Customer Reviews

Countess Dracula / The Vampire Lovers

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My hat is off to the folks at MGM/UA for this fabulous pair-of films, that is, on this DVD. Luscious, Polish-born Ingrid Pitt scored a triple home run in 1970, appearing in 3 entertaining horror films, "The Vampire Lovers", "Countess Dracula", and "The House That Dripped Blood". Ms. Pitt had lived through real-life horror, having been born in a Nazi concentration camp. Hammer executive James Carreras was charmed by Ms. Pitt (they met at a dinner party), and cast her as Carmilla in "The Vampire Lovers", based on Sheridan leFanu's famed vampire novella. To be brief, the story is about Countess Mircalla Karnstein, (she uses her name as an anagram, i.e. Marcilla and Carmilla),undead for 250 years, who ingratiates herself into various households, and preys upon the young daughters of her hosts. The film, directed by Roy Ward Baker, follows the book fairly closely, though Ms. Pitt's Carmilla is not the morose, wan girl as depicted by leFanu. Pitt's Carmilla is a worldly, enticing, and very sexy woman. She is also a voracious predator, and does not discriminate. Men and women, especially women, are all fair game to her! The film plays up the lesbian angle of the story, and Ms. Pitt's gorgeous figure is displayed to great advantage. Her husky, "continental" accent and style make a great contrast to the "English roses" of Madeline Smith and Pippa Steel. Hammer great Peter Cushing lends his usual fine presence to the film, as well as a young Jon Finch, Ferdy Mane, Kate O'Mara, and Dawn Addams as "The Countess", working a hairdo that would fit right in with the B52s! My only real gripe about this film is the women's hairdos, which date the film "big time". The women look like escapees from "Love American Style", with the exception of O'Mara's accurate Regency-style hairdo. The sound and picture quality are superb, and Harry Robinson's musical score is a winner. Some purists may balk that the film does not live up to leFanu;s book, but in my opinion, it comes pretty darned close! This is a good-looking, shocking film. The other film on this DVD is the much-maligned "Countess Dracula", based on the exploits of real-life 17th century Hungarian countess Elisabeth Bathory. Bathory had a unique beauty treatment-she bathed in the blood of virgins, in the belief that it kept her young and beautiful. Some 600 girls disappeared from neighboring villages before Ms. Bathory was finally "put away". In this film, the premise is taken a little further, ala "The Leech Woman". Elisabeth's "beauty baths" DO work, but like collagen and Botox, their effect is only temporary, and when they wear off, she becomes uglier, leading to a very bad habit! Ms. Pitt is a lot of fun to watch, tho for some strange reason, her voice was dubbed by another actress. Virile Nigel Green plays Elisabeth's cast-off middle-aged lover Captain Dobi, Sandor Eles plays her boy-toy Imre Toth, and a very young Lesley-Anne Down plays her daughter, Ilona. The sets, costumes, and music are great, and the film does have a real flavor to it, no doubt helped by the fact that its director, Peter Sasdy, is Hungarian, as well as co-star Sandor Eles, and screenwriter Alexander Paal. The picture and sound quality are excellent as well. There are some wonderful extras on the DVD as well, such as an audio commentary by Ms. Pitt, and excerpts from "Carmilla" read by her as well, accompanying a terrific photo gallery. And you can't beat the price! Ingrid Pitt in "Countess Dracula" and "The Vampire Lovers". What a pair!

Being a self described Hammer fan, I must say that these two films are top notch later Hammer productions. Countess Dracula really doesn't have anything to do with DRACULA or VAMPIRES as an aging noblewoman finds the secret to eternal youth by bathing in the blood drained from virgins in the noblewoman's kingdom. No FANGS, no crosses, no stakes or drinking of blood- just bloody bathtime fun with Ingrid Pitt! The Vampire Lovers film (better of the two) with REAL vampire/dracula references and lots of weird lesbianism goin' on between Ingrid Pitt & the other young, nubile, (& unfortunate) women victims in the film. I would definitely recommend both films to anyone who likes classic horror and/or vampire tales...

