The Vampire Lovers

The Vampire Lovers is a 1970 British gothic horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt, Madeline Smith, Kate O'Mara and Jon Finch. It was produced by Hammer Film Productions. It is based on the J. Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla and is part of the so-called Karnstein Trilogy of films, the other films being Lust for a Vampire (1971) and Twins of Evil (1972). The three films were somewhat daring for the time in explicitly depicting lesbian vampire themes.

Plot

In early 19th century Styria, a beautiful blonde (Kirsten Lindholm) in a diaphanous gown materializes from a misty graveyard. Encountering the Baron Hartog (Douglas Wilmer), a vampire hunter out to avenge the death of his sister, the girl is identified as a vampire and decapitated. Many years later, a dark-haired lady leaves her daughter Marcilla (Ingrid Pitt) in the care of General von Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing) and his family in Styria. Marcilla quickly befriends the General's niece, Laura (Pippa Steel). Laura subsequently suffers nightmares that she is being attacked, and dies of a gradual sickness; whereupon Marcilla departs.

Vampire Lovers (band)

The Vampire Lovers, also styled as Vampyre Lovers or Vampire Lovers, were a Brisbane punk rock group which formed in 1982 in Queensland, Australia. Original band members were Axle "Axe Babe" Conrad on vocals, Brendan Kibble on guitar, Shane Cooke on bass guitar, Matt "Nasty" Le Noury on guitar and Dave Chamberlain on drums. Other members included guitarist Jason Shepherd; and drummer, Ziggy Staten. Initially the group existed from 1982 to 1984 and then reformed in 1988 to disband finally in 1990. In 1983 their first single, "Buzzsaw Popstar", brought greater recognition from the Australia alternative rock fans. In 1991 they released a mini-LP, Acid Commandos from Planet Fuzz, a year after they had disbanded.

According to music historian, Ian McFarlane, Brisbane produced "some of the most anarchistic bands of the Australian punk rock era" and that it was a city nationally renowned for its ultra conservatism. While British fanzine journalist, Hugh Gulland, felt they were "[f]irmly rooted in The Damned / Misfits – horror punk axis" and suggested that their appeal extended to fans of garish apparel exemplified by "pink leopardskin". In a 1988 interview, the group described themselves as "Australia's only genuine death rock experience". Both Le Noury and Cooke were in Hitmen D.T.K. in Sydney during the early 1990s and recorded on some of that group's later work. In 2004, a retrospective compilation, 13 Tasteless Masterpieces, was issued by United Kingdom indie label, Magic Monster.