Sherlock Holmes: The Last Vampyre

1993 Directed by Tim Sullivan

Sherlock Holmes investigates strange and tragic happenings in a village that appear linked to a man who seems to be like a vampire.

Jeremy Brett Edward Hardwicke Juliet Aubrey Roy Marsden Keith Barron Elizabeth Spriggs Richard Dempsey Maurice Denham Jason Hetherington Peter Geddis Kate Lansbury Yolanda Vazquez Maria Redmond Freddie Jones Hilary Mason Stephen Tomlin Eileen O'Brien Andy Abrahams Marcello Walton Paul Parris Anthony Price

Alternative Titles

The Last Vampyre, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes: The Last Vampyre

crime thriller tv movie

102 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Less ★★★

Much more somber than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original short and deepen the vampire myth that tied in village history, broaden to mass fear of supranatural beings across the people. The ghost trick that Holmes attempted to break down, that's clever. I like the ghost special effect. The intercut shot of Jack's past in relation to his [redacted] event was beautiful.
Tiny piece, but I wish I could see Holmes' dearly interaction with the baby as what written in the book.
Review by Fnord ★★★

A gothic-horror-tinged entry of the fantastically watchable series that gets by mostly on its Lovecraft vibes. It’s been a long time since I read “The Sussex Vampire” but I don’t remember it being quite this convoluted. This episode differs from others in both its occult leanings and its sloppy resolution. The explanation mostly makes sense but is almost an afterthought. Still wanna hear more about The Matilda Briggs and The Giant Rat of Sumatra.
Review by loureviews ★★★½ 2

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

I have seen this many times, and can still find it watchable despite it being one of the misfires of the long running series of films from Granada based on the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle.
By this time, actor Jeremy Brett's health issues were painfully evident and he is far from the vibrant and quicksilver Holmes of the 'Adventures' or 'Return'. He seems lethargic, almost tired of life, drained of blood - which actually works quite well for a story steeped in small-village folklore about vampires.
The problem with this story, which is beautifully-shot and interestingly cast (Roy Marsden, Keith Barron, Maurice Denham, Elizabeth Spriggs, Freddie Jones), is that it takes the central conceit too seriously, presenting Stockton (Marsden),…
Review by Hal Kitchen ★★★★

I had remembered this as one of the weaker of the feature length Holmes episodes. It is conceptually one of the more far out stories and relies heavily on the emotional inscrutability and obscure motives of its characters, which is likely to go over the head of a younger viewer, who would find it an awkward mix of silly and dull. However, returning to it, it really is impressively pulled off. The ending is admittedly inevitably flat, the genre necessitating a boringly rational explanation, but the build up does everything in its power to assure you deeper waters are running beneath the surface of its characters. The vampirism is more in the form of superstition and iconography with the real…
Review by PacificNil ★★★½

"Der letzte Vampir" ist erstmals ein Film in der Jeremy-Brett-Reihe, der mit der Vorlage Doyles kaum etwas zu tun hat - bisher zeichnete sich die Reihe durch meist penible Werktreue aus. Was die Erzählung erst zum Schluss enthüllt, ist im Film bereits zu beginn klar: Der Knabe Jack Ferguson ist hochgradig psychopathisch - der Grund und die weitere Entwicklung der Handlung gehen in Film und Buch völlig verschiedene Richtungen und wurden in Buchform 2006 in einem Pasticheroman ("Sherlock Holmes und die Freimaurer") reizvoll fortgeführt. Tim Sullivan führte ein Jahr zuvor bereits zweimal in der Dritten Jeremy-Brett-Holmes-Serie Regie, darunter in der fulminanten Episode "Der illustre Klient". "Der letzte Vampir" kann qualitativ nicht ganz an sie anschließen, bietet jedoch gute Unterhaltung und hervorragendes Gothic-Ambiente!
Review by vinegar

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

i love the later granada episodes that showcase a bit of the supernatural and have holmes struggle with accepting it because it feels like holmes, the strict logician, is fighting against the magical elements that doyle, the believer in fairies and ghosts, is attempting to interject into his universe. (and then ofc you get to that one episode where holmes has ESP now and we (and watson) just have to deal with it.)
Review by KarhuAnderson ★★★

Upon revisit the lack of sympathetic characters, and increasingly vampire-fixated adaptation weren't the magnificent series' best choices.
Review by Tysto Zarban ★★★

Very odd entry. Holmes & Watson are summoned to a village to check out a guy who might be a vampire. They do nothing but watch while events unfold until the third act. Engaging enough, inasmuch as it really wants to be a vampire story.
Review by Keith ★★

More of the same kind of thing. Brett is good as usual and it is interesting to see Roy Marsden in this.
Review by Ben Ring ★★★½

This was my first Sherlock Holmes (1984) series viewing and I was enamored. The beautiful shots, the classic and cozy British mystery series feel, and a story that actually brings a good (though light) touch of real vampiric folklore.
Despite my enjoyment, apparently this is one of the show’s few “misfires” so I can’t wait to see some more!
Also as a first time viewer, it immediately became clear that Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of Sherlock (and the show in general) weighs heavily on Jeremy Brett’s own portrayal.
Review by Kampfkeks75 ★★★½

