Director: Peter Sasdy
Writers: Jeremy Paul, Alexander Paal
Stars: Ingrid Pitt, Nigel Green, Sandor Elès
Run Time: 1 Hour, 33 Minutes
Link: https://amzn.to/2OfJz23
Synopsis
A man on a horse stops at a funeral. The old count has died, and the countess likes the look of this young man. At the reading of the will, The young man Toth gets the stables, the cottage, and the horses. Captain Dobi gets a bunch of old uniforms, not what he wanted. The countess is forced to split everything else between herself and her daughter, Ilona, who has been out of town for the past twenty years.
Later, the countess accidentally cuts a servant and gets sprayed with her blood. She soon starts looking years younger. The servant suddenly goes missing, and the Countess is looking a lot healthier than the previous night. When young Ilona returns the next day, she is kidnapped by Captain Dobi’s men, and the countess takes her place; no one notices. Dobi doesn’t approve, but he doesn’t give her away. He’d just as soon have her old because he’s always loved the countess.
The countess/Ilona then seduces Toth and agrees to see him again the following night. The effect of the blood wears off, and she’s suddenly old again. She gets her personal maid to assist in luring a young fortune-teller into her rooms… and she’s young again.
The countess wants to marry Toth, and Dobi argues that it’s too dangerous; she gets uglier each time she returns to her true age. Meanwhile, the real Ilona is still being held prisoner in the gamekeeper’s home.
There’s soon a rumor going around that the countess is a witch. Dobi tricks a drunken Toth into taking a bar wench home to the castle where he’s sure to be caught by the Countess. She sees it all, but knows Dobi arranged it. The countess decides to use the prostitute’s blood and makes Dobi assist. It doesn’t work this time.
Master Fabio has seen things here and there, and finally, he pulls the book off the shelf marked “Blood Sacrifice.” He knows what’s what, and explains that only the blood of a virgin may be used. He actually volunteers to assist them rather than be killed on the spot. Fabia is soon found hanging in his library.
Finally, Toth catches her in the act, and she convinces him that he killed the prostitute, and he was so drunk that heals killed the librarian. The villagers find a whole pile of bodies in the wine cellar, and now the police are getting involved.
Before long, nobody’s happy. The countess is constantly afraid of reverting, Dobi is tired of recruiting girls, Toth wants to get away from the insanity. Eventually, Dobi brings the real Ilona home to be the next victim.
As Toth and the Countess attend their wedding ceremony, the servant Julie helps Ilona to escape. Ilona hears the priest and decides to check out what’s happening. The countess reverts to an old woman right in the middle of the ceremony in front of everyone, and she ends up stabbing Toth to death in front of the whole church.
The film ends with the countess in the dungeon awaiting the hangman’s noose. One of the villagers moans that she is “Countess Dracula,” a name not heard anywhere else in the film. The end.
Commentary
The old age makeup on Ingrid Pitt is excellent. At first, Kevin didn’t realize it was old age makeup. On the downside, there are no real vampires in the film, and no real connection to Dracula. It’s just the countess making one blood sacrifice after another to stay young. That said, the story is based on Elisabeth Bathory, a countess from the 16th century who is said to have tortured and murdered over 600 young virgins, so there’s that going for it.
I thought it started out strong, but it’s stretched way too thin toward the end and drags on for far too long.