Despite having heard about her for years,I have somehow never caught a glimpse of Ingrid Pitt,which led to me deciding that it was time to meet the Countess.The plot:Attending the reading of her husbands will, Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy is sickened to find out that her husband has not left anything solely for her. Furiously pushing a maid aside, Nádasdy accidentally causes the maid's face to get cut. Splattered with blood, Nádasdy is shocked to find that the maid's virginal blood causes her to look decades younger.Killing the maid, Elisabeth decides to keep her daughter Ilona hidden from view,so that she can pretend to be her own daughter,as Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy thrust for purity grows.View on the film:Filmed on sets originally built for Anne of the Thousand Days,co- writer/(along with Jeremy Paul/ Alexander Paal & Gabriel Ronay) director Peter Sasdy and cinematographer Kenneth Talbot use restrained tracking shots to show the decaying walls of Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy's palace,with Sasdy also using very stylish reflective flames to show the pit that Elisabeth is placing herself in.Taking inspiration from Valentine Penrose's book The Bloody Countess,the screenplay attempts to cross Hammer Horror chills with elegant Costume Drama.Whilst the movie does well at continuing the studios major theme of the rich being the real monsters,the writers fail to build any sense of terror,due to any Horror edges being filed down by a disappointingly plodding Costume Drama elements.Despite getting her voiced dubbed over by Olive Gregg, (which led to her never talking to Sasdy again)the alluring Ingrid Pitt gives a wonderful performance as Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy,with Pitt creating a deep contrast between the "young" & old (which involved Pitt having to spend 3 hours getting the impressive make up effects on) Elisabeth,thanks to Pitt showing old Elisabeth to be a burnt out, psychotic witch,who tries to keep her old dark blood lust under wraps by transforming into a glamorous beauty,which leads to Elisabeth becoming a murderous youth in revolt.

An insane countess discover her own fountain of youth, while bathing in blood of virgin. The women and took an identity of her own daughter (who she kidnapping) to be with a young man. This based on the real Elisabeth Bathory.The movie has nothing do with vampire and the movie is unpleasant. I don't like the voice dubbed of the late Ingrid Pitt. The acting was mediocre; The Countess is a real cougar and she seems to be jealousy/hated by her own daughter (Lesley-Anne Down); The scene of the wedding when she turn back into old ugly woman and so desperately to be young again she tried to kill her own daughter in front everyone (she is crazy!!!). Instead of kill the young man she tried to marry. I hated this movies it down right terrible you should just watch another movie about Elisabeth Bathory.

One only has to take a look at Ingrid Pitt as she changes from Countess Elisabeth Nodosheen to a nineteen old version to immediately know why she is the Most Beautiful Ghoul in the World.A retelling of the Elizabeth Bathory tale with the gorgeous Pitt is certainly one worth watching if not for her, for the ample flesh that is displayed as girls are murdered to keep her beautiful.Nigel Green is the unfortunate Captain Dobi, the Countess' lover, who is charged with providing girls to die for her, only to see her go after a much younger man.Elizabeth has her own daughter Ilona (Lesley-Anne Down) imprisoned so she could pretend to be her.It gets more horrible when it is found that only virgins will do, and you can imagine Ilona's eventual fate.An exciting tale with a beautiful woman who we lost just this week.

At the time of its release, Countess Dracula ticked every check box for what you might expect to find in a Hammer film of the period - a beautiful Gothic setting, death scenes that are actually shown on camera, several topless women and a cheesy 'boy meets girl' storyline that, really, takes second stage to the main storyline, which in this case is of a blood-obsessed countess. Oh, and not forgetting the obligatory European peasants who all speak with random accents from all over the British Isles!The storyline is based very loosely around the historical character of Elizabeth Bathory and, as such, contains no vampires, no fangs, and certainly no Dracula. For those who wish to know more about Bathory, it would probably be easier to do a quick Wikipedia search on her, but, in short, she believed that she could make herself younger by bathing in the blood of virgins and, as a result, killed a lot of young girls in order to achieve this.As long as you watch Countess Dracula in the context that it was intended, it is a thoroughly enjoyable film, featuring a career-defining performance from the great Ingrid Pitt (both for her acting, as well as her lack of clothing...), as well as a solid storyline and some great location work.On the downside, not that I look for a lot of gore and bloodshed in my films (far from it!), I was surprised at the lack of deaths of in the film - as the historical character was supposed to have murdered hundreds of young girls, you can count all of Countess Dracula's victims on a single hand.Overall: Highly recommended for fans of Hammer and vintage horror, but, for those looking for a traditional vampire film, look elsewhere - there are no blood-suckers here, just blood-bathers!