Director: John Hough
Writers: Tudor Gates, Sheridan Le Fanu
Stars: Peter Cushing, Dennis Price, Mary Collinson
Run Time: 1 Hour, 27 Minutes
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Synopsis
Gustav Weil (Cushing), the witch hunter, leads a group of men to a remote cabin where a girl is captured. He prays, and then they burn her at the stake as a witch.
Later, twins visiting from Venice ride down the road, and they spot Karnstein castle up on the hill. They are the nieces of Gustav Weil and his wife Katy. Katy warns them of wearing colorful clothes; they should wear black like everyone in this Puritanical town. He walks in the front door, and he’s clearly not a fun man. He freaks out when he sees their “modern and revealing” dresses. These two are moving here to live under his care since their mother recently died.
We hear that two young men have recently died, and they had the mark of the devil on their necks. One guy knows of a woman who lives in the woods alone, so the whole gang rides out there to burn her at the stake. Meanwhile, the twins are at home trash-talking Weil. One of the girls is already planning to run away.
Weil (pronounced “Vile”) breaks in the door at the woman’s house and finds her having sex with Count Karnstein. The two men argue, but Weil can’t do anything to the nobleman fearing what the emperor would do to the town if they did. On the way back, they find a man who has been bitten on the neck and drained of blood. They go back after the girl who was with Karnstein, and they burn her at the stake after all. That evening, Weil rants to Katy about the Karnsteins, and the girls overhear everything. Frieda wants to visit the castle and meet Karnstein.
Meanwhile, up in the castle, they are doing blood sacrifices for the Count’s entertainment. They are calling up the devil. He’s not that interested in tonight’s girl because he wants Weil’s twins. Karnstein gets angry and throws the fake devil worshippers out; he knows that’s not how you do it. When everyone else leaves, Karnstein kills the girl in his own sacrificial ritual. He offers the girl in exchange for power. The blood drips through the floor and revives the dead vampire who’s buried in the crypt below.
The vampire, of course, is Mircalla, from the previous two films, who wastes no time in turning Karnstein into an undead fiend. He watches his reflection in the mirror as it fades away (clothes and all). Frieda and Maria go to school, and they meet the hunky Anton, and all three of them are pleased with what they see. Anton explains about the Karnsteins to Maria, while Frieda goes outside and flirts with the actual Count himself.
That night, Frieda runs off and is kidnapped by Karnstein’s coachman. The Count tells Frieda what he is and then bites her; Frieda’s twin sister wakes up and looks at her own neck– she felt the bite.
Weil catches and burns another girl, and Anton rages about ignorant villagers. He likes Frieda, but not so much with Maria. Weil confronts Anton over his behavior, and now Weil wants to investigate Anton and see if he is a servant of the devil. Anton explains that his research shows that Weil is doing it wrong; these evil beings need to be staked through the heart, not burned.
Frieda completes her transition to vampire, and she now starts hunting every night, and she’s particularly hungry. The Brotherhood and her uncle close in on her. Weil pulls out a cross and she shows her fangs. “The Devil has sent me twins of evil!” He shouts. Karnstein kidnaps Maria while the Brotherhood is condemning Frieda. Karnstein goes to the jailhouse and switches Maria for Frieda, hoping no one can tell them apart.
Frieda hypnotizes Anton but decides not to bite him yet. Anton notices that the girl he is kissing has no reflection in the mirror. The Brotherhood stops by the jail to burn the girl inside, who they think is Frieda but is really Maria. Anton rides to the burning place to save Maria, who is tied to the stake and ready to burn. He gets there in time, and Weil releases her.
Anton talks the Brotherhood into storming the castle and killing everyone; Karnstein, Frieda, the coachman, and whoever else might be in there. Anton warns them that fire won’t hurt them; Karnstein explains the same thing to Frieda. The coachman runs in and warns that they have stakes and crosses and axes. Karnstein orders the coachman to hold them off as long as he can.
Karnstein sends Frieda outside first and watches her get beheaded by Weil. Maria runs off to go to the castle to find her sister. Karnstein, of course, grabs her and pulls her into the dungeon. Weil confront Karnstein, and they fight. Weil gets an axe in his back and dies. Anton throws a spear, which gets Karnstein right where it counts. Anton rescues Maria while they watch Karnstein decompose in front of them.
Commentary
This is the third film in the Karnstein Trilogy, but Karnstein isn’t a vampire when it begins, so this must be looked at as a prequel of some sort. There are many inconsistencies between the three stories, so you really have to look at them as a very loose trilogy.
The soundtrack is very reminiscent of Clint Eastwood’s Spaghetti westerns. Peter Cushing is starting to show his age in this one, the wrinkles, grey hair, and age spots don’t look like makeup anymore. The actor was only 58 years old here, but this is also about the time his wife died; he didn’t make any public appearances from 1971 to around 1982. It was not a good period for him.
The fun here is in deciding who is more evil, the satanic, bloodthirsty Count, or the humorless, girl-burning, witch-finder Weil. I know which I’d rather spend the evening with. Mircalla sort of disappears after turning Count Karnstein. We’re not told where she went, but she’s really only there for one scene.