La condesa Drácula

After discovering that she can regain youth and beauty by bathing in the blood of maidens, an aged Countess (Ingrid Pitt) courts a handsome young cavalry officer, but after she learns that the sanguineous youthifying is temporary, the body count begins to rise. The film is one of Hammer Films' more 'adult' horrors, with less emphasis on the 'monster' (in this case just a murderous old woman obsessed with regaining her youth) and more on the dread surrounding her. Much of the lurid film is about sexual relations, including the strange 'four-sided triangle', in which an older man (Nigel Green) desires the mature countess while the young officer (Sandor Elès) lusts after her youthful incarnation. There is some gratuitous nudity thrown in for good measure but not a lot of overt gruesomeness (despite the premise). The story is based on the legend of Elizabeth Báthory, a real-life 16th century Hungarian noblewoman rumoured to have depraved tastes for torture and who allegedly bathed in the blood of virgins to maintain her beauty (the 'Dracula' in the film's title is more about marketing than about history, legend, or plot). Most of the script and acting (especially by Pitt when she is portraying the 'young' countess) is rudimentary but the production values are pretty good and the 'aging/ugly' makeup is effective (if sometimes inconsistent). In the end, I found the film watchable (and seemingly more than the sum of its parts) and the final scenes are quite good (although they may be a letdown for viewers expecting some kind of bloody dénouement). Not among of the best of Hammer's extensive horror output but at least a bit different from the Lee/Cushing canon (despite the derivative and misleading title).

This Hammer horror made during the company's swansong years is based on the real life tale of the Hungarian Countess Bathory who bathed in the blood of young virgins in order to preserve her youth. Here the character has been renamed the Countess Nadasdy and is excellently portrayed by Ingrid Pitt. Director Peter Sasdy (who was Hungarian) manages to extract some period detail (not the pleasant kind) from the Jeremy Paul script such as the treatment of peasants by the aristocracy and he is aided by the rich lighting of Cinematographer Ken Talbot. Sasdy was without doubt one of the best Hammer or British horror film directors alongside Terence Fisher, Roy Ward Baker, Freddie Francis and John Gilling. Indeed Sasdy was the only other director than Terence Fisher who was able to relate the attitudes of society and the eerie atmospheric poetry to the vampire myth. While this is no criticism against Sasdy, it would of been interesting to see how Terence Fisher would have approached the film. The material would have given him many opportunities to place emphasis on character and setting, which was the main features of his style. Other delights include the able support from the always reliable Nigel Green who plays a faithful servant who supplies Pitt with suitable victims and Maurice Denham is fun as the ill-fated inquisitive librarian Master Fabio. The film has now been reissued on DVD with "Twins Of Evil" and "Vampire Circus" by Carlton as a box set entitled, "Hammer House Of Horror: The Vampire Collection".

Shocking, poetic, well-done story loosely based on the legend of Countess Bathory of Hungary who, it is said, bathed in the blood of young virginal women for the purposes of rejuvenating her skin. Ingrid Pitt plays the countess in all her ugly old age and her fresh nubile new skin. Actually, Pitt does a very good job in a very difficult role of playing two women incredibly apart in age that are supposed to be the same woman. The direction is done by Peter Sasdy, probably the best of Hammer's latter directors, who did a very good job with Taste the Blood of Dracula and Hands of the Ripper. Sasdy knows how to use his camera and can be quite lyrical with it. Some of the scenes are very fresh and inventive. One that stands out is where Pitt returns to her ugliness and all the action of her inner turmoil is seen through some broken lattice. Quite good! Too bad that Hammer had by this time gone to that inferior film stock. This would have been simply gorgeous had it been done five years earlier. Also, by this time, Hammer had to rely on more blood and violence and more exposed bosoms. Countess Dracula is at times quite bloody, with the pinnacle I think being the scene where Pitt is actually caught unawares bathing in blood and massaging her nude bodice with a blood-soaked sponge. Nonetheless the violence really does not detract too much from a pretty good story and execution of it. Nor does the nudity, albeit it rather unnecessary(Andrea Lawrence is quite "charming" in her role as a serving girl...no pun intended). The rest of the cast is very good with Nigel Green really giving a nice performance as a jealous lover and Maurice Denham excelling as a dotty old man. The film stands as a testament to the extremes some people will go through to recapture what was past, and their self-centered, self-serving drive to remain beautiful and young. Is it topical today? You bet ya!

The tale of Countess Bathory who, horrified by her own ageing, discovers taking a bath in a virgin's blood will restore her lost youth and get her noticed by dashing Sandor Eles. Fortunately for the countess, her estate positively heaves with buxom maidens. Director Peter Sasdy may have let the brilliant Ingrid Pitt run a little wilder amongst the drab sets with the roles of Bathory young and old, but her joy at hamming it up helps place this as one of the better later Hammer productions. Nigel Green and Maurice Denham give twitching support.

Freely based on real life about a Hungarian countess Elisabeth Bathory who bathed in the blood of young virgins to keep her youthful. It deals with the famous countess who once to be aware virgin's blood gives her youth, then she looks for girls to kill them and she subsequently bathes in the blood of virgins to preserve her youthful. As she attempts to get a new lease of life at whatever costs at an attempt to regain her lost beauty.

Eerie terror movie from Hammer Films delivering emotion enough , it contains stiff acting , thrills , chills , intrigue , nudism and grisly killings. The movie is decent -shoddy sets apart- and still mysterious and acceptable thanks to emphasis on decay and corruption more than bloodsucking and vampirism . Ingrid Pitt gives a powerful and fierce portrayal , she pulls it all together with her splendid interpretation of a bitter woman's determination to hang on to an unexpected youthful . Support cast is pretty good, such as : Sandor Eles, Nigel Green , Maurice Denham , Peter Jeffrey , Patience Collier and a very young Lesley Anne Down. This tale about Elisabeth Bathory has been adapted sometimes as ¨Legend of Blood castle¨ 1973 by Jorge Grau with Lucia Bose, Ewa Aulin , Espartaco Santoni and ¨Walerian Borozyx's Immoral tales¨ with Paloma Picasso as countess Barthory and ¨Devil's wedding night¨ with Rosalba Neri.

It contains a splendid and atmospheric musical score by Henry Richardson . As well as Kenneth Talbot's rich cinematography full of browns and golds and with varying shades of red. The motion picture was uneven but professionally directed by Peter Sasdy with some flaws and gaps , as it has some scenes that result to be of variable quality . Sasdy was a fine craftsman who directed a lot of fims with penchant for terror, Adventure and thriller , such as : ¨Taste the blood of Dracula, Hands of the Ripper, Nothing but the night, Doomwatch, Young warlord, King Arthur the young warlord, I don't want to be born, The devil' undead, 13 Reunion, Rude awakening, The two faces of evil, The lonely lady¨, among others. Rating 6/10. Acceptable and passable. The picture will appeal to Ingrid Pitt fans and Hammer Films aficionados.