In early 19th centuryStyria, a beautiful blonde in a diaphanous gown materializes from a misty graveyard. Encountering the Baron Hartog, a vampire hunter out to avenge the death of his sister, the girl is identified as a vampire and decapitated. Many years later, a dark-haired lady leaves her daughter Marcilla in the care of General Spielsdorf and his family in Styria. Marcilla quickly befriends the General's niece, Laura. Laura subsequently suffers nightmares that she is being attacked, and dies of a gradual sickness; whereupon Marcilla departs. Faking a carriage break-down, Marcilla's mother leaves her at the residence of a Mr. Morton, where Carmilla befriends and seduces Morton's daughter Emma. Thereafter Emma suffers nightmares of penetration on her heart, and her breasts shows tiny wounds. Emma's governess, Mademoiselle Perrodot, becomes Carmilla's accomplice. The butler and a doctor suspect them; but Carmilla kills each one. A mysterious man in black watches events from a distance, smiling. Having killed the butler, Carmilla takes Emma prisoner and departs. When Mademoiselle Perrodot begs Carmilla to take her too, Carmilla kills her. Emma is rescued by a young man named Carl, and Carmilla flees to her ancestral castle, now a ruin. All this coincides with the arrival of the General, who brings a now-aged Baron Hartog. They find Carmilla's grave, which reveals that her true name is Mircalla Karnstien, where the General forces a stake into Carmilla's heart, and cuts off her head. Thereupon Carmilla's portrait on the wall shows a fanged skeleton instead of a beautiful young woman.
Cast
Ingrid Pitt as Marcilla/Carmilla/Mircalla Karnstein
The film was a co-production between Hammer and American International, who were interested in a vampire movie with more explicit sexual content to take advantage of a more relaxed censorship environment. It was decided to adapt Carmilla. Harry Fine and Michael Style were the two producers. Before production, the script of The Vampire Lovers was sent to the chief censor John Trevelyan, who warned the studio about depictions of lesbianism, pointing out that a previous lesbian film, The Killing of Sister George, had had five minutes excised by his office. In response, Hammer replied that the lesbianism was not of their doing but was present in the original story by Le Fanu. Trevelyan backed down. Production of The Vampire Lovers began at Elstree Studios on 19 January 1970 and used locations in the grounds of Moor Park Mansion, Hertfordshire. Produced on a relatively low budget of £165,227, it was the final Hammer film to be financed with American money—most of the later films were backed by Rank or EMI. While filming the scene in which Carmilla attacks Madame Perrodot, Ingrid Pitt's fangs kept falling out and dropping into Kate O'Mara's cleavage, prompting gales of uncontrollable laughter from both actresses. Finally, Pitt grabbed some chewing gum from the mouth of one of the crew members and used it to secure her vampire teeth.
Critical reception
The Vampire Lovers has received mixed reception from critics. Variety's review of the film was mixed, claiming the story was not great and it had "fairly flat dialog," but the script had "all the needed ingredients." A. H. Weiler of The New York Times called it "a departure from the hackneyed bloody norm... professionally directed, opulently staged and sexy to boot." The Monthly Film Bulletin declared, "Rather below par, even by recent Hammer standards, this involves the customary heavy breathing, lusty fangs and tolerably luxurious sets, with the innovation of an exposed nipple or two to support the lesbian angle." Dave Kehr wrote a favourable retrospective review for Chicago Reader, writing that the film "resulted from the last significant surge of creative energy at Britain's Hammer Films, which thereafter descended into abject self-parody." Film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film a passing grade of two-and-a-half stars, calling it a "rather erotic Hammer chiller". Allmovie wrote, "This Hammer Films production isn't their finest moment but its easy to understand why it has become an enduring cult favorite with horror fans: The Vampire Lovers pushes the "bloodshed & bosoms" formula of the Hammer hits to its limit". On review-aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 56%, based on nine reviews, and is certified "rotten".
