With all the hubbub about sexy vampires these days, courtesy of Twilight, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries, it’s time to take a short stroll down memory lane to the “golden age” of vampire lesbian cinema with Hammer’s so-called “Karnstein Trilogy.”

The first of the series, The Vampire Lovers, starred beautiful Polish actress Ingrid Pitt, who had previously played Elizabeth Bathory in Countess Dracula for Hammer. Pitt played Carmilla Karnstein, the literary prototype for all vampire lesbians, a character created by author J. Sheridan Le Fanu in 1872. I saw the film on a late night “chiller theater” TV slot in the mid-Seventies and while its actually a pretty decent, serviceable period piece horror film, uh, whatever… let’s get real here, the real attraction were the bare breasts of Ms. Pitt and crew! Without them no one would remember this film at all.

Ask anyone who grew up in the Seventies —well ask any guy-- and they will know all about this film and its two sequels, which were often aired—astonishingly—with the nude scenes intact. Back in the Seventies, this was a cause for celebration for teenage boys. I used to scour the TV Guide searching for weird things to watch and whenever there was a screening of one of these films, I can assure you that I didn’t have anything better to do that night!

The second film in the Karnstein Trilogy was 1971’s Lust for a Vampire starring blond Danish hottie Yutte Stensgaard. Again, ask any middle-aged guy in America or England who watched horror films as a kid and… they will know the name Yutte Stensgaard, who is seen bare-breasted and smeared with blood in the film. A still from this scene made frequent appearances in monster movie books and magazines, providing masturbatory fodder for an entire generation of horror film geeks (here Stensgaard is seen signing it at a fan convention). Few woman reading this will have ever heard of Yutte Stensgaard, but trust me, many —most—of the guys out there have. I love the tagline in the trailer: “Welcome to the finishing school where they really DO finish you…”

Twins of Evil  was the final entrant in the series. Twins of Evil starred identical twin Playboy Playmates Mary and Madeline Collinson. It was a sort of pre-quel to the first film and also starred Peter Cushing. Aside from just Sapphic vampires, Twins of Evil had themes of witchcraft and devil worship, so it was an extra campy Hammer entry. The Collinson twins were such bad actresses that their voices were overdubbed in post production.

Having grown up on Hammer films and Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, the adolescent encounter with Ingrid Pitt and the Karnstein Trilogy was like a strike of lightning from God herself.

While certainly of their time, they were rich in moody atmosphere and a delightfully menacing eroticism (particularly from Ms Pitt), and set the stage for the amazing and bizarre 70s vampire films of Jean Rollin, Paul Naschy, and Jess Franco.

Ingrid Pitt has her own website through which one can even communicate with her (www.pittofhorror.com)... The next best thing to getting bitten by Carmilla herself!

Yeah, these were better than watching cable movies that I could only “unscramble” by positioning my cable box channel knob in between the two channels. It didn’t work perfectly, but it worked good enough for a 13 yo.

I don’t believe I saw breastage on TV in my town, but I do remember these.

First breast ever, Twins of Evil on channel 2. When they didn’t cut away I almost fainted. That may have been all the blood rushing away from my head in a southernly direction.

@bromike666

KDKA Channel 2 in Pittsburgh?

That’s where I watched them too.

KTVU channel 2 in San Francisco;-)

They also showed Creature Features on Friday nights and Chiller Diller Theater on Saturday afternoons.

Thats it, I’m breaking out all my classic horror and having a marathon.

Awesome post, especially in light of how boring the teen vamps of today are.  But I resent the “ask any guy” aside.  I’m a woman and these are some of my favorites of Hammer’s oeuvre.  Okay fine, I admit that I’m a lesbian, but it still sucks to be lumped in with “any guy.”  Any self-respecting dyke—and surely some twisted straight ladies out there—will tell you all about Carmilla and all her wonderful sisters of the early 1970s.  Daughters of Darkness, Vampyres, Vampyros Lesbos, Girl Slaves of Morgana le Fay, Virgin Witch: all Sapphic bloodsucking hotness.

On another note, I showed part of The Vampires Lovers to a class of college freshmen and they loved it!  At least in that small sampling, the Great Goddess Ingrid was appealing to both sexes.

Again, loved the post.  Perfect titillation for early October!

@feejeemermaid

Don’t forget The Blood Splattered Bride (1974) and The Devil’s Plaything (aka Vampire Ecstasy aka Veil of Blood,also 1974)!

On the literary side of things, seek out Daughters of Darkness & Dark Angels by Pam Keesey, Blood Sisters by Bianca De Moss, and Stake Through The Heart by Kallmaker & Watts.

Http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://i06.bdbphotos.com/0T/46/0001276046-36466T.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fanpix.net/gallery/ingrid-pitt-pictures.htm&usg=__ZgX5lMqB49jMmWgO49bWsKCbmk0=&h=80&w=80&sz=3&hl=en&start=477&tbnid=HXq3jEhnT9esRM:&tbnh=74&tbnw=74&prev;=/images?q=ingrid+pitt&gbv=2&ndsp=18&hl=en&sa=N&start=468
especialy the fourth photo

Thenk you very much very nice share sesli chat bcause this perfeck