The Vampire Lovers: Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
After a carriage break down Carmilla (Ingrid Pitt) and her mother stop at a nearby residence for help. There, Carmilla befriends the homeowner’s daughter Emma (Madeline Smith) and ends up seducing her. She soon reveals that she is a vampire and her thirst is something that can’t be ignored. Carmilla slowly starts to drain Emma little by little and day by day. Everyone around her starts to take notice that her health is fading but doesn’t know exactly why. Will anyone realize the truth before Emma has been completely devoured?
If you’re going to experience a classic film such as this I fell like blu-ray is the only way to do it now. The movie really does look fantastic! The clarity/crispness of the colors look so good and they have done wonders with the HD transfer of the film where you can only see slight film scratches here and there. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable in the horror genre but I have to admit that I have never heard of this film before. So naturally I had to do a bit of homework and read up a bit on Hammer Films and The Karnstein Trilogy. Right now I’m crossing my fingers that Shout! Factory is able to release the other two films (Lust for a Vampire, Twins of Evil) eventually. The plot of this film isn’t the most complex or tough to follow but it was interesting enough to keep me intrigued by it all. Pitt gave a performance that by todays standards may be considered cheesy but I put myself in a classic mindset and really found myself loving it. Being as this movie was released in 1970 the effects were pretty basic and in actuality that’s what I dug about it. In this day and age everyone is so concerned with how gory or bloody something may be but this film would pan away from certain violent moments or strategically have something in the way then reveal the wound. I love that sort of thing because if you think about it leaves it entirely up to your imagination and sometimes that can be scarier than what comes across on screen. This isn’t the most structured movie in the world but you are definitely doing yourself a disservice if you don’t see this, especially if you’re a fan of the horror genre.
Special Features:
Femme Fantastique: Resurrecting The Vampire Lovers – A good 10 minute feature about the film itself and some of the lesbian “subtext”.
Reading of “Carmilla” By Ingrid Pitt – Audio of Pitt in 2003 reading and excerpt of the novella that the film is based on.
Madeline Smith: Vampire Lover – Smith recounts her experiences on the film and tells a few stories about preparation for The Vampire Lovers.
The Vampire Lovers is available NOW on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory
