The Vampire Lovers (Roy Ward Baker, 1970) UNCUT [RePoPo]

*******************************************************************************

The Vampire Lovers (Roy Ward Baker, 1970)

*******************************************************************************



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Technical Information

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Type..................: Movie

Container file........: AVI

Video Format..........: H.264

Total Bitrate.........: 2273 Kbps

Bits/(Pixel*Frame)....: 0.300

Audio format..........: AC3 192 Kbps (Untouched)

Audio Languages.......: English 1.0

Subtitles Ripped......: Spanish

Resolution............: 720x384 (Original, cropped black bars)

Aspect Ratio..........: 1.85:1

Original Aspect Ratio.: 1.85:1

Color.................: Color

FPS...................: 25.000

Source................: PAL DVD

Duration..............: 01:27:17

Genre.................: Horror

IMDb Rating...........: 6.3

Movie Information.....: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066518/






-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLEASE NOTICE

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Size has been calculated in order to get the optimum PQ without oversizing the

file, hence the irregular size of the file (not the usual 700Mb/1.4Gb rip).

A rate of Bits/(Pixel*Frame) around 0.3 is perfect, above that point, picture

quality becomes virtually the same to the original source.



Check you have installed the right codecs, as listed in this .nfo file, before

trying to play it. VLC will play this file without having to install any codec.



If you don't like the codec(s), container, resolution, file size, languages or

any technical aspect on this rip, keep it to yourself and go and do your own.



Serious feedback on quality will always be welcome. IF you can/can't play it

on standalone players, PS3, Xbox, etc etc, that'd be of interest so I can

enhance future rips.





-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Release Notes

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Plot Synopsis by Dan Pavlides



This sexy horror story from Britain's Hammer Films finds Ingrid Pitt playing

three roles, the most notable being a lesbian vampire who will resort to biting

a man only when it is absolutely necessary. A doctor and a manservant are

victims, but only after she has exhausted all attempts to sink her fangs into

the bosoms of young women. The General (Peter Cushing) finds his daughter Laura

(Pippa Steel) is victimized by the bite of the vampiress. With the help of Baron

Hartog (Douglas Wilmer), they try to end the horror brought by the blood-sucking

beauty. Blood, gore and a few decapitations are depicted before the wooden

stakes and crosses are brought out.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CAST

Ingrid Pitt - Mircalla/Marcilla/Carmilla

George Cole - Roger Morton

Kate O'Mara - Mme. Perrodot

Madeline Smith - Emma Morton

Peter Cushing - Gen. Spielsdorf

Dawn Addams - The Countess

Ferdy [Ferdinand] Mayne - Doctor

Douglas Wilmer - Baron Hartog

Carl Finch - Carl Ebbhardt

Kirsten Betts - 1st Vampire

John Forbes-Robertson - Man in Black

Harvey Hall - Renton

Charles Farrell - Landlord

Graham James - Young Man

Olga James - Village Girl

Janet Key - Gretchen

Pippa Steele - Laura Spielsdorf

Shelagh Wilcox - Housekeeper



CREW

Roy Ward Baker - Director

Harry Fine - Producer / Screenwriter

Michael Style - Producer / Screenwriter

Tudor Gates - Screenwriter

Moray Grant - Cinematographer

Harry Robertson - Composer (Music Score)

Harry Robinson - Composer (Music Score)

James Needs - Editor

Scott MacGregor - Art Director

Roy Hyde - Sound/Sound Designer

Tom Smith - Makeup

Derek Whitehurst - First Assistant Director

Tom Sachs - Production Manager

Vic Armstrong - Stunts Coordinator

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu - Short Story Author

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SOME REVIEWS



britishhorrorfilms.co.uk

(http://www.britishhorrorfilms.co.uk/vampirelovers.shtml)



The Vampire Lovers is one of the more famous of Hammer's later cycle of films,

for two reasons (both belonging to Ingrid Pitt). But copious amounts of Ms

Pitt's flesh aside, it has been unfairly maligned. In no way is it as bad as the

sequel Lust For A Vampire, and it's certainly not as toe-curlingly awful as the

real tit-and-bum stuff like Virgin Witch.

It's a very literate translation of La Fanu's short story Carmilla (some would

say too literate), with none of the kitschness of Lust. Apart from the

occasional appearance of an unnamed green-faced tosser on horseback (I have no

idea why), Lovers is also quite a good film. Not as wonderful as Twins Of Evil,

but certainly not as bad as Horror Of Frankenstein.

In the pre-credit sequence we get told the new vampire rules - if you steal

their shroud, they can have no night of rest. Plus they can only be killed by a

stake through the heart or decapitation. So after self-styled vengeful vampire

killer Joachim Von Hartog goes to search for these "murderers from beyond the

grave" and spies a "kind of human shape" (or woman under a pink blanket), we get

Hammer's new approach distilled into a single scene - shrinking away from a

gorgeous blonde, Hartog appears to have failed until her exposed boobs touch his

crucifix. She bears her fangs, he finds his strength and lops her head off in a

triumph of special effects. No, really. Unfortunately, the makers were obviously

so impressed with their cleverness that they chose to repeat the scene twice

again during the film.

