History Film / TheFearlessVampireKillers

** Many historical figures -- some of them long dead -- seem to be among the dancing vampires at the ball. The limping, malformed [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_of_England Richard III]] is easily spotted; another vampire with a particularly impressive wig may be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV Louis XIV]].

** The grotesque family portraits lining the hall at von Krolock's castle are reminiscent of those in ''Film/HouseOfUsher'' (1960).

* MatzoFever: Alfred, for the beautiful, red-headed Jewess Sarah.

Sometime in the late 19th century, the eminent -- [[SmallNameBigEgo in his own mind, at least]] -- vampire expert Professor Abronsius (Jack [=MacGowran=]) and his bumbling young assistant Alfred (Polanski) arrive in the dead of winter at a small Transylvanian village, seeking to track down and kill a nest of vampires that they believe are lurking nearby. Stopping to rest at a local inn, they become convinced that they are on the right track, both by the presence of garlic adorning every available surface, and by the reluctance of the innkeeper Shagal (Alfie Bass) and the rest of the locals to discuss the whereabouts of the nearby castle.

* SnowySleighBells: Heard at the beginning of the film as Abronsius and Alfred arrive in Transylvania.

''The Fearless Vampire Killers, [[EitherOrTitle or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck]]'' -- universally known as ''Dance of the Vampires'' outside of the U.S. (except for Italy, where it's known as ''Per Favore, Non Mordermi Sul Collo'')[[note]]Please Don't Bite Me on the Neck[[/note]] -- is a 1967 HorrorComedy film directed by Creator/RomanPolanski (who also costarred and co-wrote the screenplay), which gives a good-natured ribbing to the vampire genre. It is today perhaps best known as the inspiration for ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire'', a ScreenToStageAdaptation which is very popular in Europe, as well as for being the film which introduced Polanski to his future wife, Creator/SharonTate.

* LogoJoke: Leo the Creator/{{MGM}} lion morphs into an animated [[LooksLikeOrlok Orlokian vampire]], whose fangs drip blood that trickles down through the scrolling credits.

* ShadowDiscretionShot: Subverted when we see the shadows of Abronsius and Alfred piercing a WoodenStake into the heart of a...pillow.

** The innkeeper and (presumably) his family are Jewish, and the artist Marc Chagall (pronounced as 'Shagal') was one of the more famous Jews in France, where Polanski had been based for most of his life after escaping Poland.

''The Fearless Vampire Killers, [[EitherOrTitle or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck]]'' -- universally known as ''Dance of the Vampires'' outside of the U.S. (except for Italy, where it's known as ''Per Favore, Non Mordermi Sul Collo'')[[note]]Please Don't Bite Me on the Neck[[/note]] -- is a 1967 HorrorComedy film directed by Creator/RomanPolanski (who also costarred and co-wrote the screenplay), which gives a good-natured ribbing to the vampire genre. It is today perhaps best known as the inspiration for ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire'', a ScreenToStageAdaptation which is extremely popular in Europe, as well as for being the film which introduced Polanski to his future wife, Creator/SharonTate.

* AdultFear: Shagal's reduced to begging when he realizes the Count's taken his daughter.
-->Your excellency...not ''her''. ''Please not her.''

''The Fearless Vampire Killers, [[EitherOrTitle or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck]]'' -- universally known as ''Dance of the Vampires'' outside of the U.S. except for Italy, where it's known as ''Per Favore, Non Mordermi Sul Collo''[[note]]Please Don't Bite Me on the Neck[[/note]] -- is a 1967 HorrorComedy film directed by Creator/RomanPolanski (who also costarred and co-wrote the screenplay), which gives a good-natured ribbing to the vampire genre. It is today perhaps best known as the inspiration for ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire'', a ScreenToStageAdaptation which is extremely popular in Europe, as well as for being the film which introduced Polanski to his future wife, Creator/SharonTate.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: When Hebert and Alfred sit on the bed together in front of a mirror, Alfred's movements clearly don't match the movements of his "reflection," which was obviously footage of Alfred recorded separately and displayed on the "mirror" while the actors played out the scene.

%%* AbhorrentAdmirer: Alfred sees Herbert, the Count's son, this way.

* BreakingAndBloodsucking: Von Krolock captures Sarah this way by coming in through the window roof of the bathroom she's in. As she's taking a bath and naked, she can't run leaving her in a perfect position for von Krolock to bite her.
%%* CensorSuds: When Alfred encounters Sarah in the bath.
%%* ClassicalMovieVampire: Count von Krolock.
%%* CobwebOfDisuse: The castle is full of these.

