The Vampire Lovers (1970)

Seductive vampire Carmilla Karnstein and her family target the beautiful and the rich in a remote area of late eighteenth-century Gemany.

Director:

Roy Ward Baker

Writers:

Sheridan Le Fanu (story "Carmilla") (as J. Sheridan Le Fanu), Harry Fine (adaptation)

Stars:

Ingrid Pitt, Pippa Steel, Madeline Smith

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ingrid Pitt	...	Marcilla / Carmilla / Mircalla Karnstein
Pippa Steel	...	Laura (as Pippa Steele)
Madeline Smith	...	Emma Morton
Peter Cushing	...	General von Spielsdorf
George Cole	...	Roger Morton
Dawn Addams	...	The Countess
Kate O'Mara	...	The Governess (Mme. Perrodot)
Douglas Wilmer	...	Baron Joachim von Hartog
Jon Finch	...	Carl Ebhardt
Ferdy Mayne	...	Doctor
Kirsten Lindholm	...	First Vampire (as Kirsten Betts)
John Forbes-Robertson	...	Man in Black
Shelagh Wilcocks	...	Housekeeper
Harvey Hall	...	Renton
Janet Key	...	Gretchin

Storyline

The Countess is called away to tend a sick friend and imposes on the General to accept her daughter Marcilla as a houseguest. Some of the villagers begin dying, however, and the General's daughter Laura soon gets weak and pale, but Marcilla is there to comfort her. The villagers begin whispering about vampires as Marcilla finds another family on which to impose herself. The pattern repeats as Emma gets ill, but the General cannot rest, and seeks the advice of Baron Hartog, who once dealt a decisive blow against a family of vampires. Well, almost.

---

Plot Keywords:

bathtub | female full frontal nudity | female pubic hair | female rear nudity | towel | 

---

Taglines:

An erotic nightmare of tormented lusts that throb in headless, undead bodies!

---

Genres:

Horror

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

22 October 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

Vampyren - en erotisk mardröm

Filming Locations:

Associated British Picture Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

American International Pictures (AIP),Hammer Films,Fantale Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was given an R rating by the Motion Picture Association of America due to the vampire bites inflicted on the women's bosoms.

---

Goofs

When Ingrid Pitt is lying in the coffin at the end of the film, she is wearing a nightgown with smooth fabric on the chest and stomach. As she gets Staked, the fabric is pleated.

---

Quotes

Marcilla: You must die! Everybody must die!

---

Alternate Versions

The film was cut for its R rating and the old Embassy videos reflect this edit. MGM restored most of the footage for its 1999 VHS release, except for part of the opening decapitation and some nudity in the bathing scene. The nudity was found and added in to the 2003 DVD release, which now presents the film complete save those missing frames in the opening beheading. The UK DVD contains MGM's first restoration that was on VHS in the USA. The R1 MGM DVD contains the more complete edition.

---

Connections

Referenced in 100 Greatest Sexy Moments (2003)

---

Soundtracks

Whistle Stop Polka
(uncredited)
Music by Johann Strauss
Arranged by Harry Robertson

User Reviews

The last good Hammer movie?

Certainly a movie one would use the word "good" for rather than "great", but this movie does contain flashes of the unique attributes that made Hammer such a winner in the first place but which had been largely forgotten by the company in its rush to replicate the success of "One Million Years B.C." with cheap imitations. Ingrid Pitt is probably the film's greatest asset, along with the very well done sets and art design in general.

Pitt plays a vampire lesbian who uses various forms of deception to seduce the daughters of England's upper crust. She comes off great in the role of seductress and is just barely convincing enough as the "innocent" her character pretends to be.

Cushing makes only 2 brief appearances, not making much of an impression (but he's given very little to work with here in a role that just about anyone could have played).

Memorable, not as good as Hammer's best vampire film "Dracula" (aka "Horror of Dracula", US) but definately one of its better, if not its best, films of the 70s.