Customer Reviews

Lust for a Vampire

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Lust for a Vampire is the second and generally acknowledged as the least of Hammer's Carmilla Karnstein trilogy (Vampire Lovers, Lust, Twins of Evil). The movie is actually better than I expected, with most of the downside apparently due to postproduction fiddling by producers Harry Fine and Michael Style. The script by Tudor Gates contains a few fresh twists, Jimmy Sangster's direction is competent, the women, especially Yutte Stensgaard as Mircalla, are gorgeous, and Ralph Bates is excellent in a difficult role (originally intended for Peter Cushing). But what really mars the film and no doubt contributes to its poor reputation are some shockingly bad editing and soundtrack decisions: an otherwise effective scene of three `vampiresses' stalking Michael Johnson in Karnstein castle is ruined by an idiotic voiceover; the unintentionally hilarious "subjective" murder shots were no doubt intended to be cut away from much sooner than they are; blatantly obvious, mismatched closeups of Christopher Lee's bloodshot eyes are substituted for Mike Raven's; Stensgaard and Johnson's big vampire attack/love scene is rendered completely ludicrous by an absolutely awful pop song ("Strange Love") warbling in the background, etc., etc. The movie's quite watchable but frustrating because you keep thinking, "if only Jimmy Sangster had been allowed to edit this it probably would've been much better." (After saving Hammer's bacon by replacing injured Terence Fisher at the last minute, Sangster was unceremoniously ordered off the film by the producers as soon as shooting wrapped.) As it is, it's worth a look for Hammer and vampire fans, but ultimately less than completely satisfying.
Whatever one thinks of the film, you can't complain about Anchor's DVD package. The uncut, anamorphic widescreen (1.77:1) source print is a wee bit soft, but otherwise virtually flawless, with great color, contrast, detail, and nary a speckle to be seen. Extras include an equally gorgeous trailer, radio spots, poster and still gallery, filmographies, and a commentary by Jimmy Sangster, Suzanna Leigh, and Hammer historian Marcus Hearn. This is a real treat, since they spend most of the time discussing a wide range of personalities and topics, including some behind-the-scenes Hammer dish, rather than just focusing on the movie. Overall another fine release from Anchor, who've really been setting the standard for "special edition" DVDs lately, horror or otherwise. 5 stars for the DVD, 3 or 4 for the movie.

LUST FOR A VAMPIRE is the second (and almost universally considered the weakest) of Hammer's "Carmilla Trilogy" based on J. Sheridan LeFanu's famed short story.

A bit loopy and campy, this film is nowhere as bad as its detractors want it to be, though DRACULA it isn't and can never be.

In LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, the lesbian vampire Carmilla Karnstein (played here by Danish actress/model Yutte Stensgaard, who is one of the blondest, most sensuous, and ethereal women to ever grace a movie screen) decides to make an 1830s girls' finishing school her favorite haunt. She spends a great deal of time finishing the girls, quite enjoyably. The women are all universally voluptuous and beautiful, and bare breasts and bodies are well in evidence.

As with all Hammer films, LUST FOR A VAMPIRE is stylish and visually attractive, though the script here is weak and a bit chaotic, leaving way too many loose ends, even for a Hammer production. But if you're watching LUST FOR A VAMPIRE for its storyline you're confusing it with some other movie. So sit back, and take in the unforgettably erotic spectacle of a chocolate-syrup blood smeared Yutte Stensgaard snacking on some of the sweetest eye candy in all filmdom.

What's that me hounds of classic Hammer horror films? You say you want more of the titillating, fantabuloso, bloodsucking, Sapphic action you enjoyed so much in the popular film The Vampire Lovers (1970)? Well, fret not, as Hammer Studios heard your grubby pleas and punched out this sequel, titled Lust for a Vampire (1971). Directed Jimmy Sangster, known for his excellent writing work on such films like X the Unknown (1956), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), and Dracula (1958), the film stars Ralph Bates (Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde), Michael Johnson (Anne of the Thousand Days), and Yutte Stensgaard (Scream and Scream Again), in her last silver screen appearance. Also appearing is Barbara Jefford (The Ninth Gate), Suzanna Leigh (The Lost Continent), Helen Christie (Rasputin: The Mad Monk), and former pirate radio station disc jockey Mike Raven, whom I last saw in the fairly rotten film Crucible of Terror (1971).

