- An intrepid reporter and his loyal friend battle a bizarre secret society of criminals known as The Vampires.
- As a spate of grisly murders and mysterious disappearances terrorise Paris, the inquisitive reporter for The Globe, Philippe Guérande, and his loyal ally, Oscar Mazamette, embark on a peril-laden mission to expose the Vampires: a nefarious, well-connected organisation of arch-criminals preying on the innocent. But in this white-knuckle cat-and-mouse game of death, the dauntless companions are up against formidable adversaries, the Grand Vampires, and the sinister underground society's murderous muse: the gracefully deadly assassin, Irma Vep. In the imminent, once-and-for-all final confrontation with the forces of evil, can valiant Philippe and Mazamette thwart the Vampire menace before more people have to suffer?—Nick Riganas
- [US release - 1916] Episode One: "The Detective's Head" The terrible crimes of a mysterious band of law-breakers nicknamed the Vampires have made all France fear these desperate men. No one has been able to discover who they are. A young reporter on Mondial, a newspaper, Philip Guard, has been receiving anonymous notes in a feminine handwriting. He is publishing what clues he has found when Detective Durtal's headless body is found at St. Clement. The officer had been sent there to follow a Vampire clue, and his death is a warning from the band. Philip Guard asks his paper to send him to St. Clement. Philip's mother tells him that near St. Clement lives an old friend of his father's, Dr. Nox. She fears for her son's life and makes him promise that he will seek Dr. Nox's protection. He does so, and meets there a Mrs. Simpson, an American woman, who is thinking of buying Dr. Nox's chateau. Philip is distressed the first night to find that a picture hides an empty space in the wall which could be used to conceal a bulky package. In the pocket of his dressing robe he also finds a message from the Vampires, warning not to seek further clues. The next morning Mrs. Simpson discovers that during the night she has been robbed of both jewels and money. Philip discovers that her jeweled cigarette case has been placed in his pocket. He hurries to the authorities with latest news of the Vampires, and is followed by Mrs. Simpson and Dr. Nox, who accuse him of the theft. His accusers are detained in a room at police headquarters while Philip returns to the chateau with the magistrate to investigate. In the hidden closet behind the picture is found a box containing the head of Detective Durtal. It had been put there only a few hours previous, for, when Philip discovered the place, it was empty. Philip returns with the magistrate to find that Mrs. Simpson left a note acknowledging that he was a Vampire, and that six months previously the band had murdered the real Dr. Nox. The newspaper reporter hurriedly returns to Paris, feeling the next developments will be in the city. The Vampires discover that Philip Guard is learning of their movements from Marfa Koutiloff, a Russian dancer. She discloses her identity to Philip, who hastens to meet her. At the same time, in her dressing room at the theater, she receives a visit from a friend, Baron Mortense. The Baron gives her a ring, accidentally scratching her with one of its sharp points as he places, it on her finger. He then goes to his box to watch her dance. Marfa attempts to dance, but falls dead on the stage. Philip, who has met Baron Mortense in the dancer's dressing room, immediately suspects him of being a Vampire. He does not wait to see what happens to Marfa, knowing that the Vampires have finished her. He follows her executioner, the man who is the grand Vampire. The band is too sharp for him. In turn he is followed and captured. The decree of the judge of the Vampires is that he is to be killed at dawn. The man left to guard Philip is Normandin, a Vampire working for the Mondial. He recalls how Philip has helped him and decides to liberate him. When the judge returns, Philip and Normandin bind him and cover his face. They then escape. It is their aim to capture as many of the band as possible. Under their leadership the police surround the cellar in which the execution is to take place. Before the Vampires can uncover the face of the bound and gagged man, they hear the police breaking in. As they make their escape through the underground passage, they determine that Philip shall not be rescued. They shoot the bound man, not knowing that it is their own comrade they are executing.—Moving Picture World synopsis
