HAMMER FILMS SPOTLIGHT
HAMMER FILMS:
THE KARNSTEIN VAMPIRE SERIES
British vampires up the ante bringing sexy back ..From beyond the grave.
An exclusive TheHorrorDrunx.com article
by
SID TERROR
Hammer Films in England made a real name for themselves in the late 1950's and throughout the
60's with their own color versions of the Frankenstein and Dracula legends, turning Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing into Horror icons and stars.
Hammer featured Vampires, Werewolves, Mummies, man-made Monsters, Zombies and all other forms of creatures. It seemed like they had picked up the flaming
torch that America's own Universal Pictures irate villagers had stumbled and dropped sometime in the 1940's.
American International Pictures (A.I.P.), the American company that was perhaps Hammer Films closest
competitor, were still doing largely black & white films in the 1950's, unable to keep up with the rich Technicolor productions Hammer was
making. Hammer had the edge budget-wise as well, being able to make a much better looking film for the same money by utilizing British locations. And the
fact that the UK economy was a lot different helped too.
By the 1960's though, American International was catching up with their British Horror cousins.
A.I.P.'s Poe series with stars such as Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, and Peter Lorre were beginning to give them a run for their money. When actors
who had cut their teeth in Hammer films, such as THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN's Hazel Court, began crossing the pond to star in A.I.P. fare such as THE
RAVEN and THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, you can bet that Hammer was starting to feel the squeeze.
By the time the 1970's came around, American International was even beginning to produce and distribute
some of Hammer's films. Hammer knew it was time to up the ante if they wanted to keep their edge and give audiences the kind of Horror they
couldn't get anywhere else. So about the same time A.I.P. was proving they could master Hammer's Dracula/Vampire territory with the Count Yorga
series and others, Hammer changed gears.
Hammer films always had a sexier kind of gothic Horror, featuring a bevy of very beautiful and buxom British
scream queens, but what they were about to unleash on an unsuspecting public was going to take it to a new level...
ABOVE: Bared breasts and jutting nipples meet gothic Horror
...litterally. A Hammer films trademark. (from The Vampire Lovers)
To do so, Hammer went back to classic Victorian Gothic Horror, using as their source material a novella by
Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu titled "CARMILLA". First published in 1872, a full 25 years before Bram Stoker's DRACULA,
this female vampire, who could shape-shift into a large black cat (instead of a bat) and slept in a coffin, many say was in fact one of Stoker's
inspirations for Dracula.
(If you would like to read the CARMILLA novella in its entirety, it is available online at http://www.sff.net/people/Doylemacdonald/l_carmil.htm )
Incredibly racy for its time, the more knowing readers (and some of the less knowing too), savored every sexual overtone. The vampire Camilla only chose
female victims, treating them like lovers with sweet whispers of "I will take you and make you mine", often biting them on the breast to suckle
their blood. It wasn't hard to read between the lines as the seduction of the innocent by another worldly predatory woman unfolded. Both literary and
steamy, it was Horror tailor made for the house of Hammer.
The studio developed a story adaption, with screenwriter Tudor Gates eventually credited on the final
screenplay. Produced by Harry Fine and Michael Style with Roy Ward Baker directing.
The problem was casting just the right actress as the lead character of Carmilla / Mircalla Karnstein.
Through a chance meeting at a film premiere, Hammer founder James Carreras bumped into Polish born actress Ingrid Pitt, whose work had caught his eye in
the Clint Eastwood / Richard Burton film WHERE EAGLES DARE. He invited her to a meeting at the studio the next day and after a short interview she went
home with a copy of the script under her arm, having won the role.
ABOVE: Ingrid Pitt as
Carmilla / Mircalla Karnstein.
One of the studio's veteran Horror star's, Peter Cushing (Van Helsing in Hammer's DRACULA series)
was cast very shortly before production as "General von Spielsdorf", no doubt for the audience recognition of his familiar and well-practiced
Vampire killing abilities. Hammer's own Dracula himself, actor Christopher Lee was offered the part of "The Man In Black" but turned it
down. Instead John Forbes-Robertson would take the job. (He would later replace Lee again in the 1974 film THE SEVEN BROTHERS MEET DRACULA for the same
director)
Finally the title would be changed also, becoming THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, released in the U.K. theatrically
October 4, 1970 and here in the U.S.A. 18 days later on October 22, 1970.
