The Witches

The Witches

Directed by: Cyril Frankel

UK, 1966

Horror/ Occult, 90min
Hammer Horror

Missionary schoolteacher Gwen Mayfield [Joan Fonatine] escapes from a terrifying and traumatizing attack during her time in Africa. Back from Africa, and following something of a breakdown, she moves to the small rural English village, Heddaby when Alan Bax [Alec McCowen] and his wife Stephanie [Kay Walsh] invite her to come take a position as head teacher in the village’s school. At first all is fine and Gwen quickly settles in, despite the fact that Bax wore a priests collar when they first met even though he’s not a man of the clergy, and the fact that the village still hasn’t rebuilt the burned down church ruin that stands on the hill above the village.

During her fist class she goes through the names of the pupils and reacts to the fact that young Linda Rigg [Ingrid Boulting] has her doll with her to school, something that she feels Linda is way to old for. The next day, Linda is absent and Gwen finds a note in one of the children’s textbooks claiming that Linda’s Granny treats her cruel. Here comes the first sign of odd behaviour in the village as Gwen learns about Linda’s Granny forcing her hand into the mangle! Not to worry says the chuckling old Granny Rigg [Gwen Ffrangcon Davies, who also starred in Terrence Fisher’s magnificent The Devil Rides Out two years later], she’s given Linda a nice brew of herbs to ease the pain.

Although Linda’s hand-in-mangle isn’t the thing that is worrying Granny Rigg the most, it’s her concern over young Ronnie Dowset [Martin Stephens] running after Linda, especially as they are at “That” age. If one was to be prejudice, Gran and her cat – who just happens to trail Gwen after Granny Rigg whispers into it’s ear to follow her and the talk of herbal medicine, home made sherry and chutneys – it would be easy to think that the old woman may just be a witch!

Ronnie suddenly falls into a coma, an effigy of him is found in a tree with pins stuck in it and the head missing, Gwen awakens from a sleeping pill slumber and screams in terror as she mistakes a feather duster for one of the Voodoo statues from her terrifying encounter in Africa. With the strange events occurring all around her, Gwen comes to the conclusion that Granny Rigg must be planning to use Linda as a virgin sacrifice in an occult ritual!

Slowly, slowly devilish things start happening to villagers, a man is found drowned, sheep attack Gwen and the African effigies start to turn up in dreams – or is it real? Guess the confusion and shock as Gwen awakens after fainting only to be in a nursing home and not Heddaby and under the supervision of the odd Dr. Wallis [Leonard Rossiter]. Is Gwen going insane or is there a conspiracy lead by Granny Rigg and the witches of Heddaby? Prepare yourself, because as the movie shifts into the third act, suspicions are overthrown, truths are exposed and the real constellation of the Heddaby coven is revealed!

This is classic Hammer occultism, gradually building the presence of the unnatural elements, letting paranoia grow, exposing our leading lady to the horrors of Heddaby, voodoo dolls, creepy cats, mystic happenings, Sabbaths and virgin sacrifices!

 

No stranger to the world of the weird, screenplay writer Nigel Kneale delivers the creeps and eeriness perfectly with his adaptation of Nora Lofts’ (under the pseudonym Peter Curtis)  The Devil’s Own, and Cyril Frankel dispenses it well. The Witches was the final big screen performance for Jean Fontaine, which she also co-produced as she’d bought the rights to the Loft story. Fantastic Hammer Horror creepiness and low key shocker filled with wonderful paganism and occult dabbling make this a movie I feel can be classed as something of a underestimated Hammer gem well worth seeking out!

Wake Wood

Wake Wood [QuickFix]

Directed by: David Keating.