The film, set in the year 1830, begins with the abduction of a peasant girl, whose yams are literally bursting forth from her cleavage, begging for a squeeze. The girl ends up being used in some black magic ritual (what a waste), one that reincarnates what I guess to be a vampire, and a sexy one at that...we then switch to a nearby town where we meet noted author Richard Lestrange (Johnson), who's visiting the area interested in researching material for a new book. Seems the town has had some bad luck over the years, specifically with a family by the name of Karnstein, and their now dilapidated castle that is no longer occupied...or is it? Anyway, turns out the vampiric activity follows a 40-year cyclical timetable, and the anniversary is here...sure enough, young, boobalicious girlies begin to go missing. Richard thinks the idea of vampires is a lot of hooey, decides to visit the castle, where he meets the nerdy and bespeckled teacher Giles Barton (Bates), co-founder of a newly opened school for buxom bouncing beauties who enjoy giving themselves massages (oops, that girl's shirt fell off) and nekkid nighttime swims (yowsa). Richard becomes infatuated with a teacher named Janet Playfair (Leigh), and subsequently weasels his way into a teaching position, but then later falls under the thrall Mircalla (Stensgaard), who is actually Carmilla Karnstein, the same girl we saw brought back from the dead (or undead) at the beginning of the film! Soon a sinister cloud of evil falls over the school, as the blood drained bodies begin to pile up...it's a veritable vampires virginal smorgasbord, and no one is safe...

All right, I tend to agree with some of the others in that this film may not be as bad as many claim it is, but in terms of a Hammer Production, it is pretty stinky...Sangster himself was embarrassed by the results (particularly the inclusion of the song `Strange Love', to which I'd agree with him), and claimed he was basically along for the ride, taking the helm just prior to shooting after the original director, Terrence Fisher, was unable to proceed after breaking his leg. Apparently Peter Cushing was meant to appear, but due to his wife's illness at the time, opted out, to which Ralph Bates was brought in...and then there's Ingrid Pitt, who played the role of Mircalla/Carmilla Karnstein in The Vampire Lovers...she declined to appear in this follow up because she thought the script awful. Seems this film had a lot going against it from the get go, but I'll tell you what, there is some fun to be had, if you don't expect too much. If you look at Sangster's credits, you'll notice his specialty seemed more in crafting tales, rather than directing, but he did do a decent job here, even if his heart wasn't in it. I thought most of the actors did reasonably well, but the main problem to me was a lack of focus. There were a great number of characters running around, more than necessary, and some of them ended up getting the short end of the stick. I though Raven played an interesting character, and assumed he'd have more screen time based on his pronounced present of the DVD case artwork, but that wasn't the case. Most of the time he slinked around on the peripheral, throwing sinister glares about. He should have been utilized more, especially given his commanding presence and booming, baritone voice. Also, I thought more could have been done with Barbara Jefford's character of Countess Herritzen...she seemed a rich (and sexy), untapped vein of juiciness waiting to be mined. And then there was the police inspector, played by Harvey Hall (The Vampire Lovers). I thought his character surprisingly strong, but ultimately wasted. What was up with Ralph Bates character? He prominent in the story initially, but then poof! He's gone...sort of pointless, if you ask me. Like I said, too many characters floating around resulting in uneven focus overall. Yutte Stensgaard did well, but let's face it, she's no Ingrid Pitt, and as many a Hammer fan knows, that's one corset that's especially hard to fill...the general atmosphere of the film worked alright (there are some really beautiful settings), but it felt lacking in the signature darker, more gothic tones normally associated with previous Hammer horror works, but then again, the studio was in a period of decline, one which it sadly wouldn't survive. There were a few good films that came out in this later period, Twins of Evil (1971) for example, but it wasn't like it was in the old days. Some of my favorite parts of the film (beside the copious boobage) included the scenes where the weak willed head mistress Miss Simpson gets chastised by not only the police inspector, but later by a father of one of the dead girls, presenting the best `deer caught in the headlights' expression I've ever seen...you see, Miss Simpson neglected to report the various incidents in a timely manner as she was so worried about a scandal, as she had all her money tied up in the school. Also, be sure to catch the exchange between the characters of Richard Lestrange and the uber effeminate Professor Herz, played by Erik Chitty (The Vault of Horror), as Richard fools the man into leaving prior to his arriving at the school so that Richard may take his place. The ending provides quite the entertaining (if not cliché) spectacle, in that of the old `angry townspeople with torches' routine...I never get tired of that...

