The Last Vampyre

source: The Last Vampyre

In the early 1990s, ITV had a * for two hour murder mystery films. It was all down to the success of the Inspector Morse mysteries. They even bought Van der Valk back as a series of two hour movies. The trouble with the feature length Sherlock Holmes films. Most of them are based on short stories and the producers conceded it that it was not easy to expand them into the one hour length. It is a different matter with the longer Holmes novels such as The Sign of Four. In The Last Vampyre, I first thought it was all about Holmes. Jeremy Brett looked ghostly pale in this. It is clear that even if he was over his mental health issues, his physical health was not good at all as he suffered from heart disease. Brett's matinee idol looks had gone and I think Brett had no spirit left to fight Granada from shifting so much away from the Conan Doyle's stories. Loosely based on the The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire. Holmes and Watson are called in by a vicar to investigate the death of a baby. The vicar thinks it is linked to a mysterious newcomer to the village, Stockton (Roy Marsden.) Stockton has hypnotic powers, he stays up all night, he is descended from a family of vampires and he can bewitch the ladies. Stockton had touched the baby's hand before it had died. Of course all this could be superstitious nonsense based on just coincidences. The trouble here, Holmes does little to investigate. Frankly the script has given the character little to get his teeth into. Holmes and Watson are just observers in a nonsense script where little happens. There seems to be some stuff from South America thrown is to give the episode some exoticism and allows a few characters to be racist. I hesitate to blame the regular producers and writer Jeremy Paul for this mess. The ITV network demanded an all star feature length movie. The producers had to throw away the regular one hour scripts they had and Jeremy Paul had three weeks to write this. He obviously did not succeed.

This is one of those late Jeremy Brett Sherlocks in which the actor's nostrils almost seem to emit smoke and fire! Looking quite puffy and ill (he was near his actual death), he was demonstrably over the top in a role he should have abandoned years before, if only for his own health. And I say this as someone who thinks he was the greatest Sherlock ever! Yes, even greater than Basil R. The story, loosely based on a much more modest Conan Doyle original (The Sussex Vampire) is also over the top with everyone chewing the (fine) scenery amid extreme histrionics and buckets of fake blood. Roy Marsden, famous for playing P.D. James' detective Adam Dalgliesh, also emotes with his own "mad scenes" as the title character but Edward Hardwicke as Dr. Watson manages to keep his dignity unlike most of the others. If you are a fan of the series, I recommend you see this (unnecessarily endless) episode only at your peril.

A stranger with piercing eyes moves into a small village and bad things begin to happen. A child dies. A dog is paralyzed. Young women show up with two small bloody marks on their necks. Holmes and Watson are call in, and it all gets very confusing. It hasn't got anything to do with Conan-Doyle's "The Sussex Vampire." It looks instead like an attempt to make a traditional horror film with settings like foggy graveyard, bare ruined estates, a mysterious tree, a crippled boy, a stake through the heart of a staring corpse. Holmes seems to suffer an hallucination while the stranger with the exopthalmia cackles like a maniac a few feet away. The stranger has learned the power to cloud men's minds, and women's too, from time he spent investigating mysteries of the Peruvian Indians. Something like that. There seems to be an infinite number of subplots involving mothers and maids. It's a hash. You can find some quietly amusing nuggets in it. Holmes is at his desk, fiddling around with chemical junk, test tubes, and a bunsen burner and has asked Watson to read him any interesting items in the morning paper. "There is a new trend in women's headgear," reads Watson, and something goes poof and a small cloud rises at Holmes' desk, followed by an instant cut. The location shooting was as good as the best of any of the episodes and the acting isn't bad, except for Jeremy Brett's somewhat swollen features, a result of both age and the congestive heart failure from which he was suffering. I just don't know why it was made.

This fourth Sherlock Holmes film from Granada is a loose adaptation of the short story titled "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire." Although the plot seems erratic at times and is difficult to follow, it still manages to hold your attention. In this story, Conan Doyle reveals his fascination with the occult as well a social commentary on how public and mass hysteria can create the illusion of something supernatural, when in fact it is something normal and natural - and easily explained. The production values are first class and the music by Patrick Gowers is dark and beautiful. The supporting cast is strong with Roy Marsden as Stockton. Jeremy Brett is still solid as Sherlock Holmes (even with his ongoing illness) and Edward Hardwicke makes an equally solid Watson. The film is overwrought but not the worst in the series either.

I am a true fan of Mr. Holmes and the sublime Mr. Brett and have read the entire "Canon" a few times. Although this is barely based on the original story "The Case of the Sussex Vampyre"it does have one very redeeming quality and that is a superb performance by a truly underrated actor ,Roy Marsden. I love Roy as Adam Dalgliesh in the PJ James series and think he was not only brilliant as this title character but gave an aura of sex to the part that is missing in the original story. You have to really watch this a few times to get the essence of the plot but after you do you might share my feeling about Roy Marsden.....he can bite my neck any time.