MGM has done an amazing job of remastering these great films from 1970. These two films belong to the era when Hammer Films was trying to update their image by featuring nudity and more violence in their films. Both of them star sexy, enigmatic Ingrid Pitt. "Vampire Lovers" is the superior movie with good suspense sequences, very sexy scenes with Ingrid and Madeline Smith and a great cameo by the wonderful Peter Cushing. The transfer on this movies is amazing. It has never looked so good. It also restores a deleted scene cut by AIP that features full frontal nudity by Ingrid Pitt.
"Countess Dracula" is also a good Hammer Film. It is loosely based on the legendary Blood Countess Elizabeth Bathory. It is less explicit both in terms of violence and nudity. It could easily carry a PG-13 rating today. It's worth seeing for some great supporting actors including a very young Leslie Ann-Down. The sets are very lavish for Hammer standards since they were left over from "Anne of a Thousand Days".
The DVD features some very interesting commentaries by directors and scrrenwriters. I'm usually bored by these commentaries, but I wasn't by the ones here.
This DVD is a true Hammer lover's dream and for such a low price!!!!!! Thank you, MGM!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two wonderful Hammer films with a vampire theme.

Countess Dracula is not really about a vampire, but a retelling of Countess Bathory and the legend that she killed virgins so that she could bathe in their blood. In this story, the Countess accidently discovers the rejuvenating powers of blood. As she switches between crone and beauty, she must deal with court intrigue, lovers, suspicions and loyalty. Although the box claims this movie is rated PG, there is plenty of nudity.

The Vampire Lovers is a retelling of Sheridan Le Fanu's classic lesbian vampire tale Carmilla. Ingrid Pitt plays a vampire who keeps getting invited to stay at estates where she can prey on young daughters. Nicely told but with a few gaps in the story. We find out Carmilla's origin but who are her mother and the gentleman in black? Other than these two lapses, the rest of the story is beautifully done and I loved seeing how modern science slowly step out of the way of the occult.

Two nicely-done thrillers with beautiful sets and costumes (these are Hammer films after all) as well as decent casting. Good viewing fare for vampire film fans.

These two long awaited MGM titles come to DVD at last in a nicely rendered double bill that should please most Hammer Horror fans. The first, 'Countess Dracula' gives us Ingrid Pitt in her second starring role for Hammer as Countess Erzebet Bathory an Hungarian noblewoman with a bent for bathing in virgins blood. Based loosely on Valentine Penrose's rather prosaic book The Bloody Countess, the film is lush to look at (aparently benefitting from sets left over from Anne of a Thousand Days)and competently acted. Sadly it is the weaker of the two, suffering from a draggy script and some inappropriate overdubbing. One would have thought that Ms Pitt's accent would have been just right for the character but instead we are tortured with the breathy and unsubtle vocals of an insipid teenage girl. It is a credit to Ms Pitt that this post production tampering doesn't sink her performance into self parody. The commentary is enlightening and I have to agree with Ms Pitt- the film could have been much more than the sum of its parts. Ultimately the script reduces itself to the level of a dull sex driven pulp romance masquerading as an historical tract and would have been far more interesting had it chosen instead to explore The Bloody Countess' recorded atrocities. It is also horribly painful to hear Peter Sasdy shoot Ms Pitt down in the final discussion near the closing credits. Much better and what should be the real A side of this DVD is 'The Vampire Lovers', made earlier the same year and co-financed by American International. This film gives us Ingrid Pitt in her seminal performance as the vampire Carmilla, invading the households of the local gentry to decimate their daughters and revenge the execution of her undead relatives at the hand of Joachim von Hartog. Like all Hammer films this one is beautifully photographed and solidly acted by the likes of George Cole, Ferdy Mayne and Peter Cushing in a cameo as the uncle of an early victim. Also boasting a fine musical score and gorgeous set dressings the film is driven by its fatalistic, if unconventional love story, the cause of much controversy at the time of its release. If the film is slow paced then this works in its favour, adhering faithfully to its source material, Joseph Sheridan le Fanu's 1871 tale Carmilla. The commentary tells us little that we didn't already know about the film; Ms Pitt sounding dreadfully ill and barely able to catch a breath. Having suffered the censors scissors for many years MGM have reinserted the previously edited full frontal hip bath scene but strangely have not restored Kirsten Betts' decapitation in the opening sequence. As Hammer Horror is a neglected cultural institution in its homeland, it would be nice if one day an English distibutor took it upon themselves to rectify this rather odd state of affairs and track down an uncut print. Much has been said about the sexual aspect of this film, that the protagonist is a lesbian and the imagery is the stuff of girlie magazines, but though 'The Vampire Lovers' is admittedly very much a product of its time it has managed to transcend its exploitative origins to become what we see today (thirty years on), a dreamlike gothic masterpiece that still weaves its magic. There is much to be cherished here.

