Arriving in a small countryside village, a novelist fascinated by the local legends begins working at the nearby boarding school finds the other students mysteriously disappearing after a new student arrives and ties it to the local legends forcing him to put an end to their plans.There's a couple of good moments in here, and some really troublesome parts as well. One of the big reasons is that the decision to retain the period Gothic setting is admirable for a late-period Hammer title. The eerie opening, when an abducted village woman is abducted and taken to the castle, has two vampires slice her throat and the blood drips all over a white shroud the covers a corpse in a coffin, not only gives this an impressionable opening but also provides the kind of occult Gothic ritual within the huge elaborate castle which is exceptionally enjoyable. Due to the main vampire running loose in the school under the guise of the students provides this one with some fine sequences that explore this fuller, from the troop going through the ruins of the castle to the scenes of them going off into the night meeting with the vampire unexpectedly biting them. That also means it doesn't miss one possible shot of nudity, especially in the first half hour of the film. The nudity is very tastefully done and isn't at all gratuitous, from the skinny-dipping sequence to the seduction of the other women and the immeasurable amount of topless groping between the girls that occurs here. These measures are done in conjunction with the Gothic flavor, as it adds leaps and bounds to the sensuality of the film featuring both the classy tone as well as the fine nudity. The other big factor for this one is the stellar Gothic ending, which is the grand siege at the castle towards the end has a lot of action with the grandstanding nature of the villagers and the battles with the servants and villagers leading into a series of fire-filled traps alongside the traditional burning-down-the-castle action and some stellar gore thrown in. These make it a pretty decent effort of the genre, but there are some really off moments here as well. The pace here is really the biggest factor since there are a lot of scenes that go on and just stretch out the film without really doing anything. The middle section of the film dealing with the staff and faculty of the school are just long, pointless talk scenes that don't really go nowhere as are the pointless interludes showing him teaching the students which aren't needed due to already knowing the secret identity. It constantly keeps going through those sequences where it feels like something's going to happen only for the conversation parts to continue and that makes it very aggravating. That also limits the action in the film, and other than the beginning and the end as there isn't much of that in the film. Beyond those two elements, the biggest factor against this is the utter cluelessness towards the identity as this one has her have to kill off several individuals who know her secret which obviously doesn't mean it's as well-hidden as it could be if it keeps getting out like it does. These are the main problems with the film.Today's Rating/R: Nudity, several sex scenes and Violence.

Fresh from playing an unnamed vampire in this film's prequel 'The Vampire Lovers', actress Kirstin Lindholm here plays an unnamed peasant girl in the pre-credits sequence. She is attacked by another wraith-like bloodsucker stalking the countryside in broad daylight, which seems perfectly acceptable for the undead in these latter day Hammer films.Immediately, the same studio-bound low-budget tattiness that afflicted the earlier film is evident here. Former DJ Mike Raven plays Baron Karnstein (presumably the same character John Forbes-Robertson played in 'The Vampire Lovers'), dressed in suit and cape and dubbed by Valentine Dyall. He spills the girl's blood to resurrect, in a nice gory sequence, Carmilla. Close-ups of Christopher Lee's eyes, complete with red contact lenses, spliced from another film, are inexplicably inserted during this scene, further under-lining the gleefully cut-price nature of this production – and this barely ten minutes in.Unlike the episodic nature of 'The Vampire Lovers', this gives us more time to get to know the characters. Ralph Bates – in a role originally written for Peter Cushing – plays Giles Barton, a fascinating character who exudes prim fussiness as schoolmaster in an idyllic Finishing School for girls, but hides a dark desire. He is chided by the girls for being a pervert, whereas the less interesting hero Richard LeStrange (Michael Johnson), who lies his way into the position of supply teacher so he can ogle new pupil Mircalla more closely, is welcomed with open arms by the students. Pippa Steele returns from 'The Vampire Lovers' to play a different, equally doomed, character, as does the splendid Harvey Hall, but the titular Carmilla has been recast. Instead of Ingrid Pitt's mastery of seduction and devilry, we have Yutte Stensgaard's far less complex interpretation. Well worthy of a mention is Suzanna Leigh as Janet Playfair, the schoolmistress who tries to attract LeStrange's eye. Christopher Neame, one of a gaggle of villagers would go onto play Dracula's servant Johnny Alucard in 'Dracula AD 1972'.Barton's moonlit rendezvous with Carmilla is my favourite scene from the film. Barton wishes to be a servant of the Devil, having studied vampire lore and disposing of Carmilla's victims. His crumbling entreaties to the unfeeling girl as she drains him of his blood are a perfect mix of seduction and doom. Almost as mesmerising is Carmilla's later love scene with LeStrange. This scene has been much derided, mainly due to the inclusion of a song ('Strange Love' by 'Tracy') throughout its duration, but I really like it. With horror, you either have to 'go with it' or not, and this scene helps to sell the haunting, dreamlike atmosphere – and yet it is telling Hammer never tried anything like it again. Ah well.Having succumbed to the charms of a mortal, Carmilla's days (or nights) are numbered. The Karnsteins return to their castle and a fiery finale involves a burning wooden stake hurtling from the ceiling, impaling the girl as the Count and Countess face their fate. I'm not sure whether I prefer this to the previous film or not. Both have flaws – usually budget-related – but many merits too. One thing I am sure about, however, is that the final picture of the trilogy, 'Twins of Evil' ends the project on a high.

Set in nineteenth-century Europe a Finishing School for young ladies enrol a new girl named Mircalla who has some of the new students spellbound and also the new English teacher Richard Lestrange who just happens to be an well-renown author of horror books who takes on this position to be close to her. Incidents start occurring, and the town's folk blame the nearby castle ruins of Karnstein for the disappearances and deaths. "Lust for a Vampire" is one of Hammer's lesser know horror productions and you can probably see why when watching it. It's a solid, if unremarkable film. The tale is about the fatal reincarnated vampire beauty Carmilla (their second attempt of three - "Vampire Lovers" and "Twins of Evil"), seductively played by the hypnotic Yutte Stensgaard with also strong classy showings by Ralph Bates, Suzanna Leigh, Michael Johnson and Barbara Jefford. Director Jimmy Sangster puts plenty of emphasis erotic lesbianism, topless nudity and horrific imagery tied together by the tragic love between the central characters Mircalla and Richard. The script stays interesting in its mystery, infatuation and superstitious framework, although moments do have a chopped about feel to them. It's lushly produced and stylishly atmospheric in its picturesque set-pieces with precisely fluid camera-work. The colour red seems to be vibrantly presented in some gorgeously staged scenes. "There's evil in that castle. And there always will be".

This R-rated vampire film made me laugh. After all, a vampire who died over a hundred years earlier (Countess Carmilla) has been revived and she matriculates at a nearby girls school. While this idea is silly, it's even sillier since the school apparently is only for hot ladies ages 18-25! And, during much of their free time, they spend it dressing and undressing and kissing each other! It was all meant to be very sexy and at times it was, but I also laughed a lot since it was so contrived and clichéd. After all, they sure seemed to come up with so many excuses to get naked! However, despite this silly plot, the film actually was pretty good in many ways. Much of it was, I am sure, due to it being made by Hammer Films--a studio that had already made a bazillion horror films and knew how to get the look right. While it's far from the studio's best, it was pretty good--and a lot better than some of their other 1970s vampire films (such as "The Satanic Rites of Dracula"). And, if you are looking for boobies, then this film should do the trick.By the way, don't you think the guy vampire looked an awful lot like General Zod from "Superman II"?! And, although not a bad film, get a look at the silly way they killed off Carmilla! Pretty dumb and pretty convenient!!