Almost every Hammer fan I've ran into ranks The Vampire Lovers somewhere on their top ten list of all-time favorite Hammer films.  So in such a case I'm always a little weary going into a film that has such a solid consensus behind it as usually they don't end up living up to the hype for me, but I must say that The Vampire Lovers is definitely one of the best Hammer films I've seen so far.

The Vampire Lovers begins Hammer Film's Karnstein trilogy.  The Karnsteins were a family of vampires that preyed on the inhabitants of the province of Styria Austria.  One evening a Baron, whose sister had been killed by one of the vampires, ventured out to put an end to the undead family's reign of terror.  He waits for one of them to awake, lures it into the nearby castle and beheads it.  Preceding then to exhume the remaining graves and destroy the bodies while they slept, but unfortunately he missed one.

Many years later the remaining Karnstein vampire returns introducing herself as the daughter of an exotic Countess, escorted by a mysterious man in black.  Due to an emergency the Countess leaves her daughter Marcilla (Ingrid Pitt) under the supervision of General Speilsdorf (Peter Cush-ing).  All seems well until the General's niece suddenly becomes terribly weak and eventually dies.  Puncture marks are discovered on her neck, and the mysterious visitor, Marcilla, is no where to be found.  After a short while, Marcella reappears in another area of the providence, again accompanied by the Countess, but this time going by the name Carmilla.  She's welcomed into the home of an Englishman with a beautiful daughter named Emma (Madeline Smith), who also begins to become suddenly weak soon after Carmilla's arrival. 

Carmilla's true identity is later revealed as Mircalla Karnstein, the last descendant of the Karnstein family.  Like every vampire she has an never-ending thirst for human blood.  She also has an unusual passion for a certain type of victim, young beautiful females with whom she seduces as she slowly drains them.  An ongoing investigation into the death of General Speilsdorf's niece, and the bizarre similarities of the symptoms Emma is experiencing, lead certain people in the providence to begin making connections.  Realizing Emma's time may be short, it is imperative they identify the vampire responsible and destroy her before more girls die.

The Vampire Lovers is based on a novella entitled Carmilla, originally published in the magazine The Dark Blue, between December 1871 and March 1872, predating Bram Stoker's Dracula by twenty-five years.  The story for the film was considerably "tarted up", as one writer stated, with a blend of lesbianism and gore that in the 1970's, was regarded as quite explicit and unthinkable.  Casting of the lead role was difficult, at one point Shirley Eaton (known mostly for her role as the gold painted Bond girl from Goldfinger) was considered for the part, but some felt at the age of thirty-two she was too old, so eventually a younger Polish actress by the name of Ingrid Pitt was cast, vaulting her into Hammer horror icon status.

Unlike some of Hammer's later campy horror excursions, there's no corny kung fu, or Chinese Dracula, a reference to Hammer's abysmal film The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula. The Vampire Lovers is only authentic vampire horror at its best. The combination of outstanding set pieces, filming locations and costumes are all melded fantastically within a story that's more entertaining and engaging than most of Hammer's prior and future projects. Ingrid Pitt will mesmerize you, as she flawlessly plays a seductive vampire, toying with her prey or simply going straight for the jugular. It's no wonder after this film she is regarded by many as one of Hammer's top female icons.

Of course the film gained a lot of attention for it's focus on lesbian dalliances, which for the time were considered quite explicit.  But compared to the sleaze Hollywood churns out today The Vampire Lovers is quite tame.  Aside from a few scenes of nudity there are no overly sexually explicit scenes, and the lesbian undertones of the film are portrayed through Carmilla's flirtatious speech and body language, anything further is inferred to as occurring off-screen.

Overall, The Vampire Lovers is a well-executed period piece vampire outing. It's one of Hammer's productions that encompass both a high consistency of acting, story, and production value, whereas so many of their other outings seem to fail horribly in at least one of those categories. While the film isn't perfect, it's definitely a worthy addition to the filmography of vampire lore and one of Hammer's more crowning achievements, not just in their horror genre, but out of all the films they've produced.

8/10