Countess Dracula (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #20 extract: Countess Dracula (1971)

A spectacular movie, and certainly the most complex and intriguing vampire film I've ever seen. 

Countess Dracula is a Hammer Horror that has very little to do with Dracula at all. It instead follows an old window caught in a vast spiral of deceit, vanity, shame and self-destruction, one who embodies sexuality as a manipulative tool and as a source of meaning whilst bathing in the blood of virgins. Stringing along with her numerous foolish men whose guiding compass is stuck below their belt, this narrative is then a stark, sometimes graphic, sometimes sensual commentary on sexual and social promiscuity. 

The only faults you could find with this film would be technical: the sound design goes a little awry at times and some sets have a bit too much 'spring' to them (don't watch the feet of the actors or you'll find yourself too distracted by this). Nonetheless, I really enjoyed this movie and would have to recommend it to any horror fans.