| The Return of Count Yorga | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Bob Kelljan |
| Produced by | Michael Macready |
| Written by | Bob Kelljan Yvonne Wilder |
| Starring | Robert Quarry, Mariette Hartley, Roger Perry, Yvonne Wilder, George Macready, Rudy De Luca, Edward Walsh, Craig T. Nelson |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
| Running time | 1h 37 min. |
| Language | English |
The Return of Count Yorga is a 1971 vampire/horror film starring Robert Quarry. It was the sequel to the 1970 film Count Yorga, Vampire.
The film features Robert Quarry returning as the infamous vampire Count Yorga, along with his servant Brudah. No explanation is given for the return of either character, both of whom died in the previous film.
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The film focuses around Count Yorga buying property next to an orphanage where he and his brides begin to feed on the children and the local vixens. The vampire falls in love with one of the orphanage's teachers, Cynthia Nelson (Mariette Hartley). Yorga sends his undead brides to her house to kill her family (save for Cynthia's sister, who becomes one of Yorga's vampire brides, and the orphan Tommy, whom Yorga now controls). The brides then bring Cynthia to Yorga's residence, where he makes her believe that her parents & sister were in a car accident and she was left in his care while their recovering. Yorga then tries to charm the young woman into willingly becoming his bride. Meanwhile Jennifer, the Nelson's mute maid, happens upon the massacre scene the next morning and calls the police. By the time the police arrive though, all of the evidence has mysteriously been cleared away, and Tommy lies, claiming nothing has happened. However Baldwin, Cynthia's fiancee, is suspicious about the Nelsons disappearance. He comes to realize the Count's true nature and manages to convince the police to join him in a disastrously unsuccessful raid on Yorga's lair.
The ending is a flip of the first film. In the original Count Yorga, Vampire, the hero rescues his girlfriend who then turns on him after Yorga's defeat, revealing herself as having become a vampire. In this film, it is the hero himself who, after defeating Yorga, turns on the woman he rescued and bites her, presumably turned by Yorga's brides during his rescue mission.
A third Yorga film, which would have featured a broken Count living in Los Angeles's sewers and creating an army of undead street people, never materialised.
The film was released theatrically in the US by American International Pictures in 1971.
The film was released on VHS home video (full screen format) in 1993 by Orion Home Video, which once held home video distribution rights to many titles in the American International Pictures catalogue.
The film was given a second VHS release by MGM Home Entertainment in September 2000.
The film was released on DVD by MGM in 2005 as part of their Midnite Movies series.[1] The disc was a double feature release, pairing the film alongside Count Yorga, Vampire.