- [US release - 1916] Episode Two: "The Red Notebook" When Philip Guard and the police broke into the cellar where the Vampires had planned to execute him. The mysterious bandits fled through an underground passage. However, one of them dropped a red notebook which contained a mere jumble of letters. Guard, a wide-awake newspaper man, finally deciphered it, and from its pages learned many of the secrets of the Vampires. Upon finding that the book had come into the reporter's possession, the desperate men planned to get it back. A spy was set to watch him. but Philip escaped from his home unnoticed and made his way to a café in the slums where the band often met. At the café, Guard was surprised to find that a pretty woman who sang there, Irma Vep, appeared to be in league with the Vampires. The Grand Vampire, or as he was known, The Great Julot, soon led his followers into an inner, secret room. Here the reporter was unable to follow them. Returning home, he was overtaken by the breaking of day and knew that it would be hard to escape the spy. Fortunately, he remembered that the chimney in his room was very large, and down this he climbed to escape observation. No sooner was he in his room than a brick about which a note was tied came crashing down the chimney. It said: "A friend who knows the house is watched is waiting above for you to make a signal in the chimney, as he must pay you a short visit." Philip burned a newspaper in the fireplace as a signal. Soon Normandin crawled out of the chimney. Normandin warned Philip of the Vampires' scheme to do him harm and at the same time recover the red notebook. He gave Philip a fountain pen filled with a deadly poison, which he had stolen from the Grand Vampire. No sooner had Normandin disappeared up the chimney than a ring of the bell announced the arrival of Amie Goff, a new maid. Mrs. Guard found nothing unusual about her, but Philip, instinctively suspected the pretty young woman. He kept wondering where he had seen her flashing eyes before. When Amie had been observed by Philip trying to drug him, he knew that she was a Vampire. The girl thought that she had administered a sleeping potion. Word came for Mrs. Guard that her brother had been dangerously injured. Despite the lateness of the hour she set out to go to him. Philip was unable to accompany her, but he pressed upon her the poison pen which he had received from Normandin. Mrs. Guard had been tricked. Her brother had not been injured. She found herself in the clutches of the Vampires. A mute, Father Silence, was left to guard her and extort from her a letter to her son telling him to come to her. Mrs. Guard stabbed Father Silence with the poisoned pen, and made her escape from the den. She hastened home to find that Amie Goff had admitted a Vampire to search for the red notebook. Philip had shot him, as he thought, and then hurried for the police. Upon his return they ad vanished, and when his revolver was examined it was found that the Vampires had substituted blank cartridges for those which he had himself placed in the chambers. The Great Julot, the Vampire admitted by the maid, who was herself Irma Vep, hastened with the girl to the den of Father Silence in the hope of finding Mrs. Guard there. What they found was the dead body of their comrade. The Vampires swore a mighty oath to continue their efforts to kill Philip Guard.—Moving Picture World synopsis
- [US release - 1916] Episode Three: "The Ghost" As it was often convenient for the Grand Vampire to know various districts of the city as well as the real estate men of Paris, one of his disguises was as Mr. Trep, a real estate dealer. To his office one day came a man from Argentina desiring a bachelor apartment. He said that his mission was secret and that he wished an apartment with a safe in which he could leave important documents. Mr. Trep had just such an apartment. It was next to that of Irma Vep. He did not tell his visitor, Enrique Moreno, that the safe in the apartment he was renting him had a secret door from the other apartment. Whatever Moreno put in his strong box would be quite safe, for the Vampires to loot. The Vampires secured a position for Irma Vep in the Renoux-Duval Bank. They had learned that money was transferred often by messenger, and they knew that the clever girl would soon be in a position to give them valuable information. At length she gained the confidence of the bank. A message was sent by the president that if Mr. Metadier did not return to take a large sum from Paris to Rouen that the money should be entrusted to Irma Vep, known at the bank as Miss Juliet. The Vampires waylaid Metadier on a train and threw him out a window to his death. The way was now clear for Irma to get possession of the money to be sent to Rouen. The order from the banker was that she should go if Metadier did not appear at ten o'clock. The girl, having received word that the bank's confidential man had been put out of the way, was preparing for a trip a minute or two before ten when she was startled by seeing Metadier appear. He walked into the room just as was his custom and asked for the package for Rouen. Irma Vep had to stand there helpless while he went out with the money which the Vampires had already counted as their own. She could not understand. News of the disappearance of Metadier reached