Lust for a Vampire (1971)

Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 11/11/2008 Product Description

Those Evil Karnsteins Have Moved Next Door! There Goes The Neighborhood!

Beautiful Swedish actress Yutte Steinsgaard has reprised the role of the evil, bisexual vampire, Carmilla Karnstein in "Lust for a Vampire." This is Hammer's sequel to "The Vampire Lovers." Though not as violent and gory as the original, "Lust for a Vampire" is still a superb gothic chiller.

Through the blood of a virgin, Carmilla Karnstein is resurrected with the young body of an eighteen year old; she is enrolled in the nearby finishing school for wealthy girls. I suppose the producers felt that Ingrid Pitt who originally played Carmilla was too old to pass as a student. This is a shame because Ingrid Pitt was more voluptuous and sensual. She had quite a stage presence; she reminded me of a female version of Christopher Lee. (And I loved her accent.) Speaking of Lee, he should have been given the role of the vampire Count Karnstein.

Unable to control her blood lust, Carmilla begins seducing and murdering villagers, classmates, and teachers. Count and Countess Karnstein arrive at the school and do their best to cover up for her. Naturally, more deaths ensue.

Beautiful sets and costumes, eerie music, forbidden eroticism and gruesome murders make "Lust for a Vampire" a unique film from Hammer. It is highly recommended for fans of Hammer, gothic horror, and vampire films.
August 22, 2008

Lesbian Vampire in a Girls' Dormitory

"Welcome to the finishing school where they really do finish you" throatily growled the trailer to Lust For a Vampire, the troubled second film in Hammer's Karnstein trilogy, following on from The Vampire Lovers and preceding Twins of Evil. Peter Cushing dropped out when his wife fell ill while original director Terence Fisher broke his leg, resulting in Ralph Bates, channelling Dwight Frye, and Jimmy Sangster taking over.

It's the weakest of the three films, but it has a few things going for it, chief among them Yutte Stensgaard's bisexual vampire and Pippa Steel as one of her lesbian conquests/victims (the film could just as easily have been called Lesbian Vampire in a Girl's Dormitory and might have fared better at the box-office if it had). Michael Johnson, one of those identikit early 70s British actors you'd swear you've seen a dozen times before until you look at his filmography and realize you've never seen him in anything else, is the randy dandy author of lurid gothic tales who schemes his way into a English teaching job at a finishing school so he can have his wicked way with one of the students, Yutte Stensgaard's Mircalla, not realizing that she's an even more accomplished predator who's working her way through the schoolgirls there herself. Not that he's overly concerned when he finds out, but that's no surprise considering Yutte's main competition is Suzanna Leigh, who looks about as much fun as mucking out a stable on a hot day and spends most of the film with a scornful disappointed scowl on her face that combines with unflattering photography to make her appear much like you'd imagine Joanna Lumley's brother might after a night on the tiles.

The story isn't particularly compelling and the screenplay isn't one of Hammer's best: it's the kind of film where a line of dialogue like "What you need is a -" is immediately accompanied by the fortuitous arrival of a Bishop with a line in killing the undead before the line can be finished. But it does feature much 70s nudity and even an oral sex scene to the accompaniment of perhaps the most memorable song in Hammer's oeuvre, the aptly-named Strange Love, while disc jockey Mike Raven is quite hilariously dubbed by Valentine Dyall - his delivery of the line "Heart attack!" is guaranteed to bring the house down.

Anchor Bay's Region 1 DVD has a good selection of extras and a fine widescreen transfer.
March 5, 2008

Pretty poor

Made in 1970 by Hammer, and the second of the Karnstein films, this is just about watchable hokum but no more than that. As previous reviewers have noted in many ways this is nearer to being an exploitation movie than a horror film. However remember this was made in 1970 so showing a lot of women topless was still a relatively daring thing to do, and the film still rates as an 18 on the DVD I have.

So aside from the entertainment for men, what else has it got going for it? Well in all honesty not a huge amount. It is quite well photographed, but the script and some of the acting left a fair bit to be desired. Having said that I don't remember Count Karstein (Mike Raven) actually saying anything throughout the film so you can't complain about the script in that respect. Probably its main fault is the lack of a quality leading actor. Theres no Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing or Andrew Keir for that matter. However it is only just over 90 minutes long so its all over reasonably quickly.

This really is one for Hammer completists, and certainly is not in the same class Hammers best films ('Horror of Dracula' or 'The Devil Rides Out').
November 16, 2007

An excellent atmospheric movie!

Even though so many people think poorly of this film, it really is an excellent film. The sets are excellent and, really, the acting is just fine. The music is some of the best music I've heard in a horror movie. Even some of the scenes are perfectly timed with this music. This is one of my favorite vampire films. I enjoy watching this one over and over. It's not scary, and it's not bloody...if you're looking for something like that, this movie is not it. But if you want a dreamy, atmospheric movie with beautiful people, beautiful sets, and great music, this is it! March 23, 2007

a little bit weak vampire fairy tale

The reasons are:
1. A very embarrassing greece dancing
2. There are more many women than men in the film except the underrated actor Ralph Bates & the unknown actor Michael Johnson
3. The blond danish model Jutta Steensgard is not a famous Horror actress. She played as Carmilla Karnstein a bit boring, she was not really actress but she was a photomodel.
4. The same plot 19th century Romanticism (a classic gothic horror tale), which Hammer Film Studio didn't develop the story at all.

The most stupid element in the movie:
a young writer who fell in love in a female vampire, and could not save her and was unable to protect himself. It looks a bit cheesy, cause you'd already seen this in various Hammer films.

2 stars October 26, 2006

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