Director: Robert Young
Writer: Jud Kinberg
Stars: Adrienne Corri, Thorley Walters, Anthony Higgins
Run Time: 1 Hour, 24 Minutes
Link: https://amzn.to/2APybXL
Synopsis
A child plays hide-and-seek in the woods with Anna, her mother. The two of them go inside the castle while the schoolteacher screams outside for her not to go. Inside, Jenny meets Count Mitterhaus, who is obviously a vampire. He drains Jenny.
The Schoolteacher rouses the locals, including Jenny’s father and all the fathers who have had missing children. They break into the castle and find the dead girl; the count is there, and he attacks, killing several of the men. Eventually, the schoolteacher and the Mayor stake him through the heart. With his dining breath, Mitterhaus curses them all.
Anna drags the body away while the villagers burn the castle. Mitterhaus tells her to find the Circus of the Night and his cousin Emil, who will know what to do.
Credits roll.
Fifteen years have passed. Twelve are dead, even the priests. The townsmen think it’s a disease, but they can’t get medicine because they can’t get through their roadblocks. They think it’s Mitterhaus’ curse. Hauser now believes there are no vampires, that Mitterhaus was just an evil man. As they argue, they hear the call: the Circus of the Night has come to town.
The circus puts on an act, including a “snake woman: who seems to be completely naked except for body paint. A black panther escapes from its cage and turns into Emil, a human-looking man. We see that Emil is a vampire.
The group digs under the castle and finds the intact body of Mitterhaus. Emil says all the men must die. Rosa, the burgomaster’s daughter, has a crush on Emil. The burgomaster is sent into the fun house alone, In the mirror, he sees himself being bitten by Mitterhaus; it’s only a vision, but he has a heart attack from fright.
Another family is lured into the woods, where they are stacked and killed by the panther. Meanwhile, Dora, the schoolteacher’s daughter, returns home from the big city; she’s come through the roadblocks alive. Anton, the doctor’s son, has a crush on Dora.
A pair of young boys sneaks into the hall of mirrors ends up inside the mirrors, and also end up as dinner for two of the vampires, Helga and Heinrich. Of course, the circus people take the blame for the missing boys. Their necks are torn out, and everyone thinks the Count is going to return.
Hauser and the Burgomaster go to the circus to kill the animals in their cages. The Burgomaster shoots Emil, and then he dies from his heart condition. The schoolteacher recognizes that the gypsy woman who runs the circus is really Anna, his wife, from fifteen years ago.
Dora and Anton go into the hall of mirrors, and they run into Helga and Heinrich as well. Dora’s wearing a cross, so they manage to escape. The doctor returns to town, with medicine for the bats’ rabies, and he explains everything that’s been going on. The vampires torment Dora, who loses her cross. Anton rushes in to save her. Before the two lovers can be killed, Dora pushes a giant crucifix onto Helga, and both she and her twin, Heinrich, die a horrible death.
The villagers storm the circus and kill the strongman. Emil kills Anna mistakenly. The villagers track Emil to Mitterhaus’ crypt for a climactic battle. The schoolteacher ends up staking Emil with the same piece of wood that has been sticking out of Mitterhaus for all these years.
Anton and Dora get up and get ready to leave when Mitterhaus wakes up, revived and healed. Anton surprises him to with a “cross”-bow and manages to behead him with it as well.
Commentary
Darth Vader, I mean Dave Prowse, plays the circus strong man in this, and he looks a lot more normal than he did in “Horror of Frankenstein” from the previous year. The dance of the naked snake-woman was cut out of the original American release for reasons that should be obvious when you see it on the Blu-ray version.
This is unusual in the setting and in the large cast of characters, most of which stand out. There’s a lot of action and everything gets explained before the end. It’s one of the better “late” Hammer films.