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Post by Owen Watkin on Aug 13, 2006 23:31:07 GMT 10
Lust for a Vampire (1971) Staring- Yutte Stensgaad, Barbara Jefford and Ralph Bates. In 1830, forty years since the last manifestation of their dreaded vampirism, the Karnstein heirs use the blood of an innocent to bring forth the evil that is the beautiful Mircalla. The nearby Finishing School offers rich pickings not only in in the blood of nubile young ladies. Who else has seen this film.
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Ragnar
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Post by Ragnar on Aug 13, 2006 23:43:14 GMT 10
Good film. Yutte Stensgaard is a very beautiful Jutlander!
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Hygelac
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Post by Hygelac on Aug 15, 2006 18:58:04 GMT 10
Lust for a Vampire (1971) Staring- Yutte Stensgaad, Barbara Jefford and Ralph Bates. In 1830, forty years since the last manifestation of their dreaded vampirism, the Karnstein heirs use the blood of an innocent to bring forth the evil that is the beautiful Mircalla. The nearby Finishing School offers rich pickings not only in in the blood of nubile young ladies. Who else has seen this film. Well as you know I have. One of my favourites. It's got everything you could want really Classical Style Vampires, Yutte Stensgaard, Castle Burnings, Humour, Yutte Stensgaard, Good Actors, Horror (in the 'gothic' sense at least), strange soundtrack, Yutte Stensgaard, Carmilla/Mircalla (the ultimate female vampire and the first confirmed one...though she is based on Geraldine who probably is the first) and Yutte Stensgaard. It is unfairly maligned by most Hammer Fans (not me obviously) but I think it is one of the better 1970s films...yes it isn't as much of a classic as say '(Horror of) Dracula' or 'Frankenstein Created Woman' but it has a lot going for it and is probably the more fun. The first film in the Mircalla/Karnstein series is probably the best (this being the second...not that they are really related...they may aswell be seperate films), that is 'The Vampire Lovers' (Which is a pretty good adaptation of the novella 'Carmilla), the worst for me being 'Twins of Evil' which many say is the best one....it only has Mircalla in it for a few minutes! They also produced 'Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter' which may as well be in the series (for reasons I shall not say), and that was pretty good even though they took a more action root than a horror one, making it different to most of the other Hammer Horror films (it is one of my favourites).
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Hygelac
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Post by Hygelac on Aug 15, 2006 21:07:30 GMT 10
I think this film is overlooked and it's themes are unnoticed by many people. There are obviously a lot of themes that are common in most Gothic Horror productions, from the heyday of Gothic Horror in the 1960s and 1970s, but there are also other themes and strange points about the film. A few 'spoilers' ahead but not to many: Most films of it's type are a cut and dry, Good (or in the realms of the horror films: God) versus Evil (or the Devil, usually in the form of Dracula or another powerful being) tales. This one is a bit different, it is still a Good versus Evil tale but it is different in the fact most of the characters do evil things, and so it seems to be more of the internal conflict within people. Our 'hero' for instance is a writer, Richard LeStrange (who seems to be inspired by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, the writer of Carmilla, amongst others). he may seem like the orginary Hammer Hero, however at times he can be less than heroic. For one thing, he only decides to become a teacher to get his hands on some young women (a premise that could never be used today!), specifically Carmilla but you get the feeling any will do in the long run. Contrast this to the character of Mircalla, she is a creature of evil, but towards the end you get the feeling that even she has some humanity (the ending scene for instance). Her parents (The Count and Countess) though don't seem to have much humanity and generally seem to use Mircalla for all sorts of mischief. We also have Giles (played by the late great Ralph Bates) who is much like Lestrange but would even sell his soul to get a bit. The policeman (who is good albeit mean), Miss Playfair (who may be a bit annoying), Mr Pelley and probably the priest though you can't be sure what with the period, are probably the most 'good'. Thus the film is not as black and white, with it's depictions of evil than some of the other Hammer Films (though not all).
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Ragnar
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Post by Ragnar on Aug 15, 2006 21:19:58 GMT 10
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Post by chris on Aug 16, 2006 8:36:25 GMT 10
It's a good film, I saw it years ago.
Great photos Ragnar and Hygelac, where do you guys get them all?
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Hygelac
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Post by Hygelac on Aug 17, 2006 6:14:38 GMT 10
It's a good film, I saw it years ago. Great photos Ragnar and Hygelac, where do you guys get them all? From all over the place really...they are hard to get...but you can find various ones on different Hammer related sites. I collect them because she is my favourite actress (she was actually a good actress aswell), and she is not in enough films really. I have some magazine things on her also...but I don't have a scanner so I cannot put those pictures up, yet, sadly!
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Hygelac
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Post by Hygelac on Aug 17, 2006 6:20:41 GMT 10
I'm glad I have found a forum where people have seen (and even like!) this film! Yay!
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Post by Owen Watkin on Aug 17, 2006 23:04:06 GMT 10
We look foward to when you get a scanner.
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Hygelac
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Post by Hygelac on Aug 18, 2006 0:25:39 GMT 10
Yes. Hopefully this will be sorted soon!
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Post by gustav on Jul 28, 2007 11:38:51 GMT 10
"The ruins of Karnstein castle rose gaunt and menacing above the small hamlet of Styria. Legend had it that every forty years the long dead Karnsteins rose from their graves to find fresh blood and new recruits for the ranks of the undead... but legend is all too often dismissed as superstition, and now the grounds of Karnstein house a select finishing school for young ladies..." (Sphere paperback 1971) In my opinion Lust for a Vampire is overly maligned and is the most enjoyable of the Hammer's Karnstein films. Commissioned before The Vampire Lovers hit the cinema screens, perhaps it is a little sloppy in the editing department (camera crew visible, Yutte Stensgaard's staking scene printed the wrong way around) but it jumps these obvious hurdles easily with a racy script, a good pace, rousing music and lush photography. For those of us who saw these films on their initial release none would argue that they positively glow when compared to the dreadful teenage fodder that commands the Googleplex screens the world over today. Released in Australia on a 1972 double-bill with Blood from the Mummy's Tomb and given an overly harsh R18 Restricted classification (a rating that has never been reviewed considering recent rating anomalies like the now MA15 awarded Straw Dogs!), but luckily uncensored (unlike a number of other Hammer films from the same era, eg: The Vampire Lovers, Scars of Dracula & Hands of he Ripper). After its fleeting cinematic engagements Lust for a Vampire was sold to television, radically censored and further handicapped with the less provocative title "To Love a Vampire" (original shooting title). As for Yutte Stensgaard, (having been glimpsed briefly in Amicus' Scream and Scream Again) there never was a more beautiful woman in Hammer Horror, and although her acting talent is serviceable she still is able to project a cool, if ruthless predatory intensity into Carmilla that exists on a completely different plane as opposed to Ingrid Pitt's interpretation (a performance against which Ms Stensgaard is unjustly compared). Far better than the juvenile antics served up in Twins of Evil.
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Post by outerlimits on Jul 29, 2007 10:09:01 GMT 10
The sexiest pic of Yute.......a classic!!!
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Post by eubanana on Apr 28, 2021 2:52:30 GMT 10
I'm glad I found a forum with other people who appreciate Lust for a Vampire (and Yutte Stensgaard). I'm sad nobody has posted here for a decade. How sad to see these relics of an older, IMO better internet still out there. So I registered just to become part of this museum of the good times.
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