Countess Dracula
Encyclopedia
Countess Dracula is a 1971 Hammer horror
film based on the legends surrounding the "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Báthory
. It is in many ways atypical of Hammer's canon, attempting to broaden Hammer's output from Dracula
and Frankenstein sequels.
The film was produced by Alexander Paal and directed by Peter Sasdy
, Hungarian émigrés working in England. The original music score was composed by Harry Robertson.
, Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy discovers that her youthful appearance and libido
can be temporarily restored if she bathes in the blood of young, virgin women. She enlists her steward and lover
, Captain Dobi, to help with the kidnap
and murder of countless local girls, whilst pursuing further sexual conquests with the likes of Lt. Imre Toth. As a cover for her crimes while in her rejuvenated state, she takes the identity of her own daughter; a plan that spirals out of control when her actual daughter, Ilona, returns home.
from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
in the USA as a double-bill with The Vampire Lovers
, and from Carlton
in the UK in a box set with Twins of Evil
and Vampire Circus
.
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...
film based on the legends surrounding the "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Báthory
Elizabeth Báthory
Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed was a countess from the renowned Báthory family of Hungarian nobility. Although in modern times she has been labelled the most prolific serial killer in history, the number of murders has been debated...
. It is in many ways atypical of Hammer's canon, attempting to broaden Hammer's output from Dracula
Dracula (1958 film)
Dracula, also known as Horror of Dracula in the United States, is a 1958 British horror film. It is the first in the series of Hammer Horror films inspired by the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. It was directed by Terence Fisher, and stars Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Carol Marsh, Melissa Stribling and...
and Frankenstein sequels.
The film was produced by Alexander Paal and directed by Peter Sasdy
Peter Sasdy
Peter Sasdy is a British film and TV director.As well as numerous TV credits, notably the Nigel Kneale-scripted The Stone Tape , he directed several horror films for Hammer, including Taste the Blood of Dracula , Countess Dracula and Hands of the Ripper...
, Hungarian émigrés working in England. The original music score was composed by Harry Robertson.
Plot
In 17th-century HungaryHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy discovers that her youthful appearance and libido
Libido
Libido refers to a person's sex drive or desire for sexual activity. The desire for sex is an aspect of a person's sexuality, but varies enormously from one person to another, and it also varies depending on circumstances at a particular time. A person who has extremely frequent or a suddenly...
can be temporarily restored if she bathes in the blood of young, virgin women. She enlists her steward and lover
Sexual partner
Sexual partners are people who engage in sexual activity together. The sexual partners can be of any gender or sexual orientation. The sexual partners may be in a committed relationship, either on an exclusive basis or not, or engage in the sexual activity on a casual basis...
, Captain Dobi, to help with the kidnap
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
and murder of countless local girls, whilst pursuing further sexual conquests with the likes of Lt. Imre Toth. As a cover for her crimes while in her rejuvenated state, she takes the identity of her own daughter; a plan that spirals out of control when her actual daughter, Ilona, returns home.
Cast
- Ingrid PittIngrid PittIngrid Pitt was an actress best known for her work in horror films of the 1960s and 1970s.-Background:Pitt was born Ingoushka Petrov in Warsaw, Poland to a German father of Russian descent and a Polish Jewish mother. During World War II she and her family were imprisoned in a concentration camp...
as Countess Elisabeth Nadasdy - Nigel GreenNigel GreenNigel Green was a South African-born English character actor. Because of his strapping build and commanding demeanour he would often be found playing military types and men of action in such classic sixties films as Jason and the Argonauts, Zulu, Tobruk and The Ipcress File.-Early life and...
as Captain Dobi, the castle steward - Sandor ElèsSandor ElèsSandor Elès was a Hungarian-born actor....
as Lt. Imre Toth - Maurice DenhamMaurice DenhamMaurice Denham OBE was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 television programmes and films throughout his long career.-Life and career:...
as Grand Master Fabio, castle historian - Patience Collier as Julia Szentes, the Nurse
- Lesley-Anne DownLesley-Anne DownLesley-Anne Down is a British film and television actress, former model and singer.Down achieved fame as Georgina Worsley in the ITV drama series Upstairs, Downstairs...
as Countess Ilona Nadasdy, Elisabeth's daughter - Peter JeffreyPeter JeffreyPeter Jeffrey was a British actor with many roles in television and film.Jeffrey was born in Bristol, the son of Florence Alice and Arthur Winfred Gilbert Jeffrey. He was educated at Harrow School and Pembroke College, Cambridge but had no formal training as an actor...
as Captain Balogh, chief bailiff - Leon LissekLeon LissekLeon Lissek is an actor originated from Australia who primarily does work in England. He has appeared in over 80 films in his career, which started with Marat/Sade...