Ireland/UK, 2011

Horror/Drama, 90min

A middle-aged couple that tragically lost their young daughter Alice [Ella Connolly] in a freak accident, have relocated themselves to the rural village Wake Wood. Patrick [Aidan Gillen] works as a country vet, and Louise [Eva Birthistle] runs the village chemists. Their relationship has grown cold and they are further away from each other than they have ever been. Although Patrick refuses to let go, Louise mournful state has shattered any chance of their relationship to go further. One night, after Louise has declared that she’s leaving Patrick, their car breaks down in the middle of the woods. The couple walk over to Arthur’s [Timothy Spall] farm to ask for some help, but instead Louise witnesses a strange ritual where a recently deceased man comes back from the dead. When confronted by Arthur, about the ritual they saw, he offers them the chance to have their daughter back. An offer they emotionally can’t refuse…

It’s the resurrected HAMMER, you don’t need more reasons to watch this… Honestly, you don’t! Looking at the series of movies that have come out of the resurrected studio this one – apart from the obvious James Watkins The Woman in Black 2012, which I still have to see – Wake Wood really taps into the grand old Hammer tradition of paganism, old school wiccan rituals and the dark forces of the occult.

There are a lot of really smart things going on here. First off, anything with a kid in peril, or a threat to a kid, won’t get to me, but as soon as you have parents going about their everyday lives and their kid being a victim of force majeure, then you grab me by the throat. I can watch monsters and unworldly stuff attack children but when it’s the stuff that I can relate to and worry about in the real world, then it gets to me. Hence, Wake Wood grabbing me firmly in its manipulative grasp when the opening titles over Patrick and Louise’s move to Wake Wood are crosscut with the backstory of how they lost Alice. It’s a deliberate and brilliant move as I totally empathise with them when they get that offer to “see her again!” I know that I’d jump at an opportunity like that in an instance if it were one of my kids.

The story kind of plays along classic ground, somewhat Stephen King’s Pet Cemetery and Robin Hardy’s Wickerman in tone, which set’s a great anticipation as we all know what happens when humans try to play god – shit hit’s the fan and it all goes to hell! There’s always a price to pay and now it’s just a build up to revealing what and who has to pay.

I’m a sucker for a stern set of rules, and Wake Wood has rules to hit the spot: She can only return for three days, you must not travel outside village boundaries with her during these three days, you will be bound to Wakewood for the rest of your lives and the most important: death must have been less than a year ago.

There’s a great build of curiosity when one of the ritual performers and village elders’ starts questioning the bringing back of Alice as she has a sensation that something’s wrong. This combined with the fact that we keep getting hint’s that Patrick and Louise are keeping something from Arthur, and the audience, also adds to that ever-growing bud of curiosity. Along with our familiarity with genre, and the prediction of trouble at bay, this all adds to elevating the movie to a very tense and engaging narrative. After all, the questions it poses are, at least for parents, pretty heavy ones. Movies like this all use the emotional recognition that the audience feels with the main characters to work their way under our skin, and at times into our heads. What would you do if you where given the chance to bring back a loved one for three days?

Obviously there’s a lie at the bottom of the barrel, and when mankind tries to pull a fast one on the old gods, they have to pay. Alice is not the same soft, gentle child she once was, and now it’s up to the people that brought her back to also put her back in the ground. Again, a hard and devastating punishment, but in a harsh way fair, after all you can’t unleash an animal mutilating, villager slaughtering little runt out on the countryside without taking your responsibility now can you!

A suggestive ending gives a great climax which will leave you with a uneasy smile on your face. You know where it's going to go, but Keating leaves the imagery up to the viewer, which definitely is much more effective than anything else that could have been put on screen. I really like endings that send you off with an uncomfortable feeling in your gut over the closed case all is fine again endings. This way the movie lives on in our head after the credits have played.

It’s also a delight to see my old mate Magnus Paulson as co-producer (and Film i Skåne) being part of this film as this only makes me like it even more. Go Sweden, and thank you for being part of a great movie! This just goes to show that we need to stop all these tedious, repetitive Police-Action-Bullshit flicks that drown the audiences here and get working with the one thing we really utilize the best, human angst. Mix that up with some good old school horror and we’ll be onto something.

Wake Wood get’s a 5 out of 6 because this was a good and solid movie. Moving, disturbing, emotional, creepy and perhaps most important, a damned fine horror flick with believable characters, creepy villagers, pagan rituals, and some great gore effects. I may have missed the hell out of Hammer movies, but now I’m thriving on their return, and actually find the assortment of genre pieces they have released in the few years back on the scene, to be stern proof that they are serous players who, just like the icon who built the house of hammer, have undoubtedly risen from the dead.

