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Awix (3310 KP) rated Lust for a Vampire (1971) in Movies

Feb 17, 2018 (Updated Feb 17, 2018)

Lust for a Vampire (1971)

1971 | Classics, Horror, International

5.7

(3 Ratings)

Movie Rating

I Was A Teenage Lesbian Vampire in a Girl's Boarding School

Largely risible Hammer vampire movie. After the censors objected to all the not-very-subtly-implied lesbianism in The Vampire Lovers, the studio replaced that with a story about a schoolteacher becoming infatuated with one of his pupils and starting a torrid romance with her, which apparently was seen as less problematic (it was the 70s, I suppose).

Initially conceived as another vehicle for Ingrid Pitt and Peter Cushing, to be directed by Terence Fisher; in the end Pitt did Countess Dracula instead, Cushing passed due to family problems, and Fisher was replaced by Jimmy Sangster. The result is a prurient melodrama largely untroubled by subtlety, style, or acting talent (Ralph Bates is not too bad in the role earmarked for Cushing). The sex and nudity which is essentially the film's sine qua non feels very tame by modern standards; the pop song on the soundtrack will make discriminating viewers want to rip their own ears off.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Hammer House of Horror in TV

Mar 15, 2018 (Updated Mar 15, 2018)

Last-gasp attempt by the famous film studio to stay solvent is a fairly decent stab at a horror anthology show, featuring some of Hammer's regular personnel (though not Christopher Lee, as he was in the States at the time).

The fact the show was made for a commercial British network inevitably means the horror content is somewhat constrained, and the low budget means the episodes have a contemporary setting quite unlike the archetypal Hammer films (then again, Amicus House of Horror wouldn't have been as catchy a title). This being an anthology show, the quality and tone of the episodes is inevitably all over the place: some of them are rather subtle and inventive, others are predictable nonsense. Some good performances, though, including many from the before-they-were-famous file - a 27-year-old Pierce Brosnan gets one of his first speaking roles as 'Last Victim' in the Carpathian Eagle episode. As a whole, the series is probably more of a curiosity for Hammer completists than anything else.