This is a Hammer film production and the name Dracula is mentioned in the title, yet shouldn't raise any hopes to see Christoper Lee dressed up in women's clothing, as this is not another entry in the long-running Dracula-series! The screenplay of this movie is based on the life of Countess Elisabeth Bathory, who lived in Hungary during the 16th century, and became almost as (in)famous as Vlad Dracula because of her bizarre rituals to sustain a youthful appearance. The merciless countess bathed in the blood of slain virgins and supposedly was responsible for the death of more than 300 young girls. Naturally, this makes her an ideal villain and who other than the eminent Hammer Studios were more eligible to turn this legend into a compelling Gothic horror movie? Director Peter Sasdy and writer Alexander Paal added a lot of popular story lines, like a truckload of sexual intrigues and a neat display of corruption, but they also managed to sustain the morbidity of Bathory's persona. Ingrid Pitt, perhaps the most ravishing Hammer actress ever (see "The Vampire Lovers" for more evidence),is truly magnificent as the repellent countess who would even sacrifice her own daughter in order to maintain her virility. She has the loyal Captain Dobi and a bunch of household staff to obey her commands implicitly and a newly arrived stud to fall in love with. Regretfully, the film lacks balanced pacing and the set pieces too often look like discarded attributes from other Hammer films. There's a satisfying amount of bloodshed and sleaze and the abrupt ending comes as a genuine shock. "Countess Dracula" is perhaps not the most sensational horror movie of the early 70's, but it provides a welcome change in substance and it's definitely worth tracking down by all the fans of Gothic goodness.

It's ironic that as Ingrid Pitt's Countess Elisabeth Bathory realizes that her true age is returning, she reaches for a rosary and begins to pray. That signals the obvious truth that she feels, via her birthright, that she has the right to not only be cruel to the poor (including her own servants) and commit murder if it benefits her. The film opens with the recently widowed countess planning to bring her daughter (Lesley Anne Downe) home to receive her inheritance. After a servant girl cuts herself and squirts blood on the countess, she finds that virgin blood gives her youthful skin. She schemes to have her own daughter abducted, posing as her daughter in order to land a young army officer she desires. But the virgin blood doesn't last, and that means more murders and a feeling of terror in the countryside, with great suspicions falling on the countryside, known as "the devil woman" by the superstitious villagers.

It's not a role of vanity for the beautiful Pitt, made up plainly and getting uglier as her soul turns more evil. This doesn't feel fully set in its time period, with sets a bit more lavish than other films set during the time period. But, it's suitably sinister, never gross in its presentation of the sinister killings. Nigel Green is excellent as Pitt's accessory, not at all one dimensional yet guilty of allowing Pitt to continue her reign of terror. This gives no lame excuse for Bathory's actions, other than the fact that she was insanely vain and consumed with the hatred of any girl young and beautiful. Perhaps an influence for many vain wicked queens in the Grimm's fairy tales (particularly the queen in Snow White),the story of Elisabeth Bathory is an allegory to the evils of vanity, narcissism, and abuse of power. This is much better than more recent versions of this story, direct and without pretensions.

In the early 1970s, Hammer Films was in trouble. The studio was having financial woes and the same old monster films they'd been producing for a decade and a half didn't seem to be the formula for solvency. So, in a nod to the times, Hammer 'sexed-up' their films--including quite a bit of blood and female nudity. However, this did not necessarily mean the films were that good--and most were rather poor despite the now ample 'boobage'.

Despite the title, "Countess Dracula" has almost nothing to do with the famed monster. Instead, it's a retelling of the story of Elizabeth Bathery--a woman whose real-life exploits are rather hard to believe today. She supposedly killed hundreds of young women and bathed in their blood in order to somehow stay younger. In this film, the weird bathing practices worked--at least temporarily. It made the hag-like Countess beautiful but the results were only short-term--she needed a continuing supply of young virgins. So, again and again, you see bloody female corpses and lots of gratuitous nudity. Nothing really that special---just lots of R-rated content. In fact, the whole thing just gets a bit tedious after a while. Lots of pretty naked ladies and violence--a rather disturbing means to increase film attendance if you think about it.

By the way, in a nod to Dracula, the real-life Vlad the Impaler's picture is on the wall and an offhanded comment is made that it's the Countess' father--but no mention of Vlad or his past is mentioned.