The Vampire Lovers (1970) - film review

In the mid-1800s, General von Spielsdorf is hosting a ball at his mansion in the small European country of Styria.  When one of his guests, an unnamed countess, is called away, the General gladly agrees to take care of her daughter Marcilla.  The General’s own daughter, Laura, is strangely attracted to the mysterious Marcilla, but it proves to be a fatal friendship.  After a steady decline in her health, Laura dies and Marcilla disappears.   A short time later, Marcilla appears in a carriage with her mother.  When the carriage breaks down, the Countess appeals to a man named Morton to take care of her daughter, who now goes by the name Carmilla, whilst she performs a vital errand.  Morton is delighted to be of service and takes Carmilla back to his house, where she wastes no time befriending his daughter, Emma.  History soon repeats itself.  Emma succumbs easily to the charms of her new friend but her health slowly begins to deteriorate.  Meanwhile, several peasant girls in the area are found dead, their bodies drained of blood.  Terrible memories of a previous vampire infestation are revived...  How many young girls must die before this latest manifestation of evil is destroyed?

One of the classier vampire films made by Hammer, The Vampire Lovers was something of a landmark in British cinema, and the horror genre generally, with its overt depiction of lesbianism.  The film was made at a time when Hammer was up against strong competition from rival companies who appeared far more willing to embrace the era of permissiveness.  In a frantic attempt to revitalise its Gothic horror franchise, Hammer would not only include more explicit violence in their films but would also introduce female nudity.  The Vampire Lovers would be Hammer’s most successful attempt at an erotic horror film; what came afterwards was a slow and dismal descent towards the worst excesses of exploitation cinema and inevitable oblivion.   

Although it shared the familiar Gothic trappings of Hammer’s Dracula series, The Vampire Lovers is stylistically an altogether different kind of film.  With its fluid camerawork, slick dissolves and bold expressionistic touches, the film has a dreamlike feel, which both accentuates the horror content and imbues the film with something of the bleak romanticism of the original Gothic writers.  The story is closely based on Sheridan Le Fanu’s short novel Carmilla, which had previously provided the inspiration for another essential horror film, Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr (1932).  The film’s success led to two lesbian-themed sequels, Lust for a Vampire (1971) and Twins of Evil (1972), the three films being known collectively as The Karnstein Trilogy.

The Vampire Lovers was directed with immense flair by Roy Ward Baker, arguably his most inspired film since his Titanic disaster movie, A Night to Remember (1958).  A one-time assistant to Alfred Hitchcock, Baker had something of a chequered career.  After a promising start to his career, he ended up directing fantasy/action TV shows such as The Avengers and The Saint.  He scored a notable hit with Hammer’s Quatermass and the Pit (1967) but later directed Scars of Dracula (1970), one of the weakest entries in Hammer’s Dracula series.

Making her Hammer debut (and what a debut) is the Polish actress Ingrid Pitt, who became an instant horror icon largely through this film.  Pitt would star in two subsequent Hammer horrors, including the controversial Countess Dracula (1971).  Unlike in that latter film. Pitt isn’t dubbed by another actress, and so The Vampire Lovers offers her in her full exotic glory, her thickly accented voice proving to be as sensual and inviting as her other well-developed female attributes, of which we get to see a great deal in this film.

That The Vampire Lovers is a considerably more polished production than much of Hammer’s output is due to the generous financial backing it received from American International Pictures, Hammer’s biggest rival at the time.  It was AIP who insisted on the inclusion of Peter Cushing in the cast list, to assuage concerns that the film would not otherwise be marketable in the United States.  Although Cushing plays a comparatively minor role in the film, he adds greatly to its dramatic impact, through his natural talent for making the fantastic appear horrifyingly real.

One of the main strengths of this film is the quality of the performances.  Ingrid Pitt, a natural born scene-stealer, may dominate this film, but there are plenty of other turns to relish.  Kate O’Mara is chillingly creepy as the prim governess who has a phobia for garden herbs, exuding the same classy bitchiness that would later serve her in good stead in the TV series Dynasty.  As the corrupted innocent, Madeleine Smith has far more substance than the usual run-of-the-mill Hammer heroine, providing an effective contrast with the über-sensual Pitt.  Making his big screen debut is Jon Finch, who would subsequently star in Roman Polanski’s Macbeth (1971) and thereafter become one of Britain’s most highly regarded Shakespearean actors.  

With its stylish design and compelling performances, The Vampire Lovers easily rates as one of Hammer’s better horror offerings.  For one thing, it has an intelligent script, which tackles the issue of lesbianism with surprising sensitivity, and incorporates erotic elements in a tasteful manner, with none of the tacky juvenile excesses of contemporary exploitation movies.  Of course, some will watch this film merely to ogle at Ingrid Pitt in her famous nude scenes, but it clearly deserves to be considered much more favourably than a tame piece of erotica.  This is a film that dares to alter our perception of the vampire, banishing the monstrous fiend of our nightmares and replacing it with the seductive siren of our subconscious, the emblem of our darkest and most fervent desires.  Who can resist the kiss of the vampire now?

© Alex Sullivan 2010

Write a review for this film...

What do you think of this film?