The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Fangs for the Memory
A vampire with a taste for the demon drink prowls the dark alleys and subterranean cellars of Durham in the 1970s.
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Overview
A hard-drinking vampire meets his nemesis in a hippie slayer in drag. This student parody of English urban Gothic horror was filmed in shadowy locations around Durham in the 1970s. The debauched creature of the night bears a striking resemblance to glam pop star Roy Wood of Wizzard fame … and appears to be wearing flares.
Fangs for the Memory was an exercise in low-light cinematography, produced by students as part of the pioneering Film and Television course at Durham University’s Bede College, run by film historian Dr David Williams MBE. It was filmed on location around historic Gilesgate and St Bede College, and also the night-time modern pedestrian walkways of Leazes Road, built in 1967. In his celebrated 1934 travelogue An English Journey, author J.B. Priestley described Durham’s “baleful dark bulk of castle, which makes the city look like some place in a Gothic tale of blood and terror”.
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