User reviews

In Styria, Austria, General von Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing) gives a party and a countess explains to him that she needs to travel immediately to visit a relative that is ill. She leaves her daughter Marcilla (Ingrid Pitt) under the care of the General. Marcilla befriends his daughter Laura (Pippa Steele) and then the teenager has nightmares, where she is attacked by a dreadful creature. The doctor finds that Laura is anemic and soon she dies.

Marcilla leaves the house and the countess fakes a carriage accident to leave Marcilla, now known as Carmilla, with the wealthy Mr. Roger Morton (George Cole). Camilla befriends Emma Morton (Madeline Smith) and soon she starts having nightmares. Her governess Madame Perrodot (Kate O'Mara) is seduced by Carmilla and helps her to be close to Emma. Mr. Morton travels and the butler Renton (Harvey Hall) and the doctor suspect that Madame Perrodot might be a vampire but they do not suspect of Carmilla. Will Emma be saved from Carmilla?

"The Vampire Lovers" is a bold and sexy vampire movie by Hammer with the right dose of eroticism. In 1970, lesbianism was not a usual theme and a lesbian vampire was a novelty. This is the first time that I see a vampire associated to a shroud. The plot explores the sensuality of Ingrid Pitt and her female victims but is never sexploitation. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Carmilla, A Vampira de Karnstein" ("Carmilla, The Karnstein's Vampire")

Note: Last time I had seen this movie was on 07 December 2002.

Where would the horror field be if it weren't for the legendary Hammer Studios? With their constant creativity and new variations on the general topic of vampirism they delivered some of the most important genre-films ever. Roy Ward Baker's film the Vampire Lovers is one of the most essential movies Hammer ever released and it meant a landmark turning point for the sub-genre of bloodsuckers. Due to THIS film, vampirism afterwards always got immediately associated with eroticism and lust. The Vampire Lovers influenced notorious directors like Jess Franco (Vampyros Lesbos, Les Avaleuses) or Jean Rollin (Lips of Blood, The Living Dead Girl) who practically made an entire career out of lesbian vampire movies. But this is the real thing! A stunning screenplay, based on a classic tale by Sheridan Le Fanu, solid acting performances and an atmospheric – almost dreamlike – photography. Ingrid Pitt plays the best, most memorable role of her career as the gypsy vampire Carmilla. Her sensual character seduces attractive young girls at the homes of prominent men where she's at guest and turns them into weak, lifeless slaves. The worried men have to uncover the origin of this vampire wench in order to destroy her forever.

'The Vampire Lovers' offers a nearly perfect combination of atmosphere, beauty and tension. Mostly thanks to the female cast led by Ingrid Pitt, this is the most bewitching horror tale Hammer ever told. The ravishing naked bodies of Pitt, Madeline Smith (Theathre of Blood) and Kate O'Mara (Horror of Frankenstein) will give this film a spot in your memory forevermore. And that's not a sexist remark; it just needs to be said. Other than the charismatic female appearances, this production also depends a lot on the eerie set pieces and the nightmarishly dark images of graveyards, ruins and castles. Overall, a splendid horror film and a must see for all fans of Hammer, vampirism or gorgeous beauties.

RELEASED IN 1970 and directed by Roy Ward Baker, "The Vampire Lovers" is a Hammer horror based on Irish novelist Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla," which was published in 1872 and predated Bram Stoker's "Dracula" by 25 years. The story concerns a family of vampires, the Karnsteins, who prey on people in Austria by finding an excuse to leave their daughter at a rich manor. She then proceeds to patiently seduce the nubile woman of the abode as she drinks the blood of local peasant lassies and whomever else.

The main antagonist, Carmilla/Marcilla Karnstein, is played by Ingrid Pitt, who's effective, but a little too long-in-the-tooth for the role. While she prefers to prey on wealthy nubile girls and there are overt Sapphic undertones, she's just as willing to suck the blood of dudes when it suits her diabolic purposes. Her pretense of passionate romantic love is just that as she's intrinsically evil and referred to as a "devil" elsewhere in the movie. Make no mistake, she's solely out to find and feed off victims.

