Trivia

The picture that appears behind the opening credits is an 1896 painting by Hungarian artist Istvan Csok. It shows the real Countess Bathory enjoying the torture of some young women by her servants. In an inner courtyard of one of her castles, the naked girls are being drenched with water and allowed to freeze to death in the snow.

Countess Dracula was based on Hungarian Countess Erzsebet (our modern day "Elizabeth") Bathory who lived from 1560 to 1614. Countess Bathory was allegedly responsible for the deaths of approximately 600 virgin girls, all of which involved torture and gruesome methods of killing. Her atrocities are mostly speculation. She is credited for influencing our modern day concept of Dracula as an entity depending on human blood for youth and vitality.

Ingrid Pitt's voice was dubbed. Supposedly, she was so furious at director Peter Sasdy that she vowed never to speak to him again.

Although there is a disclaimer in the opening credits that all characters in the film are fictitious, it's obviously based on the real "Bloody Countess" Elzebet Bathory. Although the Countess (played by Ingrid Pitt) is named Countess Nasdadny in the film, in one scene a woman remarks "She's a witch! All the Bathorys are witches!". The countess is named Elisabeth Nadasdy in the film; the real Countess Elisabeth Bathory married Ferenc Nádasdy, and the woman in the film remarking that 'all the Bathorys are witches' matches this.

During an interview with Ingrid Pitt in 2000, she revealed she felt her acting in this film was her best work, but it was with reservations. When asked what those reservations were, she said "First I'm not ecstatic about the fact that they dubbed my voice. With no reason as far as I was concerned. I had done Where Eagles Dare for MGM, Vampire Lovers and half a dozen American TV series as well as some minor English language films and nobody had ever complained. Another thing that didn't go down too well was that they intercut some of my most dramatic scenes and lost all the power of the performance. But that's probably just me being actressy."