The Vampire Lovers (Movie Review)
In 1970, Hammer Films released The Vampire Lovers. This is the first of the Karnstein Triology, the trio of films that focuses on the sexy vampiresses of the Karnstein family who haunt the German countryside and seduce young women and drink their blood.
The film follows the lesbian vampire Mircalla Karnstein (Ingrid Pitt) as she integrates herself into 2 different families and takes over the household via the art of seduction. She also makes time to slip out into the middle of the night, kill villagers and torture the locals. The film unfolds as she is hunted down by General von Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing), Baron Joachim von Hartog (Douglas Wilmer), Carl Ebhard (Jon Finch) and Roger Morton (George Cole) who seek to eradicate her.
Based on the 1872 novella Carmilla by Joseph Sheriden Le Fanu this is a relative faithful adaptation of the book that predates Dracula by twenty-six years. As a Hammer Film goes, The Vampire Lovers is most notable as being relatively violent and graphic as Hammer Films go. Both Emma (Madeline Smith) and Madame Perrodot (Kate O’Mara) are stunning as victims of the blood sucker and every scene is drenched with overt sexuality in a way one might not expect in a seventies wide release horror film. This is a really interesting mash up with the classic gothic tones of the Hammer films and creates a unique sensibility.
Unfortunately, this film makes the mistake of showing us Mircalla seducing and destroying one household in an attempt to set up Peter Cushing’s character before moving on to another domiciliary and doing it all over again. This creates a repetition that draws the film to a halt and robs us of what could have been an interesting insight to the process of how the evil predator infects the family and tears it apart from within. Instead, as is tradition for a Hammer film we get a lot of shots of men on horses in the fog riding around. Here it weakens the mood instead of strengthens it and dries up any of the entertainment value of the violence or nudity that preceded them, creating an environment that will neither satisfy modern horror fans or Hammer purists.
However, if you are looking for a sexy, violent film as an entry into the Hammer films The Vampire Lovers is a nice place to start.
Jayson
Staff Writer
At the age of 9, Jayson saw a child's head get crushed under a tire in the Toxic Avenger and has never been the same. He spent nearly his entire childhood riding his bike to the local video store to secretly renting every scary movie with his friends and reading his way through the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books and all the works of Stephen King. A writer, drinker, and lover of Boston sports he spends most of his time living out his dreams and wishing fall would never end in Connecticut.