Philip Guard, the reporter of the Mondial, who was the implacable foe of the Vampires. Disguised as a telephone inspector he went to the bank to look over the employees. There he recognized Irma Vep. He traced her to the apartment next to that rented to Moreno. He saw her go in accompanied by the Grand Vampire, disguised as Mr. Trep. To the Grand Vampire Irma told the remarkable story of the appearance of Metadier after she had received assurances that he had been killed. They could not understand. Mr. Trep judged the time opportune to look into the safe of the new neighbor, and opened the secret door. Out fell the body of Metadier. How had he come there? The answer was easy. Moreno, himself a criminal preying upon the rich, had come upon the body beside the railway track. When he had read the note telling Metadier to take the money to Rouen, he immediately decided to disguise himself and apply at the bank for the package. So it was her next-door neighbor to whom Irma Vep had seen the money given which she had thought she would get for the Vampires. While gazing in astonishment at the body Philip Guard surprised them. The Vampires overpowered him, however, and left him for dead. Half an hour later he regained consciousness and telephoned the police. When they arrived they trapped Moreno, knowing that he must have something to do with the death of Metadier, since the safe in which the body had been concealed opened into his apartment. They accused him of murder and would not believe his explanation that he had found the dead body beside the railroad track. Only Philip believed his story, knowing that he was drawing closer to the Vampires.—Moving Picture World synopsis
- Basking in the glory of his latest success, Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine (1913), French director Louis Feuillade writes and directs his next crime serial film, composed of ten episodes. Episode 1: The Severed Head. Against the backdrop of his ongoing investigation on the nefarious, well-connected organisation of arch-criminals called the Vampires, the inquisitive reporter for The Globe, Philippe Guérande, finds himself in the majestic castle of Dr Nox, an old friend of his father. There, ominous threats, a gruesome finding, and a shocking revelation await the intrepid journalist. Episode 2: The Deadly Ring. With the sinister Grand Vampire still on the loose, dynamic Philippe Guérande ends up in the dark dungeon of an abandoned fort shortly after the assassination of a dear one. Facing certain death, the doomed reporter can only pray for a miracle. Episode 3: The Red Cryptogram. After the on-stage assassination of dancer Marfa Koutiloff, Philippe struggles to unlock the mysteries of the Grand Inquisitor's indecipherable cryptogram in his little red notebook. But, is he prepared for enlightenment and the terrible secrets within? Episode 4: The Spectre. To get her hands on 300,000 French francs, murderous Irma Vep assassinates an innocent. As the dangerous Grand Vampire is still on the loose under a new identity, the deceased's mysterious doppelgänger appears out of thin air, baffling Philippe and Mazamette. Who is the ghastly spectre? Episode 5: The Corpse's Escape. After cracking the knotty Moréno case, valiant Philippe finds himself in harm's way, as the ruthless Vampires won't rest until he is dead. But what happens if the corpse escapes? Episode 6: The Eyes That Mesmerize. Fifteen days have passed since the incident at Boulevard Maillot, and tenacious Moréno is still hunting for clues. As the dangerous opportunist uses his unparalleled hypnotic power to command an unsuspecting pawn, the Grand Vampire and his gracefully deadly assassin Irma are about to get a taste of their own medicine. Episode 7: Satanas. With formidable Irma Vep still enslaved by ruthless Moréno's hypnotic gaze and an American millionaire in grave danger, Philippe and Mazamette set a trap for the audacious bandit, hoping for the best. Episode 8: The Lord of Thunder. With the Vampires' fearsome killer Irma sentenced to life imprisonment, the restless forces of evil guarantee a devastating counterstrike. As Philippe and Mazamette search for clues in their little red notebook, an unexpected ally comes to the rescue. But can he face the wrath of the Thunder Lord? Episode 9: The Poison Man. Bent on eliminating the annoying duo once and for all, Vénénos, the new Grand Master of the Vampires, infiltrates Philippe's engagement party. Now, innocents have to suffer. Will Philippe and Mazamette live to fight another day? Episode 10: The Bloody Wedding. With the threat of the Vampires still looming over them, Philippe and Mazamette brace themselves for the imminent, once-and-for-all final confrontation with the forces of evil. As the intrepid duo is on the trail of a superstitious widow, time is running out for pitiless Irma and her wicked lover Vénénos. --- Nick Riganas ---
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