Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Leofwine_draca An excellent, atypical addition to the Hammer cycle which breathes life into some of the old vampire clichés that Hammer were keen to use at the time, thanks to a tongue-in-cheek script and direction from AVENGERS man Brian Clemens. A good cast, fine photography, a wonderfully evocative music score and a good eye for pacing make this a highly enjoyable, intelligent film, and definitely one of Hammer's best - full stop.Thing begin well in the best Hammer tradition as a girl, picking flowers in a lush woodland, is attacked by a black-caped vampire whose face is kept hidden for most of the movie (adding a murder mystery slant to the proceedings). The local village doctor, Marcus, played by veteran John Carson - on the rare side of good this time - calls in his old war buddy Kronos to help out, and here the fun begins. On his arrival, Kronos frees a gypsy girl from the stocks, played by Caroline Munro. Munro has an underwritten role as per usual but she's sufficiently glamorous for the part.Along with Kronos comes the hunchback Grost, played to perfection by John Cater. Grost is a most unusual character, who hunts for vampires by burying dead toads in boxes around the area. However, this isn't as weird as it sounds, as apparently when a vampire passes it will cause the toad to return to life, as is proved later on in the film. There is much enjoyment to be gained from watching this film, not least from the fun Clemens and co. have from playing with vampire folklore in general. For example, here the victims are not drained of blood, but actually drained of life, so that they are discovered withered and aged when dead. Along with the aforementioned dead toads, there are lots of other neat little ideas to look out for, like when time actually stops for a few seconds. The vampire also wilts flowers and mushrooms when passing them by in the wood, a clever effect if ever I saw one.The special effects are actually quite limited in this film, although what appears is pretty good. The old-age makeup looks realistic, and there's a brief vampire dissolve in the best Dracula tradition. The film isn't very gory for the period, although there is a bloody bat attack and a cool scene where a man loses his arms after being run over by a coach. The acting is generally spot-on, with few exceptions. Horst Janson makes for an athletic and interesting hero, and he is given nice, odd touches of characterisation like the fact that he smokes and uses leeches on his back to clear his mind. Cater is brilliant as his assistant, and as I mentioned Caroline Munro provides sufficient glamour if not acting ability. John Carson is excellent as per usual in his sympathetic turn, and Shane Briant is fine. Ian Hendry turns up briefly but is magnificent as a cruel goon who finds himself on the receiving end of Janson's sword in a bar-room battle. Although some of the lesser actresses aren't that good, both Wanda Ventham and Lois Daine have fine, strong roles.Other bits to look out for include some nice references to westerns and adventure films of the past, like the scene where Janson takes out Hendry and two of his men in a swift movement, with the sword replacing a revolver in this case. The ending is also a good one. There's a brilliant sword fight which recalls THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD and all of the swashbucklers that have come since, and doesn't disappoint in the least. Finally, the fine photography brings out the atmosphere of the British countryside, especially effective in some spooky (daylight) graveyard sequences. I would say that this neglected Hammer classic offers up a bit of everything for the genre fan and proves to be one of their best.

AaronCapenBanner Brian Clemens directed this unusual vampire swashbuckling adventure that stars Horst Janson as Captain Kronos, the vampire hunter of the title, who is now in a small village plagued by mysterious deaths of young women who were found drained of youth, rather than blood, though they die soon after. Turns out an aristocratic family is responsible, and Kronos vows to kill them all, and cleanse the land of this evil. Intended as the first in a series of Kronos films, this proved to be a box office failure, reflecting the declining fortunes of Hammer studios. The film itself is interesting to a point, and costar Caroline Munro is most appealing, but sadly this film comes up short.

trashgang If you buy boxes of Hammer you almost never come across this flick. It's not very known and I guess the reason is simple, it doesn't have Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing in it although regular Caroline Munro is in it. But back then Caroline wasn't a big name, she made it a few years later with a few horrors. She did appear in earlier hammers like Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972). The acting was rather good and the effects used were very simple but where this flick do fails a bit is the fact that we don't see that often the vampires. It's more a story about Kronos himself, played by Horst Janson. You surely will recognize a few popular faces like Shane Briant and Ian Hendry.Was it scary? No it never was although we do see severed arms and heads but it is low on the horror factor for the year it was made. If you look at The Exorcist (1973) then this flick here is a big laugh. It's also made at the end of the Hammer era. They tried to move further from the Gothic horror and this here shows but they failed. During the late 1960s and 1970s the saturation of the horror film market by competitors and the loss of American funding forced changes to the previously lucrative Hammer-formula, with varying degrees of success. The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) was a big flop and even To The Devil A Daughter (1976) failed too. In 1979 they stopped with a remake of Hitchcocks The Lady Vanishes. In fact Rosemary's Baby (1968) started a new era in horror.Still, it's worth watching for the typical Hammer effects and for Munro going full frontal in one scene. Gore 0/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5

MartinHafer Wow, was Hammer Studios going in a different direction with this film! While it is once again a horror film (the bread & butter for this film company), it's so unlike all their other films! While it's a vampire film, you see no trace of Christopher Lee or even Peter Cushing--and the style is so totally unlike their films. Instead, the film stars a very hot guy (Captain Kronos) and he always seems to have a hot lady in tow. This vampire hunter, however, is NOT to be confused for Dr. Van Helsing. Not only does he look nothing like Cushing, but how he kills the vampires and the types of vampires are all-new! These vampires are not so much blood drinkers but creatures that suck the youth out of people--and you then see them age rapidly when they fall prey to these new vampires. And, since the vampires are different, so is killing them. Many different ways are used--some of which are wacky and new--such as impaling, hanging and burning one (wow--he was tough to kill!!). And, finally, the story is just so very different.According to IMDb, Hammer was planning on a new series of Kronos films but canceled it due to the poor reception this film received. I can't really understand it, as the film was quite good and sexy--and an invigorating change--with a wild ending!