Hammer Studios typically tricked out its horror films with considerable eroticism--and in the early 1970s thrust a willing Ingrid Pitt into several films that not only ripped bodices but let them drop where they may. This DVD offers the two films that are generally considered the best of her screen work: COUNTESS DRACULA and THE VAMPIRE LOVERS.

Loosely based on the notorious Erzebeth Bathory, who was said to have been responsible for the deaths of six hundred virgins, COUNTESS DRACULA finds Pitt in the role of Elisabeth Nodosheen--an aging aristocrat who discovers that she can regain her youthful beauty by bathing in the blood of any handy virgin. Of the two titles offered here, it is the weaker, a mixture of period costumes and flashes of nudity heightened with the occasional splash of blood. Fans will enjoy it, but those who are not already fans of Hammer horror will probably wonder what all the fuss is about.

The real prize is THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, loosely based on Le Fanu's novella CARMILLA, which finds Pitt playing the role of a lesbian vampire who puts the bite on her victims sexually as well as literally, casually stripping herself before stripping them and coaxing them into a show of heaving breasts before she sinks her teeth into their willing throats. Pitt plays the role with a surprising degree of raised-eyebrow humor. At times she throws away her lines in classic drop-dead manner, at times she very deliberately overplays--but whatever the case one is always aware of a certain self-mockery that lends the entire film a sense of wicked amusement.

The transfers involved are not pristine, but they are very good, and this particularly true of THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, where Pitt's physical charms remain as attractive today as they were when the film was first released. Recommended--and a special thanks to Michael Wilk, who turned me onto them.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Compared with "The Vampire Lovers," which is Ingrid Pitt's finest film, "Countess Dracula" seems remarkably flawed. The storyline concerns the historical Elisabeth Bathory, a Hungarian countess who attempted to maintain her youth and beauty by bathing in the blood of numerous virgins whom she slaughtered. Unfortunately, the infamous Blood Countess deserved a better script than Hammer Films afforded her. The drama is simply overburdened with too many episodes of mild gore, tame nudity and "opulent" stage sets--which may have impressed the film-goers of 1970, but which seem almost naive in retrospect. Furthermore, the film's casting is often incredibly inept: note the nondescript dweeb who plays the countess's youthful Beloved! This actor's inadequacy is almost comical. Equally mediocre is the film's flaccid musical score; at best it evokes a gipsy camp rather than the privileged lifestyle of a wealthy noblewoman.
The film's glaring faults are easily outweighed, however, by a single asset: Ingrid Pitt's dynamic performance in the title role. With her screen presence as well as her remarkable beauty, Mistress Pitt is just wonderful to behold. Whenever script and camera focus on her, the effect is hypnotic--the movie's multiple stupidities disappear, and the terrible yet pathetic Blood Countess stands revealed, reincarnated!
Ingrid portrays Countess Bathory as a hopeless Romantic--needing sexual love, while resentful of old age which denies her that love. Frustration leads to misery. Misery leads her to revolt against fate/nature by practicing blood sacrifice. Nevertheless, Ingrid's persona never seems to relish bloodshed, but only uses it to escape the sheer unhappiness of age. For her, that unhappiness verges on madness--which makes her murders almost pardonable.
In her defense there is one more Extenuating Circumstance: the sheer loveliness she attains after her blood-baths. Notice, for example, the tiny scene in which Ingrid appears on horseback--a laughing, sunlit, angelic, golden-haired epitome of Gorgeousness! Frankly, wouldn't most elderly women do anything to gain such splendor?
Whether playing an old hag or a rejeuvenated beauty, Ingrid Pitt is always engaging--a wild creature of imagination who claims not only our belief, but our sympathy as well. Year after year Academy Awards are doled out to far less gifted actresses. While they may enjoy some temporary fame, Ingrid Pitt has actual immortality: she stands among the greatest of horror film icons.