Anchor Bay Entertainment provides an excellent uncut, uncensored widescreen (1.77:1) picture on this DVD, enhanced for 16X9 televisions. The picture quality is clear, vibrant, and generally beautiful. Also, the Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio is crisp and comes through very well. There are some excellent features, including an audio commentary track with director Jimmy Sangster and actress Suzanna Leigh (she never popped her top in the film), moderated by Hammer film historian Marcus Hearn, along with a theatrical trailer, radio spots, a poster and still gallery, talent bios, and a 5X7 insert reproduction of original poster artwork for the film, the flipside listing the chapter stops. All in all a five star release of a three star film, hence the four star rating.

Cookieman108

By the way, I never knew how useful an old, dried up well could be, especially if you have some corpses that need disposing of...

I have a lot of favorite Vampire films...this is one.Starring the STUNNING danish beauty YUTTE STENSGAARD who replaced INGRID PITT(busy filimg COUNTESS DRACULA)..the story is very intersting as the trailer says "Welcome to the most exclusive finishing school where they really do FINISH YOU!"..Ralph Bates is an intersting choice as a last minute replacment for Peter Cushing, Jimmy Sangster did an a very good job..would have LOVED to see what Terrence Fisher(orignally slated to direct) would have done with it.I think if you like THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and TWINS OF EVIL you will like this film..coming out VERY soon on DVD!

Even though so many people think poorly of this film, it really is an excellent film. The sets are excellent and, really, the acting is just fine. The music is some of the best music I've heard in a horror movie. Even some of the scenes are perfectly timed with this music. This is one of my favorite vampire films. I enjoy watching this one over and over. It's not scary, and it's not bloody...if you're looking for something like that, this movie is not it. But if you want a dreamy, atmospheric movie with beautiful people, beautiful sets, and great music, this is it!

If you're looking for a great plot or a classic Hammer movie then this really isn't for you. If, however, you get your kicks watching gorgeous blonde vampiresses draining their victims then they don't come much better. The first couple of vampire attacks are on cute girls - a buxom barmaid and a cute schoolgirl both in lovely low-cut period dresses. You also get the gorgeous Yutte Stensgard naked, and extended encounters between the vampiress and both male and female schoolteachers. For me, the high point is when the vampiress Mircalla hypnotises one of her victims and the camera shows the scene from the victim's viewpoint - if you're at all into erotic hypnosis I defy you to keep your hands away from your groin during this bit - you'll feel like she's enslaving you with her gaze. As I said, the plot is poor and the acting average at best but if you want to be the Slave of Mircalla or feel Lust for a Vampire this is the film for you.

Set in the 1830s in some fictitious east European country, it begins with the evil Count and Countess Karnstein catching themselves a young virgin from the village whom they sacrifice to the Devil in order to resurrect the beautiful Countess Carmilla (Yutte Stensgaard). We then switch scene to young writer of horror stories, Richard LeStrange (Michael Johnson) arriving in the local village to hear the usual stories about how the castle on the hill is a Place of Evil blah blah blah. So off he goes to investigate only to discover that, place of evil or not, it is now adjacent to a posh girl's finishing school brimful of stunning young women including a certain Mircalla who he is instantly smitten by, rather unhappily as her name being an anagram for `Carmilla' is no accident. Smitten as he is he quickly contrives to get taken on as an English teacher and is given lodgings to share with the decidedly strange history teacher Giles Barton played by Ralph Bates. Obviously it isn't long before nubile young ladies start cropping up dead with strange marks on their necks.

