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When the new Blu-ray edition of the 1970 British horror film The Vampire Lovers arrived, my eye was immediately drawn to the bright yellow label reading “CAUTION: Not for the mentally immature!” Of course, I watched it anyway. Now I can assure the rest of you that no degree of mental immaturity should prevent you from enjoying this trip back to a particular moment in horror cinema.
Set in late 18th century Austria, The Vampire Lovers follows a mysterious woman named Marcilla (Ingrid Pitt) as she comes to stay for a few days at the home of General von Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing). She strikes up a close friendship with several young women in the area, including the General’s daughter, Laura (Pippa Steel), and another girl Emma (Madeline Smith). When those young women begin to die mysteriously, evidence points to the presence of a vampire—and Marcilla is the prime suspect.
If you’re at all familiar with Hammer Films Productions, you already know what to expect. Hammer excelled at Gothic melodrama that was full of beautiful if obviously constructed mist-covered sets, extreme blood and gore (for the time, anyway), and implied sexual overtones. As the ‘70s arrived, Hammer faced a changing market and increased competition from American genre filmmakers. The Vampire Lovers and the two sequels that followed were a response to that competition, amping up the sexual content and sensationalism, if not the gore.
Adapted from a short story that actually predates Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Vampire Lovers takes the frequent trope of vampirism equals sexual predation and spins it a little by presenting a female vampire preying on young women. While a few of the filmmakers (including Pitt herself) have argued that any implication of lesbianism is unintentional, it’s clearly evident what kind of shock value they were going for. For fans coming from the earlier Hammer films, the amount of nudity is a bit surprising—even if any actual sexual content is still only implied.
It would be easy to dismiss the film as an excuse to show a half-naked Ingrid Pitt and Madeline Smith wrestling to drive ticket sales, and that wouldn’t be entirely wrong. But this is also a film that occupies a unique space in the development of the genre, part of a shift from melodrama and implication to the shock and titillation we have now.
No matter what it may say on the cover, in 1970, The Vampire Lovers was a movie aimed directly at the “mentally immature.” Looking back on it in context takes a bit more work, but it also makes it more rewarding. Either way, it’s a perfectly fine entry from the latter days of a classic studio, and it’s well worth remembering.
Blu-ray Review:
The Blu-ray release of The Vampire Lovers is a case where I’d argue that at least two of the included featurettes are required companion viewing. The first is a straightforward making-of, with commentary by film historians and those involved in the production. It sometimes tries a little too hard to ascribe deep meaning to every aspect of the film, but the context it provides is invaluable. Also take the time to watch the interview with Smith, whose recollections of being a naïve starlet in a big, sexy horror movie are absolutely charming. A third feature, with Ingrid Pitts reading selections of the original story, is also interesting but less helpful.
