The Vampire Lovers is a 1970 English gothic horror film starring Peter Cushing and Ingrid Pitt. It was produced by Hammer Film Productions.
Hammer glamour reaches an all-time high in this buxom, blood-splattered genre favourite as the un-dead Mircalla Karnstein (seductive Ingrid Pitt) nibbles her way through a cast of gore-geous small-town vixens. Understandably upset at her choice of sexual partners, the local gentry decide to fight back, determined to plunge a stake into the heart of this Sapphic seductress and her delicious horde of voluptuous bloodsucking disciples! Packed with blood, breasts and beheadings – and boasting a top-notch cast, including: Horror icons Peter Cushing (Curse of Frankenstein) and Ingrid Pitt (Countess Dracula)alongside busty Bond girl Madeleine Smith (Live and Let Die) – THE VAMPIRE LOVERS is an erotically charged ‘70s classic from the famed Hammer House of Horror.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Ingrid Pitt, Roy Ward Baker & Tudor Gates
- Excerpts from J. Sheridan LeFanu’s ‘Carmilla’ read by Ingrid Pitt
- Original Theatrical Trailer
Vampire Lovers Movie Review
“Roy Ward Baker's The Vampire Lovers is not exactly classic Hammer, but is one of the early and better examples of the studio's newfound devotion to vampiric blood combined with good ol' plain-fashioned female nakedness. That's not to say that The Vampire Lovers is pure exploitation; historians of gay cinema, for example, should take note of the way in which the film incorporates overt lesbianism into the plot of a vampire flick. What some would dismiss as "jiggle flick” silliness others will take as a formative and influential step for gay cinema.
And even if you care nothing about the socio-sexual impact of British horror films from 1970, I can tell you this much: The Vampire Lovers has some gorgeous women in it – and many of them get nude. So there. Everyone's happy.
Firmly based on the short story “Carmilla,” by Sheridan La Fanu, The Vampire Lovers is about little more than a gorgeous and bossy vampiress (Ingrid Pitt) who runs rampant around the nubile young women of an 18th century village. To its inestimable credit, The Vampire Lovers finds a way to involve both the “old” Hammer style (lots of vampires being staked, fake red blood, and Peter Cushing roaming around) with the newer style of having busty women bounce around and drop their corsets at the slightest provocation.
Like I said, hardly a top-tier Hammer classic but one of the better examples of the studio's later-era output. And like the finest of the Hammer Horror movies, The Vampire Lovers has an outstanding score and some truly lovely art direction / cinematography combinations. It might not be memorable for being the most literate, intelligent, or terrifying Hammer Horror flick, but it's certainly memorable enough in its own right – if you like lesbians, vampires, and boobs, that is…" FEARnet