Your Pre-Halloween Hammer Treat Tonight: “Kiss of the Vampire” (and the “Drac Dynasty” Sequel!)

We wanted to bring you a nice treat as we head towards Halloween- and I think we found the perfect creepy confection- from the Hammer Halls of horror, "Kiss of the Vampire"!

We meet a mysterious top-hatted figure (no, not me!) who is revealed to be an enemy of the legendary trace of vampires; and a young couple who run out of gas with their new-fangled automobile  in a remote European forest. They are pretty well forced to take up residence at a nearby inn- which seems to be pretty well devoid of any tenants! Why is it that "nobody comes here anymore"?

Their visit seems to have been noticed by a local aristocrat, who invites them to dinner at his chateau- where he introduces some of his family members- and a strange spell stuns the young bride. While the aristocrat, Dr. Ravna, says he will arrange to have some petrol shipped in to help the young couple get back on their way- a whole other agenda seems to be in action- with the bride being targeted as a new recruit for a cult of vampires! Can the young couple trust the top-hatted mystery man to escape the supernatural menace?

As always, this 1963 Hammer film is colorful, well-acted- and yet another attempt by Hammer to do a vampire film without Dracula- Christopher Lee! We'll introduce you to prominent cast members, and- we have a couple special Sven bits for you- first of all, another edition of the "Drac Dynasty" segment that proved to be so popular in our last show; and- if you've seen that weird commercial for "Perfect Polly" the fake parakeet pet- we've got a take on that, too!

"Kiss of the Vampire" puckers up at 10 pm eastern and pacific, 9 pm central, and check local listings for when it airs near you. In Chicago, you can see "Curse of the Undead" -with that first "Drac Dynasty" bit- at 11 am on WCIU, the U.

Don't forget, if you're near Elgin , IL, tonight- we'll brave the zombie hordes to enter the safe zone of the "Nightmare on Chicago Street" to sign autographs and pose for photos with you- and appear on stage for the big costume contest (wear your best costume and enter- you could end up on stage with me!) All the details are under the "appearance" tab on this site- and keep checking back- next week should include a late night radio visit with Nick Digilio on WGN, and  Halloween morning includes a visit to our own "You and Me This Morning" show on WCIU- AND-later that morning- another WGN radio visit with my friends Bill and Wendy- in the showcase studio on Michigan avenue- so you can come by and see us! We'll post exact details soon!