Starring Ingrid Pitt, Nigel Green and Lesley-Anne Down
Written by Jeremy Paul and directed by Peter Sasdy
Don't worry, it's not yet another Dracula sequel -- no, this misleadingly titled entry into Hammer's annals of horror is a very loose telling of the "true" story of Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Bathory was probably one of the earliest examples of a serial killer, arrested in the early 1600s for killing up to 650 young girls and women, though who knows how close that number is to being accurate. There were plenty of witnesses to make it clear the real Bathory probably was actually a murderer, however, the tales of her drinking the blood of virgins are probably made up.
But that's where this movie picks up! The recently widowed and aging Countess discovers through complete accident that bathing in the blood of young girls (later refined through trial and error to specifically virgins) restores her youth and beauty. It soon wears off, however, so she has to kill again and again in order to continue looking young and beautiful, and each time it wears off, she looks older and more gross.
She takes on the identity of her own daughter in order to explain her own presence in the castle, which means her actual daughter, who had been on her way to visit before all this went down, has to be held captive by a mute brute in the woods.
An army captain who has always been in love with the Countess reluctantly helps her procure virgins as she strings him along with promises of a relationship later on down the line. Meanwhile, in her young and beautiful state, the countess pursues a relationship with a younger and more dashing lieutenant.
The set up for this movie all works great and moves along at a good pace, cutting back and forth between the goings on with the countess and the plight of her captive daughter. Unfortunately, just as you think the movie is heading for a climax, when the countess is exposed in all her glory, mid blood bath, instead of rushing to an end it slams to a halt and slowly crawls through a slow and meandering third act that isn't worthy of the first two.
Still, I'd say this is a better than average entry into the Hammer series of horror films, and probably the best female-lead-driven tale among them. So, despite its flaws, it is worth a watch.
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