Hammer Horror- Britain’s Studio of Blood: THE VAMPIRE LOVERS

Well, unfortunately, today is the final day of October. Which also means, today is the final day for our month long look at the films that defined Hammer Studios as the house of horror through the late 50’s to the early 70’s. This month we have seen the Frankenstein creature, Dracula, a mummy, a werewolf, and even a few zombies. Now on our final day, we will take a look at one of Hammer’s later films that also happens to be Hammer’s first film to centered wholly on a female vampire. This risque film that stars the voluptuous Ingrid Pitt is The Vampire Lovers.

Just Add a Little Nudity … That Will Fix Everything

The Vampire Lovers came about because of an idea by Harry Fine. Carmilla was a novella written by J. Sheridan le Fanu in 1871 (sixteen years prior to Bram Stoker’s Dracula). This story of a vampire countess obsessed with a debutante, caught the eye of Harry Fine. Hammer quickly made a joint deal with AIP to produce the film. After a quick two-month period, Tudor Gates produced a mis-guided script that seemed to be focused more on style than substance. The production was off to a shaky and rushed start. Nudity had been something that slowly became integrated into Hammer’s film, but it was nothing compared to what was injected in this 1970 film. Shooting for the film began on January 19^th, 1970. Previously, the BBFC expressed some concern for the film that included numerous bites to women’s breasts by newcomer Ingrid Pitt as well as the blatant lesbianism theme. Thankfully director Roy Ward Baker handled much of the shocking material with some restraint, thus preventing the film from receiving an “X” rating. American International was not happy when they heard a Hammer newcomer would star in the film. To appease their fears, Hammer brought on Peter Cushing to play a small but pivotal role. A classic story comes from star Ingrid Pitt and Peter Cushing’s first meeting with one another. Pitt walked up to the distinguished actor on set. As Cushing turned around, he held a wax model of Pitt’s severed head from the climax of the film. “My dear, I’m so sorry about that, do forgive me,” Cushing stated eloquently. The film premiered September 3^rd, but received a wider distribution on October 4^th on a double-bill with a biker film, Angels from Hell. The film’s success quickly provoked the studios to start working on a sequel, Lust For A Vampire, just two days later. Unfortunately for Hammer, the sequel received even worse critical response than The Vampire Lovers.

The Vampire Lovers (1970)

Beginning with an exciting sequence involving Baron Hartog breaking into a vampire castle, The Vampire Lovers quickly flashes forward to a large party held at General Spielsdorf’s (Peter Cushing) estate. When a mysterious Countess asks the General to watch over her daughter Marcilla (Ingrid Pitt) while she goes off to check on a dying family member, the General greets Marcilla warmly. Yet when the General’s daughter and Marcilla become too close for comfort, suspicions arise. After the death of the General’s daughter, Marcilla disappears into the night to find another willing family with a beautiful daughter. Unfortunately for Marcilla, her deadly secret is about to become known.

The Vampire Lovers has some of the best visuals (and not just the beautiful ladies bodies) to be featured in any of Hammer’s films. The Gothic style is turned up to “11” as we get foggy graveyards, cobwebbed and damp castles, be-headings, feverish dream sequences, and BLOODY bites and stakings. Unfortunately for the film, it severely lacks the classiness and polish of Hammer’s previous endeavors (mainly due to Terence Fisher’s non-involvement). Like I said previously, the film goes for creepy visuals instead of an involving story with fleshed-out characters. You could play a drinking game for every time someone says, “Go get the doctor!” or any other instance of “the doctor” in the lazy script. The first third and the last third of the film are filled with excitement, yet the middle suffers dreadfully. Thankfully the film makes up for the weak story with such amazing beauties. Ingrid Pitt and the lovely victims of her vampiric thirst are simply amazing to look at. The director clearly knows how to hold the attention of the audience as we are blessed with many scenes involving Pitt in sexual scenes with other girls (can we say bath-tub). Though for all the lesbian sequences, The Vampire Lovers is certainly not short on the violence as well. A great sequence told through flashbacks shows Baron Hartog’s massacre of a vampire family. The red stuff is flowing there as well as in Marcilla’s eventual demise. I recommend this Hammer film simply because of the visual feast that you witness. It has all the staples of a Gothic horror film. Unfortunately the film was not able to catch the magic of Hammer’s previous monster movies.

This lack of magic in replacement of cheap thrills (i.e. blood and nudity) eventually became Hammer’s demise in the world of Horror. Though Hammer went on to release horror films through the late 1970’s, most of these films seemed to not have the quality of Fisher’s original classics (though Vampire Circus, released in 1972, is highly regarded). The studio found it harder to compete with larger Hollywood productions of horror, including 1972’s The Exorcist. Hammer closed its book on horror by 1979. For thirty years, Hammer closed its doors and didn’t release any more feature horror films. A few years ago, Hammer saw a rebirth and the start of a new feature production for the once forgotten company. This project came as a remake of the Swedish classic Let The Right One In. Hammer released its first theatrical feature of the 21st century in October 2010 with Let Me In. Though considered a flop at the box-office, Let Me In returned Hammer to the horror stage. The studio will follow their tale of a young vampire girl with the ghost story, The Woman In Black. The film is currently in production and stars Harry Potter‘s Daniel Radcliffe. Hopefully, Hammer regains its reign in the horror community with their upcoming releases. I personally, welcome their long-awaited return. Long live Hammer Horror!