DVD Region 2: Network 7952537. time: 84 minutes. Price: £12.99 (UK). Stars Peter Cushing and Dennis Price.

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I remember taking a girlfriend to the Odeon in Edinburgh to see this film 35 years ago (I wonder where she is now? Oh my God, what has happened to all those years? She's probably a granny! Oh my God, I didn't know I was dating a granny at the time!). Reminiscences aside, watching this old Hammer Production horror film again on DVD was an interesting experience and, unlike myself, it has withstood the ravages of time relatively well.



Set in 18th century Central Europe, Peter Cushing plays the fundamentalist Christian leader Gustav Weil, who along with his gang of black-clad puritans, The Brotherhood, burn witches at the stake at every available opportunity. Surprisingly, all the witches seem to be buxom attractive young ladies and not the horrible old hags on broomsticks normally associated with the black arts.

This is a cold, hard and grim performance by Peter Cushing. The Brotherhood obey the teachings of the Bible to the letter or rather their interpretations of the same and are uncompromising in the performance of their duties. Puritans in England were one such group. They dressed unceremoniously in black, covered up their women and disapproved of alcohol, gambling or any pleasure that life presented. Dour and humourless, religion ruled their lives. For those of us who criticise the Taliban, please remember we were once the same.

Frieda and Maria Gellhorn, played by real life Playboy pin-up twins, Mary and Madeline Collinson, come to stay with their uncle Gustav after their parents sadly pass away. The girls were probably not chosen for their acting abilities (they didn't do very much before and after this movie) but were selected for their ability to look good in and out of low-cut dresses which gave ample exposure to their well-developed breasts. In fact, this movie is full of girls with low-cut dresses and heaving ample breasts. One of the other girls, Gerta, was played by Luan Peters who had lots of parts in Hammer films of the day mainly because of her 42 inch bust which was liberally displayed at every opportunity.

Count Karnstein who lives in a big castle high up on a hill is everything that Gustav isn't. Bored with life, he worships the devil and, like the old Hellfire Club, the man requires more and more outrageous excesses just to keep him amused. Incidentally, he was played by Damien Thomas who later had a part in a 'Blake's Seven' episode. As you can imagine, the Count and Gustav don't like each other but the former is protected by the authority of the Austrian Emperor so the Brotherhood feel reluctant about setting fire to him without good reason.

Anton Hoffer and his sister Ingrid come into the scene. He is a teacher and is more enlightened than the puritanical Gustav. A conflict of ideology quickly erupts between the two of them. The DVD makes much of the inclusion of a scene cut from the original but it actually is no more than Anton singing a song.

Meanwhile, the Count carries out a sacrifice of a young lady to the devil. Blood seeps through into the coffin of a long lost ancestor, reviving her back to life (or not as in the case of a vampire). The Count promptly has a fling with his long lost relative only to be bitten in return, thus making him a vampire, too.

Frieda is the bad twin who likes bright lights and parties while Maria is a more homely churchgoing type. Guess which one has a hankering after the Count and goes looking for him on a dark night? Guess who also turns into a vampire? Then the fun begins!

Lots of people are found dead. They have a couple of marks on their neck and seem to have the blood drained from them. Anton isn't sure about this but when his sister is found dead in the same manner, he joins Gustav in a vampire hunt. I'm afraid I can't remember much of what happened in the movie after this. All I can remember was waking up the next morning feeling rather weak and exhausted but strangely, when I had a look at myself in the bathroom mirror, I had somehow disappeared. You'll just have to buy the DVD yourself to find out what happened next.

This is not the best of the Hammer horror films but it certainly isn't the worst. Should you wish an hour and a half of good old-fashioned horror entertainment, then this DVD is for you.

Rod MacDonald