Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

moonspinner55 At a finishing school for girls in 1830 Austria, one of the students goes missing; the administration is in a quandary, not knowing that another beauty from the village was recently murdered and her virginal blood was used to reincarnate Carmilla, a female vampire of the devilish Karnstein family, who arrives at the school under the guise of a new student. Screenwriter Tudor Gates (again mining Joseph Sheridan Le Fanuand's novella "Carmilla" for inspiration) and producers Michael Style and Harry Fine all return from 1970's adequate Hammer horror "The Vampire Lovers", but results are tepid this time. With new restraints handed down by the British censors, the team has scaled back on the lesbian overtures predominant in their previous film. Worse, the bloodsucker action also seems toned down in favor of a corny star-crossed romance between the vampire-heroine and a handsome human, an author and Royal heir who falls hard for the blonde beauty (they have sex in a grassy field to the strains of a pop love ballad!). Under these conditions, crack horror director Jimmy Sangster (filling in at the eleventh hour for an ailing Terence Fisher) might be excused for his flaccid handling--and yet, amazingly, there is not one drop of suspense in this scenario. Sangster is probably responsible for the picture's strongest sequence, with smitten school co-founder Ralph Bates groveling at the feet of the new Carmilla/Mircalla (Yutte Stensgaard), though this scene, too, finishes poorly. Strong-jawed Michael Johnson positively eats his heart out after making love with the girl and finding himself rebuffed the next day, while a police inspector is killed while sniffing around and nothing is mentioned of him again. The writer and producers tried their luck a third time later the same year with "Twins of Evil", the final chapter of the Karnstein Trilogy. * from ****

Uriah43 "Giles Barton" (Ralph Gates) is a novelist who writes about vampires and his interest about them has led him to a finishing school for young women in a remote part of Austria. While there he meets a beautiful student named "Mircalla" (Yutte Stensgaard) and immediately becomes enamored with her. What he doesn't know is that there is more about her than meets the eye. On that note the same could be said for this movie as it is the 2nd film in the "Karnstein Trilogy" produced by Hammer Films which also includes its predecessor "The Vampire Lovers" and later "Twins of Evil". Naturally, being a Hammer production it has a good Gothic feel to it which adds to the overall ambiance. It also has several beautiful women of which both Suzanna Leigh (as "Janet Playfair") and the aforementioned Yutte Stensgaard stand out most prominently. At any rate, while it isn't necessary to see "The Vampire Lovers" prior to watching this film I would suggest viewing it first if for no other reason than to gain a bit of continuity. Likewise, I should also mention that the vampires in this movie don't follow the same general rules one might expect as they can walk around during the day with apparently no ill effects. In any case, this is a pretty good vampire movie and I rate it as slightly above average.

Witchfinder General 666 Following Roy Ward Baker's brilliant "The Vampire Lovers" (1970), Jimmy Sangster's "Lust for a Vampire" is a vastly inferior, yet highly entertaining second entry to the Hammer Studios' Karnstein-trilogy. "The Vampire Lovers" was truly one of Hammer's most atmospheric films, wonderfully eerie, greatly acted (with a role for icon Peter Cushing), ground-breaking as the first Lesbian Vampire film, brilliantly photographed and blessed with the most ravishing female cast imaginable, lead by erotic Horror queen Ingrid Pitt. While "Lust for a Vampire" is neither as atmospheric, suspenseful and creepy, nor as beautiful as its predecessor it is still recommendable to my fellow Hammer fans. Set in 1830 Austria (my home country), "Lust for a Vampire" is the second tale about the Karnstein family of Vampires. The film begins when Marciella/Camilla Karnstein is once again resurrected. This time, the film is mainly set in a remote girls' college, which is mainly populated by gorgeous, young beauties with exhibitionist and bisexual tendencies. People begin to disappear, when the ravishing Camilla (Yutte Stensgard) attends the posh boarding school... Danish actress Yutte Stensgard is stunningly beautiful, but she doesn't reach the level of hypnotic eeriness that Igrid Pitt gave the role. Yet Miss Stensgard as the female Vampire is one of the most memorable aspects of "Lust for a Vampire". The film was originally supposed to be directed by master director Terence Fisher and star icon Peter Cushing, both of whom were replaced at a short notice. Jimmy Sangster, who was then chosen to direct this film, deserves huge praise as the brilliant screenwriter of such Hammer-milestones as "The Curse of Frankenstein" or "Dracula", but he sadly wasn't as goody as a director. Whereas Sangster's filmography as a screenwriter includes more than a few brilliant films, the two films he directed that I've seen, "The Horror of Frankenstein" and this one, were both mediocre. Ralph Bates, who plays a sinister teacher here, was a very good actor, in my opinion, but his role here is a bit ridiculous. Mike Raven, who plays the vampire count Karnstein here, is clearly made up to look like the all-mighty Christopher Lee, which remains a sorry attempt. Leading man Michael Johnson, who plays an author of Gothic novels who becomes a teacher at the school, is not very good either. The best parts of the cast are its female members, Yutte Stensgaard, Suzanna Leigh, who plays a beautiful young teacher, and lots of girls who provide female eye candy. Harvey Hall, who was in "The Vampire Lovers" already, plays a police inspector. The film has several gory moments, as well as a nice Gothic atmosphere. The photography is nice and the settings are eerie. Most of the score is also good, but a vocal song that is used seems terribly out of place. Overall, "Lust for a Vampire" does in no way compare to "The Vampire Lovers". I haven't seen the third part in the Karnstein trilogy, "Twins of Evil", so far, but I hope it will be more like "The Vampire Lovers" than this one. Even so, "Lust for A Vampire" is by no means a bad film, and should be enjoyed by Hammer fans.

rose-294 The title sounds like a sleazy porn film, but Lust for a vampire is actually a (flawed) Hammer classic. It is 1830 in Styria, and Mircalla Karnstein is biting men and women in a classy girl-school. The well-lit colour photography looks more natural than the jewel-like Gone with the wind colours of 1950s Jack Asher period, but it is still beautiful, and the Gothic sets and suitably melodramatic score are wonderful. So is Miss Mircalla, who has truly striking, sensuous presence, and the breast-baring and heavy-breathing lipstick lesbianism is actually very tame. What comes to Mircalla's walking in the sunlight - well, you poor illiterates, Dracula and Carmilla and all the vampires before the silent Nosferatu could happily do that, thank you. The only problem in this enjoyable, if silly film is some truly horrible acting from Ralph Bates and the gay caricature in the tavern.