The Last Vampyre starts with a prologue set in times past where a group of villagers burn a house down belonging to someone they believe is a vampyre. Fastforward 100 odd years later & Reverend Augustus Merridew (Maurice Denham) contacts legendary detective Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) & his assistant Dr. Watson (Edward Hardwicke) about the mysterious goings on in the village of Lambery since a stranger named John Stockton (Roy Marsden) arrived. The local villagers believe Stockton is a vampyre, Carter (Andrew Abrahams) the Blacksmith gorily died shortly after having an argument with Stockton, Miss Ruddock (Hilary Mason) an old spinster who lives opposite Stockton claims he never sleeps & the Reverend himself has seen Stockton prowl the church graveyard many times during the dead of night. At first Holmes seems uninterested but the Reverend goes onto say that Recardo (Anthony Price) the baby of Bob (Keith Barron) & Carlotta Ferguson (Yolanda Vazquez) died shortly after coming into contact with Stockton & that a unexplained plague is spreading through the village. Holmes accepts the case & faces superstitious locals & growing evidence that something supernatural may indeed be going on particularly after the Ferguson's maid Dolores (Juliet Aubrey) is found with two puncture wounds on her neck... This made-for-TV English, American co-production was directed by Tim Sullivan & a fine adaptation it is too. I will openly admit now that I have not read the short story 'The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire' by Arthur Conan Doyle on which The Last Vampyre is based upon so I simply cannot compare the two, sorry. The script by Jeremy Paul is nice & involving as it draws you into the mystery but I was surprised that for the most part it doesn't centre on a murder. In fact Holmes states early on that no crime has been committed but accepts the case out of curiosity & it's mysterious elements. Once I got over that fact I became interested & engaged in the story which gripped me throughout as I really wanted to see where it was going. The character's are strong with plenty of mistrust, arguments, affairs & friendships & I liked where the story went as it built up to a pretty decent double twist ending as all is revealed. I have too say I didn't guess the outcome & bizarrely I couldn't stop thinking about the cool scene near beginning when Dolores the maid tries to make her boss's son Jack (Richard Dempsey) kiss her boots & what significance it had, or indeed will have, to the plot although to be fair the scene does have meaning in the context of the film, it's just a brief scene for some reason I couldn't stop thinking about whenever the character's reappeared on screen. Technically The Last Vampyre is very solid, while the budget probably wasn't huge the production is suitably impressive although there are still villages that look like the one in this in the UK even now, the props & settings are not too extravagant or detailed which gives it a certain bleak minimalist look & the costumes look & feel right. The acting is impressive from a good cast & I'm warming to Brett as Holmes having also seen his portrayal of the character in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1988) made a few years prior to this. Despite the fact that there is no murder for Holmes to investigate the other mystery elements of the story managed to grab & maintain my interest right through to the very satisfying climax where all is revealed. I think this is a must for Holmes & mystery fans alike & definitely worth a watch for more casual viewers as well, recommended.

I echo the earlier comments that we hard-core Holmes fans should welcome new stories, or pastiches, when well-done and in keeping with the spirit of Holmes and Doyle. This effort is a perfect example of why we should accept some departures or "new," non-canonical material and not just criticize by reflex. I also had a bit of trouble following the first viewing, mostly due to some interrupting phone calls, but for the second session I pulled the phone plug and it all made sense. Not a clear, straightforward plot as Doyle always gave us, but easy enough to follow if not distracted -- and definitely worth the effort. I believe Doyle would have wholeheartedly approved, especially since his tale of the "Sussex Vampire" was arguably the lamest of all the canon. This is what Doyle COULD, and SHOULD, have done with the vampire theme. I also draw the line at ludicrous time-jumps (like Rathbone's Nazi adventures), and I do not want to see Holmes fighting space-aliens, but offerings that are scrupulously true to Holmes' character and times are most welcome -- especially when this finely crafted and well-acted.

Don't get me wrong; Jeremy Brett and David Burke do their normal first rate acting jobs, the horribly written screenplay and plot give them a poor vehicle for their skills. Most of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories in the Granada series hold true to the original. Sure maybe some of the dramatizations are over the top, still they stick to Sir Doyle's original story and allow Brett and Burke to give flesh to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Unfortunately the last vampyre (left lower case on purpose) was written so poorly with TV type scenes and situations that even Basil Rathbone would have been embarrassed to play Sherlock in. He__, even Huckleberry Hound would have been embarrassed. Preserve the image of Brett and Burke doing an incredible job of bringing Holmes and Watson to life; do not watch this episode.

I haven't read the story in a long time, but I do remember it being better and a little more interesting, even if I preferred other Sherlock Holmes stories. This adaptation while not absolutely awful was a disappointment. Starting with the good things the visual detail is excellent as always and the production values are top-notch. The music is beautiful and haunting, and the acting is not too bad, it's been better but it was certainly one of the better assets of this mystery. Jeremy Brett does look ill here, but he is solid as Holmes, while Edward Hardwicke is a dignified Watson and Roy Marsden is decent in his role. However, the direction is a little too stodgy, but I have to say the biggest let downs were in how the story was told, the pacing and the script. The pacing is very pedestrian here, consequently the story is quite uninteresting and dull, while the final solution didn't do anything for me as it was too predictable. The writing was disappointing too, it was quite turgid and clumsy, with occasional flashes of intelligence and sophistication. Overall, watchable but disappointing. It is worth watching for the production values and the acting, but the story and writing could have been much more. 5/10 Bethany Cox