The Gorgon

The Gorgon
Directed by: Terrence Fisher
UK, 1964
Horror/Mystery/Fantasy, 83min

I can’t really understand genre fans that don’t like Hammer films! How can you not like Hammer films? For years I’ve been fucking annoyed that watchers of genre cinema all seem to be so polarized, they either only want the gore, the violence, the nihilistic carnage, or even worse, the ones that draw a line with The Exorcist, Jaws and Alien and determine that everything beneath them is automatically unwatchable trash.

Well obviously these people are not really fans of genre cinema. Let's just say that they like a few quick scares, and keep Hollywood in business. Fans of genre cinema take it all in, and leave no rock unturned in their search for the next thrill. The audience above are joined by the fact that they completely ignore the fluff… whilst supposedly claiming to like genre cinema. Well, the fluff is really what makes it all worthwhile. It’s the stuff that keeps the really good from the really bad. It's within the realm of the fluff where the important movies really are found. Such as the Hammer films. Looking at them historically the Hammer movies where the first gore films. Yeah, screw Hershell Gordon Lewis, screw the Japanese Chanbara flicks, Terrence Fisher’s The Curse of Frankenstein 1957 is the first splatter flicks. When Peter Cushing’s Baron Frankenstein shoots Christopher Lee’s creature in the head with a shotgun and Lee holds his hand up to his face as the blood pours out of the concealed hole in his head, it was deliberate. When Lee’s eyes turn red and the blood seeps from the side of his mouth in The Horror of Dracula 1958, Fisher with makeup artists Phil Leakey and Sydney Pearson knew exactly what they where doing and knew that they where pushing the limits of things… and they created a complete new horror ingredient that people had never seen before, which in it’s own turn made Hammer Studios the minor success story that it was to become.

Terrence Fisher also helmed 1964’s The Gorgon based on a script by screenwriter/director John Gilling – who would later also direct some of the better later movies for Hammer, such as The Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile both 1966, and ended up directing the Paul Naschy penned La cruz del Diablo (Cross of the Devil) for Naschy in 1975.

Let’s set up The Gorgon – Something is luring in the dark of Castle Borski just outside of Vandorf. Seven unexplained murders in five years have Inspector Kanof [Second Doctor Who, Patrick Troughton] a frustrated man. When young woman, Sacha Cass [Toni Gilpin], goes missing and shortly after, her bohemian boyfriend, Bruno Heitz [Jeremy Longhurst], is found hung from a tree. It all looks like a closed case, and the town Judge rules it all as a murder followed by suicide. Nobody but Bruno’s father Professor Heitz objects and points out that Cass body was actually turned to stone… the town of Vandorf obviously want’s to keep something a secret, and he will not leave until he’s unveiled the mystery and cleared his son’s name. Doctor Namaroff [Peter Cushing] and his assistant Carla Hoffman [Barbara Shelley] run the village mental institute and all seems fine, until Professor Heitz second son, Paul [Richard Pasco] arrives with the same ambition to solve the curse of Vandorf. Carla and Paul take a liking to each other, and plan to take off as soon as Paul has figured out what goes on at Castle Borski, which obviously set’s up an interesting little triangle drama between Paul, Carla and Doctor Namaroff. Towards the final act, Paul’s mentor, Professor Karl Meister [Christopher Lee] also comes to the small village and together with Paul they aim to put an end to the rumors that, Magaera [Prudence Hyman, in one of her few onscreen credited parts in a Hammer flick] – one of two lesser know sisters to the legendary Medusa - resides in the woods of Vandorf.

It’s obvious that Gilling has a passion for detective stories – he wrote several crime/detective screenplays, and directed loads of super detective shows, like The Saint, The Champions and Department S. This is seen in the way he constructs the script to The Gorgon, as the movie primarily is a horror movie with an investigation plot. Gradually the audience know what is going on – the gorgon, and the subplots – and with a Hitchcock-ian structure, Gilling and Fisher lead us down a path that is more detective story than horror.

