There's a party going on over at Ferdy on Film, where Marilyn
Ferdinand is hosting The Invitation to the Dance
Blog-a-Thon. My contribution to the ongoing discussion of
tripping the light fantastic (cinematically) concerns one of my favorite
dance sequences of all time…but from a film you might not, even if
you've seen it, associate with happy feet.

Roman Polanski's
The Fearless Vampire Killers (or Pardon Me, but Your Teeth Are
in my Neck (1966) is a beautifully realized spoof of Gothic
horror movies (with Hammer's Kiss of the Vampire
being a likely inspiration), as well as one of the most eerily beautiful
films I've ever seen. I caught it on late night television when I
was a kid and it has haunted me ever since, cast a spell on me that has
never diminished with repeat viewings on screens big and small.

In the film,
Professor Abronsius (Jack MacGowran) and his assistant Alfred (Polanski
himself) arrive in a snow-capped Transylvania to study the origins of
vampirism and, more specifically, to destroy the king bloodsucker, Count
von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne). Billeted in a village inn, the vampire
hunters make the acquaintance of Sarah (Sharon Tate), the
innkeeper's daughter (on whom Alfred develops a mad romantic crush).
When Sarah is taken from her bath by a thirsting von Krolock, Abronsius
and Alfred head for the vampire's mountaintop castle. Unfortunately
for them…

…
Sarah's abduction coincides with a Vampire's Ball, in which all
of von Krolock's moldy ancestors are invited. From the castle
parapet, the Professor and Alfred watch in horror as the castle burial
ground belches up the shuffling corpses of the Undead… all of them
bound for the ballroom.

Worse
luck, it's a formal affair, with all the infernal region's boys
and ghouls dressed to the eyeteeth in their 18th Century finery.

After giving
Sarah an introduction to the collected members of his warty bloodline as
both the evening's guest of honor and its main course, Count von
Krolock leads the bloodsuckers in a dance.

As a kid, this
combination of ancient horror and precision terpsichore intimidated and
frightened me. I'd seen similar dances in historical dramas but they
were always stuffy and boring… this particular ball fascinated,
repulsed and frightened me.

I couldn't take my
eyes of the dancers or the beautiful woman in the red dress, wondering
when the monsters would drop the pretense of civility and fall on her
like a ravening horde. Happily, help is on the way…

Even though
they are probably the stupidest vampire hunters in horror history, I was
glad that Professor Abronsius and Alfred crashed this party. Clad in
stolen (dusty) duds and powdered wigs, they worm their way slowly
through the lines of revenent revelers…

… drawing closer and
closer to Sarah, near enough to whisper…

… that they will save her from what promises to be a terrible
fate.

Watching this scene is like staring into the workings of a
giant Swiss clock. It's dizzying to watch Abronsius and Alfred draw
closer to Sarah… only to have the line of dancers break off into a new
direction, spiral, intersect and put them into the arms of someone… or
something… else.

Eventually, though, The Professor
and Alfred get a hold of Sarah and, linking arms, waltz her towards the
exit…

… where, tragically, there hangs
a large mirror…

…in which vampires, of course,
do not cast a reflection… but humans, of course, do.

Gulp!

Want to know what happens
next? See The Fearless Vampire Killers and find out!
And in the meantime, hip-hop, skip and jump on over to Ferdy on Film and join The
Invitation to the Dance Movie Blog-a-Thon!