Freely based on real life about a Hungarian countess Elisabeth Bathory who bathed in the blood of young virgins to keep her youthful. It deals with the famous countess who once to be aware virgin's blood gives her youth, then she looks for girls to kill them and she subsequently bathes in the blood of virgins to preserve her youthful. As she attempts to get a new lease of life at whatever costs at an attempt to regain her lost beauty.
Eerie terror movie from Hammer Films delivering emotion enough , it contains stiff acting , thrills , chills , intrigue , nudism and grisly killings. The movie is decent -shoddy sets apart- and still mysterious and acceptable thanks to emphasis on decay and corruption more than bloodsucking and vampirism . Ingrid Pitt gives a powerful and fierce portrayal , she pulls it all together with her splendid interpretation of a bitter woman's determination to hang on to an unexpected youthful . Support cast is pretty good, such as : Sandor Eles, Nigel Green , Maurice Denham , Peter Jeffrey , Patience Collier and a very young Lesley Anne Down. This tale about Elisabeth Bathory has been adapted sometimes as ¨Legend of Blood castle¨ 1973 by Jorge Grau with Lucia Bose, Ewa Aulin , Espartaco Santoni and ¨Walerian Borozyx's Immoral tales¨ with Paloma Picasso as countess Barthory and ¨Devil's wedding night¨ with Rosalba Neri.
It contains a splendid and atmospheric musical score by Henry Richardson . As well as Kenneth Talbot's rich cinematography full of browns and golds and with varying shades of red. The motion picture was uneven but professionally directed by Peter Sasdy with some flaws and gaps , as it has some scenes that result to be of variable quality . Sasdy was a fine craftsman who directed a lot of fims with penchant for terror, Adventure and thriller , such as : ¨Taste the blood of Dracula, Hands of the Ripper, Nothing but the night, Doomwatch, Young warlord, King Arthur the young warlord, I don't want to be born, The devil' undead, 13 Reunion, Rude awakening, The two faces of evil, The lonely lady¨, among others. Rating 6/10. Acceptable and passable. The picture will appeal to Ingrid Pitt fans and Hammer Films aficionados.
