Luxúria de Vampiros

'Lust for a vampire' is the second film in the Karnstein Trilogy based on the novels by Sheridan le Fanu. The sequel to 'Vampire lovers' starring Ingrid Pitt, and prequel to 'Twins of Evil' starring playboy playmate twins Mary & Madeline smith, 'Lust for a vampire' was hindered in its production from the off set. Legendary Hammer director Terrence Fisher was forced to pull out and Peter Cushing was replaced by Ralph Bates in the lead role. Yutte Stensgaard plays the truly beautiful Mircalla, a lesbian vampire who is torn between her love for her teacher and her lust for blood. This film has a very cosy atmosphere very traditional of hammers work around the late sixties early seventies. The sets are reasonable and although highly criticised for her performance, Yutte does her job well.

I could go on for pages but as an overview I would HIGHLY recommend this film even if it does dabble in as much romance as horror.

"Lust for a Vampire" is the second film in Hammer Studios' "Carmilla" trilogy, also including "The Vampire Lovers" and "Twins of Evil". It's indicative of the direction in which the studio was heading during this time, playing up the sex appeal just as much as the horror content. It also has the added attraction of a tragic, different sort of love story. It's not prime Hammer, but it's certainly watchable, thanks to its blood letting, period atmosphere, and bevy of beautiful women.

The nefarious Karnstein family resurrect the legendary Carmilla - or "Mircalla", in this instance - and she takes up residence at a girls' finishing school in 1830 Austria. Shortly thereafter, a successful author named Richard Lestrange (Michael Johnson) comes to the country, and contrives himself into a teaching position at the school. There he makes the acquaintance of a weak willed instructor, Giles Barton (Ralph Bates), and falls in love with Ms. Mircalla (ravishing blonde Yutte Stensgaard), while some of the local girls go missing.

The title is very apt for this sort of story. The script by Tudor Gates is weak, and not all that interesting, while the direction of frequent Hammer screenwriter Jimmy Sangster is okay if not inspired. One major highlight is the Richard / Carmilla lovemaking scene, but many viewers will be just as happy with the topless shots of some of the actresses. Overall, this all feels pretty familiar, including the finale.

The cast is good. Bates is amusing in a change of pace mousy part, complete with glasses and bad wig. Johnson is likable as the romantic lead. Suzanna Leigh has the right amount of spirit as school employee Janet Playfair. Barbara Jefford is commanding as the conniving Countess. Mike Raven, as the Count, was presumably hired due to a resemblance to Hammer regular Sir Christopher Lee, and he's just sort of there (he's even dubbed, by the distinctively voiced Valentine Dyall). Helen Christie, as ineffective headmistress Miss Simpson, and Harvey Hall, as the understandably angry Inspector Heinrich, are very fine in support.

Viewers who've seen the other films in this trilogy will likely also enjoy this one.

Seven out of 10.

Like THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN (1970), this is one of the most reviled Hammer efforts - but, again, I found it not that bad after all! Still, being one of the countless vampire-themed outings from the studio, it does feel like a tired rehash of better films; actually, it happens to be the middle part of Hammer's "Karnstein Trilogy" (inspired by J. Sheridan Le Fanu's classic short story "Carmilla") - if, admittedly, the least of them. As was the case with THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970) and would be again with TWINS OF EVIL (1971), the main behind-the-scenes credits weren't the usual Hammer stalwarts: producers Harry Fine and Michael Style, screenwriter Tudor Gates and composer Harry Robinson. While the latter's score is appropriately grandiose for the most part, the love song - apparently inserted without director Sangster's consent, or even knowledge - is a total embarrassment!

It starts off well enough: all-too-typical material, to be sure, but very atmospheric (Carmilla's reincarnation, for instance, or the scene where hero Michael Johnson is surprised at the dilapidated Karnstein Castle by three cloaked female figures he takes to be vampires) and reasonably entertaining for all that. Other effective moments include: Carmilla's botched seduction of the Suzanna Leigh character; a couple of falls down a well, rendered stylized by the use of slow-motion; and the climax with the vampires trapped inside their flaming castle (lit by the inevitable torch-bearing villagers).

