Vampire of Ferato

Juraj Herz’s filmography is rich with horror stories. But many of the director’s non-horror films also contain elements of fear and terror, for example Spalovač mrtvol (The Cremator, 1968), the romance Morgiana (Morgiana, 1972), the fairytales Deváté srdce (The Ninth Heart, 1978), Panna a netvor (The Virgin and the Monster, 1978) and the drama Pasáž (Passage, 1996). Furthermore, Upír z Feratu (The Vampire of Ferato, 1981) is more of a science-fiction film than a horror, founded around many irrational elements. The story is centred on the Ferat racing car, which runs on human blood. Based on the story Upír po dvaceti letech (A Vampire Twenty Years On) by author Josef Nesvadba (this author has provided the inspiration for many Czechoslovak films), director Herz and screenwriter Jan Fleischer adapted the work into an archetypal drama about the self-destructive nature of human obsession. Such themes have attracted Herz since his short film debut Sběrné surovosti (Cruelties of Life, 1965). The protagonist of The Vampire of Ferato is Mima Veberová, who satiates her love of high-speed driving via her job as an ambulance driver, racing with Doctor Marek to the scenes of countless accidents. But while at a racing rally, and on hire to foreign firm Ferat, Mima is changed by a meeting with an old acquaintance, trainer Kříž, and a former competitor, racer Luisa. While Mima falls under the spell of the winning bloodsucking vehicle, Doctor Marek tries to save her and unveil the nefarious goings-on at Ferat. This stylised film bubbles with a horror-like atmosphere in part thanks to cinematographer Richard Valenta and composer Petr Hapka – the two components fuse perfectly during the film’s racing scenes, and also during Marek’s horrific nightmares. The leading roles go to Jiří Menzel (Marek) and Dagmar Veškrnová (Mima), the latter having been cast by Herz in his previous Holky z porcelánu (Girls from a Porcelain Factory, 1974) and Holka na zabití (A Girl to Be Killed, 1975). Trainer Kříž is played by Petr Čepek, whose expressive acting style was previously in evidence in Herz’s Petrolejové lampy (Oil Lamps, 1971). The director himself has a small cameo in the film as a vampire in a silent film, reminding audiences that the car firm Ferat is a deliberate evocation of the horror classic Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922). Yet the real star of the film is the car itself, designed by Theodor Pištěk (also responsible for the film titles and costume design). The vehicle is an adaptation of the never-produced prototype Škoda Supersport 724.