THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970)

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, sociological*

I find the above movie poster particularly amusing, not just because it promises the customer salacious sadomasochistic pleasures nowhere in the actual film, but also tries to claim that this supposed exhibition of pure pulp exploitation is "not for the mentally immature."

On this blog I ended up reviewing Hammer's "Karnstein trilogy"in reverse order, starting with TWINS OF EVIL  and then getting round to LUST FOR A VAMPIRE. I'm sure that I procrastinated on the first film in the loose trilogy because it was the only one directly derived from LeFanu's 1872 book CARMILLA, which I've recently reviewed here. 

In my re-read I concluded that LeFanu was very much in love with all manner of ambiguity, in strong contrast with the much more straightforward action of Bram Stoker's more famous vampire-novel. Even my vague memories of Roy Ward Baker's VAMPIRE LOVERS told me that it would certainly follow the model of Stoker more than that of Carmilla's creator. 

Many of the elements LeFanu saved for CARMILLA's big finish are moved forward by scripter Tudor Gates (also credited with the other two Karnstein flicks). For instance, a vague "vampire hunter" who only appears in the book's last few chapters is elaborated into a major supporting character, one Baron Hartog, in LOVERS' prologue. Some decades before the movie's main action, Hartog hunts down and decapitates a blonde vampiress, possibly some relation of the Karnstein family of fiends. The scene's only purpose seems to be to reassure the reader that the monster of the main story will meet a similar defeat.

In the book, the action remains entirely focused upon the insular world in which teenaged viewpoint character Laura lives, and she only hears, without any understanding, news of various fatalities, like the death of the niece of the neighboring General Spielsdorf. In LOVERS, the main action begins at the lavish home of Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing), and it's Spielsdorf's pretty daughter-- oddly given the name Laura-- who is the first definite victim of Carmilla Karnstein (Ingrid Pitt). Viewers are shown a woman who purports to be Carmilla's mother-- though she may just be some random bloodsucker-- and this "countess" contrives to leave Carmilla in the General's care, to ensure that Carmilla can get close to her chosen prey. Gates even repeats another tidbit from LeFanu's wrap-up, to the effect that vampires sometimes exsanguinate their victims right away, while other times they "court" their prey with exaggerated romantic rituals.

Laura, of course, is one of Carmilla's quickie meals. (For clarity's sake, I'm passing over the other two names Carmilla uses in her endeavors.) Her main victim, the one she courts for most of the movie, is renamed "Emma" (Madeline Smith) and she, like the book's heroine, lives an isolated life at her father's estate with a governess and some servants. She is the meal on which the vampire will feed more languourously, while the bemused males-- including a potential male romantic interest not present in the book-- try to fathom what's going on.

The specific points of the plot aren't that important; the main thrust of the story is that of the sympathetic characters' slow discovery of a viper in their midst. Gates naturally drops the book's subplot about Carmilla visiting the protagonist in childhood, but he does manage to convey that Emma's interest in her house-guest is essentially innocent. True, in place of the book's incident of Carmilla braiding Laura's hair, we see Carmilla and Emma doff their tops while the former teases the latter about her choice in dresses. But Emma, like book-Laura, is clueless about her guest's avaricious intentions. To up the sexual ante, Carmilla also dominates governess Mademoiselle Perrodot (Kate O'Mara), apparently making her into a useful slave but not a literal bloodsucker. 

This version of Carmilla does fang a couple of male victims to death, but those incidents don't really spur the sluggish story on to greater excitement. Peter Cushing naturally gets top billing, but his character adds nothing to the story, given that Gates' script builds up Hartog as the Van Helsing of the narrative. The dramatic beats are only adequate at best, and so the movie's main assets are also those of Smith, O'Mara, and Pitt. Pitt is good in the one role for which she became celebrated, but Carmilla didn't offer her, as an actress, any substance into which she could "sink her teeth," so to speak. LOVERS is certainly not, any more than the novel, any sort of lesbian "true romance" tale, and the film's main claim to fame is its place within early seventies' cinema, with its embrace of greater sexploitative story material.