Ingrid Pitt made such a splash in The Vampire Lovers she was given the lead in another film, based on Elisabeth Barony, who would kill girls out of the belief their blood would make her seem younger. Pitt starts off old then discovers the blood regime and pretends to be her own daughter. The pressure gets on when she falls for a spunky young officer. This is reminiscent of the 1965 She, including a woman worried about nabbing a younger man and transformation from young to old.
There are lots of good ideas here – it must have sounded great at pitch level – with Pitt arranging for her own daughter to be kidnapped, having to get blood from virgins, Nigel Green as Pitt's old lover who gets jealous. There is some colourful production design, including several gypsy dances, Lesley Ann Downe (Pitt’s daughter) is stunningly pretty, Pitt looks great (though not as good in Vampire Lovers), there’s some nibbling on Pitt’s nipples, a great moment where Pitt gets busted having a virgin blood bath.
But it never really takes fire. The script gets a bit repetitive – Pitt kills someone, gets younger, then older, then kills someone again, etc. It lacks an antagonist, someone out to get Pitt (Green ultimately does what she says, Maurice Denham’s priest you think might go against her but he just ends up helping her out, the male lead is a whimp). It never really digs into Pitt’s character that much. It’s also not very erotic. With it’s older woman lusting after a young man and obsessed with her looks this would be ripe for a gay remake.
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