Hammer Heads In "R" Direction
Sex Sells The Vampire Lovers (1970)
Girl-on-girl vampirism and new blood (as in
Rated "R") for a Hammer franchise that needed transfusion. Glamour
and sex sub for shuffling monsters and Michael Ripper serving schnapps, Ingrid
Pitt/Madeline Smith the stuff of pin-ups even more revealing than what went
onscreen. American-International teamed with Hammer for this; they'd danced
before, but tentatively, when AIP distributed The Two Faces Of Dr. Jekyll to US
theatres (as House Of Fright). A ratings system allowed for frolicking nudes
and heads cleaved lovingly off, a startling shift from censor-cleansed Hammers
we were used to. They weren't shooting at Bray, so settings aren't home
and hearth, but Hammer still managed gothic atmosphere to uphold tradition, and
Peter Cushing is happily aboard to resume vampire hunting. Action moves from castle/crypt to bedchambers where Ingrid Pitt plies Sapphic trade,
this a goose to a genre otherwise gone stale, nudity
the only thing not seen countless times before. American-International
did really lurid posters for stateside release that frankly kept me away in
1970, but seen in HD (as lately on Netflix), Vampire Lovers looks pretty rich.
Its $533K in domestic rentals was perhaps less than AIP expected; did this cool
ardor for further partnering with Hammer?
Not sure how "mentally mature' I am, but I dug this one back in the 80's when I had an only slightly edited 16mm print (nude scenes intact!) and upon recent rediscovery on Netflix! Didn't AIP handle some additional Hammers? DR JECKYL AND SISTER HYDE, BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB, etc? Or am I confused?
ReplyDeleteAIP distributed these two for Hammer, but did not co-produce either with the company, as was the case with "Vampire Lovers."
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