HAND OF NIGHT, THE (1968)

Reeling from the recent death of his wife and two children in a car crash in England for which he was partly responsible, American architect Paul Carver is traveling to Morocco utterly dejected. Plagued with nightmares in which he relives the accident, amid what appear to be ominous premonitions, Carver is befriended on his flight by German archaeologist Otto Gunther, who invites him to a party that evening. While perusing Gunther’s home, Carver encounters a striking but strangely ethereal Moroccan woman named Marisa, who leads him to a remote, opulent palace. When, driving to their archaeological site the next morning, Gunther and his young assistant Chantal find Carver unconscious in the desert, they reject the tale he recounts as being a figment of his alcohol-addled imagination, claiming not to know of any such woman. But Gunther, well-versed in the region's ancient folklore, begins to fear that the forces of darkness may have their sights set on his new friend and that his very soul is at stake.

A true outlier in the annals of 1960s British horror, THE HAND OF NIGHT (also released as Beast of Morocco) is a bewitching and highly singular take on the vampire mythos, trumping its Hammer peers by taking the -- for the period -- unusual step of filming largely on location in Morocco, lending the film a much greater sense of atmosphere and scope than many of its contemporaries. Featuring a host of notable American and British actors, including William Sylvester (Gorgo, Devil Doll), Diane Clare (The Haunting), and Edward Underdown (Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors), the celluloid archaeologists at Vinegar Syndrome Labs are delighted to dust off THE HAND OF NIGHT for its first-ever disc release, newly restored for Blu-ray and accompanied by a host of new bonus features.