Sci-Fi Fantasy Week: Captain Kronos- Vampire Hunter

Hello all and welcome back to Sci-Fi Fantasy Week and I found us a Hammer film of some repute.   With the fans of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing a few Hammer films do escape the public eye especially if they are just looking to see Ingrid Pitt nude again. What say we regale stories of a traveling master swordsman and his humpback companion as they campaign against the undead?  Yes strop us some stakes, prep the holy water and gather some garlic flowers.  This is Captain Kronos- Vampire Hunter

Dead toads confuses the vampire you see and...oh forget it.

Heironymous Grost: You see, doctor, there are as many spoilers of vampire as there are beasts of prey. Their methods and their motive for attack can vary in a hundred different ways.

With his village on under siege from a virulent plague, Dr. Marcus (John Carson of Taste the Blood of Dracula, Emma, Oppenheimer, Doctor Who and Survivor) almost dismisses the notion that the plague attack these young girls is actually vampires and sends for his old Imperial Army friend Captain Kronos (Horst Janson of You Can’t Win ‘Em All, The Captain, Shout at the Devil, Storm of Love and Destruction of Silence) an adept swordsman and would you believe it, a vampire hunter?  Travelling with Kronos is his faithful companion Professor Heironymous Grost (John Cater of Orlando, The Avengers, The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Dr. Phibes Rises Again,  the Woman in Black and Where the Heart Is) an expert on all things Vampire and how to dispatch them. 

What hump?

Now before you all start screaming not another vampire movie, let us point out a few things.  These vampires appear in hoods even during the mid day and seem to drain not blood but life and youth from their victims.  Most mythology buffs or even Stargate Atlantis fans would be saying wraith about now and I cannot say I fault them.  

Along the road to Marcus’ village Kronos spots a young girl Carla (Carolyn Munro of Dracula A.D. 1972, Star Crash, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, The Spy Who Loved Me, Maniac and Slaughter High) in pillory for a meager crime, Kronos chooses to free her and be off on his way when she asks to join him and Grost to their next destination.  Kronos and Grost prep their litmus test for vampire detection using a series of dead toads in the road, forcing them walk around and prepare to waste the creatures but no clue so far to the unspeakable foul beast or beasts’ lair.   The town has been living in fear of this curse and few choose to speak out.  The most influential of the village are in seclusion and have no interest with interaction on the day to day leads Kronos to believe perhaps the vampire is hiding on their property.   I personally thought they were prigs and uptight.

Vampire Hunter and Eye Candy? Bonus.

A few things I wanted to mention about the movie.   Shot in 35mm Spherical and audio done in Mono, writer/director Brian Clemens (The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Quiller, The New Avengers, The Watcher in the Woods, Timestalkers and Blue Blood) must have felt the vampire folklore angle being more of a superstitious nature into the story was a nice touch; keeping in tradition that there is always a sliver of truth in every tale.  

NINJA STRIKE!!!!

Our hooded menace feasting on the local wenches is not revealed until towards the end of the film giving it a bit of suspense.  The dialogue was sharp and clever with a nice leisurely pace of films of its ilk but it certainly did not skimp on the action at all and for the life of me I cannot see how this did not go the same franchise route the Dracula series did.   Guess even Hammer Film fans are fickle.