Hammer Horror starring Ingrid Pitt in her defining role as the Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory - who is reported to have murdered over 600 young girls. Bathory discovers that bathing in the blood of virgins keeps her looking youthful and arranges for the kidnapping of her own daughter, Ilona (Lesley-Anne Down), in order to use her blood. She takes on Ilona's identity and seduces a young man but the supply of blood needs constant topping up otherwise Bathory will age vigorously.
TWINS OF EVIL (1971) Dir. John Hough
Beginning with the reincarnation of Countess Mircalla Karnstein (Katya Keith), restored to life in the family castle during a satanic ritual staged by depraved Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas), initiating him into the delights of vampirism and setting off a whole spate of bitings. Gustav Weil (Peter Cushing) leads the opposition as the head of a witch-hunting group of Puritans called the brotherhood. The obsessed Weil has two identical nieces visiting him; the puritanical uncle beheads one, Frieda (Madeleine Collinson), after she has become a vampire due to meeting the Count, and her innocent sister Maria (Mary Collinson) is almost burned at the stake due to an error in identification. The grim witch-hunter himself finally succumbs to an axe in the back.
VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970) Dir. Roy Ward Baker
Buxom vamps and bloodthirsty beauties abound in this vintage slice of Hammer horror, based on Sheridan Le Fanu's classic tale 'Carmilla', that showcases the netherworld's most voluptuous vampire. Carmilla (Ingrid Pitt) barely shows her age. She has a great body, milky white skin and... a thirst for blood! Traveling the countryside searching for victims, she wastes no time in quenching that thirst with the best-looking villagers she can find.
Planning to seduce her way into eternity, she unleashes a murderous sexual massacre on a small town. But leave it to the local gentry (among them Peter Cushing as General von Spielsdorf) to fight back... as the men plot to drive a stake through the heart of this sexy, savage killer.
VAMPIRE CIRCUS (1972) Dir. Robert Young
In a twelve-minute prologue, angry villagers stake to death Count Mitterhaus (Robert Tayman), who swears his revenge on the townsfolk. The story proper starts fifteen years later when the exotic Circus of the Night arrives in town to avenge the Count. The troupe’s shape-shifting performers unleash their uninhibited bloodlust on the town’s plague-ridden residents.
First time Hammer films director Robert Young shows promise, particularly in the shape-shifting sequences and several bloody impalements. The film is also notable for its bleak view of humanity. It presents all the characters as ‘clowns’ by day and ‘animals’ by night.
HANDS OF THE RIPPER (1971) Dir. Peter Sasdy
In this Hammer film from Peter Sasdy a psychiatrist (Eric Porter) treats a young woman (Angharad Rees) following the murder of her aunt. He shuns the notion that she is possessed, but she continues to kill while under his care. Using hypnosis, he discovers that glittering lights and gestures of affection set the girl off into dangerous trances during which she re-enacts an incident she witnessed in childhood – the murder of her mother by her father, Jack the Ripper!
- Import Boxset
- PAL Region 2
- 5 Disc Set
- Remastered Versions
- Anamorphic Widescreen
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