The Vampire Lovers review
Another random horror review - this time Hammer's 1970 trip to the Vampire love that knows no name...
The Vampire Lovers
Tag
A whisper of warm desire becomes a shriek of chilling terror in the embrace of the… BLOOD NYMPHS!
Director Roy Ward Baker
Writer Harry Fine, Tudor Gates, Michael Style
Stars Ingrid Pitt, George Cole, Kate O’Mara, Peter Cushing, Ferdy Mayne, Douglas Wilmer, Madeline Smith
Certificate 15
Year 1970
Dastardly Plot
The first of Hammer’s notorious lesbian-vamp trilogy stars Ingrid Pitt, Countess Dracula herself, as Mircalla Karnstein, beautiful seductress from a family of bloodsuckers. Years after she avoided having her head lopped off, Mircalla returns to the province of Styria, under the cunning pseudonym of Marcilla and is soon taken under the wing of a member of the local gentry (Peter Cushing). Soon the daughter of the household is under Marcilla’s thrall turning from her fiancé to Pitt’s welcoming arms – and bed. Nightmares of a giant, ferocious feline besiege the doomed maiden and before too long Mircilla tastes her fine claret. But necks aren’t good enough for this daughter of darkness. Oh no, Mircilla plunges straight for the breast.
The girl soon passes away and Mircilla vanishes, only to resurface at a neighbouring mansion under the guise of Carmilla. Before you can say ‘furry cup’ the bad girl is at it again and using Emma Morton (Madeline Smith) as a pincushion. When Emma’s governess, played by Kate O’Mara, falls under the spell, the men-folk are starting to put two and two together. But can even they withstand Carmilla’s advances?
Vicious Verdict
It’s hard to believe in this day and age that The Vampire Lovers caused a stir back in 1970, but this was the first time that Hammer dipped its toe into exploitational waters. Not only were there the risqué sexual activities of its main character, but there were three, yes three, occasions when the audience was treated to ample and distinctly bare bosoms.
Today the horror is hardly terrifying (the giant cat of the night terrors actually resembles a rather shaggy fur coat) and the nudity is almost laughable in its naivety but the movie does have a sheen of class that holds up over 30 years later. The silhouette of Pitt disrobing before young Ms O’Mara is actually quite sinister as is the pasty-faced horse-rider who we guess, although it is never explained, is the mastermind behind the entire scheme. And I challenge you not to feel a chill as Carmilla’s portrait ages before your very eyes in the climax.
Granted there isn’t much here to tax the brain and the melodrama does induce some unintentional laughs (no sniggering at the back when Emma dreams of feeling the cat’s fur in her mouth) but the Vampire Lovers is bizarrely innocent, despite its subject matter.
Terrifying Trivia
* The film is loosely based on CARMILLA by J. Sheridan LeFanu. The text can be found in a number of places online.
* The artist for the original poster obviously never saw the movie as it portrays Carmilla and a horde of busty vamps attacking semi-naked men and women chained to a wall. The corner of the poster proudly warns ‘Caution: Not for the mentally immature!"
* Although not mentioned in the credits, "The Vampire Lovers" was filmed at A.B.P.C. Studios in Elstree.
* We learn a handy anti-vamp tip: Vampires cannot return to their graves if you nick their shrouds.
High Points
The genuinely unsettling nightmares (until the cat arrives), Pitt’s reaction to a Christian burial and Carmilla’s decomposing portrait.
Low Points
The aforementioned ‘cat’, an advertisement for the anti-real fur brigade if ever there was one.
Skull’s out of five
THREE!
The Vampire Lovers
Tag
A whisper of warm desire becomes a shriek of chilling terror in the embrace of the… BLOOD NYMPHS!
Director Roy Ward Baker
Writer Harry Fine, Tudor Gates, Michael Style
Stars Ingrid Pitt, George Cole, Kate O’Mara, Peter Cushing, Ferdy Mayne, Douglas Wilmer, Madeline Smith
Certificate 15
Year 1970
Dastardly Plot
The first of Hammer’s notorious lesbian-vamp trilogy stars Ingrid Pitt, Countess Dracula herself, as Mircalla Karnstein, beautiful seductress from a family of bloodsuckers. Years after she avoided having her head lopped off, Mircalla returns to the province of Styria, under the cunning pseudonym of Marcilla and is soon taken under the wing of a member of the local gentry (Peter Cushing). Soon the daughter of the household is under Marcilla’s thrall turning from her fiancé to Pitt’s welcoming arms – and bed. Nightmares of a giant, ferocious feline besiege the doomed maiden and before too long Mircilla tastes her fine claret. But necks aren’t good enough for this daughter of darkness. Oh no, Mircilla plunges straight for the breast.
The girl soon passes away and Mircilla vanishes, only to resurface at a neighbouring mansion under the guise of Carmilla. Before you can say ‘furry cup’ the bad girl is at it again and using Emma Morton (Madeline Smith) as a pincushion. When Emma’s governess, played by Kate O’Mara, falls under the spell, the men-folk are starting to put two and two together. But can even they withstand Carmilla’s advances?
Vicious Verdict
It’s hard to believe in this day and age that The Vampire Lovers caused a stir back in 1970, but this was the first time that Hammer dipped its toe into exploitational waters. Not only were there the risqué sexual activities of its main character, but there were three, yes three, occasions when the audience was treated to ample and distinctly bare bosoms.
Today the horror is hardly terrifying (the giant cat of the night terrors actually resembles a rather shaggy fur coat) and the nudity is almost laughable in its naivety but the movie does have a sheen of class that holds up over 30 years later. The silhouette of Pitt disrobing before young Ms O’Mara is actually quite sinister as is the pasty-faced horse-rider who we guess, although it is never explained, is the mastermind behind the entire scheme. And I challenge you not to feel a chill as Carmilla’s portrait ages before your very eyes in the climax.
Granted there isn’t much here to tax the brain and the melodrama does induce some unintentional laughs (no sniggering at the back when Emma dreams of feeling the cat’s fur in her mouth) but the Vampire Lovers is bizarrely innocent, despite its subject matter.
Terrifying Trivia
* The film is loosely based on CARMILLA by J. Sheridan LeFanu. The text can be found in a number of places online.
* The artist for the original poster obviously never saw the movie as it portrays Carmilla and a horde of busty vamps attacking semi-naked men and women chained to a wall. The corner of the poster proudly warns ‘Caution: Not for the mentally immature!"
* Although not mentioned in the credits, "The Vampire Lovers" was filmed at A.B.P.C. Studios in Elstree.
* We learn a handy anti-vamp tip: Vampires cannot return to their graves if you nick their shrouds.
High Points
The genuinely unsettling nightmares (until the cat arrives), Pitt’s reaction to a Christian burial and Carmilla’s decomposing portrait.
Low Points
The aforementioned ‘cat’, an advertisement for the anti-real fur brigade if ever there was one.
Skull’s out of five
THREE!
posted by Cav at
2:59 PM
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