An unnamed region in 17th Century Eurpoe is being stalked by a vampire . The bodies of young woman are being found who have lost their youth , their vitality and lifeforce has been drained from them . In to this region rides a mysterious soldier of fortune Captain Kronos
I first saw this in my early teens and remembered it well as a very creepy and exciting horror movie featuring vampires and their nemesis in the shape of Captain Kronos . Two scenes I remembered very well were the opening pre-title sequence of a young woman consumed by a vampire and the scene in an Inn involving a trio of loud mouthed ruffians . I couldn't recall any else from the film and that's simply because there's very little memorable about the movie . The opening sequence is striking and well done but the Inn sequence is ridiculous as it cuts to an Inn keeper and his daughter hiding behind the counter as Kronos gets in to a stand off with three hooligans . Some people seem to have described this movie as a " spaghetti horror movie " and you can see their point and much of this opinion is probably down to this silly scene which merely seems to exist to shoehorn a relatively well known name in the shape of Ian Hendry . Horst Janson has a dubious starring role as Kronos . I say dubious because he looks like a cross between Bjorn Borg and Roman Polanski and if someone is corrupting young girls then a Polanski lookalike is the last person you're going to trust to save the situation . Caroline Munro is very noticeable looking hot , sultry and sexy . No make up required and unfortunately no acting required either
I can see what writer/director Brian Clemens is trying to do here and that is bring a new twist on the vampire legend for Hammer studios which by this point in its history was becoming a little bit too old fashioned . It was also meant kick start a series of films revolving around Captain Kronos but this film combining horror chills and swashbuckling thrills doesn't succeed simply down to the two aspects cancelling one another out . It is moderately entertaining and does pull the rug out from under the audiences feet as to who the vampires are but it's not a great horror movie
I first saw this in my early teens and remembered it well as a very creepy and exciting horror movie featuring vampires and their nemesis in the shape of Captain Kronos . Two scenes I remembered very well were the opening pre-title sequence of a young woman consumed by a vampire and the scene in an Inn involving a trio of loud mouthed ruffians . I couldn't recall any else from the film and that's simply because there's very little memorable about the movie . The opening sequence is striking and well done but the Inn sequence is ridiculous as it cuts to an Inn keeper and his daughter hiding behind the counter as Kronos gets in to a stand off with three hooligans . Some people seem to have described this movie as a " spaghetti horror movie " and you can see their point and much of this opinion is probably down to this silly scene which merely seems to exist to shoehorn a relatively well known name in the shape of Ian Hendry . Horst Janson has a dubious starring role as Kronos . I say dubious because he looks like a cross between Bjorn Borg and Roman Polanski and if someone is corrupting young girls then a Polanski lookalike is the last person you're going to trust to save the situation . Caroline Munro is very noticeable looking hot , sultry and sexy . No make up required and unfortunately no acting required either
I can see what writer/director Brian Clemens is trying to do here and that is bring a new twist on the vampire legend for Hammer studios which by this point in its history was becoming a little bit too old fashioned . It was also meant kick start a series of films revolving around Captain Kronos but this film combining horror chills and swashbuckling thrills doesn't succeed simply down to the two aspects cancelling one another out . It is moderately entertaining and does pull the rug out from under the audiences feet as to who the vampires are but it's not a great horror movie