Red herrings are laid out for us to stumble on such as the Martha [Joyce Hemson] character who we blatantly are lead to believe is the Gorgon, and there’s very driven dialogue to make us pose further questions such as when Carla with panic in her voice says to Dr. Namaroff that “She has come back!” Everyone seems to have something to hide, facts they dare not proclaim, truths not yet spoken, which obviously propels the narrative forth.

Obviously the horror comes through the loan of a legendary icon, the Gorgon, Medusa or Mageara as she’s called here, and the heavy gothic vibe that seeps though the movie. Hammer movies are at their best when they ooze of EuroGoth created through the wonderful set design of Bernard Robinson, those great matte painting landscapes, and James Bernard’s magnificent scores – of which The Gorgon holds one of the darkest he composed for Hammer.

The motif of death is very dominant in The Gorgon and despite using a legendary tale we all know by heart – stare in her eyes, turn to stone – they put a spin on it, where characters don’t turn to stone in the flash of an eye as in the old Harryhausen flicks, but more of a sadistic torment as they slowly turn into stone statues. One character even writes a letter home, telling of the pain and despair he feels in that very moment. That’s kind of heavy, even for a Hammer movie. Also they bring a familiar spin to the story when it becomes apparent that the second night of the full moon is when the attacks occur, something we all know from Werewolf folklore.

Building tension and then gradually releasing it is what Hammer movies are all about. God knows they made their fair share of movies that did nothing but build only to present a semi-shocking reveal at the end. This is also true with The Gordon. The initial attack if you will shows us the exact path that Sasha Cass takes, the religious nook by the roadside, the full moon, and the looming structure of Castle Borski. These elements all become referents later on as Professor Heitz walks the same path, it’s not rocket science and we know he’s walking right into danger. Returning imagery, locations and motifs are all important tools for building anticipation as the next time we see them we are aware of the threat they pose.

Characters are kind of stiff and restrained throughout The Gorgon. There’s no real arcs with evolving characters here, and there’s nor really anyone to feel for to start with. Secrets are kept, science argues against fantasy and every one – especially Dr. Namaroff act as skeptics when it all comes around. So there’s a use of something called the contrast frame at work here, where even the men of science deny to acknowledge the Gorgon – which the audience by the way, knows exists – it becomes logic that we tend to empathize with Paul and Carla. They are after all the only characters to stand up for there beliefs, and even though we as an audience are miles ahead of them both, we tend to favor them.

Although one must not forget the many subplots that are irking their way in, of which the Paul – Carla one is the strongest. There’s also the whole protection racket that comes with Dr. Namaroff. It’s almost eerie the way Cushing sluggishly floats around, stopping here and there for a pose to show us that he’s lost in thought, because despite being the skeptic of the piece, he knows what’s going on… Or at least, has an idea, which is why he becomes a human shield for Carla. He won’t let anyone near her, and does his best to protect her. But he’s so overprotective of Carla that it becomes painfully obvious why she falls for Paul, as he offers her the freedom she looks for. Away from corridors of Dr. Namaroff’s institute, away from Vandorf. Ironically it’s merely a metaphorical freedom and her real freedom comes in a completely different form during the final moments of the movie courtesy of scarcely used Christopher Lee’s Prof. Karl Meister.

The Gorgon, is still one of those Hammer movies that sums up all that was great about Hammer horror, the atmosphere, the somewhat stiff stage performances of the cast, lurking death, gothic horror and, for the time period, acceptable special effects. Perhaps not as impressive as his work on The Horror of Dracula, you still have to give Sydney Pearson credit for the Medusa and her head of snakes. It get’s the job done, the turning to stone transformations, although primarily only make up, work and the final decapitation scene is still something of a classic Hammer moment. When it all comes around, the movie may be a tad on the slow side, but then again that’s what draws me into the world of Hammer. The slow meditative approach, the modest scares and the clean cut closure, which almost all Hammer movies end with. There’s never any lingering around for no reason at all in the world of Hammer. Kill the monster, cue the end credits, let’s all get up off the couch, and sod off to bed.

