Baptism by Blood, the Countess and Her Blood Bath

The Iconic Ingrid Pitt as Bathory inspired Countess Elisabeth

Pitt supplanted her own horror legacy in two particular films for Hammer (the other film I hope to revisit tomorrow evening, "The Vampire Lovers") and one for Amicus ("The House That Dripped Blood"), certainly helped not only by her incredible screen presence, star power, sensuality, and charisma but also assisted by her voluptuous figure, not to mention, she's a sexual dynamo.

I LOVE "The Vampire Lovers", probably because of its overt titillating lesbianism and it's connections to Carmilla, but wasn't sure about this film, "Countess Dracula" (1971), as I had read it wasn't near as good and marketed erroneously and deceptively. Countess Elisabeth Nadasdy is not a vampire, no relation to Dracula, and gains youth over and over through pure virgin blood by touch to her aged flesh (done through makeup that makes her look leprous). So she's more Bathory than Dracula's Countess.

Nonetheless the sets used from another film, especially the castle and surrounding village and wilderness, are period Gothic, Pitt is still overpowering, even when buried under an unflattering hag disguise but very much so when emerging in her seductive form, and Hammer throws plenty of naked cleavage at us. Not just heaving bosom but right out of any restraints.

Despite my disappointment in the film's lack of Dracula Babe neck biting, Pitt in flattering dresses and gowns is still here while a mouth full of fangs are not. One scene does have her peppered with blood sponging on her naked body when a love interest, Sandor Eles' Imre Toth, is led to her by the forceful pressure by Nigel Green's formidable, Captain Dobi. In order to prove to Toth that Elisabeth was imitating her daughter, Dobi wanted to catch her in the act of age trickery.

The film, for me, just isn't that exciting. It has a bullish and assertive Green always after the reluctant Pitt, more interested in the younger Eles, but the bloodletting is lacking and the horror of the story is mostly offscreen. Discovered dead female villagers has some shock value but besides some mild bloodshed and a surprise death at the end when Pitt goes after Lesley-Anne Down for being young and very beautiful, interrupted in a heroic attempt by a victim she stabs accidentally in retaliation. Pitt still makes it watchable, I'll say that. She isn't just a sexy body, just a centerfold to strike a luscious pose. She's a bonafide star who carried herself with great confidence and skill. So this isn't a total wash. It is a good looking film with an attractive lead who dominates every elegant chamber, ornate room, and opulent space. So while this won't be high on my Hammer favorites list, I've seen worse. Not a ringing endorsement, but Pitt going from old aged to bombshell and back again, the ability to do so never explained satisfactorily to me personally, as a major dramatic arc, I felt was better realized in the classic, "Captain Kronos". Green wanting her for himself while Eles is the manipulated stud sort of a patsy sort of functions within a love triangle, as Maurice Denham steals his scenes as a wisened old librarian with a long, white pointy beard and curiosity (he's quite a nosy spy) that soon places him in peril. Down spends a majority of time held captive by a poor mute creep in the woods. 2.5/5