Watching an old interview with Ingrid Pitt recently (she died in 2010), I just had to weigh in on these two films especially THE VAMPIRE LOVERS as it had quite an impact on me when I first saw it in 1970. It was October of that year. I was a freshman at the University of South Carolina and already a Hammer devotee. I was already familiar with the Sheridan Le Fanu story CARMILLA and an earlier film version called TERROR IN THE CRYPT but I was not prepared for how R rated this film would be thanks to Ms Pitt’s lack of inhibitions and Roy Ward Baker’s sensitive direction which enhanced the film’s atmospheric qualities. The fact that I dated a girl in high school (I even took her to the senior prom) who strongly resembled Ingrid Pitt no doubt had something to do with my reaction. Of course it seems quite tame compared to what you see in movies today especially horror films but back in 1970 it was really something else and the film still has the power to occasionally mesmerize thanks to Ms Pitt.
COUNTESS DRACULA I didn’t see until a few years later when it played second hand at a local drive-in (I really do miss the drive-ins as I saw so many interesting films there from 1969-1975 before the X rated material took over). COUNTESS DRACULA is a totally misleading title as the title character is not a vampire and is in no way related to Dracula. She was based on a real Hungarian countess (Elisabeth Bathory) who bathed in the blood of virgins which she believed kept her looking young and fair (for a more accurate version see THE LEGEND OF BLOOD CASTLE with Ewa Aulin). Once again Pitt has a commanding presence and she is ably assited by British tough guy Nigel Green as her captain of the guard. There’s even Lesley-Anne Down who appears briefly as Pitt’s daughter. Hungarian Peter Sasdy’s direction is atmospheric with some occasional knockout camerawork. An ideal pairing of the two big Hammer films that Ingrid Pitt made for them and on which her reputation will always rest.
The Capsule Critic 