Lust for a Vampire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lust for a Vampire | |
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| Directed by | Jimmy Sangster |
| Produced by | Michael Style, Harry Fine |
| Written by | Tudor Gates based on characters by Sheridan Le Fanu |
| Starring | Ralph Bates, Barbara Jefford, Suzanna Leigh |
| Music by | Harry Robertson |
| Cinematography | David Muir |
| Editing by | Spencer Reeve |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures (USA, theatrical), MGM |
| Release date(s) | 1971 |
| Running time | 95 min / USA:91 min |
| Country |  UK &  USA |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | The Vampire Lovers |
| Followed by | Twins of Evil |
| IMDb profile | |
Lust For a Vampire (also known as Love for a Vampire or To Love a Vampire) is a 1971 British Hammer Horror film directed by Jimmy Sangster, starring Yutte Stensgaard, Michael Johnston and Barbara Jefford. It is the second film in the so-called Karnstein Trilogy loosely based on the J. Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla. It was preceded by The Vampire Lovers and followed by Twins of Evil (1972). The three films do not form a chronological development, but use the Karnstein family as the source of the vampiric threat. The three films were somewhat daring for the time in explicitly depicting lesbian themes.
Production of Lust For a Vampire began not long after the release of The Vampire Lovers.
The film has a cult following although some Hammer Horror fans have accused it of being overly camp and silly. It's most noted scene shows Yutte Stensgaard chest drenched in blood and partially covered by blood-soaked rags.
Other notable actors in the film are Ralph Bates, Harvey Hall (who has a different role in each film of this series), David Healy and popular radio DJ Mike Raven.
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[edit] Plot summary
In 1830, at a finishing school in Styria, Mircalla (Stensgaard) arrives as a new student. A visiting author, Richard Lestrange (Johnson) instantly falls in love with her. Mircalla is a vampire - Carmilla Karnstein - who has been resurrected by her vampiric family. As students in the school, inhabitants of the nearby village and those who suspect Mircalla is responsible, start to die suspicion turns toward the Karnsteins and their ominous castle.
[edit] Cast
- Yutte Stensgaard as Mircalla Herritzen/Carmilla Karnstein
- Michael Johnson as Richard Lestrange
- Ralph Bates as Giles Barton
- Barbara Jefford as Countess Herritzen
- Suzanna Leigh as Janet Playfair
- Helen Christie as Miss Simpson
- Pippa Steel as Susan Pelley
- David Healy as Raymond Pelley
- Harvey Hall as Inspector Heinrich
- Mike Raven as Count Karnstein
- Michael Brennan as Landlord
- Jack Melford as Bishop
- Christopher Cunningham as Coachman
- Judy Matheson as Amanda
- Christopher Neame as Hans
[edit] Production
Jimmy Sangster replaced Terence Fisher a director at very short notice. Partially due to censorship restraints from the BBFC (Hearn and Barnes 1998), this film and its sequel had increasingly less overt lesbian elements in the story. Carmilla, for example, in this film falls in love with a man. Ingrid Pitt was offered the lead but turned it down. Peter Cushing was supposed to have appeared in the film but bowed out to care for his sick wife. Ralph Bates, who described Lust for a Vampire as 'one of the worst films ever made' (Maxford 1996: 110), had earlier appeared in Taste the Blood of Dracula with Madeleine Smith, who starred in the previous "Karnstein" film, The Vampire Lovers.
[edit] References
- Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes (1998) The Hammer Story.
- Howard Maxford (1996) Hammer, House of Horror. Batsford: London
[edit] External links
- Lust for a Vampire at the Internet Movie Database
- Online review of DVD
- NY Times trailer
- Promotional Photographs
- Review with gallery of photos
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