Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter
Encyclopedia
Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter is a 1974
British
horror film
written, produced and directed by Brian Clemens
for Hammer Film Productions
that was originally the pilot for a planned series. It stars Horst Janson
in the title role, along with John Carson
, Shane Briant
and Caroline Munro
. The original music score
is composed by Laurie Johnson
.
Dr. Marcus calls in his old army friend Captain Kronos (Horst Janson) and hunchback
Professor Hieronymus Grost (John Cater), two professional vampire hunters. On their way towards the village they free a young, barefoot gypsy girl named Carla (Caroline Munro) from a stockade. Carla decides to stay with the pair and later becomes romantically involved with Kronos. They arrive at the village, where young women continue to be attacked and aged by a cloaked figure. Grost explains to the initially skeptical Marcus that the women are victims of a vampire that drains not blood but youth and that there are as "many species of vampire as there are beasts of prey". The finding of another victim confirms Grost's explanations.
Grost and Carla bury several toads in the wood, marking the spots with red ribbons. The next morning, another girl falls victim to the cloaked figure. However, this time her boyfriend witnessed the attack and reveals to Kronos the girl saw "someone old, very old". In contradiction, Kronos states that a youth-draining vampire would appear "young and fair". Kronos also digs up the buried toads, and the fact that one of the toads now lives, confirms the presence of a vampire.
At the same time, Marcus visits the grave of his friend Lord Durward and speaks with the Lord's son Paul (Shane Briant), who tells the doctor that his mother still holds a grudge against the doctor for not having been able to save Hagen's life from the plague. Lady Durward is shown sitting in a carriage, having greatly aged out of grief. Later, Marcus tries to visit Lady Durwood and goes to Durward manor, where he is welcomed by Paul and his beautiful sister Sara (Lois Daine) but has to leave without seeing the bed-ridden Lady. In the woods, a cloaked figure calls to him in an otherworldly female voice. Marcus rides toward the figure, but seems to black out following the sudden and brief appearance of thunder and lightning. As he emerges from the woods having lost sight of the figure, he is shaken and has drops of blood on his lips but is otherwise unharmed.
Meanwhile at a tavern, Kronos and Grost are confronted by a group of thugs, who were hired by Lady Durward's coachman, to kill them. The leader of the thugs, Kerro, provokes a fight by insulting Grost's deformity but Kronos kills them by cutting their throats with one stroke of his samaurai sword. Later, Kronos, Grost, Marcus and Carla plan their next excursion, setting up a system of alarm bells in the woods. While they work, a large bat attacks another girl. They rush to her aid, but the bat has vanished and the girl lies dead.
At the manor, Paul and Sara are worried by the state of their bed-ridden mother, who has not touched food nor drink. Sara reveals that she is frightened by age, fearing her own eventual decay, but Paul replies that as Durwards by birth - a family "always renowned for their youthfulness" - they will not share in their mother's fate.
That night, Kronos explains to Carla why he fights vampires: while he was fighting in a war, his mother and sister were turned into vampires and attacked him on his return, forcing him to destroy them both. Meanwhile Marcus realizes in horror that he has been turned into a youth-draining vampire and begs Kronos to kill him as he cannot bear life as a predator. Kronos and Grost try several methods (including impalement with a wooden stake and hanging) but all fail until Kronos, attempting to hold Marcus still while Grost exposes him to flame, accidentally pierces Marcus's chest with a cross made out of steel that Marcus had been wearing round his neck. Marcus expires, once again his old self. Realizing that it is the blessed cross of steel that destroys youth-draining vampires, Kronos and Grost go to the cemetery to obtain a large iron cross which he then forges into a sword.
However, a villager has witnessed Marcus's death, and thinking that Marcus was murdered in cold blood, rouses his friends at the tavern to avenge the good doctor as an angry mob. The angry villagers attack Kronos and Grost at the cemetery, but Kronos fights them off and disarms them. Grost now takes the cross and forges it into a new sword.
That night, another young woman is attacked at her home, while her father lies dead outside. Kronos comes across the scene too late and sees a carriage similar to the Durward carriage leave. Grost sets a trap by burying a dead frog in the road, and after the carriage goes by, he finds that the frog is now alive. The next morning, Kronos meets Sara Durward at their father's grave but Paul quickly interrupts their conversation and the siblings leave in their carriage. Kronos deduces that the vampire must live at Durward Manor, as Marcus was transformed after his visit, and in particular suspects beautiful, young Sara.
Kronos prepares himself for his task by arming himself with the sword and various protective measures. To gain entrance into Durward Manor, Carla rings at the door and faints as Paul opens the door. Inside, she begs for refuge and the Durward siblings agree to let her stay. As she sleeps on the couch in front of the fireplace, she is approached and mesmerized by a shadowy female figure, who bares her fangs. The scene is interrupted by Sara, standing on the stairs screaming, while Kronos breaks into the house and hides.
