The Vampires is a 1915–16 French silent crime serial film written and directed by Louis Feuillade. The film is set as a serial of ten chapters of times varying from 13 - 57 minutes each.
The main characters are a journalist and his friend who become involved in trying to uncover and stop a sinister gang plaguing Paris with their underworld activity including burglaries, decapitation of law enforcement officers, bombings, forgery and other unsavory dealings (who are not the mythological beings their name suggests).
Storyline:
We are introduced to our protagonists: Journalist Phillipe Guèrande and Mazamette. The reporter receives a telegram at work stating that one police inspector is found both dead and headless. Being turned down by the local magistrate, he spends a night in a creepy castle (owned by a Dr. Nox) full of hidden passageways and sliding portraits on the wall. Mrs. Simpson, an American multimillionaire who desires the property, sojourns in the house. Meanwhile, Mrs. Simpson’s money and jewels are stolen in her sleep by a masked thief, but Philipe is suspected of the crime. Philipe again visits the magistrate, who now believes his case, and they trick Dr. Nox and Mrs. Simpson into waiting in an anteroom. At the castle, Philipe and the magistrate find the head of the police inspector hidden in the passage in Philipe’s room. Back in the anteroom, they find that Mrs. Simpson is dead and that Dr. Nox has vanished. Her pocket contains a note from the Grand Vampire saying that he has murdered the real Dr. Nox and is now assuming his identity.