1970 was a very good year for Hammer Studios and the very sexy Ingrid Pitt. Here on one two-sided disc, are two of her finest performances.

COUNTESS DRACULA is a bit misleadingly titled, since Pitt's character is actually based on Elizabeth Bathory, not Dracula. No matter, there is still no shortage of blood being spilled in all directions, as the youth obsessed Countess kills virgins in a futile effort to maintain her beauty.

THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (the first in Hammer's Kanrnstein Trilogy of lesbian Vampire films) is not only long on steamy images of Ms. Pitt and friends, it's also a well written, acted and filmed movie. Peter Cushing gives his usual fine performance as the protagonist over whom Pitt literally loses...well, watch the film and see.

The DVD has excellent picture and sound, and contains extras such as theatrical trailers and commentaries of both features.
A super 2 for 1 bargain for any Hammer, Vampire and/or Ingrid Pitt fan.

Hammer was a solid little film factory, churning out a stream of well-written, well-produced horror films. Thanks to the relatively low cost but talented British studio craftsmen, the typical Hammer film offered A quality production values with B movie thrills. These are two of Hammer's best, if not necessarily the scariest of their lot.

COUNTESS DRACULA is a loose but thoroughly enjoyable portrayal of the true life Blood Countess of Hungary. Erszebet Bathory was much more evil than Vlad Tepes, upon whom the Dracula legend is based. Vlad's infamous cruelty was driven by a twisted reactionary idealism, attempting to bring law and order and protection to his tiny kingdom. Bathory however acted strictly in her own self-interest. A psychotic quest for eternal youth and beauty. Far from the definitive treatment of her tale, COUNTESS DRACULA is nevertheless a fun film to enjoy, with all the hallmarks of the best of Hammer's works. Attractive and competent actors, a skilled director's hand, much better sets and costumes than you'd expect to find in a B film of its time, a good score, and a tightly knit story with enough twists and turns to keep it interesting.

THE VAMPIRE LOVERS is a real treat for Ingrid Pitt fans, particularly teenaged boys and Goth lesbians. She seems to spend half the movie parading around in see-through gowns, and in only one scene is wearing anachronistically inappropriate bikini panties under the gossamer. Again, the production values are top-notch, and although the story is skewed and embellished, it is true enough in tone to LeFanu's CARMILLA, on which it is based. A half-dozen beautiful young women make the list of Carmilla's victim lovers, and the seduction scenes are as artfully filmed as any in cinematic history.

THE VAMPIRE LOVERS is a bit more adventurous in form than the typical Hammer film, with black-and-white dream sequences and other nice touches by director Roy Ward Baker. Besides directing a handful of Hammer films, Baker is best known for A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, an A list dramatization of the Titanic disaster.

Ingrid Pitt is luscious as always, and the ingenue "virgins" in both flicks are perfectly charming. Lesley Anne-Down is angelically pretty in the first film, but as Carmilla's main object of deadly affection, Madeline Smith is arguably the most endearing damsel in distress ever portrayed in a vampire flick.

The "Midnite Movies Double feature", label has been responsible for making available some terrific lesser known horror efforts that otherwise might be forgotten. This particular double feature combines two of my absolute favourite late Hammer efforts in "Countess Dracula", and "The Vampire lovers", both which star the alluring Polish actress Ingrid Pitt who was perfect for the types of roles she undertook in these two films. Made at the beginning of the 1970's decade just as the famed Hammer Studios were beginning to go into decline, these two films are most worthy late additions to the film catalogue of the famed "Studio that Dripped blood". Both films have the typical Hammer trademark of a lavish look with stunning sets and costumes despite their low budgets, and great atmosphere and performances from the excellent casts assembled. Ingrid Pitt really made a name for herself in these two efforts and has been forever after identified as a Hammer star which does tend to obscure the fact that she actually made very few films for Hammer Studios. However as the wily and deceptive Countess posing as her own younger daughter in "Countess Dracula", and as the seductive vampire Carmilla seeking fresh young blood in "The Vampire Lovers", Ingrid Pitt assured herself an immortal place in the history of Hammer Studios great gothic horror efforts alongside greats such as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