While vampires are fantastical, Carmilla is figurative of evil women who purpose to seduce or convert people and destroy them. This IS real life and I've seen it happen several times. The tale isn't for immature audiences because it's too convoluted, dramatic, weighty and mature. I saw it 15 years ago and wasn't impressed but, seeing it again, I now grasp it and it's virtually revelatory.

The female cast is superb, rounded out by: Madeline Smith (Emma), Pippa Steel (Laura), Kate O'Mara (The Governess, aka Mme. Perrodot), Janet Key (Gretchin, the maid), Kirsten Lindholm (the blonde vampire in the opening; also shown later), Olga James (Village Girl), Joanna Shelley (Woodman's Daughter) and Dawn Addams (The Countess/Karnstein matriarch). There's a little bit of tasteful top nudity and Pitt is shown totally nude on two occasions in a classy manner. She's a beautiful woman, for sure, but she doesn't trip my trigger.

As far as the male cast goes, Peter Cushing has a side role and Jon Finch is on hand as the gallant hunk. There are others.

FYI: "The Vampire Lovers" is the first part of the so-called Karnstein Trilogy, which includes the quasi-sequel "Lust for a Vampire" (1971) and the prequel "Twins of Evil" (1971).

THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour, 31 minutes and was shot in Hertfordshire, England.

GRADE: B+/B

Hammer Studios speeds up to the more sexually explicit times with Vampire Lovers, a sleek, beautifully filmed atmospheric filming of the vampire tale Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. This wonderfully done film combines the traditional vampire legend with the more permissive sexual standards of the 70's resulting in a sensual yet frightening version of this well crafted story. Ingrid Pitt is breathtakingly beautiful & sensual as the main character Carmilla. She is the human embodiment of a sexually charged feline, and Peter Cushing is appropriately sincere as her nemesis The General. This film singlehandedly established Ingrid Pitt as the reigning queen of vampirism in the 70's. Vampire Lovers is well worth the time for a viewing.

Certainly a movie one would use the word "good" for rather than "great", but this movie does contain flashes of the unique attributes that made Hammer such a winner in the first place but which had been largely forgotten by the company in its rush to replicate the success of "One Million Years B.C." with cheap imitations. Ingrid Pitt is probably the film's greatest asset, along with the very well done sets and art design in general.

Pitt plays a vampire lesbian who uses various forms of deception to seduce the daughters of England's upper crust. She comes off great in the role of seductress and is just barely convincing enough as the "innocent" her character pretends to be.

Cushing makes only 2 brief appearances, not making much of an impression (but he's given very little to work with here in a role that just about anyone could have played).

Memorable, not as good as Hammer's best vampire film "Dracula" (aka "Horror of Dracula", US) but definately one of its better, if not its best, films of the 70s.

_The Vampire Lovers_ is one of the most faithful adaptations of a story I have ever seen in a major production. Based on J. Sheridan LeFanu's _Carmilla_, Baker's film captures the essence of evil wrapped in feminine beauty. Ingrid Pitt plays Mircalla with great restraint; her character comes off cold and deceptive, but still driven by a need for love. The action is well timed and choreographed, and the nudity, though a bit gratutious at times, is photographed sensitively and with great appreciation for the actresses.

Yes, this is something of a guilty pleasure because of the leads' beauty, but if one looks beyond the titilation, the story, photography, and performances in _The Vampire Lovers_ hold up very well indeed! 8 out of 10.

As a million other people have noted, this is not only a solid entry in the long-running Hammer vampire cycle, but an interesting piece of film history as well. Just as the original Hammer Dracula pushed the boundaries of censorship and cinema by confronting audiences with the very first color vampire film, The Vampire Lovers brought Hammer into the even looser censorship standards of the 70s with lots of nudity, including nearly full frontal, and unflinching lesbianism. Lesbianism and all, the film is a somewhat faithful adaptation of Le Fanu's novella, Camilla. Surely, that content is the main reason Hammer adapted the story to begin with.

