Social Media Post -  The Vampire Lovers (1970)

 England’s Hammer Films became the new home of gothic horror in the late 1950s when they began remaking the classic Universal monsters movies.  Beautifully shot in vibrant technicolor with elaborate sets and period costumes, the studio included many beautiful, scantily dressed women displaying prominent decolletage straining the seams of their diaphanous nightgowns.

As time went on, the studio increased the quantity of pulchritude on display. The Vampire Lovers (1970), directed by Roy Ward Baker and written by Tudor Gates, the first of the Karnstein Trilogy, set a new standard for increased nudity and graphic sex.   The film introduced Countess Mircalla, Countess Karnstein, one of the first openly lesbian vampires. Church doctrine still had a heavy, negative influence on public opinion of homosexuals and lesbians‌. In popular culture, gay men and women were often portrayed as predators who sought to lead the innocent astray and destroy families.  Hammer took these fears a step further by making her an actual monster that disguises herself as a young woman and moves from family to family, draining the blood of their teenage family members.   

Hammer cast Polish born actor Ingrid Pitt as the countess, who alternately goes by Marcilla/Carmilla/Mircalla.  Pitt was a Holocaust survivor who escaped from a concentration camp during World War II. Later in life, she left acting to concentrate on writing and was a bestselling author who wrote many books on a wide variety of topics. Besides her natural beauty, she also spoke with an exotic European accent. 

Peter Cushing, one of Hammer’s best known actors, a played General Spielsdorf, one of the bereaved men hunting the countess.  Cushing is best known for playing Baron Frankenstein and Professor Van Helsing in many of the sequels to Hammer’s versions of Frankenstein and Dracula.