Bloodline DA·B·0001
The Vurdalak, from folklore to cinema
From eighteenth-century Serbian exhumations to a false Illyrian poem, from Pushkin to Tolstoy, from Bava to later adaptations: the lineage of a family monster.
Genealogy
- 1725 The Kisiljevo case DOC: Documented
- 1732
- 1746 Dom Calmet’s treatise DOC: Documented ← Visum et Repertum
- 1819 The Vampyre (Polidori) SIM: Unproven similarity ← Dom Calmet’s treatise
The aristocratic vampire: a parallel branch.
- 1827 La Guzla (Mérimée) ATTR: Critical attribution ← Visum et Repertum
A literary hoax that reworks accounts of Balkan vampires.
- 1835 Pushkin, «Vurdalak» DOC: Documented ← La Guzla (Mérimée)
- 1839 La famiglia del Vurdalak ATTR: Critical attribution ← Pushkin, «Vurdalak», Visum et Repertum
Composition date; published in 1884.
- 1963
- 1964
- 1972 La notte dei diavoli SIM: Unproven similarity ← La famiglia del Vurdalak, I tre volti della paura
A debt to Bava has not been demonstrated.
- 1990
How to read the lineage
Each node is a work or document; each line represents a relationship of derivation. Dashed lines indicate weak links: similarities, attributions and disputed traditions. The lineage shows that the cinematic Vurdalak descends from documents as much as from a literary fabrication¶ Editorial interpretationAn editorial reading, identified explicitly as interpretation..
Connections
6 direct connections · 32 further links. Dashed lines indicate weak or unproven links.
- Film
- Creature · ritual
- Motif
- Source
- Person
- Weak link
Creatures (1)
Vurdalak
- Area
- Russia, Balkans
- Earliest attestations
- 19th century (literary form)
Sources (3)
La famiglia del Vurdalak
Visum et Repertum
La Guzla
Films (1)
Black Sabbath
I tre volti della paura · Les Trois Visages de la peur
Journal (1)
Why Dread Atlas begins with I tre volti della paura
- Vampires of Eastern Europe collection · via Vurdalak
- Strigoi creature · via Vurdalak
- Vampire creature · via Vurdalak
- Revenant creature · via Vurdalak
- The family vampire motif · via Vurdalak
- The vampire child motif · via Vurdalak
- Eastern Europe place · via Vurdalak
- Night of the Devils film · via Vurdalak
- Sem’ja vurdalakov film · via Vurdalak
- Boris Karloff person · via Vurdalak
- A. K. Tolstoy person · via Vurdalak
- Vienna place · via La famiglia del Vurdalak
- Literary adaptation glossary · via La famiglia del Vurdalak
- Medveđa place · via Visum et Repertum
- Protections against the dead belief or ritual · via Visum et Repertum
- Mario Bava person · via Black Sabbath
- American International Pictures person · via Black Sabbath
- Anton Chekhov person · via Black Sabbath
- Guy de Maupassant person · via Black Sabbath
- Theft from the dead motif · via Black Sabbath
- The threatening telephone motif · via Black Sabbath
- The sound that announces the supernatural motif · via Black Sabbath
- The threshold and invitation belief or ritual · via Black Sabbath
- Italian Gothic collection · via Black Sabbath
- Dubbing glossary · via Black Sabbath
- Censorship glossary · via Black Sabbath
- Alternate cut glossary · via Black Sabbath
- I tre volti della paura vs Black Sabbath version · via Black Sabbath
- Rome place · via Black Sabbath
- Black Sunday film · via Black Sabbath
- Black Sabbath (band) person · via Black Sabbath
- The Chekhov credit: a source that cannot be found journal · via Black Sabbath
Revision history
- First draft.— Editorial team
How to cite this page
Redazione Dread Atlas, «The Vurdalak, from folklore to cinema», Dread Atlas, Entry DA·B·0001, updated 5 October 2026. https://macabralia.com/en/bloodlines/vurdalak-dal-folklore-al-cinema/