A fair amount of confusion seems to have reigned over the making of this. It's a sequel to the earlier 'Vampire Lovers' where Ingrid Pitt played the role of Carmilla. Here they couldn't get her so they used the relatively unkown Stensgaard. Terence Fisher was originally pencilled in to direct but Sangster had to take over when that fell through. And Peter Cushing was originally to have been cast as Barton but was replaced by Bates when that didn't work out either. Not that any of these replacements prove so very disastrous. Sangster does a decent enough job. Stensgaard is pretty good in the lead: it was probably the high point of her short career before she quit to work for a Christian radio station in the USA. And Bates isn't Cushing but is still serviceably creepy. The weak point of the film and the main reason this is one of Hammer's less successful vampire movies is Johnson as LeStrange who should be the dramatic and emotional centre of the movie but who fails to breath life into a serious disappointingly feeble and uninteresting character. Suzanna Leigh is equally lacklustre as Janet Playfair, the main goodie female character, the virtuous young teacher who takes a fancy to LeStrange (who is surely just not interesting enough to be very credibly such a big hit with the ladies, both dead and undead, as he is here). So by no means the greatest of the Hammer vampires but great fun nonetheless. If you like this sort of thing (and I have to say love it) all the ingredients are there: blood, sex, evil old counts with V-shaped haircuts, muttering villagers, peasant girls with heaving bosoms, black carriages with big black horses, noctural assignations, vampires turning to skeletons after getting `staked', bodies down wells, stalwart local policemen who don't really know what they're up against, creepy graveyards... Oh go on. You know you really want to.

A good adaption of story Carmilla. Hammer films decided to make a trio of lesbian vampire films, (this film, the Vampire Lovers, & Twins of Evil).

This is much better than Twins of Evil, & more explicit in its nudity & vampirism than the Vampire Lovers.

I remember seeing this on video in the early 1980s when my hormones were a popping - and thus it's always held a special place in my staked heart.

The major inconsistency with the plot is that at the vampire's vicitms scream when they are attacked at the beginning of the film, but by the end of the film the last victim's almost in orgasm as she's being attacked - did the vampire just get better at biting?

Today, Hammer studio's the Vampire Lovers (an adaptation of LeFanu's Camille) is an erotic gothic film that could be easily shown on prime time TV (except for a bit of nudity) and is still a good piece of filmaking. However, Lust for a Vampire, which was rushed out by Hammer to cash in on the Vampire Lovers' success, is a more exploitative piece of schlock, but one that is nevertheless fun to watch. An author arrives in a small town where women are being brutally murdered (the locals know it is a vampire, but he is too rational to believe this). Much to his sinful delight, he finds himself with the opportunity to replace the professor of literature at a local all-girls academy where every student is gorgeous and they exercise outdoors in flimsy gowns and no underwear. One of the students is a bisexual female vampire (who has a few sexy but very brief scenes with her roommates), and she and the author fall in love. Alas, their love is doomed for they are from two different worlds. The film is, by today's standards, also relatively tame and it gets a bit dull at times when the script attempts to become a more serious gothic thriller, but most of it is harmless exploitative fun with a self-depricating sense of humour.

This is a Hammer film with a terrible reputation. In fact, many fans consider it the low point of the studio's history. Well, it is not. It is actually an atmospheric, entertaining film that can stand along Hammer erotic vampire films such as "Vampire Lovers" and "Twins of Evil".
The Anchor Bay print is awesome. I'm sure this movie has never looked so clean and crisp. The commentary is also very entertaining. All in all, this is a fine movie that should please Hammer fans and vampire movie fans.