Les Vampires (1915) is a 10-part silent film serial. It was written and directed by Louis Feuillade and stars Musidora as "Irma Vep" a femme fatale whose name is a suspicious anagram of "vampire." The serial is set in Paris, France and follows the exploits of a gang of master criminals who call themselves "Les Vampires."

There are 10 episodes, averaging around 40 minutes each, totalling about 6 and a half hours.

Olivier Assayas 1996 movie Irma Vep, with a story line of a director's attempt to remake Les Vampires, is both an homage to the innovative nature of the original film and a critique of the then current state of French cinema.

Chapters

1. La tête coupée (The Severed Head) 33 min. Released on 13 November 1915.
2. La bague qui tue (The Killer Ring) 15 min. Released on 13 November 1915.
3. Le cryptogramme rouge (The Red Cypher) 42 min. Released on 4 December 1915.
4. Le spectre (The Ghost) 32 min. Released on 7 January 1916.
5. L'évassion du mort (The Escaping Dead Man) 37 min. Released on 28 January 1916.
6. Les yeux qui fascinent (The Hypnotic Gaze) 58 min. Released on 24 March 1916.
7. Satanas (Satanas) 46 min. Released on 15 April 1916.
8. Le maître de la foundre (The Thunder Lord) 55 min. Released on 12 May 1916.
9. L'homme des poisons (The Poisoner) 53 min. Released on 2 June 1916.
10. Les noces sanglantes (Bloody Wedding) 60 min. Released on 30 June 1916

Release

In November 1915, the walls of Paris were plastered with street posters that depicted three masked faces with a question mark as a noose, and the questions "who, what, when, where?". The morning newspapers printed the following poem:

Of the moonless nights they are kings,

darkness is their kingdom.

Carrying death and sowing terror

the dark Vampires fly,

with great suede wings,

ready not only to do evil... but to do even worseErner Faulstich: Cien Años de Cine 1895-1924, Siglo XXI, México 2006

Cast

• Édouard Mathé - Philippe Guérande
• Marcel Lévesque - Oscar Mazamette
• Musidora - Irma Vep
• Jean Aymé - Le Grand Vampire
• Fernand Herrmann - Juan-José Moréno
• Stacia Napierkowska - Marfa Koutiloff
• Renée Carl - L'Andalouse

DVD Releases

The film is distributed in the United States in the DVD format by Image Entertainment on two disks. In France, Gaumont has released a special restored edition in 4 disks. Artificial Eye in the UK has used this restoration for their release on three disks, which includes several Feuillade shorts.

See also

• Fantômas
• Judex
• Apache (gang)