An obscure vampire thriller from Hammer, and one of the few that has no mention of Dracula, but this might be one of the better fang flicks the studio ever made.
Gerald and Marianne Harcourt (Edward de Souza, Jennifer Daniel) are on their honeymoon in 1900's Bavaria. Tooling around the countryside nets them an empty tank, and since it would be a few years since AAA gets founded, Gerald elects to hoof it to the nearest village for some petrol while Marianne shall guard the car.
Marianne isn't very keen to do this, as she has the feeling she's being watched...and she is. A man in the castle overlooking the forest is spying on her with his telescope. Losing her nerve, she runs towards the village when she meets Professor Zimmer (Clifford Evans), who warns her to stay away from the aforementioned castle and get out of town.
Gerald is returning with a horse and wagon as there is no gas in the village. Towing the car towards the only inn in town, we meet owner Bruno (Peter Madden) and Anna (Vera Cook). They're about as stereotypical peasants in a horror film as one can get. They also run into Zimmer, who is the inn's only other occupant.
Zimmer caused bit a stir just before the Harcourts arrived. His daughter passed away, but before the village could bury her, Zimmer drunkenly interrupted the service and shoved a spade through his daughter's heart. It seems she made an awful fuse about that.
Before further details can be made, the Harcourts get word from local gentry Dr. Ravna (Noel Willman), AKA the man spying on Marianne. He's rather insisting that the couple join him for a bite...of dinner that is.
Ignoring the inn keeper's freaking out, the Harcourts join the doctor for a late supper and meet his family. There's son Karl (Barry Warren), daughter Sabrina (Jacquie Wallis), and other daughter Tania (Isobel Black), although Tania has a date and won't be joining them for a while. That's all right for Marianne, who finds Karl and his piano playing to be even more charming than his father.
As for Tania's date, she grows tired of waiting and digs her up, but grows annoyed at finding the spade handle in her new best friend's chest. Professor Zimmer almost overpowers her, but Tania manages to put the bite on that, leaving the older man to cleanse the wound.
Yea, the doctor and his kin are vampires. When the children come back a few days later and invite the Harcourts to a masked ball, the couple leave, but only Gerald comes back. He also can't find anyone willing to admit that he entered the village with his wife. Zimmer finally admits the truth, but can they save her in time?
So good, yet so far from perfect. The ending is utterly baffling, and according to more than a few sources was supposed to be the ending to Brides of Dracula until Peter Cushing refused to shoot it. It wants the sex, yet also wants to be prudish at the same time. A frail third act still can't damper the film, making it one of Hammer's unused gems.
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