This being the second of the Karnstein Trilogy and
featuring some of my favourite Hammer stars, I’ve been very remiss in not
watching this film before (I know!). On a recommendation from Judy Jarvis (nee
Matheson) I bought the Studio Canal Blu-ray which, as it happens, comes with an
excellent interview with Judy amongst a host of extras and a sparkling
transfer. It looks fantastic and, whilst it’s not as well executed as Karnstein
III, Twins of Evil or as iconic as Karnstein I, Vampire Lovers, it
is a very enjoyable romp that perhaps should have stuck with its original title,
To Love a Vampire.
It’s fascinating to hear Judy’s fond recollections of not
just this film but also her other Hammer work including Twins alongside
the Strange Love featurette which addresses the changes affecting Hammer
in 1970. In 1969 Anthony Hinds was leaving Hammer after decades as writer and
producer for his father’s company whilst Hammer also lost Warner Brothers’ US
distribution deal and ended up working with independent distributors, Fantale
Films which included producers Harry Fine and Michael Style along with writer
Tudor Gates.
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Judy Matheson and Yutte Stensgaard
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Fantale were keen to take advantage of the liberalisation
of censorship rules and the Hammer films they were involved in mostly in 1970,
all feature the more graphic sexual and violent content that was prevalent at that
time. This film has a reputation for high levels of nudity and – largely –
female sexual engagement; "cheesy" for some and difficult to contextualise now.
But Judy Matheson recalls the atmosphere as being very supportive and
considerate with a positive approach led by director Jimmy Sangster as well as
Ralph Bates and other senior leads. Lust does indeed feature a lot of
female flesh but overall, it is indeed less about the lust and more about the
love, “strange” though it is.
Judy has a scene with Yutte Stensgaard, presented in an
“overseas” topless version and domestic cut with strategically draped sheet,
but she remembers it being well managed and professionally done by the crew. As
she also points when even Helen Mirren, Glenda Jackson and other RSC alumni had
made nude appearances at this point, not to mention Oliver Reed and Alan Bates…
in terms of overt sexploitation,
Lust for a Vampire is pretty tame
certainly in terms of the ratio between narrative exposition and sex; if anything,
it’s a pretty wordy film.
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Yutte Stensgaard, Barbara Jefford and DJ Mike Raven
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The story begins 40 years after Peter Cushing chopped
Ingrid Pitt’s head off in The Vampire Lovers and in a world where the
former wasn’t available and the latter declined to be. We’re in Castle
Karnstein with the Countess Herritzen (Barbara Jefford) and Count Karnstein (DJ
Mike Raven, as always looking the part but not quite acting it…and even being
dubbed by an uncredited Valentine Dyall) who are conducting a satanic ritual to
resurrect their daughter Mircalla after having captured a pretty young virgin
from the village (Kirsten Lindholm). She lies head back on the slab and they
cut her throat – did I mention how squeamish I am? - and drain her blood to
pour into Mircalla’s coffin and re-animate her young and beautiful as ever.
Mircalla is, of course,
Carmilla previously played by Ingrid and now by the Dane, Yutte Stensgaard who,
according to Jonathan Rigby (author of English Gothic) and others is
actually closer to the character as depicted by Sheridan le Fanu in his original
novel, Carmilla being very young (Stensgaard was 24, Pitt 33…) and less worldly
than Ingrid could ever be. Unfortunately, the acting level is not the same and
Yutte merely does OK, possibly overawed by the role or, as Judy suggests,
lacking in confidence amongst the Brits. She is radiant though
reminding me of Katy Perry in terms of her look and with a stronger script
and better coaching she could have made more sense. Possibly.
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A proper finishing school...
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There’s a school for young ladies in the locale and when
Irish writer, Richard LeStrange (Michael Johnson), goes to research the
supposedly abandoned castle for his next book on vampire horror, he is
surrounded by a group of diaphanously dressed students, including Amanda (Judy
Matheson) who briefly convince him they’re reincarnated Karnsteins, before
revealing the gag. The writer meets the people who run the school, Miss Simpson
(Helen Christie) and Giles Barton (Ralph Bates, who replaced Peter Cushing who
had taken time out to nurse his terminally ill wife) along with Janet Playfair
(Suzanna Leigh) who is conducting what looks like ancient Greek Panathenaeac
dancing in the grounds with the ridiculously good-looking pupils.
That ratio of impossible to improbable shifts
significantly to the former as young Mircalla is brought by the countess to
join the school… LeStrange is immediately spellbound and intrigued by both the
legends and those
looks, engineers a way of joining the school staff.
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Ralph Bates and Michael Johnson like a lady vampire they really do...
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Miss Simpson’s establishment soon becomes a finishing
school in ways she couldn’t imagine as pupils begin to disappear as do others
outside with yet another barmaid lost at the village tavern, Trudi as played by
the super Luan Peters who, incidentally appeared in a further two films with
Judy Matheson,
Twins of Evil and
The Flesh and Blood Show, both
part of the group of players guaranteed to deliver performance in films often
made on the tightest of schedules and meanest of budgets!
Strange loves develop all around Mircalla both with other
pupils Susan (Pippa Steel who shines brightly and briefly) and with teachers too as LeStrange
is compromised by his feelings for her even as he is certain she is a vampire…
is even she a victim of circumstance? Meanwhile Miss Playfair has her own stake
in things as she falls for the writer and, in one of the film’s strongest
scenes, so well played by Leigh, pleads with him to examine his conscience and
report the Karnstein cabal to the authorities: I thought of you as someone
honest and courageous when you first came here… She is, as is noted in the
featurette, the moral heart of a film in which most characters either lose
their way or aren’t fully realised.
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There's not just a Strange Love scene but also a lovely tinted dream sequence... like in a silent movie!
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Meanwhile, the writer has strange dreams of his
contrasting attractions to the teacher and the pupil… as a song called Strange
Love, sung by a young singer called Tracy and written by film producer Michael
Style, plays. An up-tempo version was later released as a single and is quite
collectable!
The human cost of Mircalla/Carmella’s existence soon
brings real consequence as the locals plan revenge, parents of missing pupils
arrive and the loves or lusts that dare not, soon have to speak their name…
Dusty verdict: Lust for a Vampire feels
somehow incomplete but the sentiment is clear and it does make for a vampire
film with a difference… a sympathetic lead and humanity led by hearts not
heads. It’s not as clunky as its reputation has it nor even as
exploitative as the marketing would have it, as for 1970 being a “blip” year
for Hammer, I’m not so sure given the affection with which the Karnstein
Trilogy is held as entertainment and nostalgia. The company may have wanted to
take advantage of changes in censorship, like most, but the raising of the
X-rated age of admittance from 16 to 18 mid-year surely made it harder for the
company to target the younger market as some of the commentators suggest?
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The female gaze.
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