However, following the demise half-way through of top-billed Ralph Bates (yet another impressive turn from Hammer's candidate to replace Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee), the film slowly falls apart; reportedly, Cushing was supposed to have played the scholar/would-be vampire disciple - but I can't help feeling he'd have been both too old and ill-suited for the role. Similarly, Sangster replaced Terence Fisher: it would have been interesting to see Hammer's top director tackle "Carmilla" - but I wonder how he'd have handled the erotic aspects of the story. With its full-frontal nudity and scenes of lesbian love-making, THE VAMPIRE LOVERS had been credited with pushing the boundaries of permissiveness in Hammer horror - and this certainly follows in that tradition, with the script coming up with every possible excuse to have its scrumptious female cast disrobe!

The film does suffer from the lack of a star cast or even those familiar Hammer faces (other than Bates, that is): there's no denying that leading lady Yutte Stensgaard looks great throughout but, ultimately, she makes for an inadequate vampire (since she's depicted as being more pathetic than evil); Suzanna Leigh, then, is an equally attractive heroine; Barbara Jefford and Mike Raven, however, don't exactly ignite the screen as the Karnstein descendants (he was an especially poor choice and Hammer apparently realized this, to the extent that they had his voice dubbed by Valentine Dyall - while close-ups of Christopher Lee's eyes were roped in to 'aid' his character display the requisite fierceness!); Helen Christie is unintentionally funny as the headmistress of the school (where a good deal of the action takes place), who breaks down at ill-fated Police Inspector Harvey Hall's interrogation after a girl goes missing - which she fails to report immediately so as not to damage the school's reputation!

In the Audio Commentary, Sangster explains how he was dismissed by the producers (with whom he never saw eye to eye) during the editing stage. Suzanna Leigh spends more time discussing her career (in particular the actress' brief stint in Hollywood) than her contribution to the film proper, also mentioning her role in an episode of Hammer's JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN (1968-9) TV series - that, incidentally, was entirely filmed in Malta - and, at one point, even describes an out-of-body experience she went through in the mid-70s! However, Leigh does recall the atmosphere on the set of LUST FOR A VAMPIRE as being somewhat tense - with the troupe divided into two camps (one of which was snobbish about the profession, while the other kept a good-humored attitude towards the whole thing). Curiously, no mention is made at all of the film's literary origins - or, for that matter, the fact that it formed part of Hammer's Karnstein trilogy!

Lust for a Vampire is the second of Hammer's Karnstein films. While the first, The Vampire Lovers, was far from being great, it is a much better movie than this, the first sequel. The acting is weak, the male lead is very unsympathetic, Mike Raven comes across as a Christopher Lee wannabe, the sets are "too clean", and the plot is incredibly predictable. In all honesty, I've probably rated Lust for a Vampire too high. Other than a few good set pieces and Yutte Stensgaard, it's really doesn't have much going for it.

Set Pieces - The scene of Carmilla's resurrection may be one of my favorites from any Hammer movie. It's a wonderful mix of blood, nudity, and some Satanic mumbo-jumbo. The sight of the half-naked Carmilla literally covered in blood is not one that is easily forgotten.

Yutte Stensgaard - The best word I can think of to describe Stensgaard is "stunning". If she's in a scene, I defy anyone (at least any male) to not focus on her. She may not have been much of an actress, but as far as eye-candy goes, she's hard to beat.

This definitely isn't the best Carmilla film (though the uncut version, unseen in the US, is highly erotic), yet it has a huge cult following largely due to the presence of Yutte Stensgaard. There are few one-hit wonder actresses in any genre who inspire such......lust. The edited US versions make this just another Hammer vampire film, the unedited version is definitely worth a look.