In 1830, a writer named Michael Johnson travels to a village situated near the imposing Karnstein Castle in Austria and ends up accepting a teaching position at a nearby girls’ school after encountering a beautiful student, Yutte Stensgaard. Other students and the headmaster, Ralph Bates, also find themselves drawn to Mircalla. The question arises: what is the source of her allure? Is there a possibility she's the reincarnation of Countess Carmilla Karnstein, who passed away in 1710? Mike Raven, bearing a striking resemblance to Christopher Lee, portrays the ominous Count Karnstein. “Lust for a Vampire” (1971) is set forty years after the events depicted in “The Vampire Lovers,” which was released the previous year. These films are based on Sheridan Le Fanu’s "Carmilla," published in 1872, preceding Bram Stoker's "Dracula" by a quarter-century. The third film in Hammer’s ‘Karnstein trilogy,’ “Twins of Evil” (1971), serves as the earlier installment. Yutte Stensgaard, who is Danish, appears noticeably younger than Ingrid Pitt, who portrayed Mircalla in the prior movie—Pitt was offered this role but unavailable—as Stensgaard was 24 during filming while Pitt was 32. As expected, there are numerous attractive women present due to the setting, along with some nudity. Although Ralph Bates described it as "one of the worst films ever made," all three movies in the series share a similar level of quality, though “The Vampire Lovers” is more well-known because of its explicit lesbianism, which is less prominent here and in “Twins.” I suspect Bates disliked his role because his character, Giles Barton, plays a subordinate part to the leading man (Johnson). Following the success of "Rain Drops Keep Fallin’ on My Head" in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969), producers insisted on incorporating the pop song “Strange Love,” performed by Tracy. In my opinion, it works well with the film's atmosphere and isn't as jarring as "Rain Drops" was in “Butch Cassidy.” In some respects, “Lust for a Vampire” brings to mind later films like “The Wicker Man” (1973) and “Picnic at Hanging Rock” (1975), largely because of the progressive girls’ school setting—though with the added element of Gothic vampirism. The film has a running time of 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was filmed at Elstree Studios outside London to the north. The finishing school is situated a bit further northwest at Hunton Park. GRADE: B-/B

Source on TMDB