A (very) loose adaptation of the novella "Camilla". Starts right off with a bang when a female vampire being beheaded but that's about it for graphic violence. It's basically about a beautiful lesbian vampire (Ingrid Pitt) who is going after every young attractive woman around. That's about it for the plot.
I have (vague) recollections about seeing this at a drive-in when I was 8! I do remember Pitt attacking some men and a pretty mild (for now) lesbian sequence which had quite a reaction from my parents--my mother was disgusted, my father was enjoying it and I couldn't figure out WHAT was going on! I figured they were just good friends. I remember liking it...but I was very young.
Seeing it now it does have its moments. There are some very erotic, beautifully filmed sequences. There's next to no violence but there's plenty of female nudity. As a gay man I found this pretty dull. It contains the same overly familiar Hammer sets found in all their other films and has a pretty vague plot (who IS that guy in black on the horse?). Also a beheading at the end is SO obviously fake. On the positive side Peter Cushing is on hand to give another good performance and Pitt is very beautiful and is a pretty good actress--some of her expressions are priceless! And Jon Finch is handsome and hunky as the main hero.
But, all in all, I was bored. The lesbian bits are tame by todays standards (I heard they were considered pretty extreme for 1970) and--unless you're interested in lesbian vampires or pointless female nudity--this is pretty dull stuff. I give it a 3 for some of the acting and good direction--but I can't recommend this.
I have (vague) recollections about seeing this at a drive-in when I was 8! I do remember Pitt attacking some men and a pretty mild (for now) lesbian sequence which had quite a reaction from my parents--my mother was disgusted, my father was enjoying it and I couldn't figure out WHAT was going on! I figured they were just good friends. I remember liking it...but I was very young.
Seeing it now it does have its moments. There are some very erotic, beautifully filmed sequences. There's next to no violence but there's plenty of female nudity. As a gay man I found this pretty dull. It contains the same overly familiar Hammer sets found in all their other films and has a pretty vague plot (who IS that guy in black on the horse?). Also a beheading at the end is SO obviously fake. On the positive side Peter Cushing is on hand to give another good performance and Pitt is very beautiful and is a pretty good actress--some of her expressions are priceless! And Jon Finch is handsome and hunky as the main hero.
But, all in all, I was bored. The lesbian bits are tame by todays standards (I heard they were considered pretty extreme for 1970) and--unless you're interested in lesbian vampires or pointless female nudity--this is pretty dull stuff. I give it a 3 for some of the acting and good direction--but I can't recommend this.