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Originally released in 1964, Camillo Mastrocinque’s “Crypt of the Vampire” tells the story of a count, played by Mr. Lee, who believing something is making his daughter ill, sends a doctor to look after her and find this evil that torments her. A young woman arrives at the castle by accident, or so it seems, and the count’s daughter and the young girl seem to get closer than anticipated. Is there evil in the crypt? Is it a servant performing black magic rituals? Does the local hunchback know more than he is leading on? Is the count’s daughter a reincarnation of a family member left for dead on the cross for being a witch? Lots of gothic mysteries await in the halls of the castle.
This is based on Sheridan Le Fanu’s novel from the 1870s called Carmilla—a gothic, vampiric take on female lust. Hammer would later release three films (four if you count Captain Kronos), the Karnstein Trilogy, on the same subject matter: The Vampire Lovers (1970), with Ingrid Pitt, Lust for a Vampire (1971), and Twins of Evil. The Hammer films were more about eroticism, whereas this is a straightforward vampire film.
Christoper Lee actually plays the father with good intentions this time, instead of the vampire. This film has long been forgotten, but Severin did a great job restoring it for this first of two, as of this writing, box sets, which are stacked with Christopher Lee goodies. Burning through this box set was a treat even with “Challenge of The Devil” in there, which was definitely a dud but worth the watch for how comically bad it was. Crypt is worth the watch.
