Les Passions des vampires

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.

I tend to like the classic horror films of Hammer, Universal, and American International, and "Vampire Lovers" is an esteemed favorite. There are many elements skillfully blended in this fine production, but the central appeal is Ingrid Pitt who breathes passionate, undead life into her role. Her impressive acting ability is matched by her smoldering screen presence and beauty. She is perfectly cast in this role. Wow, did the people who made this movie ever know what they were doing. The costumery, the lighting and photography, the staging, the acting and direction, all combine seamlessly for a stunning spectacle to be savored over and over again. This is the movie that single-handedly minted the "lesbian vampire" as a major cinematic motif, and set the standard for comparison that later entries in this genre would forever be judged by. I doubt we would ever have had such films as "Vampyres," "Vampyros Lesbos" or various Jean Rollin movies (not to mention Hammer's other Karnstein trilogy entries) without this film. And this movie could never have been as good without Ingrid Pitt. Her command of acting nuance is really something. Check out her facial expression when she's in the broken-down coach and Laura, all excited, tells her: "You're to stay with us!"

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.

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.

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.