"Countess Dracula", which is the more lavish of the two films stars Ingrid Pitt, not as an outright vampire as the title of the film would suggest, but instead as a character based on the infamous 16th Century Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory. This sadistic madwoman was responsible for some of the most repulsive and brutal mass murders in that region's history and was reputed to bath in the blood of young virgins as a way of retaining her youthful good looks. The film of course takes liberties with parts of that legend and we find "Countess Nodosheen" as she is now called, discovering that by bathing in virgin's blood she is automatically transformed from her present haggard appearance into that of a beautiful young woman. The Countess has her own daughter Ilona (Lesley -Anne Down), kidnapped so that she will not arrive at the castle and upset her plans and then sets her own sights on young handsome Lt. Imre Toth (Sandor Eles), much to the chargin of besotted Capt. Dobi (Nigel Green) who is aware of what she is doing but is unable to resist the demands of the woman he has always loved. The youthful looks of the Countess however only last for short periods and thus require fresh killings on a regular basis to supply her with the required blood. The entire countryside becomes terrified by the disappearances of many young girls and things begin to catch up with the Countess when, masquerading as her own daughter she allows Lt.Toth to court her leading to a marriage ceremony. However things completely unravel when Llona arrives unexpectedly at the Castle just as the ceremony begins and the Countess suddenly reverts to an old woman right at the altar. In the ensuring struggle to get away the Countess attempts to kill her daughter but by mistake ends up killing Lt Toth. At the stories conclusion we then witness an imprisoned and haggard Elizabeth facing the prospect of the gallows for all the crimes she has committed in her search for eternal youth that rightly earned her the infamous nickname of "Countess Dracula".

"The Vampire Lovers", based on the J.S.LeFanu novel "Carmilla", was the first of the "Karnstein Trilogy", which also included Hammer's "Lust for a Vampire", and the excellent "Twins of Evil". Ably directed by the talented horror director Roy Ward Baker this first installment tells the story of vampire seductress Marcilla/Carmilla (Ingrid Pitt), who is the last survivor in a long line of murderous vampires. Left by her "mother" the Countess (Dawn Addams) in the care of neighbour General Von Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing), Marcilla proceeds to prey on his beautiful young daughter Laura, (Pippa Steel), who begins having horrific nightmares about a huge cat and suffers from a strange anemic condition that eventually results in her death. Marcilla mysteriously disappears only to turn up at the home of Laura's friend Emma Morton (Madeleine Smith) after a staged collison of the Countess's carriage enables Marcilla, now being called Carmilla, to stay at the home of Emma's father Sir Roger Morton (George Cole). Carmilla now sets her sights on the attractive young Emma and begins to drain the life blood out of the young girl. Emma's governess Mme. Perrodot (Kate O'Mara), after initial suspicion about Carmilla also falls under her spell via a charmed brooch. Emma's young friend Carl (Jon Finch), begins to suspect Carmilla of foul play and rides to the house where he engages in a deadly battle with Carmilla who after killing Mme. Perrodot retreats to the old Karnstein Castle. Here however Carmilla has to contend with the united forces of Sir Robert and General Spielsdorf who have been alerted as to Carmilla's real identity and here she is dispatched by General Spielsdorf by the traditional method of killing vampires, via a sharp stake being driven through the heart and then decapitation of the body. The men then observe the portrait of Carmilla hanging on the castle wall aging before their eyes until her features are reduced to those of a skeleton.

Far from being the last gasps of a film studio in decline I feel these two horror efforts from Hammer Productions really proved what the studio was still capable of producing. "Countess Dracula", in particular has a lavishness about it that was uncommon even in the halycon days of Hammer's output in the late 1950's and early 1960's. It benefited greatly from utilsing many of the props and sets left over from the Hal Wallis production of "Anne of the Thousand Days" which had finished filming just prior to the "Countess Dracula" start date at Pinewood Studios. Both films but most especially "The Vampire Lovers", were of course mainly significant in further emphasising nudity and topics such as lesbianism on screen which would have been unheard of back in the days of the Hammer landmark films such as "The Curse of Frankenstein", and "Horror of Dracula". Despite these films more adult content and liberal use of blood, what we have here is a totally enjoyable double feature of two rarely seen films starring Ingrid Pitt in her horror movie prime. Horror film collectors are strongly advised to collect this "Midnite Movies Double Feature", edition which is essential for every admirer, like myself, of the wonderful work produced by England's legendary Hammer Studios. Enjoy!