Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

morrison-dylan-fan Despite having heard about her for years,I have somehow never caught a glimpse of Ingrid Pitt,which led to me deciding that it was time to meet the Countess.The plot:Attending the reading of her husbands will, Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy is sickened to find out that her husband has not left anything solely for her. Furiously pushing a maid aside, Nádasdy accidentally causes the maid's face to get cut. Splattered with blood, Nádasdy is shocked to find that the maid's virginal blood causes her to look decades younger.Killing the maid, Elisabeth decides to keep her daughter Ilona hidden from view,so that she can pretend to be her own daughter,as Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy thrust for purity grows.View on the film:Filmed on sets originally built for Anne of the Thousand Days,co- writer/(along with Jeremy Paul/ Alexander Paal & Gabriel Ronay) director Peter Sasdy and cinematographer Kenneth Talbot use restrained tracking shots to show the decaying walls of Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy's palace,with Sasdy also using very stylish reflective flames to show the pit that Elisabeth is placing herself in.Taking inspiration from Valentine Penrose's book The Bloody Countess,the screenplay attempts to cross Hammer Horror chills with elegant Costume Drama.Whilst the movie does well at continuing the studios major theme of the rich being the real monsters,the writers fail to build any sense of terror,due to any Horror edges being filed down by a disappointingly plodding Costume Drama elements.Despite getting her voiced dubbed over by Olive Gregg, (which led to her never talking to Sasdy again)the alluring Ingrid Pitt gives a wonderful performance as Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy,with Pitt creating a deep contrast between the "young" & old (which involved Pitt having to spend 3 hours getting the impressive make up effects on) Elisabeth,thanks to Pitt showing old Elisabeth to be a burnt out, psychotic witch,who tries to keep her old dark blood lust under wraps by transforming into a glamorous beauty,which leads to Elisabeth becoming a murderous youth in revolt.

Creepy-Suzie "LAS VEGAS – With her smooth skin and wavy, honeyed hair, Elena Caro was celebrated as a beauty by her husband and teenage daughter, who often told her that she didn't need cosmetic surgery. But at 42, Caro wanted firmer skin and a younger figure, so she secretly booked an appointment with a medical office recommended by a close friend." –AP 4/11/11Elena Caro is now dead after a second rate botched procedure that resulted in the arrest of the unlicensed staff. The question becomes "How far would you go to regain the beauty of your youth?". In Elizabeth Nodosheen's case she was willing to kill for it. I would think that instantly looking like Ingrid Pitt would make bathing in blood tempting for any girl. Ah vanity, it's my favorite of the deadly sins.Astringent, mud mask, exfoliant, emollient, lotions, pore strips, foundations, and powders are just a few things we ladies use to tighten skin, reduce fine lines, fade scars or spots, plump wrinkles, diminish pores, and to attempt to steal back lost years, because no matter how old she is, every woman wants to be twenty, or at least look it. Elizabeth Nodosheen gets the ultimate makeover in Hammer's Countess Dracula, and all it required was just a bit of virgin blood.Virgin after virgin dies in this well made seventies horror film. Despite Hammer's reputation there was very limited nudity showcased in Countess Dracula, disappointingly enough. There was one lovely Ingrid Pitt milky breast with nipple erect fondled in a brisk love scene, and the bare backsides of three dead virgins piled upon each other in a wagon covered with casks, and of course, the alluring image above.I began to consider it somewhat wasteful killing the virgins outright. Why not just keep one alive and drain a pint or so every other day? She only needed enough to wash up with after all. This seemed plausible to me and I even began to empathize with Elizabeth Nodosheen after each successful transformation. To be converted from a sagging wretch to a vibrant, youthful beauty, the requirement certainly seemed justified, despite my better judgment. I understood how the opportunity to regain youth could be too exquisite to deny oneself.The twist came when a love triangle formed between Nodosheen with her crusty previous lover and supple boy toy. Jealousies rage, there are levels of deceit throughout the castle, and ultimately a flawed plan to wed leads to the demise of Elizabeth Nodosheen. I love her story, and this film is certainly a morality lesson regarding the price of vanity, but if this tale can't teach us, maybe Elena Caro's will.

AaronCapenBanner Peter Sasdy directed this (loosely) based on fact historical account of the Countess Elizabeth(played by Ingrid Pitt) an aging ruler who discovers the secret of youth by bathing in the blood of innocent young women, which restores her own youthful beauty, and inspires her take on younger men as lovers, much to the consternation of her loyal lover Captain Dobi(played by Nigel Green). The number of missing young women draws the wrath of the village, who begin a revolt, but Elizabeth only cares about herself, which will encourage Captain Dobi to abandon her, and leave her to face the consequences of her murderous actions. Good cast and direction, but film is lurid and unoriginal; ultimately a misfire, though Pitt certainly makes it semi-watchable at least.

MartinHafer In the early 1970s, Hammer Films was in trouble. The studio was having financial woes and the same old monster films they'd been producing for a decade and a half didn't seem to be the formula for solvency. So, in a nod to the times, Hammer 'sexed-up' their films--including quite a bit of blood and female nudity. However, this did not necessarily mean the films were that good--and most were rather poor despite the now ample 'boobage'.Despite the title, "Countess Dracula" has almost nothing to do with the famed monster. Instead, it's a retelling of the story of Elizabeth Bathery--a woman whose real-life exploits are rather hard to believe today. She supposedly killed hundreds of young women and bathed in their blood in order to somehow stay younger. In this film, the weird bathing practices worked--at least temporarily. It made the hag-like Countess beautiful but the results were only short-term--she needed a continuing supply of young virgins. So, again and again, you see bloody female corpses and lots of gratuitous nudity. Nothing really that special---just lots of R-rated content. In fact, the whole thing just gets a bit tedious after a while. Lots of pretty naked ladies and violence--a rather disturbing means to increase film attendance if you think about it.By the way, in a nod to Dracula, the real-life Vlad the Impaler's picture is on the wall and an offhanded comment is made that it's the Countess' father--but no mention of Vlad or his past is mentioned.