The cast is solid, and we are treated to the incomparable Peter Cushing in a secondary, though pivotal, role of an uncle grieving the loss of his niece from a mysterious illness. The pacing never bogs down, and there are some nifty shots of fog swirling through graveyards and around castle foundations.

Hammer entered the 1970s needing to update their formula and style a little and this is what the public were given as a result. The film opens with a bit of narration and your usual gothic sets and settings. While it retains it's old bombastic music the film does take us to some more varied locations than you might otherwise expect. I did like the opening quite a lot, there's this grey hooded spectre that seems to sort of glide through the night and mist, I would perhaps have preferred a movie with more of this as it gives it a strong element of mystery and dread. However it leads to a vampire being beheaded and then the story kicks off.

While it's a nice looking film, the blu ray looks good with nice soft colours, sort of pastel with a light film grain on the negative side you really don't buy for a second that it's actually the 1700s and not the 1970s. The makeup and hairstyles look far too modern, even the dresses are not remotely convincing but there you go. Peter Cushing is pretty much absent throughout the film, it's very female centred instead. Some of the acting gets a bit hammy I'm afraid, and overall there's a bit of a lifeless quality to it. A vampire keeps appearing on a horse though his appearance is never explained or resolved, it feels like something done in a reshoot or something. Madeline Smith though is beautiful in her role as the sweet character ready to be corrupted by the older looking vampire as her lover. She'd only have been about 19 or 20 at the time and looks so innocent. Some of the production design is a tad creaky but having a female villain does gives us something a bit new, vampires continue to be portrayed as evil and corrupting not as tragic or sympathetic creatures. The ending is a bit abrupt with not much time after given to tying up loose ends. By now these Hammer films were starting to get a little played out and were struggling to reinvent themselves in a changing time. Hammer started to go from trend setting to struggling to catchup with and even react what other new directors and filmmakers were doing. The film does have some merit, it still gets the vampire lore right, it's not a bad looking movie and it makes more explicit things only subtext in earlier films. The colours also look some what more faded than the earlier Hammer films with their almost garish reds and greens and ghoulish gore. The special effects are quite good but the story is paper thin at best.

An ocean of mist hangs above a grave. A figure enveloped in a white shroud swirls through that mist with balletic grace, then rakes a hand across a bloody mouth.* A man at his niece's deathbed calls for her missing friend. The call echoes through the empty chambers of the house and down the terrace outside, where the wind blows fallen leaves through the autumn night. The calls merge with older echoes in a cemetery beneath a ruined castle. A woman walks in those mists, clad in her nightgown. The mists dissolve her from sight. * "I want you - to love me - for all your life," pleads a beautiful vampire turning from the view through a moonlit window to clasp the girl she loves with desperate intimacy. * That same vampire woman stands on a terrace in the sunset, tears glinting in her eyes while she listens to the ancestral echoes that condemn her to her fate. *

Yes, this is pure Hammer Horror: a work conceived as sheerest exploitation which somehow transforms itself - in its greatest moments anyway - to an authentic romantic poetry. Yes, of course, a lesbian vampire movie made by men may seem the height of sexism, and at a conceptual level the movie may be open to those charges. But a female gothic artist was involved here: Ingrid Pitt, whose Carmilla is such a vivid presence as to render herself the character we root for and her patriachal enemies as the true pale-faced monsters (Has Peter Cushing ever come across as less loveable?). Other screen vampiresses are bimbos or boogeywomen or upmarket fashion plates by comparison: Pitt is tigerish, witty, tender, passionate, vulnerable, savage and tragic: Perhaps the only actor, male or female, who has brought to full life all the complexities of the vampire psyche. She's great and the other film-makers, at their best, rise to the challenge she sets. The movie is hardly unflawed but when its accidental poetry gels, few movies in its genre can surpass it.