* TheDeadCanDance: Count von Krolock throws an elaborate ball for the previous generations of vampires. All of the vampires on the dance floor are expert in the courtly dances, and the two humans Professor Abronsius and Alfred stick out like sore thumbs when they attempt to infiltrate the dance due to their clumsiness.

%%* DistractedByTheSexy: A constant problem for Alfred.

%%* {{Fanservice}}: Sharon Tate in a bathtub. Yikes.
* FantasticReligiousWeirdness: Crucifixes ward off vampires ... but only Christian ones.
%%* FauxAffablyEvil: Count von Krolock.

%%* HauntedCastle: Practically ''de rigeur'', isn't it?

** ''Then'', Alfred is told to go through the castle and back outside so he can get Abronsius out that way. But halfway through he gets distracted by Sarah's singing and temporarily forgets about his task, only getting back after the professor has been ([[HarmlessFreezing harmlessly]]) frozen solid.
%%* HenpeckedHusband: Shagal.
%%* HeroesWantRedheads: Alfred and Sarah.
* HollywoodDarkness: The exterior scenes during full moon are clearly shot at daylight.

%%* IdiotHero: Abronsius and ''especially'' Alfred.
%%* TheIgor: Alfred is a rare heroic version.

%%* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Sarah.

* KarmicDeath: Koukol, who catches and kills a wolf early on, gets eaten by wolves at the end.

* LogoJoke: Leo the Creator/{{MGM}} lion morphs into an animated [[LooksLikeOrlok Orlokian vampire]], whose fangs drip blood that trickles down past the scrolling credits.

%%* LoveAtFirstSight: Alfred's reaction to Sarah, and Herbert's reaction to Alfred.
%%* MatzoFever: Alfred, for the beautiful red-headed Jewess Sarah.

* MuggedForDisguise: Professor Abronsius and Alfred take out two vampires, so they can [[DressingAsTheEnemy use their clothes and wigs to get closer to Sarah at the vampire ball]].

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Vampirized Shagal after realizing he had just killed Magda who was meant for the party guests.

* NotQuiteSavedEnough: At first it seems Alfred made it [[VampireRefugee in time to save Sarah from turning into a vampire]] which he unfortunately finds out too late at the end of the film.

* OutsideRide: When Professor Abronsius orders Alfred to follow Koukol, Alfred does so by clinging to the back of the sleigh. This works fine till the hunchback stops to deal with a wolf.
* ParasolOfPain: In the opening sequence, Alfred uses his umbrella to beat off the wolves which are attacking the sleigh.
* PlummetPerspective: Abronsius loses his hat while navigating ThePrecariousLedge at von Krolock's castle, and we see it fall the long way down.

* TheRenfield: von Krolock's hunchbacked servant Koukol, who is also TheSpeechless.

* ShadowDiscretionShot: Subverted when we see the shadows of Abronsius and Alfred piercing a WoodenStake into the heart of a ... pillow.

** Professor Abronsius' appearance resembles that of the Village Doctor in ''Film/{{Vampyr}}'' (1932).

** The innkeeper and his family (presumably) are Jewish, and the artist Marc Chagall (pronounced as 'Shagal') was one of the more famous Jews in France, where Polanski had been based for most of his life after escaping Poland.

* SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror

* ThroughTheCeilingStealthily: Count von Krolock slips in through through a skylight on the roof of the inn using some implied power, right into the bathroom where Sarah is bathing. Catching her off guard, only learning of his appearance due to the snow that falls down through the now-windowless hole, and powerless to stop him from biting her.
%%* {{Uberwald}}: Transylvania gets this treatment, natch.

%%* VampireBitesSuck

%%* VampireHunter: What does it say in the title?

%%* TheVirus: Vampirism.

%%* YiddishAsASecondLanguage: Shagal, the innkeeper.

As Professor Abronsius spends his days surreptitiously searching for clues, Alfred meets and falls head-over-heels for Shagal's beautiful daughter Sarah (Tate). He is not the only one who notices her, however, and soon the lord of the local vampire coven, the elegant Count von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne), abducts her to his castle. When Shagal attempts to keep the interlopers out of the matter and heads out alone to rescue his daughter, he is quickly turned into a vampire himself. It therefore falls to our two heroes to travel to Castle von Krolock, rescue the fair Sarah, and put the curse of the undead to rest once and for all.