Sara and the alarmed Paul recognize the figure as their own mother, who has grown young again and who reveals herself as a "Carstein by birth", that her family is "blessed with many dark secrets" and that after seven years of preparation she will now never grow old. Lady Durwood also introduces her late husband, whom she has awakened from the grave. Lady Durwood mesmerizes her children, and then leads her cloaked and still disfigured husband towards the mesmerized Carla, inviting him to take Carla's life and youth. At that moment, Kronos erupts from his hiding place. Lady Durward tries to mesmerize him too but Kronos uses his new sword's mirrored blade to reflect her gaze back onto her, mesmerizing her.
Kronos fights a duel with Lord Durward, who was himself a famous swordsman, and is temporarily disarmed and almost vanquished, but as he gains back his steel blade, he is able to defeat the vampire, who falls to the ground, aged again. Lady Durward attacks Kronos in a frenzy but is easily killed, breaking her control over Carla and over her children, who look upon their parents' decayed corpses in horror.
In the village courtyard, Kronos bids Carla good bye and rides off to new adventures.
1974 in film
The year 1974 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 7 - Blazing Saddles is released in the USA.*August 7 - Peter Wolf, lead singer of The J...
British
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
written, produced and directed by Brian Clemens
Brian Clemens
Brian Horace Clemens OBE is a British screenwriter and television producer, possibly best known for his work on The Avengers and The Professionals...
for Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
that was originally the pilot for a planned series. It stars Horst Janson
Horst Janson (actor)
Horst Janson is a German film and television actor.-Career:Horst Janson is one of Germany's most popular actors, his career started very early with the film Buddenbrooks in 1959, he also featured in Helmut Käutner’s ‘The glass of water’ 1960 , where he played alongside Gustaf Gründgens, Hilde...
in the title role, along with John Carson
John Carson (actor)
John Carson is a British actor noted for his appearances in film and television.Making his film debut in 1947, he carved out a career appearing in low budget British movies such as Seven Keys ; Smokescreen ; and Master Spy...
, Shane Briant
Shane Briant
Shane Briant is an actor and novelist. Briant studied Law at Trinity College Dublin but became a professional actor playing the name role in Hamlet at the Eblana theatre...
and Caroline Munro
Caroline Munro
Caroline Munro is an English actress and model known for her many appearances in horror, science fiction and action films of the 1970s and 1980s.-Early career:...
. The original music score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
is composed by Laurie Johnson
Laurie Johnson
Laurie Johnson is an English film and television composer, and bandleader.-Career:...
.
Plot summary
The film opens with two young women in the woods surrounding a Central European village. As they separate, one is approached by a cloaked figure. Dr. Marcus (John Carson) rides by on his horse to discover the one staring at the dead body of the other, whose face has aged horribly and who has blood on her lips.Dr. Marcus calls in his old army friend Captain Kronos (Horst Janson) and hunchback
Kyphosis
Kyphosis , also called roundback or Kelso's hunchback, is a condition of over-curvature of the thoracic vertebrae...
Professor Hieronymus Grost (John Cater), two professional vampire hunters. On their way towards the village they free a young, barefoot gypsy girl named Carla (Caroline Munro) from a stockade. Carla decides to stay with the pair and later becomes romantically involved with Kronos. They arrive at the village, where young women continue to be attacked and aged by a cloaked figure. Grost explains to the initially skeptical Marcus that the women are victims of a vampire that drains not blood but youth and that there are as "many species of vampire as there are beasts of prey". The finding of another victim confirms Grost's explanations.
Grost and Carla bury several toads in the wood, marking the spots with red ribbons. The next morning, another girl falls victim to the cloaked figure. However, this time her boyfriend witnessed the attack and reveals to Kronos the girl saw "someone old, very old". In contradiction, Kronos states that a youth-draining vampire would appear "young and fair". Kronos also digs up the buried toads, and the fact that one of the toads now lives, confirms the presence of a vampire.
At the same time, Marcus visits the grave of his friend Lord Durward and speaks with the Lord's son Paul (Shane Briant), who tells the doctor that his mother still holds a grudge against the doctor for not having been able to save Hagen's life from the plague. Lady Durward is shown sitting in a carriage, having greatly aged out of grief. Later, Marcus tries to visit Lady Durwood and goes to Durward manor, where he is welcomed by Paul and his beautiful sister Sara (Lois Daine) but has to leave without seeing the bed-ridden Lady. In the woods, a cloaked figure calls to him in an otherworldly female voice. Marcus rides toward the figure, but seems to black out following the sudden and brief appearance of thunder and lightning. As he emerges from the woods having lost sight of the figure, he is shaken and has drops of blood on his lips but is otherwise unharmed.
Meanwhile at a tavern, Kronos and Grost are confronted by a group of thugs, who were hired by Lady Durward's coachman, to kill them. The leader of the thugs, Kerro, provokes a fight by insulting Grost's deformity but Kronos kills them by cutting their throats with one stroke of his samaurai sword. Later, Kronos, Grost, Marcus and Carla plan their next excursion, setting up a system of alarm bells in the woods. While they work, a large bat attacks another girl. They rush to her aid, but the bat has vanished and the girl lies dead.
At the manor, Paul and Sara are worried by the state of their bed-ridden mother, who has not touched food nor drink. Sara reveals that she is frightened by age, fearing her own eventual decay, but Paul replies that as Durwards by birth - a family "always renowned for their youthfulness" - they will not share in their mother's fate.