The Resident

The Resident

Directed by: Anti Jokinen

USA/UK, 2011

Horror/Thriller/Hammer, 87 min

Distributed by: Nordisk Film

I, like many others, did a little happy jig as I learned the infamous Hammer Studios was rising up from the dead. Then the concern that they wouldn’t manage to keep that atmosphere, vibe and style that was Hammer started to set in and it suddenly felt like it may have been a real crap idea after all.

Rumours flourished, movies where announced, facts stated and only time would tell if Hammer would rise from the flames or simply poop out a few turds and sink like a brick to the bottom of the sea of shame.

After seeing a couple of their still quite small output, I’m going to go on record and claim that this is a Hammer which in some ways equals what they had going for them forty years ago, when they took the world with storm and became the stuff of legends.

The first movie to be released by the resurrected company was Finnish born Anti Jokinen's The Resident, starring Hillary Swank and Jeffery Dean Morgan. Then there’s the big hook, which should appeal to all fans of Hammer Horror, the grandmaster of the all, Screen Icon Sir Christopher Lee also holds a part in the movie. It’s an ingenious move of Hammer to bring Lee on-board, because there are almost no words to explain the signals this sends to fans. If Lee is there, then it’s for real.

The Resident sees Swank – who I don’t really like at all, which was my main problem with the film – as young nurse Juliette. She works long, late shifts and within the first few minutes we see her save the day as she get’s in there and saves a patient with a heart condition – full with open heart surgery like moment and stapling together the injury. This obviously starts to create the character Juliette, she’s a no bull shit girl and she has no fear of getting her hands dirty to do her job.

She’s also in the midst of searching for her own apartment – which we later learn is s due to moving to N.Y. to live with her boyfriend Jack [Lee Pace], only to have him be unfaithful to her in their bed – which brings her to Max [Jeffery Dean Morgan] and his beautiful large building where there is an apartment available… This is a huge old style apartment which definitely makes an avid genre fan think of movies like Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby 1968, The Tenant 1976 and even Michael Winner’s The Sentinel 1977. Although this movie goes a completely different way in the later half, it does hold a great gothic vibe with trick doors, peepholes, two-way glass and secret rooms behind the walls of the apartments.

Half an hour in, act two presents a rush of insight that will run shivers down your spine. What we have thought be a chance meeting that will lead to a stalking ex-boy friend – or some satanic cult preparation, with Lee as cult leader which I was hoping for – ends up being a stalker story of a complete different style. And a damned fine one too as this movie does go pretty far – as per usual for Hammer it never get’s too graphic, but it goes far enough to create that awesome buzzing vibe that comes with Hammer flicks. Needless to say, when all is revealed the movie kicks in on all pistons and the thriller turns to survival horror, and a damned tough fight to settle the score and bring balance back to the world breaks loose.

Obviously one could have requested more Christopher Lee, but the simple fact that he’s in it is good enough for me. The flick could have been more horror oriented, but being one of three flicks released by Hammer this year where all three use horror elements in three completely different stories them it’s still a pretty good movie, and has some pretty disturbing scenes packed in there.

One thing I really couldn’t stop smiling about afterwards – and yeah, it’s a real geeky thing, but for me as an old Hammer fan, it’s a very obvious nod to the older movies – and that was that the movie clocks in just over 85 minutes… and if you know your Hammer time, you know that the majority of classic Hammer flicks all clock in just over 85 minutes.

To sum it all up folks, Hammer are back kicking and screaming stronger than ever. To date the three movies released, Let Me In, Wake Wood and The Resident, have all been impressive in their own rights. Yes I was appalled by the idea that anyone remake Let the Right One In, but then I saw the movie, talked to John Ajvide Lindqvist about it and accepted it as the damned fine movie it is. But the atmosphere, vibe and quality of those movies have been top-notch, and the only ingredient that I feel may be missing is the cosiness of the old flicks. There’s something safe with the old Hammer flicks that I love. They are perfect late, late night movies to which one can drift in and out of sleep to as the movie plays on and on and on…

Hollywood better watch it’s back once again, because there’s a new kid in town and this one already has three contemporary classics under it’s belt. Long live Hammer the future is bright as the Phoenix lights up the sky!

