Kiss of the vampire

Kiss of the vampire

Kiss of the vampire is a 1963 horror film that is based on the subvert genre of vampire Gothic horror. Its a horror film intended to be the new franchise to the 1958 film Dracula. Vampire films are linked to sex and romance generally. Back in the 1960's, vampires were related to horror and violence, while in recent times vampires are more related to sexual actions and thrillers (non scary). The use of a ‘painted’ main image is highly conventional of films of the period and links to the poster for Christopher Lee’s Dracula, but the fact that it’s in colour anchored by the text In Eastman Color connotes that this is a modern telling of an older story.

Suspense is created through the enigmas surrounding the connoted relationship between the male and female vampires emphasised by the “kiss” of the title and the fate of their two victims Barthes’ Hermeneutic Code. Barthes’ Semantic Code could be applied to images of the bats and their conventional association with vampirism and horror in general.

The 1960s is often seen as the start of women’s sexual liberation, aided by events such as the introduction of the contraceptive pill in 1960. More women than ever were entering the paid workforce and sixties feminists were campaigning for equal pay, an end to sexual harassment and more equality between men and women in wider society. In America, equal pay legislation was passed in 1963. ‘Older’ stereotypes of women as passive victims of men and more modern ‘male fears’ of women challenging male dominance could both be seen to be encoded in this film poster

Stuart Hall’s theory of representation – the images of a castle, bats, the vampire’s cape and dripping blood form part of the “shared conceptual road map” that give meaning to the “world” of the poster. The audience is actively encouraged to decode this familiar generic iconography. David Gauntlett’s theory of identity – perhaps the female vampire acts as a role model for women struggling against male oppression or desperate to be seen as the equals of men, whatever the narrative or environment.