That night, Kronos explains to Carla why he fights vampires: while he was fighting in a war, his mother and sister were turned into vampires and attacked him on his return, forcing him to destroy them both. Meanwhile Marcus realizes in horror that he has been turned into a youth-draining vampire and begs Kronos to kill him as he cannot bear life as a predator. Kronos and Grost try several methods (including impalement with a wooden stake and hanging) but all fail until Kronos, attempting to hold Marcus still while Grost exposes him to flame, accidentally pierces Marcus's chest with a cross made out of steel that Marcus had been wearing round his neck. Marcus expires, once again his old self. Realizing that it is the blessed cross of steel that destroys youth-draining vampires, Kronos and Grost go to the cemetery to obtain a large iron cross which he then forges into a sword.
However, a villager has witnessed Marcus's death, and thinking that Marcus was murdered in cold blood, rouses his friends at the tavern to avenge the good doctor as an angry mob. The angry villagers attack Kronos and Grost at the cemetery, but Kronos fights them off and disarms them. Grost now takes the cross and forges it into a new sword.
That night, another young woman is attacked at her home, while her father lies dead outside. Kronos comes across the scene too late and sees a carriage similar to the Durward carriage leave. Grost sets a trap by burying a dead frog in the road, and after the carriage goes by, he finds that the frog is now alive. The next morning, Kronos meets Sara Durward at their father's grave but Paul quickly interrupts their conversation and the siblings leave in their carriage. Kronos deduces that the vampire must live at Durward Manor, as Marcus was transformed after his visit, and in particular suspects beautiful, young Sara.
Kronos prepares himself for his task by arming himself with the sword and various protective measures. To gain entrance into Durward Manor, Carla rings at the door and faints as Paul opens the door. Inside, she begs for refuge and the Durward siblings agree to let her stay. As she sleeps on the couch in front of the fireplace, she is approached and mesmerized by a shadowy female figure, who bares her fangs. The scene is interrupted by Sara, standing on the stairs screaming, while Kronos breaks into the house and hides.
Sara and the alarmed Paul recognize the figure as their own mother, who has grown young again and who reveals herself as a "Carstein by birth", that her family is "blessed with many dark secrets" and that after seven years of preparation she will now never grow old. Lady Durwood also introduces her late husband, whom she has awakened from the grave. Lady Durwood mesmerizes her children, and then leads her cloaked and still disfigured husband towards the mesmerized Carla, inviting him to take Carla's life and youth. At that moment, Kronos erupts from his hiding place. Lady Durward tries to mesmerize him too but Kronos uses his new sword's mirrored blade to reflect her gaze back onto her, mesmerizing her.
Kronos fights a duel with Lord Durward, who was himself a famous swordsman, and is temporarily disarmed and almost vanquished, but as he gains back his steel blade, he is able to defeat the vampire, who falls to the ground, aged again. Lady Durward attacks Kronos in a frenzy but is easily killed, breaking her control over Carla and over her children, who look upon their parents' decayed corpses in horror.
In the village courtyard, Kronos bids Carla good bye and rides off to new adventures.
Cast
- Horst JansonHorst Janson (actor)Horst Janson is a German film and television actor.-Career:Horst Janson is one of Germany's most popular actors, his career started very early with the film Buddenbrooks in 1959, he also featured in Helmut Käutner’s ‘The glass of water’ 1960 , where he played alongside Gustaf Gründgens, Hilde...
as Captain Kronos - John CaterJohn CaterJohn Edward Cater was an English actor.His television credits include: Danger Man, Z Cars, The Avengers, The Baron, Doctor Who , Follyfoot, Softly, Softly, Department S, Up Pompeii!, Dad's Army, The Naked Civil Servant, I, Claudius, Alcock and Gander, The Duchess of...
as Professor Hieronymus Grost - Caroline MunroCaroline MunroCaroline Munro is an English actress and model known for her many appearances in horror, science fiction and action films of the 1970s and 1980s.-Early career:...
as Carla - John CarsonJohn Carson (actor)John Carson is a British actor noted for his appearances in film and television.Making his film debut in 1947, he carved out a career appearing in low budget British movies such as Seven Keys ; Smokescreen ; and Master Spy...
as Dr. Marcus - Shane BriantShane BriantShane Briant is an actor and novelist. Briant studied Law at Trinity College Dublin but became a professional actor playing the name role in Hamlet at the Eblana theatre...
as Paul Durward - Lois Daine as Sara Durward
- Wanda VenthamWanda VenthamWanda Ventham is an English actress, mainly on television. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama....
as Lady Durward - William HobbsWilliam Hobbs (choreographer)William Hobbs is a choreographer of staged fights. He has arranged some of the most notable scenes of cinematic fencing from the 1960s to the 2000s, including those in:* H.M.S...
as Lord Durward - Ian HendryIan HendryIan Hendry was an English film and television actor. He is best known for his work on several British TV series of the early 1960s such as The Avengers, and for his roles in 1970s films such as Get Carter .-Career:Hendry was born in Ipswich, Suffolk and educated at Culford School...
as Kerro