6. The Vampire Lovers (1970)
One of the great puzzles of horror history (to this writer at least) is why the female vampire Carmilla has never become as legendary as her male counterpart Count Dracula. J Sheridan Le Fanus original story predates Bram Stokers novel by 26 years, and as a vampire in the form of a beautiful young woman with a taste for the blood of other young women, its quite clear she has serious cinematic potential. Alas, as film studios and audiences alike havent always been so daring, big screen takes on Carmilla remain few and far between. However, the most celebrated of these few adaptations is surely Hammers The Vampire Lovers, which casts a pitch-perfect Ingrid Pitt as the seductive yet sinister Carmilla, who slyly worms her way into an affluent household in order to get close to the beautiful, buoyant daughter of the house, Madeline Smiths Emma. Unsurprisingly, the film revels in the titillation value of girl-on-girl action, notably with Pitt and Smith sharing a nude bathtub scene thats straight off a naughty seaside postcard, and Pitts proclivity for biting her victims on the breast rather than the more traditional neck. However, we might almost consider it a dry run for the more tragic, emotional vampire movies to come, as Carmilla does display genuine affection for her Emma; a longing for the human experience she can never again have as the undead. The film spawned two semi-sequels in Hammers Lust for a Vampire and Twins of Evil.