VAMPYRE

BRUCE HALLENBECK - Director

In 1983, he got into 16mm production with a project called CANNIBAL CHURCH; it never got finished, but enough was shot or an eight minute promotional reel that was taken to MIFED by Alexander Beck. It was deemed "too outrageous" and never got funded. Bruce rewrote the script and it was transformed into a more Hammeresque project called GRAVE'S END. He got his Hammer friends interested in it, and by 1985 it was announced in VARIETY as a British-American co-production starring Caroline Munro, Ralph Bates,
Michael Gothard, Bobbie Bresee and Russell Todd, to be directed by Jimmy Sangster. And the funding fell through. There was actually $400,000 in escrow for the production, but the investors (who were Greek) argued amongst themselves and pulled out.

The project was optioned by two other producers-William Paul and Brendan Faulkner-and fell through both times. Everyone loved the script, from special effects ace Ed French to Hammer alumnus Ralph Bates-but no one came through with the money. Feeling frustrated by dealing with so-called "big boys", he decided in late 1987 to mount his own production in 16mm. He got together with a local filmmaker named Antonio Panetta, who happened to own his own Arriflex camera. He wanted to make art films, and Bruce wanted to make horror films, so they compromised on a remake of Carl Dreyer's VAMPYR-an art house horror film.

The movie ended up being released by Panorama Entertainment in 1991 under the title of VAMPYRE. Recently it was re-released by E.I. INDEPENDENT CINEMA, who also released his tribute to Hammer films, FANGS

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