ABOVE: A theatrical British "Quad" poster. (Courtesy of
the authors private collection)
The Vampire Lovers had all the erotic sensuality of the original novella and more, plus plenty of nudity from
it's nubile cast. Audiences made it a pre-Halloween hit for the studio. Certainly, the permissive 1970's were giving Horror fans something they
had never seen before.
ABOVE: Ingrid Pitt and Pippa Steele in a
publicity photo - The seduction of the innocent
in THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970)
Shot on lavish sets and locations in beautiful Technicolor by veteran T.V. director Roy Ward Baker, it was also artistically well crafted, putting it
head and shoulders above most of the American Horror films of its time that were trying to emulate the Hammer formula.
ABOVE: The art of film making. This side by side comparison shows an example of one of the films many smash edits between (Left) Pippa in her bed
thinking of Carmilla and (Right) at the same moment Carmilla slumbering in her coffin.
Ingrid Pitt as the sexy vampire Carmilla became a Horror star overnight, the first all new female monster
character in quite some time. And with a supporting cast including Hammer beauties Pippa Steel, Kate O'Mara, Madeline Smith and Kirsten Betts,
suddenly no one was missing the old guys in capes.
ABOVE: The cast members of THE VAMPIRE LOVERS were highly edible,
with something for every taste. (left to right)Ingrid Pitt,
Pippa Steel, Kate O'Mara, Madeline Smith and Kirsten Betts.
THE VAMPIRE LOVERS was a much needed money maker at theater box-offices for Hammer. Almost immediately, the studio began plans for a sequel, plotting to
create their first new hit Horror series since THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957) and HORROR OF DRACULA (1958) over ten years earlier.
Hammer and American International Pictures (the films distributor) knew the formula had been a hit and jumped on trying to hurry the sequel into production and a theatrical release while public interest was high and the iron was hot. The hopeful studio was putting their best efforts into the next Karnstein chapter even if to some it seemed a bit hurried and slap-dash. Despite the fact that Hammer films often looked much better than those of their competitors, one can't forget that it was still a grind house factory that would put a new project through the pipeline incredibly fast.
Harry Fine and Michael Style would of course return as producers. Tudor Gates returned as the screenwriter to develop the sequel, but having exhausted the story line of the original novella had free reign to create an entirely new tale based on Carmilla Karnstein and the other J. Sheridan Le Fanu characters. Hammer's top Horror director, Terence Fisher was quickly signed to helm the ambitious project, with their new star Ingrid Pitt, Horror icon Peter Cushing and Pippa Steel all slated to return. At least that was the plan, until things partly skidded off the rails in the eleventh hour.
Firstly, Ingrid Pitt decided she wasn't going to be coming back, which is a near formula for disaster when the studio is planning a series and the lead who made the original a hit backs out. (Could you have imagined Hammer's DRACULA or FRANKENSTEIN series having gone on to success without Lee or Cushing returning?). Depending on who you ask, Pitt didn't care for the script for whatever reason, or as some have said the new Horror stars self-inflated ego wanted more money than the studio was prepared to pay. Either way, she was out and the part would have to be recast. After a harried search to find a replacement, the studio was finally able to find an actress that was more than her match as a replacement. ...beautiful Danish actress Yutte Stenssgard was cast as CARMILLA.
Then disaster struck twice again. Peter Cushing requested to back out of his role as male lead in order to tend to his long-ailing wife Violet. Then director Terence Fisher also had to back out almost on the eve of production due to a broken leg. The sequel formula was going bad fast. On very little notice, three of the films major ingredients had needed to be substituted. First Cushing was replaced by actor Ralph Bates, then Jimmy Sangster (primarily a writer and producer) was brought on last minute to replace Terence Fisher.
The finished film and the second in the Karnstein vampire series, titled LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, was rushed into U.K. theaters on January 17, 1971... Barely three months after release of The Vampire Lovers.
ABOVE: LUST FOR A VAMPIRE poster
art courtesy of the authors collection.
Yutte Stenssgard was perfect (and gorgeous) as the new Carmilla and has become a favorite actress of Hammer fans. I'd rank her right up there with Veronica Carlson and Caroline Munro as my personal favorites. What had been all the hoopla about replacing Pitt again? Ingrid who?
ABOVE:Yutte Stenssgard in LUST FOR A VAMPIRE.
So hot she'd make a school teacher
invert a cross!
