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Lust For A Vampire (1971)Directed by Roy Jimmy Sangster
Lust For A Vampire is the second in Hammer's Karnstein Trilogy of films. The first film in the series, The Vampire Lovers was based on J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla. Lust For A Vampire extends the idea and continues the story forty years later, in 1830, but with Danish actress Yutte Stensgaard starring as Carmilla instead of Ingrid Pitt, who took the role the previous film. The film begins by showing Karnstein Castle high up in the hills, the scene then cuts to the village below, where a fair, young maiden is just about to take some dinner out to her father -- who, one presumes, is working out in the fields. The viewer never finds out for sure though because she never gets there. She makes it through the woods okay, but as soon as she is out in the open countryside, a carriage pulls up beside her, the door swings open and, smiling, she climbs inside. Her father really should have told her though, not to get lifts with strangers, because once she is seated inside the carriage she gets a better look at the hooded figure sitting beside her, and as soon as she starts screaming it becomes pretty apparent that her dad is not going to be getting his lunch any time soon.
The
carriage whisks the now unconscious maiden up to Karnstein Castle,
where her travelling companion--who turns out to be the countess from
the first film--slits the girls throat and drains the
blood into a chalice. While this is happening the rather sinister
looking Count Karnstein offers up prayers to Satan, before pouring the
still warm blood into Carmilla's casket, then, after a few more
incantations, the bones that have lain there for forty years begin to
flesh out quite nicely and the finished result looks pretty damned good.
Mr
Barton introduces Richard to Miss Simpson, who runs
the school, and it is not long after this that the Countess Herritzen
arrives with her niece Mircalla, who is to be a new student, and
Richard, fickle guy that he is, forgets all about the other girls and
the very lovely Janet; he now only has eyes for Mircalla.
Of course Mircalla is actually the reanimated Carmilla Karnstein and, as in the last film, she is a lesbian and so prefers to prey on members of her own sex. Later on in the film, however, the ever persistent Richard manages to get a job tutoring at the school and begins his pursuit of Mircalla. He is so taken with her that even though he is quite aware that she is a vampire he continues to force his attentions on her until he finally gets a bit of vampire loving up in the grounds of the castle. He seems to blow the girl's mind too and the lovely Mircalla appears to be quite taken with him after that. The main characters in Lust For A Vampire are Richard Lestrange and Mircalla, with Janet Playfair, constantly flitting around in the background because not only is she is in love with Richard, but she hopes that he might be able to help her discover why some of the girls have vanished. Unfortunately for Janet, Lestrange has eyes only for Mircalla (Perhaps he prefers older women) and he has a pretty good idea what has happened to the girls so, in an effort to protect his love, he tries to talk Janet out of spilling the beans to the authorities about what has been going on at the school. Richard might love Mircalla, but it is a love that is doomed from the start. Not only do they come from different backgrounds, but the young lady has some rather nasty eating habits as well.
CAST Ralph
Bates
... Giles Barton Christopher
Cunningham ... Coachman
DVD Information:
Run Time 95 mins Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Language English Watch The Trailer This
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Michael
Johnson plays writer, Richard Lestrange, who is lodging in the village.
When the landlord of the tavern notices Richard flirting with
one his bar girls he explains that in normal circumstances there is no
harm in having a joke with a serving girl, but these are not normal
times and the writer will not find any girl in the village willing to
talk to a stranger. He then goes on to say that it is forty years--to
the day--since they
were last seen, and before that forty years again. When Richard
enquires who he is talking about the landlord says, "Karnstein. That's
their castle up on the hill." The Karnsteins, he goes on to explain,
are vampires; they have the power to reanimate themselves and now is
the time of their return. When the landlord adds that the Karnsteins
prey on young virgins Richard treats it as a joke and tells the
landlord that he is not worried because he is not
a young virgin. When he realizes the depth of feeling the villagers'
feelings, however, he decides to prove the legend wrong by going up to
Karnstein Castle himself. Alone!
Once
he is actually up at the castle Richard begins to loose some of his
confidence, especially when he notices a fresh blood stain on the
alter. Then, when three beautiful young girls appear, he remembers the
landlord's words and seems to be about ready to do the proverbial pap
in his pants. Fortunately for him (and whoever does his laundry) the
girls are not vampires at all, but students from a new finishing school
that has set up shop in the vicinity. The girls are accompanied by one
of their tutors, Mr Barton, and Richard follows the group back to the
school where he has a job keeping his eyes in his sockets when he sees
all the young ladies dancing in the garden. At that point he seems
especially interested in one of the teachers, Janet Playfair. 
Lust
For A Vampire was made in 1971
and things were tamer in those days, so the viewer is spared having to
see too much nastiness: blood is shown, but not the wounds that pump
it. When the countess slits the young maiden's throat, for instance,
the camera does not show the cutting just the draining. In a way Lust
For A Vampire is just as much a
love story as it is a horror film because that strange Richard
Lestrange really does loose his heart to the un-dead girl. The story is
pretty weak though and Lust
For A Vampire is not nearly as
good as The Vampire Lovers.
I also noted that Harvey Hall, who played the manservant Renton in The
Vampire Lovers, has a part in
this film as well, this time as Inspector Heinrich. I recognized him
straight away and it made me wonder if there was such a shortage of
actors available to Hammer that they were forced to use a known face
from one film, in the sequel, as a totally unrelated character. In
fact, in a similar manner, Peter Cushing, who played General von
Spielsdorf in the first film returns in the final part of the trilogy,