as Sergeant of Bailiffs - Jessie Evans as Rosa, Teri's mother
- Andrea Lawrence as Ziza, the whore at the Shepperd's Inn
- Marianne StoneMarianne StoneMarianne Stone was a British character actress. She appeared in many films from the early 1940s to the late 1980s...
as Kitchen Maid - Charles Farrell as The Seller
- Anne StallybrassAnne StallybrassAnne Stallybrass is a British actress who trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London.She was born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex...
as Pregnant Woman
Availability
The film is available on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
in the USA as a double-bill with The Vampire Lovers
The Vampire Lovers
The Vampire Lovers is a 1970 British Hammer Horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt, Madeline Smith, Kate O'Mara, and Jon Finch. It is based on the J. Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla and is part of the so-called Karnstein Trilogy of films. The other films in...
, and from Carlton
Carlton Television
Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...
in the UK in a box set with Twins of Evil
Twins of Evil
Twins of Evil is a 1971 horror film by Hammer Film Productions starring Peter Cushing, with Damien Thomas and the real-life twins and former Playboy Playmates Mary and Madeleine Collinson....
and Vampire Circus
Vampire Circus
Vampire Circus is a 1972 British horror film directed by Robert Young for Hammer Film Productions. It stars Adrienne Corri, Thorley Walters and Anthony Higgins . The story concerns a travelling carnival whose vampiric artistes prey on the children of a 19th-century Austrian village...
.
Trivia
- Ingrid PittIngrid PittIngrid Pitt was an actress best known for her work in horror films of the 1960s and 1970s.-Background:Pitt was born Ingoushka Petrov in Warsaw, Poland to a German father of Russian descent and a Polish Jewish mother. During World War II she and her family were imprisoned in a concentration camp...
's voice was dubbed. Supposedly, she was so furious at director Peter SasdyPeter SasdyPeter Sasdy is a British film and TV director.As well as numerous TV credits, notably the Nigel Kneale-scripted The Stone Tape , he directed several horror films for Hammer, including Taste the Blood of Dracula , Countess Dracula and Hands of the Ripper...
that she vowed never to speak to him again.
- Countess DraculaCountess DraculaCountess Dracula is a 1971 Hammer horror film based on the legends surrounding the "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Báthory. It is in many ways atypical of Hammer's canon, attempting to broaden Hammer's output from Dracula and Frankenstein sequels....
was based on Hungarian Countess Erzsebet Bathory (our modern day Elizabeth) who lived from 1560 to 1614. Countess Bathory was allegedly responsible for the deaths of approximately six hundred virgin girls, all of which involved torture and gruesome methods of killing. Her atrocities are mostly speculation. She is credited for influencing our modern day concept of DraculaDraculaDracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
as an entity depending on human blood for youth and vitality.
- Countess Dracula is also known as Princess Daria Borisovna Semovsky in Dracula's Return, a sequel to Stoker's original novel by David Logan.
- The picture that appears behind the opening credits is an 1896 painting by Hungarian artist Istvan CsokIstván CsókIstván Csók was a Hungarian Impressionist painter. Csok lived and exhibited in Paris for a portion of his life. He became most famous in Hungary for his nudes, portraits, and landscapes of the Lake Balaton. Csok had many international exhibitions in such cities as Rome, San Francisco, Pittsburgh,...
. It shows the real Countess Bathory enjoying the torture of some young women by her servants. In an inner courtyard of one of her castles, the naked girls are being drenched with water and allowed to freeze to death in the snow.
- Ingrid PittIngrid PittIngrid Pitt was an actress best known for her work in horror films of the 1960s and 1970s.-Background:Pitt was born Ingoushka Petrov in Warsaw, Poland to a German father of Russian descent and a Polish Jewish mother. During World War II she and her family were imprisoned in a concentration camp...
replaced Diana RiggDiana RiggDame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service....
who turned the role down.
- Although cuts were requested by the BBFC, (the film remains listed as edited on their website) the edits were never made following an appeal by HammerHammerA hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving nails, fitting parts, forging metal and breaking up objects. Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. The usual features are a handle and a head,...
to chief censor Stephen MurphyStephen MurphyStephen Murphy is an American comic book writer best known for his work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.-Biography:Murphy revamped the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures title for Archie Comics beginning with issue number five and created the characters Jagwar, Nova Posse,...
.
- Ingrid Pitt reprised her role as Countess Elizabeth on the 1998 Cradle of FilthCradle of FilthCradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic black metal, and other extreme metal styles, while their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily...
album, Cruelty and the BeastCruelty and the BeastCruelty and the Beast is the third studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It is a concept album based on the legend of the Hungarian "blood countess" Elizabeth Báthory...
.