Hammer studio's 'The Vampire Lovers' is an durably crafted, highly unusual and sensually lusting period Gothic vampire tale in the tradition of Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Camellia'. Can you go wrong with the likes of horror icon Peter Cushing, striking buxom ladies in Ingrid Pitt (who really has an hypnotic pull when she puts the moves on the ladies), Pippa Steel, Kate O'Mara and Madeleine Smith tagging along for the enticingly nightmarish ride of flowing blood, screams from the bottom of the lungs, creeping bare skin and the undead of the night. Director Roy Ward Baker's (a Hammer veteran) tidily pastel display steadily moves along (which it could probably have used a little more spruce in the tactically taut story), as it breathes atmosphere with its sweeping orchestral score, focal photography and lushly detailed locations. The production looks top-notch, being earnestly staged with moments of visual suspense. Nothing beats its opening scenes, but after that it seems to concentrate on the dependable erotic tone of the story. A very commendable Hammer outing.

I've finally caught up with this erotic supernatural thriller, which is bundled with "Countess Dracula" on an Ingrid Pitt Double Feature DVD. Having heard about this film since I was a boy reading "Castle of Frankenstein" magazine, I was well aware that more adult themes are included in this film than in the average Hammer vampire movie. And it still does have the power to shock today's audiences. I still wonder whether the "lovers" of the title are vampires or the mortals who love them? The question remains unanswered in my mind.

It's not news that "The Vampire Lovers" was based on Sheridan Le Fanu's novella, Carmella, and expounded on his original undercurrents of lesbianism and the eroticism often connected to vampire folklore. So here we have ancient vampire Ingrid Pitt traversing the countryside with her mother/aunt Dawn Addams, who looks near her contemporary in age. Apparently plenty of English Aristocracy easily throw open their doors for the likes of lovely, if somewhat distant, mystery ladies who make themselves right at home. Then beautiful vampire Pitt ingratiates herself with any virginal young lady in the household in order to slowly drain the blood from her body by biting her on the breast.

This is all pretty standard Hammer fare, but now served with a steaming hot portion of female skin and eroticism. Lovely and iconic cult figure Ingrid Pitt dominates the film, and she's fascinating to watch. All the women concerned are lovely to look at, and the proceedings move along at a nice pace, aided by colorful and atmospheric sets and locales.

A (very) loose adaptation of the novella "Camilla". Starts right off with a bang when a female vampire being beheaded but that's about it for graphic violence. It's basically about a beautiful lesbian vampire (Ingrid Pitt) who is going after every young attractive woman around. That's about it for the plot.

I have (vague) recollections about seeing this at a drive-in when I was 8! I do remember Pitt attacking some men and a pretty mild (for now) lesbian sequence which had quite a reaction from my parents--my mother was disgusted, my father was enjoying it and I couldn't figure out WHAT was going on! I figured they were just good friends. I remember liking it...but I was very young.

Seeing it now it does have its moments. There are some very erotic, beautifully filmed sequences. There's next to no violence but there's plenty of female nudity. As a gay man I found this pretty dull. It contains the same overly familiar Hammer sets found in all their other films and has a pretty vague plot (who IS that guy in black on the horse?). Also a beheading at the end is SO obviously fake. On the positive side Peter Cushing is on hand to give another good performance and Pitt is very beautiful and is a pretty good actress--some of her expressions are priceless! And Jon Finch is handsome and hunky as the main hero.

But, all in all, I was bored. The lesbian bits are tame by todays standards (I heard they were considered pretty extreme for 1970) and--unless you're interested in lesbian vampires or pointless female nudity--this is pretty dull stuff. I give it a 3 for some of the acting and good direction--but I can't recommend this.

This film gets a lot of ribbing for the casual nudity that bedecks it. Not fair. This film is in many ways another Hammer classic with its good solid acting, its lush photography and costuming, and general sense of horror. It is based in part on Sheridan Le Fanu's classic female vampire story Carmilla about a young girl that befriends other young girls only to vampirize them. Ingrid Pitt plays the toothy(and toothsome) vampire wench in all her busty splendour. She is magnificent on the screen and oozes sex appeal. Yes, she goes topless as do her female co-stars....but although one sees that these scenes feel forced...they do not detract from the film(and for me they enhanced it greatly). The rest of the cast is good with Peter Cushing as a general in a small role and Harvey Hall as a servant standing out. The best part of the film for me is the eerie graveyard of the Castle Karnstein that we are introduced to in the prologue and again visited to in the epilogue. It really sets the mood of the story and was a pretty inspired rendition of the Carmilla tale.

