Grave of the Vampire (1974)

Directed by John Hayes
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(MGMHD)

The opening scene of this film is one of the best in all of horror: a slow, lingering shot of a tomb at night with wisps of fog. After what seems an eternity, the tomb opens to reveal an old, shriveled man in his burial suit, covered with bugs. He opens his eyes, as if confused by a long sleep. Then he bares his teeth. Is he a vampire or a zombie? He attacks a young couple making out in a car in the graveyard: killing the boy and raping the girl. She eventually has the baby, but thinks the father was her boyfriend. However, when the baby won't drink milk she accidentally discovers he really likes blood. Soon, she is preparing bottles of her own blood to feed him. And then...flash forward to 20 years or so later. The older vampire is teaching a college course on occultism. One of the students is his illegitimate son. He knows his father is a vampire but seems to be in denial about himself. There is a bad 70s seance. It gets even sillier by the end as father and son trade places. Still, that opening half hour or so is hard to forget.