Italian Vampire Cinema (1956–1975)

The chapter details the success of the Hammer Dracula (Terence Fisher, 1958) in late-1950s and early-1960s Italy, and explains why, where, by whom and with which commercial results a series of vampire films were made by Italian companies from 1959 to 1975, with the cooperation of European co-production partners and/or American investors. While revealing the imported and derivative nature of 1956-1975 Italian vampire cinema, the industrial analysis conducted in the chapter shows how local factors such as distribution-fed production, time- and cost-saving shooting practices, state censorship and state aids made the Italian vampire rip-offs into variations on the theme mixing foreign models with distinctively national traits rather than into slavish plagiarisms.