Seductive vampire Carmilla Karnstein (Ingrid Pitt) and her family target the beautiful and the rich a remote area of late 18th century Germany.

At only a £165,227 budget, how could they afford to do anything other than hire Peter Cushing and Ingrid Pitt? The answer, of course, is that these horror icons were not earning the huge salaries their counterparts today are.

But Pitt and Cushing are not even the biggest deal here. Although not as well known as Cushing or Pitt, Madeline Smith was a Hammer regular and is half of the "vampire lovers" from the title. She had previously appeared in "Taste the Blood of Dracula" (1969) and go on to do "Theatre of Blood" (1972) and "Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell" (1972) before going even more mainstream as a Bond girl.

Further, director Roy Ward Baker is perhaps best known for his work with Hammer and Hammer horror, but actually had a long, distinguished career in Hollywood, including directing the Golden Globe-winning "A Night to Remember" (1958) and a young Marilyn Monroe in "Don't Bother to Knock" (1952).

This is seen as a "female-driven film" when seen from a feminist perspective, and more generally thought of as a lesbian vampire film. Pitt says this is not a lesbian film and stresses that "vampires are not lesbians", they are just very physical and passionate. Baker says the producers probably wanted to suggest lesbian themes, but that was never his intention -- he wanted a good film, not a sensational one. He further says the lesbian theme is not in the original story, regardless of what others claim.

The audio commentary on the MGM disc features director Roy Ward Baker and actress Ingrid Pitt, which is well worth a listen.

If it wasn't for the large amount of cleavage and nudity, "Vampire Lovers" would be a pretty bad movie. Because there is so much skin in this movie, it remains on my Hammer rotation. By Hammer standards, however, "Vampire Lovers" is sub-par. Hammer films are usually well produced, good looking movies. The sets and backgrounds of this movie look cheap. The male members of the cast aren't up to snuff either. Even the always great Peter Cushing seems off his game in this movie. Despite all of the flesh, "Vampire Lovers" starts to wear out its welcome after a while.

Eerie and spooky film based on Sheridan Le Fanu's Camilla and following a sequel titled Lust for a Vampire . This enjoyable flick was soon used in countless imitations , rip-offs and other vampire vehicles . And deemed to be Hammer Studio's first terror film with nudism, another addition to the horror genre which spread rapidly , including its follow-up . It starts with an attactive pre-credits sequences holding dreamy beauty . Dealing with an anger father : Peter Cushing , who goes after a lesbian vampire : Ingrid Pitt who has ravished his daughter and other young girls in a peaceful European village . She's the New Horror from Hammer¡ . A hot nightmare of unsettling lust that throb in headless , undead bodies ! . Beautiful...or Bloodthirst monster ¡ .A Bloodstained Tale of Terror and Torture ¡ . Even the Lifeless Can love , Even the Dead Can Desire . A Tale of Unholy Blood Lust . If you dare..... taste the deadly passion of the Blood Nymphs . Carmilla is really queen of lesbian vampires ¡ .

This creepy film contains thrills , chills , nudism and horrifying scenes. The movie which became Ingrid Pitt a major terror film cult figure, playing splendidly a voracious lesbian vampire . This is an erotic nightmare of tormented lust neither apt for squeamish , nor for virginal people , but for free spirits . This important yarn marks the point at which vampirism in British film turned so overtly erotic that the pictures virtually ceased to be about anything except sex and naked women . After that , examples of the strain were to become terribly repetitive , monotonous and slutty . Along with horror main stars : Peter Cushing and Ingrld Pitt appears an acceptable support cast with plenty of beautiful girls as Pippa Steele , Madeleine Smith, Kate O'Mara , Dawn Addams and other notorious actors as John Finch , George Cole , Ferdy Mayne and Douglas Wilmer .

