It's Hammer [Films] time! I'm combining both Hammer films into one post because. Well, because I want to. It's certainly not because I watched Vampire Circus weeks ago, wrote notes for a review and then lost the notes and forgot to post the review. Certainly not that.
1970's The Vampire Lovers has Hammer Films' beloved, Peter Cushing, in it. He gets top billing but he's not on screen all that often. In any event, in the late 1700s, somewhere in Europe (Bavaria, maybe?), there are vampires in the village. They've got a neat set-up, orchestrated by the main vamp, a tall, pale dude in a top hat, who lurks around and laughs, but not much else: a familiar, "the Countess," installs her vampire "daughter," who goes by Carmilla, Marcela, and other names, into local gentry's homes. Carmilla seduces and drains any nubile daughter, killing or turning them, and then flounces on to the next home. There's quite a lot of screaming and nekkid 70s breasts, but it's pretty slow. Cushing and a small gang of townsmen end up staking Carmilla to end the vampiric menace.
1972's Vampire Circus uses the same castle backdrop as TVL does, which is funny. In this one, set earlier than TVL, a village is isolated from its surroundings since there's a bit of plague floating around and none of then neighboring towns wants their germs. A roving circus arrives, giving the village some entertainment. But the circus folk are vampires and their familiars, in town to attempt to resurrect the main vamp who was defeated by the villagers years and years ago. These vampires have HUGE fangs (no a euphemism). This flick is terrifically campy (the attack by the black panther is obviously crew members tossing a big stuffed animal at the actors) but with some decent special effects. It's also kind of lowkey 70s sexy, which is, I guess, a Hammer hallmark.
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