Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18625 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-01-28
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.com
This two-hour, overblown adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire" was perhaps the most ill-advised of Granada Television's Sherlock Holmes series. Entirely contrary to the tone and spirit of Doyle's tale--which finds Holmes victoriously pitting his well-grounded deductive powers against irrational fears of a rise in bloodsucking--The Last Vampyre is something of an embarrassment to the largely wonderful legacy of Granada's earlier efforts. (For the record, most of the creative executives who, along with star Jeremy Brett, had made the beloved series what it was in the 1980s were replaced by 1992, the year of this film.) In this version, Holmes does battle with a Draculalike fellow who may or may not be the real McCoy. There is a great deal of padding to fill out the story to feature length, and it is mostly silly. So, you ask, is there anything to recommend this? Well, there is the ailing Brett's ever-fascinating performance, which deviates from Doyle's vision of the detective hero toward something darker and more personal. Edward Hardwicke does his usual warm and capable work as Dr. Watson. --Tom Keogh

From the Back Cover
John Stockton arrives in the village of Lamberley and bad things begin to happen. The local residents seem to hold the newcomer responsible. Soon, the gossipy town folk find out that Stockton is a direct resident of the Sinclair family, burned as suspected vampyres 100 years before. Holmes and Watson are called in to investigate before the residents take matters into their own hands.

Customer Reviews

Not perfect, but not an embarrassment, either...
"The Last Vampyre" is one of the more misunderstood entries in the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes collection.

Often villified by fans of the Granada series, I think that such complete criticism is a bit unfair. Looking over the installment, one cannot help but admire the production values throughout, which are excellent. The supporting cast is well chosen and delivers, as do Brett and Hardwicke. The location settings are perfect for the tale, and the cinematography is absolutely first-class.

So, why does this episode fail to please the audience? Perhaps it is all of the padding inserted into the original story, which takes us far afield from Doyle. Pointless sexual antics, vampirism, local politics, etc., intrude upon what could have been a top-notch entry, in an attempt to extend the episode to movie-length. The real pity is that all of the padding has relegated this installment to the dustbin for most fans.

However, if one could excise about twenty minutes from the production, it would play much better. I think such judicious re-editing would raise the episode to at least acceptable standards on a par with other, at least average, episodes in the Granada series. The unfortunate thing is that the padding does serve to set the mood for the mystery, and would therefore be all but impossible to remove completely while at the same time leaving intact any semblence of a cohesive story.

Perhaps it is all a matter of taste. I liked enough of the episode to enjoy it despite its problems, and in many ways it was probably as good as (or no worse than), "The Master Blackmailer". That installment has severe weak points as well, including the lack of any true Holmsian deductions. It leaves the viewer wanting in places, too, just as "The Last Vampyre" does.

I would submit that the production values alone make the installment worth a screening, but we have Brett and Hardwicke on top of that. Take these factors, combined with the interesting and creepy character of Stockton (as played by Roy Marsden), and I don't see how the episode can be written off so casually.

While "The Last Vampyre" can be disappointing when compared to the glory days of the Granada series, it is also not the abject failure that some viewers have claimed.

Overwrought
In later years, the great Brett series was in decline with the loss of some apt scriptwriters and adaptions. Instead we get long, drawn-out versions of relatively simple stories, to the point that many of the characters seem annoying and the whole thing is exposed as ridiculous. Brett and Hawthorne are always good as Holmes and Watson, but their producers are not serving them well with this kind of script.

The Sussex Vampire/The Last Vampyre
I adore Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes and cannot help but admire how beautiful and authentic these adaptations were filmed. Authentic detail and great casts made this a do-not-miss series. However, this episode (The Last Vampyre) is a travesty of the original story. Instead of a moving story about a woman who is protecting her child and trying to keep peace within her home, we have this horrible (as in "horror") and mindless tale. No doubt about it. Conan Doyle was a fabulous story teller. Why present this mediocre, at best, plot instead of the real thing??? And the Eligible Bachelor (based on The Noble Bachelor) is nearly as bad. A shame, too. Both original stories were strong and impressive on their own.