The motion picture was well and compellingly directed by Roy Ward Baker . He was a British artisan who made several terror films such as : The Monster Club, Masks of Death, And now the Screaming Starts , The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires , Vault of Horror , Asylum, Dr Jekill and Sister Hyde , The Scars of Dracula , The Anniversary , among others. The flick will appeal to Peter Cushing and Ingrid Pitt fans .

First movie of the Karnstein Trilogy. The film is not that bad - it does hit a lull for awhile then picks back up.

The first part of the film Marcilla ends up invited to stay with General von Spielsdorf and his daughter Laura. Laura is lured by the vampress Marcilla. Marcilla drains Laura of blood, Laura dies due to blood loss.

The second part Marcilla changes her name to Carmilla. And ends up being invited to stay with Roger Morton and his daughter Emma. Emma is lured by Carmilla and is beginning to be drained of blood by Carmilla. This is the lull in the movie because it almost is a repeat of the first part of the film.

The third part the movie picks back up when the men put their heads together to hunt down the vampire Mircalla Karnstein and end her murderous terror.

Marcilla / Carmilla / Mircalla Karnstein is in fact the same woman/vampire played well by the beautiful Ingrid Pitt. Mircalla is a bi-sexual vampress as she lures not only women but men as well.

I LOVE the atmosphere, sets, costuming and the music of this film!! This is appeal of the film - the look and feel of it.

It is the lull that the movie hits that bored me... just a bit to much of the same in the second part as the first part. (I am calling it parts or acts but maybe wrong about that.) Yes there is romance or humm more like lust in the film: and the title fits the film.

7/10

"General von Spielsdorf" is hosting a party when an attractive "Countess" (played by Dawn Addams) shows up and happens to bring another attractive woman named, "Marcilla" (Ingrid Pitt) with her. Not long afterward the Countess receives news that a relative is dying and she asks the General if he can accommodate Marcilla until she returns about a week or two later. Being chivalrous he agrees to the delight of his young niece "Laura" (Pippa Steele). In no time Marcilla and Laura become good friends. Unfortunately, during this same time Laura becomes extremely tired and anemic. She also experiences nightmares of a large gray cat attacking her in her bed. Within a week or so Laura is dead and Marcilla cannot be found. When the doctor examines her he notices two bite marks on her breast. A day or two later a gentleman named "Roger Morton" is riding his horse with his daughter, "Emma" (Madeline Smith) when they come across a coach with two women inside. The first woman explains that her companion is sick and asks Roger if perhaps she can stay a night or two with them. Roger agrees to take in "Carmilla" who happens to be "Marcilla". Soon Emma and Carmilla become good friends. Likewise, Emma begins to have nightmares and becomes both tired and anemic. Anyway, rather than detail the entire movie I will just say that this was a pretty good vampire film. It does, however, deviate a bit from the standard vampire traditions. For example, in this film vampires don't like the sun but apparently they are able to function during the day. Likwise, they are apparently able to disappear in a vapor and have a new vulnerability in which they need to retain their death shrouds. Quite frankly, I didn't care for these nuances. Additionally, it features a ghoulish person on a horse but never quite explains his purpose or significance. On the plus side is the fact that there are several lovely women (most notably Ingrid Pitt) and they are used in a highly erotic fashion. Along with that there is good suspense and the acting was also pretty good all around. All things considered then, I rate this movie as slightly above average.

"The Vampire Lovers" is one of three Hammer vampire movies starring Ingrid Pitt (in fact, this appears on a DVD with "Countess Dracula"). In this case, she plays Marcilla, the scion of the Karnstein family. The Karnsteins were rumored to be vampires and a man finally shoved stakes through their hearts. But wouldn't ya know it, Marcilla didn't die! So, she starts lusting after hot young women and drinking their blood. Peter Cushing plays vampire hunter Gen. von Spielsdorf.

For the most part, this movie wasn't much different from other Hammer vampire flicks, but there's an interesting aspect here: I interpreted it as implying that Marcilla was a lesbian, the way she goes after women. But that's just my interpretation. It's not a good or a bad movie, just average.