This movie was made 2 years before Jeremy Brett died and it's pretty obvious that he isn't in a good shape anynore. He's the only one that looks like a vampire here.
It's a TV movie, but still pretty good.
The story is a bit slow and the characters are just average.
Somehow I liked it, I don't quite know why...
Review by Carl ★★★

A Granada series adaptation of The Sussex Vampire though I can’t really comment on how well of an adaptation it is 30 years after reading that adventure. Jeremy Brett’s Holmes does drop the line about 'the giant rat of Sumatra, a story the world is not yet prepared’, which I only recognized because so many other authors have built on the concept. It is one of the longer specials in the 41 episode series meandering a bit and it may have worked better at the typical episode length of 50 mins. It lacks some of the fast pacing and verve of those shorter episodes. Brett looks pale here with his unfortunate illness starting to show, he's not as physical in…

Recent reviews

Review by Stephen Morgan ★★★

Sherlock Holmes is always best when it leans into the horror aspect of the stories, and The Last Vampyr sensibly does that with the story about a man from a rural village who is rumoured to be a vampire.
Jeremy Brett is still arguably the best of all Sherlock Holmes, and gets him just right, with the right amount of superiority and playfulness.
But also with an added intensity here which suits this sinister story.
Keith Barron is on familiar ground as a man to whom things happen and can’t control them, while Roy Marsden is pretty good and has a certain sinister but charismatic charm which is perfect for the role.
The story is a bit mixed, and while…
Review by KarhuAnderson ★★★

Upon revisit the lack of sympathetic characters, and increasingly vampire-fixated adaptation weren't the magnificent series' best choices.
Review by Hal Kitchen ★★★★

I had remembered this as one of the weaker of the feature length Holmes episodes. It is conceptually one of the more far out stories and relies heavily on the emotional inscrutability and obscure motives of its characters, which is likely to go over the head of a younger viewer, who would find it an awkward mix of silly and dull. However, returning to it, it really is impressively pulled off. The ending is admittedly inevitably flat, the genre necessitating a boringly rational explanation, but the build up does everything in its power to assure you deeper waters are running beneath the surface of its characters. The vampirism is more in the form of superstition and iconography with the real…
Review by Tysto Zarban ★★★

Very odd entry. Holmes & Watson are summoned to a village to check out a guy who might be a vampire. They do nothing but watch while events unfold until the third act. Engaging enough, inasmuch as it really wants to be a vampire story.
Review by Keith ★★

More of the same kind of thing. Brett is good as usual and it is interesting to see Roy Marsden in this.
Review by Ben Ring ★★★½

This was my first Sherlock Holmes (1984) series viewing and I was enamored. The beautiful shots, the classic and cozy British mystery series feel, and a story that actually brings a good (though light) touch of real vampiric folklore.
Despite my enjoyment, apparently this is one of the show’s few “misfires” so I can’t wait to see some more!
Also as a first time viewer, it immediately became clear that Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of Sherlock (and the show in general) weighs heavily on Jeremy Brett’s own portrayal.
Review by Less ★★★

Much more somber than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original short and deepen the vampire myth that tied in village history, broaden to mass fear of supranatural beings across the people. The ghost trick that Holmes attempted to break down, that's clever. I like the ghost special effect. The intercut shot of Jack's past in relation to his [redacted] event was beautiful.
Tiny piece, but I wish I could see Holmes' dearly interaction with the baby as what written in the book.
Review by Fnord ★★★

A gothic-horror-tinged entry of the fantastically watchable series that gets by mostly on its Lovecraft vibes. It’s been a long time since I read “The Sussex Vampire” but I don’t remember it being quite this convoluted. This episode differs from others in both its occult leanings and its sloppy resolution. The explanation mostly makes sense but is almost an afterthought. Still wanna hear more about The Matilda Briggs and The Giant Rat of Sumatra.
Review by motypeandroid ★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

I think this movie held a great deal more intrigue than the story itself did, but that might be the way the writer modified the story. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a story that didn’t Intrigue me much beyond know that he wouldn’t possibly have the story confirm an actual vampire. I think the movie came to the same conclusion in a more satisfying way narratively.
Review by mrdrenzaria ★★½

This is a slog. Doesn't follow the story at all, and just isn't that interesting.
Review by Kampfkeks75 ★★★½

This movie was made 2 years before Jeremy Brett died and it's pretty obvious that he isn't in a good shape anynore. He's the only one that looks like a vampire here.
It's a TV movie, but still pretty good.
The story is a bit slow and the characters are just average.
Somehow I liked it, I don't quite know why...
Review by Kathleen Lightfoot ★★½

I love the Jeremy Brett series, but having watched several of the film-length installments now... I have to say, I vastly prefer the shorter episodes. These are short stories. They weren’t intended to be drawn out like this. There are some short stories that have made great films, sure, but all the Granada films have accomplished here is muddying the plot.
All of the added material only serves to confuse the viewer. It’s incredibly hard to follow and much of the mystery isn’t fully explained, contrary to the story it was based on, where everything had a reasonable, natural explanation.
Of course Brett and Hardwicke are as masterful as ever, and the film does a great job of creating suspense…