Lust for a Vampire (1970)

[GL]

"Lust for a Vampire" is a half-way decent example of the lesbian-vampire genre.

**SPOILERS**

Arriving in the village below Count Karnstein, novelist Richard LeStrange, (Michael Johnson) quickly hears and becomes fascinated about the local legends about the Karnsteins. At the nearby boarding school, new student Mircalla, (Yutte Stensgaard) arrives and moves in with her fellow students. Soon afterwards, he starts to feel for her and they begin a relationship. The other students start mysteriously disappearing, and when LeStrange gets on board the school, he and another teacher, Janet Playfair, (Suzanna Leigh) take the case to the police, who round up the town and charge after the Karnstein family help up in their castle.

The Good News: There are some really nice things about this film. One of the big reasons is that it didn't miss one possible shot of nudity, especially in the first half hour of film. The nudity is very tastefully done and isn't at all gratuitous. From the skinny-dipping sequence to the seduction of the other women, it adds leaps and bounds to the sensuality of the film. The eerie opening, when an abducted village woman is abducted and taken to the castle, has two vampires slice her throat and the blood drips all over a white shroud the covers a corpse in a coffin. Production values are still admirable for a later period Hammer title, and the decision to retain the period Gothic setting is admirable. It's best move is that it takes the classic story of Dracula and put a female twist on it. It was the typical vampire-wreaks-havoc-and-gets-killed-with-a- stake- through-the-heart-story. It's a formula that has always worked and will always work. However, just the addition of a simple twist, such as making the head vampire a beautiful female, and the concept looks brand new again. These make it a pretty decent effort of the genre.

The Bad News: There's some really nice moments, but there's also some really off moments here. The pace here is the really biggest factor here. There's a large amount of scenes that go on for an eternity and just stretch out the film without really doing anything. The middle section of the film is the prime example. Its dealing with the staff and faculty of the school are just long, pointless talk scenes that don't really go nowhere. It constantly keeps going through those sequences where it feels like something's going to happen only for the conversation parts to continue. It gets old very fast and that makes it very aggravating. That also limits the action in the film, and other than the beginning and the end, there isn't much of that in the film. Beyond those two elements, the biggest factor against this is a sort of attitude towards the nudity. Granted, it's great to look at, but the attitude present in the film is more stand-offish. While the first one had it integral to the plot, this one instead seems more like it was done because it could've been done. There's no sensuality to it and its quite noticeable. These are the main problems with the film.

The Final Verdict: There's a couple of good moments in here, and some really troublesome parts as well. It's not as classy as the previous one or as exploitative as the next one, making it the runt of the trilogy. Hammer fans and those into lesbian vampires will want to see this one, others are advised to seek caution with this one.

Today's Rating-R: Nudity, several sex scenes and Violence