The film did have its problems though. One of them was setting it in an exclusive boarding school for girls. While incredibly tittilating putting a lesbian (now bisexual) vampiress in a all-girl school full of perky nubiles, they couldn't very well have her hiding in a dark closet during daylight hours when she needed to be in class. The first thing that they had done away with was that pesky "Vampires can only come out at night because sunlight will kill them" rule and the film suffered because of it. Films had for most of the century portrayed vampires as being night only creatures, so scenes of Carmilla cavorting around in the sunlight put major question marks over audiences heads.
Hammer, always eager to save a buck, was notorious for shooting exterior night-time scenes during the
day (when they would not have to use as many lights and perhaps go into overtime) then printing the scenes darker in the lab. Though The Vampire Lovers
had its share of botch day for night scenes (blue sky reflecting on supposedly night-time ponds, big blue skies behind trees in a night forest, etc.), it
was never more apparent than in Lust For A Vampire.
ABOVE: More than just Yutte's fangs get bared in
this movie.
Lust For A Vampire also caused some confusion because actress Pippa Steel had returned in the sequel as an
entirely different character than she had portrayed in the prequel.
Then there was also the unfortunate theme song on the soundtrack, titled "Strange Love",
which often got unintentional laughs from audiences. Not that it was really so bad of a song, just terribly out of place because it was far too modern
for a story that was set in 1830. Something a bit more of that vintage musically would have played fine.
ABOVE: The Hammer publicity department goes into overdrive
with another titillating publicity still of Yutte Stenssgard.
Lastly, even more confusion was caused for audiences when another film Ingrid Pitt had made right after The Vampire Lovers for Hammer, titled COUNTESS
DRACULA (1971) had played in many areas before The Vampire Lovers sequel... There had been an inexplicable delay of eight months between the January 1971
release of LUST FOR A VAMPIRE in England and its U.S. Theatrical Release Sept 2, 1971. You'd have thought Hammer would have figured this through and
delayed the release of another Ingrid Pitt vampire film, when Pitt wasn't appearing in the sequel to her own hit.
Regardless some of its shortcomings though, LUST FOR A VAMPIRE is a solid film, with some great
performances and good scares. And of course several steamy scenes featuring beautiful nude vampires, that are probably responsible for causing
fetishistic behavior all over the globe for the last several decades.
Undaunted by diminishing box-office recipts Hammer had enough of a hit that another sequel, a third film in
the Karnstein vampire series, was soon in the planning stages.
Meanwhile, producers Harry Fine and Michael Style, along with screenwriter Tudor Gates would all return for
the third in the Karnstein series, which for now was using the development and shooting title THE VIRGIN VAMPIRES.
Peter Cushing would return as well in the lead role, however Yutte Stenssgard who had gone on record saying that she was not fond of doing the required nudity in Lust For A Vampire would not be onboard. Ingrid Pitt was asked to do a cameo reprising the character of Countess Mircalla Karnstein but thinking it beneath her, also turned down the part, with Katya Wyeth eventually being cast in the short but important role.
The real tough part would be the casting of the two female twins in the film. But those old boys at
Hammer, always keeping an eye out for new talent, need look no farther than the October 1970 issue of Playboy magazine and found the first identical twin
centerfolds. ...Madeline and Mary Collinson, twins and not opposed to doing nudity? You're hired!
ABOVE: Madeline and Mary Collinson portray
amorous bisexual twin schoolgirl vampires
wearing sheer nightgowns in TWINS OF EVIL.
How many more fetishes could possibly
be exploited in the same movie?
Thank you Hammer!
Hammer sure could crank out the movies quick. With a title change to THE EVIL TWINS (or in some areas TWINS OF DRACULA, though the Dracula series had
nothing to do with this story) the film was released October 3, 1971 in England.
To give you an idea how fast Hammer was making these films, its prequel Lust For A Vampire had only been released a month prior in the U.S.A. However,
with another slight name change to TWINS OF EVIL, this third Karnstein film wouldn't be released until eight months later in the United States, in
June of 1973.
ABOVE: (left)An American "one-sheet" poster and (right) a
British "quad" poster for TWINS OF EVIL.
(Courtesy the collection of the author)
ABOVE: A poster featuring one
of the alternate titles.
Though TWINS OF EVIL had the least in common with the two previous movies in the Karnstein series and any sort of real chronological thread was difficult
to tie, it turned out to be a very creepy film and one of the best Hammer pictures of this era. The only downside during production seemed to be that the
Malta born Collinson twins had to have their voices dubbed after filming, but no one in theaters was complaining. Indeed, Hammer seemed to be notorious
for regularly dubbing their stars with new dialogue rerecorded by other voice actors.