Image:

16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1

Audio:

Dolby Digital 5.1, English dialogue, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Danish subtitles are optional

Extras:

TBA

Countess Dracula

Countess Dracula
Directed by: Peter Sasdy
UK, 1971
Hammer, Gothic
Distributed by: Granada Ventures

In March I was at the World Horror Convention in Brighton – Yes I keep mentioning it all the time but it was a fascinating couple of days amongst the company of some equally fascinating people – anyways, whilst we where sat in one of our many interviews, the media guest of honour arrived and gave a brief Q&A. The guest was of course Ingrid Pitt the iconic legend of Hammer Horror championed only by those two bloke’s Cushing and Lee.

As soon as we completed the interview with Dennis Etchison, I shot off back down the main hall to at least get a few moments in the presence of the screen goddess Pitt. Easy to say that I was not the only person wanting to see her and that room was packed tight with spectators, fans, legendary authors and writers in the making.

I found a spot on the stairwell outside and stuck my head round the door, and even though it was a mere momentary brief glimpse I at least laid my eyes to rest on the queen of the damned, Ingrid Pitt in the flesh, another highlight of that fantastic weekend in Brighton.

Thirty-nine years earlier, Pitt, at the height of her career, having become the new star of the UK studios, Hammer and Amicus gave a performance that may be one of her greatest performances ever in Peter Sasdy’s Countess Dracula.

After Countess Elisabeth Nodosheen [Ingrid Pitt] has laid her recently deceased husband to rest, she sets a foul plan in motion when she accidentally realises that virgin blood rejuvenates her aged skin. Well accident and accident, she smacks one of her maids, Terri [Susan Broderick] in the face with a sharp knife, releasing a splash of blood across her wrinkled face. Despite protests, even if they are pretty weak ones, she goes against her lover Captain Dobi [Nigel Green] and set’s her eyes on new found youth which she plans to spend with Lieutenant Imre Toth [Sandor Elès] – a close friend of her late husband and also the inheritor of his stables to Dobi’s dismay. After murdering the young the now rejuvenated and scantily clad Elisabeth starts to make a move on young stud Toth, but in the heat of the moment she claims to be Ilona – her own daughter! Forcing Dobi to do her dirty work yet again – seductively manipulating him with promises of intimacy later… the things men do for love - she has him ride off with a band of soldiers to intercept the wagon containing her daughter Ilona [Lesley-Anne Down] so that she won’t blow Elisabeth’s stolen identity. They do so and keep her hidden in a cabin in the woods where she spends a lengthy time trying to break free from her makeshift prison.

Needless to say the movie really picks up speed from here on. Elisabeth needs blood to stay young and there’s a series of young women lured up to the castle only to meet their untimely deaths, two of the straight from classic Hammer fetishes: one a young gypsy - Nike Arrighi from Terence Fisher's The Devil Rides Out 1968 - who is part of a larger band of travelling gypsies, and the second, Ziza [Susan Broderick] a harlot right out of the Shepherd’s Inn, a good old Hammer pub that figures in the most of their period pieces work, although there’s no Michael Ripper behind the counter this time. Finally Dobi start’s to become jealous of young Imre who’s getting it off with Elisabeth instead of him. Things get worse when Elisabeth and Toth decide to wed, and the final act is set in motion - Dobi starts to interfere, Illona escapes her captors, Elisabeth’s until now faithful nurse starts to turn against her when Illona turns up live and well despite Elisabeth telling her that she’s died… and Elisabeth bathes in blood – giving Pitt an opportunity to flaunt her birthday suit - as she prepares for her wedding night. You know where this is going to go as there have been one to many close calls where young Elisabeth turns into old Elisabeth in the blink of an eye, and once Illona meets Imre there’s no way that he’ll see the wedding though. The movie takes a baleful and ironic turn as the climax is reached, leaving the film with a very typical dark Hammer ending.

Pitt makes the most of her performance here and it’s an impressive piece of work, because she literally changes everything about her when she moves between the old haggard Countess to the young luscious version of herself. Her posture, her movement and even her looks as she's hidden away under layers of mushy makeup and wig. Unfortunately through, she never got to hear her own voice on the soundtrack as it was dubbed with proper British accent. A damned shame as Pitt’s Polish-English growling is splendid and would have added to character.

