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Ingrid Pitt (The Vampire Lovers, The Wicker Man) stars as an aged, 17th-century Hungarian baroness who bathes in the blood of virgin women to maintain a beautiful, youthful appearance. She keeps her visiting daughter (Lesley-Anne Down) prisoner and assumes her identity, attracting a handsome young man (Sandor Elès) and making her man-at-arms (Nigel Green) envious. As the baroness plans to wed Elès, the castle’s historian (Maurice Denham) learns of her supernatural shenanigans and threatens to uncover her dark secret.
Countess Dracula features sumptuous sets, costumes, cinematography, and scoring (by Harry Robinson), and the cast is better than average for a Hammer Films production. Pitt is alluring in the lead role, with Nigel Green giving the film’s most striking supporting performance as her jealous captain. Jeremy Paul’s screenplay, based on a book by Valentine Penrose, starts off promisingly when we realize the baroness plans to assume her poor daughter’s identity, but many of the film’s relationships fail to develop in any interesting way. For the exploitation lovers, there’s a smidge of sex and violence, including another helping of bloody bosom and brief full-frontal nudity. The film certainly conjures a mood, but the story becomes plodding by the mid-point, building to an abrupt and underwhelming climax.
Directed by Peter Sasdy (Taste the Blood of Dracula). With Patience Collier and Peter Jeffrey.