TWINS OF EVIL (basic plot):After the deaths of both their parents, twin sisters Frieda and Maria
Gellhorn (real-life sisters Madeline and Mary Collinson repectively) are sent to live with their uncle, Gustav Weil (Peter Cushing). Uncle Gustav, the
leader of a group of puritanical vigilante religious zealots called "The Brotherhood" are on witch burning crusades that make the Spanish
Inquisition look tame by comparison.
The Brotherhood run afoul of the dreaded Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas), a Marquis DeSade type who is not only a worshipper of the black arts, but a
vampire. Soon as revenge he gets naughty twin sister Frieda under his control. Now Cushing and The Brotherhood must fight for her life and soul.
Again, TWINS OF EVIL was one of Hammer's best and it is a pity that it would be the last
film in the Karnstein Trilogy. Well, the last real OFFICIAL one anyway. More on that later. If you can't find TWINS OF EVIL anyplace else, seek it
out on YouTube where the entire feature is posted in 9 parts.
Hammer was still hungry for a new Horror franchise and almost got it later in 1972 with the completion of CAPTAIN KRONOS - VAMPIRE HUNTER. First produced as a pilot for a proposed T.V. series (writer / director Brian Clemens had done THE AVENGERS series) the story centered on a traveling Vampire Hunter and the hunchbacked Professor Grost traveling the countryside in an armored coach filled with all forms of weaponry.
The problem was that Hammer was in financial trouble at the time and Clemens budget was cut mid-production, forcing him to drastically pull back on what he wanted to do with this story.. With the public tastes changing, Hammer's gothic Horror's just weren't drawing audiences to the box-office like they used to and the company was trying desparately to reinvent themselves, considering a foray into television.
The film was completed, on September 15, 1972 it was put before the British censors board and they demanded that some cuts be made. Whether those cuts were ever made or not, or if they were appealed is not known, but with an unsure future Hammer took its immediate attentions away from the jump to television.
The film languished in the vaults at Hammer for the next year and a half until someone at the studio
looking to get some money coming in the doors, decided to make a deal for CAPTAIN KRONOS - VAMPIRE HUNTER to be distributed theatrically. The studio
needed another feature to pair on a double bill with its FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (which would end up being the final film in their long
running Frankenstein series) so why waste a costly studio asset? On April 7, 1974 Captain Kronos was finally released in the U.K. and release in the U.S.
came in June of 1974. These release dates tell the story why this 1972 made film is always listed as 1974 in film research books.
ABOVE: U.S. One-sheet poster art courtesy of
the authors collection.
This seldom seen film could also very nearly be considered the FOURTH film in the Karnstein series, when it is revealed that one of the vampires is a
member of the Karnstein family by birth. The fact that Ingrid Pitt has admitted that she was asked to make a cameo in this part (again she turned it
down, as she had in all films since The Vampire Lovers) adds extra weight to the notion that perhaps before production trims by the studio, this very
well could have originally been considered another full blown sequel in the Karnstein series.
With great action sequences, some occult references and vampire lore we had never seen in Hammer films
before, and a Vampire Killer / swashbuckling James Bond type character, it is also one of my favorite films of this time. Very unique. With Hammer's
financial troubles at the time and the poor performance at the box-office due to bad promotion, no plans were ever followed up on to continue the Kronos
as a series. Horst Jannsen as Captain Kronos, John Cater as Professor Grost and Caroline Munro as Carla. A great chance for a new film series sadly
slipped through their fingers.
Films mentioned in this article to add to your
"must see" list or home DVD collection:
THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970)
LUST FOR A VAMPIRE (1971)
TWINS OF EVIL (1971)
CAPTAIN KRONOS - VAMPIRE HUNTER (1974)
"My name is Sid Terror and I am a Horror Drunx"
SID TERROR
Editor-In-Chief
TheHorrorDrunx.com Online Magazine
Hollywoodland California
December 2009
LEGAL NOTICE: Copyright 2009 THE HORROR DRUNX. The information contained in this article may not be published, broadcast, edited, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the author or THE HORROR DRUNX. All articles originating from www.TheHorrorDrunx.com and THE HORROR DRUNX message boards are exclusives and are not authorized to be reprinted, nor their exclusive information reprinted, edited, or rewritten any other place.