During a Pride And Prejudice style dance hosted by General Spielsdorf (Peter

Cushing), we are introduced to Marcilla (Pitt) and her suspiciously

young-looking mum, who arrive after Morton (George Cole) and his daughter Emma

(Maddy Smith) have left. Marcilla's mum does a bunk and leaves her daughter in

the charge of Spielsdorf, and it's not long before his daughter, Laura (Pippa

Steele), has succumbed to Marcilla's nudy breast-kissing antics ("Oh Marcilla

you're so kind to me... I swear I shall die when you leave..."). Every night

Laura finds herself attacked by a giant cat, and during the day Ingrid practises

her acting on-camera (sample dialogue: "I could not SLEEP... I went to the

CHAPEL... to PRAY..."), but it's not long before Laura's dead, the doctor

discovers puncture marks on her norks and Marcilla vanishes, the house echoing

to Cushing's plaintive calls of her name. Marcilla has made her way back to the

castle seen in the pre-credits sequence, and as her nightgowned figure vanishes

into the fog, the camera comes to rest on the tombstone of Mircalla Karnstein.

A-ha.

Of course, it's not long before the obligatory busty girl is attacked in the

forest, and we're then treated to a spectacular coach crash which sends footmen

and horses scattering in all directions. The crash has happened right in front

of Morton and Emma, and who should stagger out of the overturned coach but

Marcilla's mum - her daughter is inside. Mum palms her daughter (this time

called Carmilla) off on the trusting Cole and legs it again, and it's not long

before Pitt and the equally busty (and more lovely) Maddy Smith are enjoying

several naked bed and bathroom scenes together ("You must take it all off..."

says Carmilla).

It's also not long before Emma is having the same nocturnal feline visits as

Laura before her ("The trouble with this part of the world is they have too many

fairytales," says her governess, Kate O'Mara), but of course, this being an age

before telephones, the family has no idea what has happened to their friends

down the road.

Another peasant girl is killed in the forest, and as her funeral courtege passes

by Carmilla and Emma, Carmilla reacts quite badly.

"I hate funerals!"

"I thought it sad, yet somehow beautiful," replies Emma.

"You must die! Everyone must die!"

Blimey. Calm down, love.

It's not long though before people start putting two and two together, and

realise there's a vampire at work. The weakening Emma is surrounded with

cricifixes and garlic (Pitt does a fantastic double-take the first time she

walks into the bedroom), the Karnstein legacy is explained (twice) and Cole

meets up with Spielsdorf, Laura's boyfriend and Bartok, finally realising that

Marcilla, Carmilla and Mircalla are all one and the same: "That girl is a guest

in my house!"

As a whole bunch of sweaty blokes rush back to Cole's house, Pitt is busy

munching her way through the servants (the butler failing to realise it was her

who was the be-fanged one), but fails to kill Emma - and as a knife is thrown at

her by Laura's grieving boyfriend, vanishes into thin air. Things are boiling up

nicely for a climactic approach towards the castle by torchlight, and we're not

let down as we proceed to a very gory staking and a not-as-good-as-the-first-one

decapitation.

The final scene sees Mircalla's painting turn from a beautiful girl into a

skeleton (nice touch).

Vampire Lovers is a good film, not great, illuminated by the gorgeous Maddy

Smith, the ever-dependable Cushing, a decent script and a few home truths about

vampires. Much like Dracula in the original book, Mircalla walks around in

sunlight, is afraid of just garlic and crosses, nothing more, and doesn't have

recourse to coffins. Refreshingly, she doesn't even like funerals. Makes Lee's

Dracula look positively Transylvanian.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Keith Allen (Movierapture.com)



Roy Ward Baker's The Vampire Lovers is a wonderfully fun film. While it is

burdened with several overdone scenes, a number of awkward lines, and a few

other faults, it is such a genuinely fascinating, sensuous, and eerie movie that

it is almost certain to captivate the viewer.



The director combines in his film a sense of ominous menace with both a potent

evocation of the supernatural and a sensuous almost feverish eroticism. While

making the viewer aware of some mysterious, numinous presence, some uncanny

power that has taken form in Carmilla, Baker repeatedly reminds him of the

dangerous cruelty of that power and, consequently, fills him with real feelings

of fear. At the same time, the director brings out the seductive allure of such

an otherworldly being and makes clear the intoxicating, hypnotic influence she

is able to exert on those around her. Thanks to the skillful evocations of all

these feelings, Baker's film is able to draw the viewer into its unearthly,

deadly, and profoundly sensual world and immerse him in its beauty, its mystery,

and its brutality.



The performances of the various members of the cast greatly contribute to this

emotive impact achieved by The Vampire Lovers. Pitt brings to her role a

sophisticated but desperate salacity and makes the viewer feel that he is

watching some ancient, lethal power that, though alienated from mankind, is

desirous of forging connections with the young women it encounters. Madeline

Smith and Pippa Steel, who play these women, may be the least accomplished

performers in the film, but both, especially the former, do infuse their

characters with an innocent, youthful carnality and with a sense of that

wondrous excitement felt by persons discovering their own sexuality and

anticipating their first sexual experiences. Even Peter Cushing, though he plays

only a small part in the movie, is able to make the viewer aware both of General

von Spielsdorf's love for his daughter and of the character's determination to

avenge her death.



Not only is much of the acting surprisingly good, The Vampire Lovers is also,

for the most part, a genuinely well made film. The sets and costumes used are

all beautiful and successfully evoke another era. The special effects, if never

impressive, are usually effectively employed, and the script, if not poetic, is

well crafted. Occasionally, the movie's production values are not of the highest

quality and the lines spoken by the actors are, at times, clichéd, but such

faults are relatively rare and do little to decrease the film's enjoyableness.



While it is hardly a great movie, The Vampire Lovers is consistently well made,

evocative, and engaging. It is one of the best horror films I have seen.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------