Cuadecuc Vampir

Streaming video - 1970

A major figure of Spanish cinema, Pere Portabella's contributions have included a variety of roles (such as convincing Buñuel to return to Spain and shoot Viridiana, which he co-produced), but most importantly as the director of a number of films from the 1960s and 1970s that blend experimental filmmaking with documentary and fiction. Filmed on the set of Jess Franco’s 1970 cult film Count Dracula starring Christopher Lee, Portabella’s Vampir-Cuadecuc mixes making-of footage with an investigation of the figure of the vampire. Both playful and deadly serious, with high-contrast black-and-white cinematography and an electronic soundtrack, the film asks us to consider the undead as a stand-in for both General Franco, the bloodthirsty... avatar of a fascism that won’t die, and cinema, the art that reanimates the dead. *"...so distinctly worth seeing as to be almost mandatory." - Roger Greenspun, **The New York Times*** more