Guest Blog and Giveaway with Justin Gustainis

The Baddest Vampire Ever
(onscreen edition)
by Justin Gustainis

Given the vampiric ambience of Roxanne’s site, I thought I would use my visit to present to you my candidate for the baddest (as in “That vampire is the evilest, baddest bloodsucker I’ve ever seen,” not “They say John Shaft is the baddest mofo in town.”) vampire ever to haunt the screen, either big or small.

My candidate isn’t one of the many Dracula portrayals, nor one of the nastier fangers from “True Blood” – and, most certainly, nobody who sparkles in sunlight (puh-leeze!) Instead, may I present to you: Prince Anton Voytek.

Voytek was the villain of a little-remembered 1979 made-for-TV movie called, oddly enough “Vampire.” It was a pilot for a series that was never made, but it had a pretty good cast, nonetheless: Jason Miller (who had made a big splash [no pun intended] in “The Exorcist” a few years earlier, E.G. Marshall (who had done some fine TV drama in the 1960s) and Kathryn Harrold (who was always good for playing a babe with brains). Voytek himself was portrayed by Richard Lynch, who made a career playing bad guys in film and TV, until he got old (now he makes a career playing old guys). In his prime (which 1979 certainly was) there was no badder bad guy than Richard Lynch.

So how formidable is this guy Voytek? At the beginning of the movie, he crawls out of the ground on land where (we later learn) his house once stood. The house was demolished decades ago, and is soon to be the site for a new church, which has finally motivated Voytek to get out of Dodge (or out of the dirt, anyway). Turns out, Voytek was going about biting necks thirty years earlier, and he was tracked to his lair by a vampire-hunting priest. Rather than eat a stake sandwich, Voytek (somehow) brought the whole house down on top of both of them. The priest was killed, and Voytek had no choice but to take a long nap.

Now Voytek is eager to establish himself again as a wealthy Euro trash nobleman (the “Prince” honorific is apparently true, except his line supposedly died out 300 years ago. Come to think of it, it did. He gets chummy with this married couple (Miller and Harrold) – he’s an architect, she’s an art historian. Turns out that Voytek has a bunch of paintings that have been stashed in a warehouse the last thirty or forty years. If they can be authenticated, they’ll be worth millions and Voytek can start living high again. Unfortunately, the art historian is a little too good at her job – she finds that the paintings, although legitimate objets d’art, were all looted by the Nazis during the war (how Voytek got them isn’t clear, but it’s not hard to envision him in an SS uniform).

So now the paintings have all been impounded, and Voytek is one unhappy bloodsucker. First he kills – and turns – the wife. On his way out of the house when he’s done with her, he passes a rare painting that he knows was the couple’s artistic pride and joy. Just for giggles, he drives a steak knife through it. Well, it was rare, after all….

Soon thereafter, Jason Miller’s character, half crazed with grief, starts putting two and two together, especially after his dead wife shows up and tries to put the bite on him. He ends up in the lobby of Voytek’s apartment building, raving, with a bunch of wooden stakes and crosses. He’s arrested on suspicion of terminal weirdness, and sent to a mental hospital for evaluation. But while there, in restraints, he has an unauthorized visitor.

Here’s a clip:



See? I told you this dude was nasty. The old guy with the cross is E.G. Marshall, BTW. He plays a retired cop named Harry who was friends with the vamp-hunting priest decades before, until the priest disappeared into the ruins of Voytek’s house. Harry has a pretty young niece, and you just know Voytek will get around to her sooner or later – and he does. And here comes one of my favorite lines of the film. Voytek calls Harry and says he’s nabbed the girl, and if Harry ever wants to see her alive again, blah, blah. Harry doesn’t take this too well and says to Voytek, “May God strike you dead!” “Oh, He has, Harry, He has,” Voytek purrs. “But I’m saving that story for when we meet – later tonight.”

So, to nobody’s surprise, Miller and Harry rescue the girl from the crypt where Voytek has stashed her (you were expecting a study carrel at the library?) But Voytek gets away, instead of finding out what two feet of pointed hickory feels like when it passes between your fourth and fifth ribs. As I said, this was a pilot for a series that the network didn’t pick up.

There you have my candidate for baddest TV/movie vamp of all time.

What’s yours? Why not make a comment and tell us?

Stan Markowski is a Detective Sergeant on the Scranton PD's Supernatural Crimes Investigation Unit.

Like the rest of America, Scranton's got an uneasy 'live and let unlive' relationship with the supernatural. But when a vamp puts the bite on an unwilling victim, or some witch casts the wrong kind of spell, that's when they call Markowski. He carries a badge. Also, a crucifix, some wooden stakes, a big vial of holy water, and a 9mm Beretta loaded with silver bullets.

File Under: Urban Fantasy [ Dial V For Vampire | Forbidden Spells | Bite Club | Scranton By Night ]


Senator Howard Stark wants to be President of the United States. So does the demon inside him. With the competing candidates dropping out due to scandal, blackmail, and ‘accidental’ death, Stark looks like a good bet to go all the way to the White House. And if he gets there, Hell on Earth will follow.

Occult investigator Quincey Morris and white witch Libby Chastain are determined to stop this evil conspiracy. But between them and Stark stand the dedicated agents of the US Secret Service – as well as the very forces of Hell itself. Quincey and Libby will risk everything to exorcise the demon possessing Stark.

If they fail, ‘Hail to the Chief’ will become a funeral march – for all of us.

About the Author

Justin Gustainis is a college professor living in upstate New York. In earlier incarnations, he has been a factory worker, soldier, speechwriter, and professional bodyguard. His short fiction has twice won the Graverson Award for Horror and received ‘Honorable Mention’ from Ellen Datlow in Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 1. He is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop.

Author website: www.justingustainis.com

Giveaway Time

Justin is giving away a signed copy of each Hard Spell and Sympathy for the Devil

to 2 lucky commenters

open to worldwide shipping

To enter answer Justins' question above-

who gets your vote for baddest on screen vamp of all time?

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