director:
Brian Clemens
starring: Horst Janson · John Carson · Caroline Munro ·
Shane Briant · Ian Hendry · Caroline Villers
Certainly
one of the most underappreciated, neglected films in the Hammer Studios
collection. It was made towards the end of the studio's reign, after Hammer
lost the lucrative co-production support from Hollywood. In fact, only
a handful of films were produced by the studio in the mid-to-late '70s
and - due to crippled distribution - none of them were successful. In
1979, Hammer made a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1938 thriller The
Lady Vanishes (starring Elliott Gould and Cybill Shepherd). It's failure
put a halt on further projects. Hammer Studios remained dormant for the
next three decades until it was finally sold to a Dutch company Cyrte
Productions in 2007.
.
In a
small village in the remote English countryside, several young women have
been found dead - their faces horribly aged beyond recognition. Suspecting
a supernatural evil at work, the local doctor calls on an Army friend
(and famed vampire hunter) Captain Kronos. Aided by his assistant Professor
Grost and a beautiful witch named Carla (an early role for the stunning
Caroline Munro), the three quickly confirm the murders are the work of
a unique type of vampire that drains the victim of both blood and youth.
Brian
Clemens was an old-school filmmaker who had done much British television
(including as writer and director for many of the Avengers
episodes in 1969). He was scripter, producer and director for this film
as well as The Golden Voyage of Sinbad in 1974. He would
later vacillate between TV and cinema but mostly found success with television,
the New Avengers (1976-78, the Remington Steele series (1982-87)
and various made-for-TV Perry Mason movies in the '90s. Mr Clemens
died in January 2015 at age 83.
A British
film in English language; widescreen format, uncut version (92 min.),
DVD encoded for ALL REGION NTSC WORLD FORMAT, playable on any American
machine. Extras include theatrical trailers.
Violence/Nudity/Adult
Material:
Intended for Mature Audiences
