LUST FOR A VAMPIRE was Hammer's second installment in their infamous "Karnstein Trilogy" that also included THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and TWINS OF EVIL. Though considered to be one of Hammer's lesser efforts, LUST still ranks high on the guilty pleasure level, and it still packs the right amount of atmosphere and eroticism that we're used to in a Hammer film. Plagued with as many pre-production problems as BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB, the film was directed by an uninterested Jimmy Sangster, who always stated that he hated this effort.

The film begins with the abduction of a village girl (Kirsten Lindholm, also in both THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and TWINS OF EVIL) by Dracula-like Count Karnstein (played ghoulishly campy by Mike Raven, whose voice was re-dubbed by Valentine Dyall of HORROR HOTEL fame) and the equally sinister Countess (Barbara Jefford, THE NINTH GATE). The girl is taken to the decaying Castle Karnstein where she has her throat cut on an altar as her blood flows into a huge goblet. The Count performs a blasphemous ceremony as he pours the blood over the skeletal remains of Carmilla Karnstein in an excellent reincarnation sequence. At this point, the close-up shots of Raven's eyes are substituted with Christopher Lee's from DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE. Meanwhile, a supernatural fiction writer named Richard Lestrange (Michael Johnson, ANNE OF THE THOUSAND DAYS) is roaming around the grounds of Castle Karnstein doing research. After being frightened by some school girls parading as vamps, he meets Giles Barton (Ralph Bates, FEAR IN THE NIGHT) the creepy professor who instructs at the local finishing school which is conveniently adjacent to the Castle grounds. Lestrange is shown around the school, looking incredibly bored, until the arrival of the new student. Carmilla is now using the anagram Mircalla and is played by the stunning Yutte Stensgaard (SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN). Lestrange instantaneously falls in love with the exquisite creature and works his way into the school as an English instructor.

Mircalla wastes no time causing mischief around the school grounds. Her first victim is her roommate (Pippa Steele, THE VAMPIRE LOVERS) who she drains of blood after a nude moonlit swim. Barton knows Mircalla's secret and makes a plea to serve her and the devil after down turning the cross he confronts her with. He too is bit on the neck and left for dead. In the meantime, Lestrange divulges his immense love for Mircalla, who eventually falls for his charms. The two make love in the graveyard in one of the film's most notorious scenes. The pop song "Strange Love" (unfairly panned, as it nicely fuses with Harry Robinson's splendid score) plays over this scene as the nude Mircalla crosses her eyes during her orgasm. Another teacher, Janet Playfair (Suzanna Leigh, THE LOST CONTINENT) is in love with Lestrange and is very suspicious of Mircalla, warning the blinded-by-bombshell fellow, and she too is a would-be victim of the vampire’s deadly bite. What follows is more death, lust and the agitated torch-carrying villagers taking their revenge on the Karnsteins.

As with THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and the last film in the trilogy, TWINS OF EVIL, LUST FOR A VAMPIRE was produced by Michael Style and Harry Fine and written by Tudor Gates (BARBARELLA), who together had an outside (of Hammer) production company known as Fantale Films. It was originally to be directed by Terence Fisher who broke his leg before shooting and was replaced by Sangster (his second film as a director). Bates' role was originally intended for the much older Peter Cushing (who backed out due to his wife's illness), so he looks and sounds kind of awkward in his Ben Franklin guise (Bates too hated the film). Ingrid Pitt was supposed to reprise her vampire roll but was unavailable and replaced by the relatively inexperienced – but much younger – Stensgaard.

For this reviewer, LUST FOR A VAMPIRE works despite its faults. The lovely Stensgaard is not only nice to look at it, but plays the part of a dominant yet vulnerable bloodsucker – caught between lesbian bloodlust and the man that truly loves her – surprisingly well. The film is filled with what you might call vampire film clichés, but they all play out as highlights within the scenes. Sangster manages some truly beautiful set-ups (especially where Stensgaard slowly removes the life from Bates amidst the foggy tombstones) and the eroticism is well executed with enough bare bosoms to sustain the hormone-driven viewer until the end of the picture. Mike Raven (real name: Austin Churton Fairman) was a former radio personality who became something of a British horror star in the early 1970s, appearing opposite Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing in I, MONSTER and then headlining two very low budget vehicles: CRUCIBLE OF TERROR (1971) and DISCIPLE OF DEATH (1972), and all three of them utilized his actual voice. The cast also includes Harvey Hall (the only actor in all three of Hammer’s “Karnstein Trilogy), Judy Matheson (SCREAM AND DIE), Luan Peters (THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW), Helen Christie (THE BEGGAR’S OPERA), New York-born David Healy (PATTON), Michael Brennan (DOOMWATCH), Jonathan Cecil (HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART 1), Eric Chitty (THE VAULT OF HORROR), Christopher Cunningham (DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE), Nick Brimble (the monster in Roger Corman’s FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND) and Christopher Neame (DRACULA A.D. 1972).

In the United States, LUST FOR A VAMPIRE was previously available on VHS from Thorn EMI (a transfer which was used for an early 1990s Image Entertainment laserdisc) and then again on VHS from Lumiere Home Video before Anchor Bay Entertainment released it on DVD in 2001. Scream Factory’s new Blu-ray (licensed from StudioCanal) features a new 4K scan from the original negative, with splendid results. The film is presented uncut in 1080p HD, and the colors look scrumptious, with the blood reds looking especially red. The image has solid contrast and excellent detail, while black levels are deep, grain is appropriate and not overbearing, and the numerous nighttime outdoor scenes are rendered clearly and beautifully. Basically any past standard def transfers that didn’t help to cheapen the film’s appearance have been rectified, and it now has a true rich gothic flavor in its aesthetic value. The 1.85:1 aspect ratio opens up more picture information than the previous AB DVD which was framed too tight, and the 1.66:1 framing option (viewable here from the “bonus” menu) reveals even more picture information on the top and bottom. The 1.85:1 version carries an English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono 2.0 track, while the 1.66:1 has an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track, both are impressive tracks without any major flaws, as dialogue is always perfectly understandable and music and sound effects also come through well. Optional English subtitles are included.

Carried over from the Anchor Bay DVD is the audio commentary with the late director Sangster and the late co-star Suzanna Leigh, moderated by Hammer Films historian Marcus Hearn. The participants have fun talking about making the picture (with Leigh being much more enthusiastic), and share some interesting anecdotes (including Terence Fisher's "playing chicken," and Raven storming out of a premiere when he realized his voice had been re-dubbed) and they address the fact that Sangster and the film crew can be briefly seen in one badly edited shot (very noticeable). Sangster seems to have forgotten everything about making this film (except the bad reviews), and you can just picture him looking away at the screen during this chat. A new audio commentary features Hammer historian and author Bruce G. Hallenbeck, who starts out by giving background on the literary source and the previous cinematic adaptations of Sheridan Le Fanu's novelette Carmilla that lead to Hammer producing their own take with THE VAMPIRE LOVERS in 1970. Hallenbeck goes on to elaborate on just about anything you need to know about LUST, including some behind-the-scenes facts, info on the locations and Elstree studio sets, and much about the extended cast. As other Hammer historians would likely be condescending towards the film, Hallenbeck thankfully appraises its numerous positive attributes, lauding its performances (including Stensgaard, and rightfully so) without being overly-gushy, and he also criticizes it when appropriate and makes some clever observations, resulting in an entertaining talk from someone who is unapologetically a fan of the film.