Professor Abronsius of the University of Konigsberg and his dim-witted apprentice Alfred are wandering around Transylvania at the end of the 19th century trying to capture vampires. The hunt, which takes place on the frozen landscapes of Eastern Europe, brings them to a remote village overshadowed by the gothic castle of Count von Krolock. They stay in the inn of Yona Shagal. Now that the scientists have found the bloodsucker they’ve been looking for, the question is just how to rescue the innkeeper’s beautiful daughter Sarah from the Count’s teeth. Polanski presents an agile and macabre horror comedy, which in many ways was ahead of its times. Some of the film critics at the time were too stodgy to understand the personal nuances flowing from Polanski’s oeuvre, and not all appreciated the stylistic qualities cast by talented cinematographer Douglas Slocombe into the seemingly ordinary tale.
