Kiss of the vampire

• Produced by hammer film productions and distributed by j. Arthur rank and universal
• Kiss of the vampire was intended to be the second sequel to the 1958s Dracula although the film script actually makes no reference to stoker's character. This is perhaps to distance itself from unfavourable comparisons to the superior Christopher Lee who started in the original film
• In addition to Dracula hammer had by 1963 success with other monster movie franchises such as mummy and frankenstein
• Distributors universal also saw early success with films in this genre
• Historically 1963 saw the early stages of beatlemania and the so called swinging sixties the assination of jfk and the soviet union launching the first woman into space
• The 1960s audience for this advert could be assumed to be familiar with the codes and conventions of monster movie film posters such as its composition, fonts and representation of the monster and its usually female victims
• The capitalised serif font of the title creates connaruons linked to the vampire film genre with its wooden styling referencing the vampires coffin of the stake needed to kill him perhaps and the blood dripping from the letter v's fang
• The use of a painted main image is highly convential of films of the period and links to the poster for Christopher Lee Dracula but the fact that it is in colour anchored by text in eastman colour connotes that it is a modern telling of an older story
• The gloomy grey black and brown colour palette reinforces the films dark scary conventions while the red highlight colour draws attention to the attacking bat's, vampire and blood all key visual signifers for the genre
• Conventially the stars are listed with the more highly paid actors first and in order for fame Clifford Evans having starred in hammers 1961 hit curse of the werewolf
• Suspense is created through the enigmas surrounding the connoted relationship between the male and female vampires emphasised by the kiss of the title and the fate of the two victims
• Barthes semantic code could be applied to the images of bat's and their convential association with vampirism and horror in general
• The symbolic code of horror darkness and gear are more widely reinforced through signifers such as the moon and the male victims submissive sacrifice gesture code
• The idea that texts are constructed through the use of binary oppositions could be applied to the opposing representation of the vampire and their victims and the romantic connotations of kiss opposed in the films title to the stereotypical vampire monster
• The 1960s is often seen as the start of sexual libertation aided by events such as the introduction of contraceptive pill in 1960
• More woman than were ever entering the paid workforce and sixties feminists were campaigning for equal pay and an end to equal harrasment and more equality between men and women in wider society
• In America equal pay legislation was passed in 1963
• Older stereotypes of women as passive victims of men and more modern male fears of women challenging male dominance could both seen to encoded in this film poster
• Both women wear pale dresses made of light materials and these dresses serve to reinforce their femininity by highlighting the curves of their body and revealing the flesh of their upper chest and arms
• The gesture code of that women on the left is that if a stereotypical passive victim of the monster his power highlighted by the fact that he is holding her by just one arm
• Baring her teeth and with her arm raised almost fist-like as she's bitten by the bat the seconds woman's gesture codes are more agressive and the submissive pose of her male victim including being on his knees with his head back and throat exposed represent her in a non stereotypically dominant way