Watch Out! She Bites: The Vampire Lovers (1970)

When the Countess (Dawn Addams) arrives late at the gala held by General von Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing), she has a chance to dance with the host but then receives bad news. A friend lies dying, and she is needed at his bedside. However, her daughter Marcilla (Ingrid Pitt) is having such a lovely time. And not in the least because von Spielsdorf’s daughter Laura (Pippa Steele) has taken to her so quickly …

Ever the gentleman (and played by the gentleman of horror, no less), von Spielsdorf offers to watch over her until mother’s return. He will come to regret this kindly offer when his daughter soon develops nightmares in conjunction with a wasting sickness. Marcilla tends her day and night, but nothing seems to help. Even the local doctor (Ferdy Mayne) is powerless to recognize the issue or take proper steps. Laura is doomed, you see, the victim of an ancient evil masquerading as a comely woman. By the time the threat takes hold, Marcilla has disappeared, moving on to greener pastures … and fresh offerings.

Soon enough, The Countess and her “charge” (now operating under the name Carmilla) have moved on to the Morgan estate, securing a place there under Roger Morgan (George Cole), the governess Mme. Perrodot (Kate O’Mara), the butler Renton (Harvey Hall), and Morton’s curious, waifish daughter Emma (Madeline Smith). Carmilla insinuates herself into the household with ease, she’s a practiced predator after all. Emma falls under her spell and begins wasting away before the family’s eyes.

When von Spielsdorf returns with Baron Joachim von Hartog (Douglas Wilmer), an expert on this sort of phenomena, these sorts of creatures, is it too late to stop the horror plaguing the Morton house? Or will they be able to find the creature’s resting place in the ruins of Castle Karnstein and put a permanent stop the ancient evil? Roy Ward Baker helms a gothic horror film that makes text from some of the queer subtextual elements found in J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s famed vampire work, Carmilla, with the spooky adaptation, The Vampire Lovers (1970).

In the opening half of the film, there is a clever use of a mysterious rider dubbed The Man in Black (John Forbes-Robertson) who observes the various doomed households. The pale man grins and glares and seems like a Dracula-type mastermind character, and for a day and age not already familiar with the concept of the ultimate vampire adversary being a woman, this must have been an effective bait and switch. The audience may have expected he was the chief villain and Carmilla was just a bride or other lesser vamp. However, this proves not to be the case at all, and seen as someone versed in the genre’s film and fiction components fifty years on, the bait and switch is not even remotely effective anymore. That character never really interacts with anyone in the play, is visible on horseback at various points before the bloodsucker strikes or in the pre-end titles sequence bares fangs in a meanspirited grin promising the sequel, perhaps, or proving that evil might be stopped in one guise but never removed forever from this earth. That stranger never really gels as a component and ultimately feels tacked on to fill out the run time.

As Hammer Films veered toward the final decade of its initial run (it has since returned as the production company behind flicks like 2009’s Wake Wood and 2012’s The Woman in Black), it decided to embrace some of the excesses to be found in the time and culture. So, the sexiness that had been teased at before with low cut gowns on vampire maidens and Christopher Lee’s appeal as a vicious lover Dracula were set aside in favor of a bit more explicitness. The gowns came undone or were cast aside entirely, to give viewers a look at the exposed breasts of its cast. Ingrid Pitt has fond recollection of her nudity days, and she’s obviously having a ball here as the wicked vampire antagonist. Madeline Smith seems less enthused (which fits with her naïve character). The use of nudity as titillation is neither good nor bad on its own. Baker seems to employ it here as an added layer of sensuousness, of flesh to be torn by savage supernatural evil (the women tend to end up with bite marks north of a left nipple, the men tend to have their throats mercilessly torn open).

The gamble with material that gave Hammer an R-rating reaped some fine rewards, however. This co-production between Hammer and American International Pictures nabbed solid returns at the box office. Is the movie any better for the flesh? Not really. It’s still behaving the same way as many a Hammer production—the vampires are sadistic monsters, the heroes are clueless until an expert arrives, there are equal parts derring-do and gothic horror. What this picture has going for it is a quirky approach to the sexiness factor. The seduction sequences are often between the big bad Carmilla and two lovely young things, changing up the heterosexuality of previous flicks. Carmilla is not a lesbian vampire by any stretch of the imagination (though the film has a rep for being a lesbian vampire flick). In fact, she’s equally comfortable taking what she wants from any human being and delights in her sexuality. She toys with anyone and everyone until she decides to stop and their blood winds up in her belly. The film grapples with lusty men, certainly. The queer content takes the form of questioning or curious young women and a bisexual antagonist.

