The Reptile/Lust for a Vampire

Director– John Gilling (Reptile), Jimmy Sangster (Lust for a Vampire)

Starring – Ray Barrett, Noel Willman (Reptile)/Ralph Bates, Barbara Jefford (Lust for a Vampire)


Country of Origin- U.K.

Distributor - Scream Factory

Number of Discs - 1/1

Reviewed by - Scott MacDonald

Date- 08/76/2019

    Scream Factory in the last 6 months have begun to dive hard into the Hammer Studio's Library.  Early in their time as a label they released the Karnstein Trilogy opener The Vampire Lovers, but then it went silent until recently. In the last few months they've released Hammer titles as far ranging as Dracula - Prince of Darkness, the Quatermass sequels, and Plague of the Zombies. Now, we finally get to a pair of unreleased in the U.S. titles The 2nd part to the Karnstein Trilogy, Lust for a Vampire, and the 1966 entry The Reptile.

    The Reptile was one of the first Hammer films I saw on home video having picked up a handful of the studio's titles on Anchor Bay VHS for a dollar each at a Suncoast Video. The Reptile is the film that was paired to shoot back to back with Plague of the Zombies. In this era, Hammer would shoot 2 films at the same location, during the same session, so many detail oriented viewers could for example see the parallels between the sets of Rasputin - The Mad Monk (please, release this Scream Factory), and Dracula - Prince of Darkness.

    The Reptile concerns itself with Harry (Ray Barrett), and his new bride Valerie (Jennifer Daniel). The pair have recently moved to a remote Cornish village to a house once owned by Harry's brother who is the most recent victim of a plague that has taken over the town. Townspeople are being found with bite marks on their neck, and seizure like symptoms.  The villagers are no help even though the plague affects them all, so Harry and Valerie begin to investigate leading to the local Dr. Franklyn, and his lovely daughter.

    Hammer's The Reptile is one of their films that I am always reluctant to watch, but always happy when I do. The film has an interesting premise in the plague that is overtaking the community, but quickly we are to find out that there is a Reptile-women actually responsible for the events plaguing the town. The new to Hammer, creature is quite an impressive monster. The film has a reasonably creepy atmosphere, and lots of suspenseful moments running through the film.   It doesn't have Dracula or Frankenstein in the title, but this is certainly a classic Hammer horror.

    Scream Factory presents the Reptile two ways 1:66:1 and 1:85:1 in a 1080p AVC encoded transfer. Everything here has an organic film look to it, detail is decent, but colors are well-reproduced, black levels are nice and deep. Audio is handled by a DTS-HD 2.0 track in English. Everything here sounds quite solid and without obvious issues. Extras include a newly recorded commentary track, interviews, a making of, a World of Hammer episode and so much more.

    Lust for a Vampire is the 2nd part of Hammer's early 1970's Karnstein Trilogy. The trilogy begins with the classic The Vampire Lovers, and concludes with Twins of Evil, which sort of works as a prequel to the rest of the trilogy. Lust for a Vampire has not had a prior release in the U.S. (to the best of my knowledge), and is generally considered the worst of the 3 Karnstein films.   I will be forthright in admitting I'd never seen this one before, knowing the reputation of the film I kept my expectations in check.

    The film opens with a ritual to bring back the legendary vampire Carmilla Karnstein. After her resurrection she enrolls in a local all-girls school to find victims for her bloodlust. A famous writer has recently moved to the community, and seeing an oppotunity to explore the female population of the school, tricks a teacher into leaving, and joins the staff where he falls in love with Carmilla now known as Mircalla. Unfortunately for him romance is difficult when your love interest is amassing a body count.

    Lust for a Vampire is interesting.  It was originally supposed to be directed by Terrence Fisher, and co-star Peter Cushing. They both had to drop out replacing Fisher with the less experienced Jimmy Sangster.  The film is one I ended up loving a lot. It has a solid atmosphere and an ample amount of splatter. The lesbian vampire angle is played well here, probably more so than in the prior film, The Vampire Lovers. There are some questionable decisions that make the film seem decidedly less well done than the other films in the trilogy. Some of Sangster's instincts as a director seem missplaced such as using a "kissing POV" shot at one point, and also an oddly used voiceover.

    Like The Reptile, Lust for a Vampire utilizes both 1:66:1 and 1:85:1, the transfer here looks fantastic with deep blacks, excellent colors, and a nice organic film look. The audio is handled by a DTS-HD 2.0 track in English that sounds quite excellent. As far as extras we get 2 commentary tracks, trailers, radio spots, and more. Scream Factory's 2 most recent Hammer Horrors to reach Blu are fantastic restorations of excellent films, and both Blu's come HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.