new heart! Karl turns on his master because he's sweet on Madeline and despite being shot several times helps bring down his nutty boss.
The producers of this overlooked little horror film really give it a Hammer vibe, even hiring Jimmy Sangster to write the screenplay (he'd also write the screenplays for HORROR OF DRACULA and REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN the same year). Henry Cass was the director.
(imdb)
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