There’s no time wasted in establishing the vile ways of the Countess. Even before the title rolls she sizes up Lieutenant Toth as they stand by the side of her husbands grave, and on her way home from the funeral she runs over a farmer who has been promised work by her late husband leaving him to die surrounded by his now indefinitely doomed family. There’s no doubt in mind that this is an evil woman we are dealing with.

There’s a lot of subplots used in Countess Dracula that don’t really lead up to any major effect on the main narrative, like the recurrent questioning of where Terri can be – Terri the maid Elisabeth slew first, and that unspoken rivalry between Dobi and Toth, nor the investigation that Chief Bailiff Captain Balogh [Peter Jeffrey] initiates when the bodies of the drained women are found lead to anything. It’s more filler than anything else, and in many ways a waste of great characters. There is so much more that Lesley-Anne Down and especially Nike Arrighi could have done here, not to mention Peter Jeffrey and Maurice Denham.

Even though Countess Dracula is a pretty decent and very entertaining Hammer film – mostly due to Pitt’s splendid performance – there’s a very obvious feeling frustration and confusion within the movie. At the time Hammer where rapidly loosing ground and quality, resulting in their movies declining popularity. Despite the nudity and quasi-erotic tone that Ingrid Pitt brings to the piece, there’s never really enough to make the movie stand out amongst contemporary pieces. Even the rather conservative British soft core sex comedies of the time where raunchier, even if the Hammer films where trying their damndest to push the envelope. And considering what was going on in other European genre flicks at he time, they really didn’t have a chance to get in on the erotic horror scene at all.

Although on the up side, Countess Dracula is one of the better pieces from this time period, and on of few titles that actually stands on it’s own two legs. Much like the Roy Ward Baker’s The Vampire Lovers 1970 - which also see’s Pitt in multiple roles – it merely uses the Dracula franchise, at the time five of them and three more to come, in name only. Where The Vampire Lovers found it’s inspiration in the writing of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Countess Dracula, with it’s misleading title, is obviously inspired by the legend of Erzsébet Báthory. But it really is missing that iconic moment of naked Countessa immersed in a bath of blood. Instead we get Pitt taking a rather silly sponge bath which kinda works, but is terribly pale compared to stuff like the Báthory segment of Borowczyk’s Immoral Tales 1974 or Harry Kümel’s Daughters of Darkness 1971.

Another thing I feel is missing, is the potent and often fantastic scores of James Bernard. Instead there’s a rather weak score by Harry Robinson, which tries to emulate Bernard’s signature sound without really hitting the mark.

For some odd reason Hammer decided to market Countess Dracula as their first film based on a true story… which is kind of odd as it’s not true, there where previous movies based on authentic legends and secondly it diminishes the magnificent performance Christopher Lee gave in Don Sharp’s Rasputin: The Mad Monk 1966. Then again one can never really understand the complex relationship between Hammer and it’s legendary stars like Lee and Cushing. They often give the impression of being somewhat unsatisfied with the work, but still kept on returning for more on a regular basis. Lee is back with the recently resurrected Hammer for their forthcoming The Resident.

Never the less, Hammer continued churning them out in a pace that obviously left them blind to the fact that where they once where innovators, they where rapidly becoming stagnant and colourless. But if you want to see a splendid swan song to a great cinematic heritage, make sure to set a date with Countess Dracula.

Image:

1.78:1

Audio:

Dolby Digital Mono, English dialogue no subtitles.

Extras:

This collectors edition is jam-packed with a lot of goodies such as a thoroughly entertaining Audio Commentary with Kim Newman, Stephen Jones and Ingrid Pitt. News feature on the 50 years of Hammer celebration, and a talk show interview with Ingrid Pitt both from 1999. An episode of Conceptions of Murder (Peter and Maria) starring Nigel Green, an episode of Thriller (Where the Action is) starring Ingrid Pitt and the theatrical trailer for Countess Dracula. There’s also a booklet with essays and articles on the movie and the Bathory legend.