Indian Vampire 1913
"The first Italian western film ever made"
Step back to 1913 and meet the spaghetti-western's unexpected pioneer, Roberto Roberti's Indian Vampire. A short but potent thirty-minute drama, the film stitches together the raw frontier spirit of the Western with the brooding tension of Italian silent-era storytelling.
Director: Roberto Roberti
Cast
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Indian Vampire (1913) about?
Indian Vampire unfolds on the rugged American frontier, where a mysterious stranger's arrival stirs up old conflicts and fresh danger. As tensions rise between settlers and native tribes, the story drifts into the realm of legend, blurring the line between revenge and the supernatural.
Who directed Indian Vampire?
Roberto Roberti, a pioneering Italian filmmaker whose creative legacy extends to the next generation through his son Sergio Leone.
Who stars in Indian Vampire?
The film features Antonietta Calderari, Frederico Elvezi, Antonio Greco, Giovanni Pezzinga, Roberto Roberti, and Angiolina Solari.
Is Indian Vampire (1913) worth watching?
With an unrated IMDb score and a compact 30-minute runtime, Indian Vampire is less a polished epic and more a fascinating artifact for genre historians and silent-film enthusiasts. Its historical significance as a possible forerunner to the spaghetti-western outweighs modern expectations of narrative depth.
How long is Indian Vampire?
Indian Vampire runs for 30 minutes.
About Indian Vampire (1913) — Discover the lost silent classic that launched the Italian Western
Step back to 1913 and meet the spaghetti-western's unexpected pioneer, Roberto Roberti's Indian Vampire. A short but potent thirty-minute drama, the film stitches together the raw frontier spirit of the Western with the brooding tension of Italian silent-era storytelling. Set against dust-choked plains and shadowy canyons, it follows a lone figure whose path collides with forces that blur the line between myth and reality. The visual language is early cinema at its most expressive, relying on stark contrasts and expressive faces to convey both danger and destiny.
At its core, Indian Vampire is a snapshot of film history in the making. Helmed by Roberti—father of the legendary Sergio Leone—the picture also features family ties behind the scenes, with cast member Angiolina Solari later becoming the mother of the future Once Upon a Time in the West maestro. Shot on shoestring resources yet rich in atmosphere, the 30-minute run time belies its outsized ambition, offering a glimpse of the genre's pre-Leone origins and the creative seeds that would later bloom into cinematic epics.