Kiss of the Vampire -C1 Flashcards
Who produced KOTV?
Produced by Hammer Film Productions
Who distributed KOTV?
distributed by J. Arthur Rank and Universal
What was KOTV intended to be?
intended to be the second sequel to 1958’s Dracula, although the script makes no reference to Stoker’s character perhaps to distance itself from comparisons to the superior Christopher Lee who starred in the original film
How do the producers and distributers have links with the horror genre?
Hammer had success with other monster movie franchises such as The Mummy and Frankenstein. Distributers Universal also saw success with films in this genre.
What key events happened in 1963?
1963 saw the early stages of Beatlemania and the swinging sixties, the assassination of JFK and the Soviet Union launching the first woman into space.
What year was KOTV released?
1963
Where was the film made?
Britain
What is Hammer Film Productions?
Hammer Film Productions is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934 by William Hinds and James Carreras the company is best known for a series of gothic horror films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s.
What is conventional about the main image in its portrayal of the horror genre?
- The use of a ‘painted’ main image is conventional of films of the period and genre
- it’s in colour (anchored by the text “In Eastman Color”) connotes that this is a modern telling of an older story.
-The grey, black and brown colour
palette reinforces the film’s dark, scary
conventionsand the red highlights the bats, the vampire and the blood
- Conventionally, the stars are listed with the
more highly paid male actors first and in order
of fame, Clifford Evans having starred in
Hammer’s Curse of the Werewolf. - The capitalised serif font of the title creates connotations linked to the vampire genre with its ‘wooden’ styling and the blood dripping from the letter V’s ‘fang.’
How can Roland Barthes’ semiotic theory be applied to KOTV?
- suspense is created through the enigmas of the male and female vampires and the fate of their two victims (Barthes’ Hermeneutic Code).
- Barthes’ Semantic Code could be applied to images of the bats and the moon and their conventional association with vampirism and horror in general.
How can Claude Lévi-Strauss’ Structuralism theory be seen in KOTV?
- vampires and their victims
- the romantic connotations of “kiss” opposed in the film’s title to the stereotypical “vampire” monster
- men and women
What happen in the 1960s that may have influenced how gender is represented in KOTV?
The 1960s is the start of women’s sexual liberation, aided by the introduction of the contraceptive pill in 1960. More women were entering the workforce and feminists were campaigning for equal pay, an end to sexual harassment and more equality between men and women in wider society.
What are the dress codes in the poster?
Both women wear pale dresses made of light materials that reinforce their femininity by highlighting their curves and reveal their skin. The male figures are dressed more sensibly and in a non sexual way.
How are gesture code used in KOTV?
The women is stereotypical of a passive victim and the vampire shows his strength as he holds her by one arm. However the vampire seems fearful in his gesture codes with his arm thrown across his body in a defensive gesture, perhaps protecting himself from the female vampire. She is dominant as bares her teeth and has her hand in a fist. The submissive pose of her male victim represent her in a non-stereotypically dominant way.
