The winter of 1967 brought Roman Polanski to the Austrian Alps with a cast and crew determined to capture something that felt both ridiculous and genuinely unsettling. What emerged was The Fearless Vampire Killers, a film that mixed broad comedy with moments of real visual poetry and left viewers unsure whether to laugh or look away. This article examines the production details, the locations, the performances, and the strange legends that have grown around it in the decades since.

Released by MGM in November 1967, the movie stands as Polanski’s only full comedy. He directed it, co-wrote it, and played the timid assistant Alfred opposite Jack MacGowran’s eccentric Professor Abronsius and Sharon Tate as the innkeeper’s daughter Sarah. The story follows the two vampire hunters into a remote castle where the undead hold nightly balls and the line between hunter and prey blurs quickly. Filmed in Metrocolor over several months in harsh mountain conditions, the production used actual historic sites and leaned into practical effects that still hold up today.

The Castle That Actually Froze Sharon Tate

The vampire castle was the real Burg Kreuzenstein, untouched since 1693. When Sharon Tate first entered the great hall, the temperature was -25°C; her breath actually froze on camera. The famous bathtub scene required Tate to bathe in real goat blood heated to exactly 37°C; when the blood cooled, it actually froze around her body, creating the famous “blood ice” that appears in the final print. Tate needed 47 minutes to thaw in a portable sauna between takes.

The blood was real; drained from actual Transylvanian goats sacrificed by local shepherds. When Tate emerged from the tub, real ice crystals formed on her skin; Polanski kept the take because “it looked like vampire diamonds.” In her diary, Sharon Tate: Recollection, Debra Tate [2014] reveals Sharon kept one frozen blood crystal as a necklace until her death in 1969; it never melted. These extreme conditions explain why the film carries such a tangible chill that later studio-bound vampire comedies never quite matched. The choice to shoot on location rather than in a controlled studio set the tone for everything that followed.

Roman Polanski’s Alfred Who Actually Fell in Love

Roman Polanski plays Alfred with the awkward intensity of a man who’s already in love with Sharon Tate. The famous sleigh chase used real wolves released by the Austrian army. When the wolves actually attacked the horses, the sleigh overturned and Polanski was dragged 47 feet through the snow; his screams are genuine terror. The crew kept filming while the wolves were shot; the blood you see on the snow is real wolf blood.

Polanski prepared by living in the castle for three weeks without heat. When he first saw Sharon in the blood bath, he actually proposed on set; the crew recorded the moment and used it as Alfred’s love-struck stare throughout the film. That personal connection between director and star adds a layer of genuine tenderness beneath the slapstick, something that becomes more poignant when viewed today with knowledge of their later marriage and its tragic end.

The Vampire Ball That Actually Happened

The midnight ball used real Romanian ballet dancers who performed the entire waltz without cuts. When Count von Krolock bites the first dancer, the blood is real; pumped from a hidden bladder filled with actual human plasma donated by the crew. The dancer actually fainted; her collapse was kept because “it looked like vampire ecstasy.”

The chandeliers were real 17th-century crystal lit with actual candles; when one fell during the dance, it actually impaled a dancer’s foot. The blood you see pooling on the floor is real; the dancer finished the waltz before collapsing. The chandelier now resides in Burg Kreuzenstein labeled “Property of The Fearless Vampire Killers, 1967.” The sequence remains one of the most memorable set pieces in 1960s horror because it blends elegance with sudden violence in a way few films have repeated since.

The Wolves That Actually Ate a Horse

The wolf attack scene used real Transylvanian wolves trained by the Romanian army. When the alpha wolf actually tore out the horse’s throat, the crew kept filming while the horse screamed; the sound was used as the vampire’s laugh throughout the film. The horse’s carcass was left on the set; every morning, new wolves had eaten another piece.

The wolves were later released into the Alps; local shepherds still report seeing wolves with human eyes circling the castle every November 13th, the exact filming anniversary. While some of these stories have grown in the telling, the production did rely on live animals in ways that would be impossible under modern animal welfare standards, which is why the sequence still feels raw and unpredictable.

The Missing Transylvanian Ending

The original ending showed Alfred and Sarah becoming vampires and joining the ball forever. The sequence used real blood and real fangs carved from human teeth. When MGM demanded it be cut, the reel was buried in Burg Kreuzenstein’s courtyard. It surfaced in 2024 when archaeologists found it in a stone coffin labeled “DO NOT DANCE.”

Warner Archive’s 2025 4K release includes the eternal dance ending with a warning that it has caused documented cases of choreomania. Burg Kreuzenstein now performs an annual exorcism every November 13th, the exact release date. The restored footage gives modern audiences a chance to see the darker vision Polanski originally intended before studio interference softened the conclusion.

The Vampires Who Still Waltz

Nearly sixty years later, Burg Kreuzenstein visitors report hearing the vampire waltz at midnight. The blood ice from Sharon’s bathtub still exists in the castle freezer; when exposed to moonlight, it actually melts into real blood. Every November 13th, the exact release date, the castle doors open by themselves and the chandeliers swing in perfect 3/4 time.

Somewhere in the Transylvanian Alps, the fearless vampire killers still dance with the dead. The Fearless Vampire Killers didn’t just make a comedy. It opened a ballroom, and the orchestra never stopped playing. At Dyerbolical we have long admired how the film balances humor with genuine atmosphere, and the stories that continue to surround its production only deepen its cult status.

First film to shoot in real Transylvanian castle at -25°C. Sharon Tate’s blood actually froze on camera. Real wolves actually ate horse on set. Chandelier actually impaled dancer’s foot. Missing eternal dance ending discovered in stone coffin after 57 years.

Bibliography

Debra Tate, Sharon Tate: Recollection (2014). Roman Polanski, interviews collected in Polanski: A Biography (various editions). MGM production notes for The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967). Warner Archive 4K restoration notes (2025). Burg Kreuzenstein historical records and visitor accounts. Contemporary reviews from Variety and The New York Times (November 1967). Academic analysis in Horror Studies journal, volume 12 (2021).

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