Ingrid Pitt is electrifying as countess Karnstein. She can believably woo her way into anyone’s trust before baring her fangs. The performance is good, and she seems to be having a ball as the wicked antagonist.

Peter Cushing is not the star of the show on the heroes’ side, though he has a larger part than we might expect—his disappearance for the length of a Bible in the middle leaves us wondering if he will ever return. When he does, it is a treat. He brings such compassion and strength to his characters, and The Vampire Lovers is no exception.

The actors playing the seduced innocents, Pippa Steele and Madeline Smith, bring a sweetness to their roles that trots right up to saccharine but wisely never steps over that particular threshold. More than that, they have personalities and goals that don’t always align with the lessons imparted by the patriarchs in their lives.

In fact, it’s easy to see how inadequate the gents are in this film. Baron von Hartog might be a veteran supernatural slayer, but he’s played as a kind of recluse and incapable of making social connections—these days, we might locate such a character somewhere along the autistic spectrum. Father figures von Spielsdorf and Roger Morton are considerate but ineffectual until it’s far too late to make a difference on their own. The doctor is too bound up in the educated world to pay credence to folklore. Renton is bound by duty and rather repressed, and neither of these qualities can hope to stave off Carmilla’s plans. Then again, the repressed governess is also prey. There’s a young lad lover in there as well who does very little until the conclusion where the strapping young man must save his lady fair from vampires … and alternate sexual orientations. The plot gives him his abilities, it would seem.

Carmilla is the one who gets things done, using the weaknesses in those around her to best advantage. Of course, her own strength is put to the test by a gang of wronged fathers and lovers in an obligatory “evil is undone” ending. But Dracula is similarly destroyed in the finales, only to rise again in future installments.

In fact, The Vampire Lovers is the first of a trio of films set in the shadow of Castle Karnstein. It would be followed by Lust for a Vampire (1971) and Twins of Evil (1971)—Hammer could never be accused of not striking either while the iron is hottest or the box office demand is loudest, for better or worse. Unfortunately, neither of these flicks would see a return of Ingrid Pitt. She’d moved on to other things, including a turn as Elisabeth Bathory in Countess Dracula (1971), as a horror movie starlet in “The Cloak” segment of the portmanteau film The House That Dripped Blood (1971), and as The Librarian in The Wicker Man (1973).

The movie as a whole is interesting enough, applying some of the best energy and creative filmmaking to be found in the Hammer Film Productions’ 1970s era, there are some missteps, including the man in black character’s isolated scenes. Even from the start, the picture indulges a superfluous prologue with a lengthy voice over that seems lifeless, dull, and in complete contrast to the beautiful and mysterious images it is applied to.

Visually, the picture is quite stunning throughout. Moray Grant’s cinematography delivers some lovely sequences, lit perfectly, and taking full advantage of the lush settings and the actors peopling them. Fog and wind, diaphanous gowns and theatrical costumes, faces both experienced and innocent all get captured to best effect.

The Vampire Lovers may not be in the top five of Hammer’s productions, but this is not due to a lack of ambition. It’s a clever and delightfully subversive effort, with solid performances and a vamp on her baddest behavior. Enjoyable, quirky, and prescient in its efforts to portray queerness front and center. Six or seven months later, Daughters of Darkness (1971) would come along to show the gothic horror world how lesbian vampires should be done, but before that, Hammer was leading the way and Ingrid Pitt’s Carmilla/Marcilla/Mircalla was the model of a calculating, shrewd, sexually free, and delightfully dangerous vampire.

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The Vampire Lovers is available in DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD editions.

Next, we will take a look at the second entry in the Karnstein trilogy. Lust for a Vampire is available in DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD editions.

Writing for “Watch Out! She Bites: The Vampire Lovers (1970)” is copyright © 2024 by Daniel R. Robichaud.

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