The Fearless Vampire Killers

Often described as a spoof, Polanski’s enchanting reworking of his favourite Hammer movies is, in fact, an encounter between horror and crazy comedy set in the world of fairytales. The film is an astounding cinematic tour de force that is funny, chilling and intensely lyrical at the same time and shows that the generally accepted wisdom that horror shall either be played straight or become a comedy, is false since both jokes and anxiety are rooted in the same soil of unconscious desires and combine to generate the sense of the uncanny. The resulting movie is one of the very few perfectly achieved examples of the uncanny, delicately poised between the familiar and weird.

Director Roman Polanski’s spoof of Hammer horror films boasts many strengths, including A-budget production values and gorgeous cinematography from future Oscar nominee Douglas Slocombe. But it lacks the one element essential to any comedy: Laughs.