''The Fearless Vampire Killers, [[EitherOrTitle or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck]]'' -- universally known as ''Dance of the Vampires'' outside of the U.S. except for Italy, where it's known as ''Per Favore, Non Mordermi Sul Collo''[[note]]Please Don't Bite Me on the Neck[[/note]] -- is a 1967 HorrorComedy film directed by Creator/RomanPolanski (who also costarred and co-wrote the screenplay), which gives a good-natured ribbing to the vampire genre. It is today perhaps best known as the inspiration for ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire'', a ScreenToStageAdaptation that is extremely popular in Europe, as well as for being the film which introduced Polanski to his future wife, Creator/SharonTate.

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_fearless_vampire_killers.png]]

Sometime in the 19th century, the eminent ([[SmallNameBigEgo in his own mind, at least]]) vampire expert Professor Abronsius (Jack [=MacGowran=]) and his bumbling young assistant Alfred (Polanski) arrive at a small Transylvanian village in the dead of winter, seeking to track down and kill a nest of vampires that they believe are lurking nearby. Stopping to rest at a local inn, they become convinced that they are on the right track, both by the presence of garlic adorning every available surface, and by the reluctance of the innkeeper Shagal (Alfie Bass) and the rest of the locals to discuss the whereabouts of the nearby castle.

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_fearless_vampire_killers_1967.jpeg]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_fearless_vampire_killers_1967.jpeg]]

''The Fearless Vampire Killers, [[EitherOrTitle or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck]]'' (universally known as ''Dance of the Vampires'' outside of the U.S. except for Italy, where it's known as ''Per Favore, Non Mordermi Sul Collo''[[labelnote:*]]Please Don't Bite Me on the Neck[[/labelnote]]) is a 1967 HorrorComedy film from director Creator/RomanPolanski (who also costarred and co-wrote the screenplay), which gives a good-natured ribbing to the vampire genre. It is today perhaps best known as the inspiration for ''Theatre/TanzDerVampire'', a ScreenToStageAdaptation that is extremely popular in Europe, as well as for being the film which introduced Polanski to his future wife, Creator/SharonTate.

As Professor Abronsius spends his days surreptitiously searching for clues, Alfred meets and falls head-over-heels for Shagal's beautiful daughter Sarah (Tate). He is not the only one who notices her, however, and soon the lord of the local vampire coven, the elegant Count von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne), abducts her to his castle. When Shagal attempts to keep the interlopers out of the matter and rescue his daughter himself, he is quickly turned into a vampire himself. It therefore falls to our two heroes to travel to Castle von Krolock, rescue the fair Sarah, and put the curse of the undead to rest once and for all.

** Many historical celebrities - some of them long dead - seem to be among the dancing vampires at the ball. The limping, malformed [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_of_England Richard III]] is easily spotted; another vampire with a particularly impressive wig may be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV Louis XIV]].

* ShiksaGoddess: Shagal for his blonde serving wench, though anything would be preferable to his wife.

* ImprovisedCross: Abronsius and Alfred manage to ward of the vampires with a cross made of overly long swords.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Alfred sees Herbert, the Count's son, this way.

* CensorSuds: When Alfred encounters Sarah in the bath.
* ClassicalMovieVampire: Count von Krolock.
* CobwebOfDisuse: The castle is full of these.

* DistractedByTheSexy: A constant problem for Alfred.

* {{Fanservice}}: Sharon Tate in a bathtub. Yikes.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Count von Krolock.

* HauntedCastle: Practically ''de rigeur'', isn't it?

* HenpeckedHusband: Shagal.
* HeroesWantRedheads: Alfred and Sarah.

* {{Idiot Hero}}es: Abronsius and ''especially'' Alfred.
* TheIgor: Alfred is a rare heroic version.

* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Sarah.

* LogoJoke / ArtisticTitle: Leo the Creator/{{MGM}} lion morphs into an animated [[LooksLikeOrlok Orlokian vampire]], whose fangs drip blood that trickles down past the scrolling credits.

* LoveAtFirstSight: Alfred's reaction to Sarah, and Herbert's reaction to Alfred.
* MatzoFever: Alfred, for the beautiful red-headed Jewess Sarah.

* {{Uberwald}}: Transylvania gets this treatment, natch.

* VampireBitesSuck

* VampireHunter: What does it say in the title?

* TheVirus: Vampirism.

* YiddishAsASecondLanguage: Shagal, the innkeeper.

-->'''von Krolock:''' So, you lost your way?
-->'''Abronsius:''' ''(as Alfred nods)'' No.