VAMPIRE MOTH is a little known black and white horror film made by Toho Studios in 1956. The film it most reminded me of was of the British B-flick COVER GIRL KILLER which came a few years later; the story, about lovely young actresses at a risqué cabaret show being staked by a disguised killer, is almost exactly the same. so I wonder if the makers of the Harry H. Corbett film saw this one before hand.
In any case, VAMPIRE MOTH is an interesting watch. Given the subject matter it's a lot more classy and professional than you'd expect, with a sheen of quality to give it an A-list look. The setting of postwar realism is a good one and the characters are well drawn and nuanced, as you'd expect from a Japanese film made in the 1950s.
There's not a great deal of action here, aside from an exciting shoot-out at the climax, but there's plenty of suspense inherent in the storyline. Scenes of the black clad figure, horribly masked, stalking his prey, foreshadow the later clichés of the krimi and giallo genres equally. There's no real gore here, but there are some memorably grotesque and macabre interludes, as well as snippets of nudity that would have been extremely daring for the era.
In any case, VAMPIRE MOTH is an interesting watch. Given the subject matter it's a lot more classy and professional than you'd expect, with a sheen of quality to give it an A-list look. The setting of postwar realism is a good one and the characters are well drawn and nuanced, as you'd expect from a Japanese film made in the 1950s.
There's not a great deal of action here, aside from an exciting shoot-out at the climax, but there's plenty of suspense inherent in the storyline. Scenes of the black clad figure, horribly masked, stalking his prey, foreshadow the later clichés of the krimi and giallo genres equally. There's no real gore here, but there are some memorably grotesque and macabre interludes, as well as snippets of nudity that would have been extremely daring for the era.
