LITERAL REMAINS

Captain Kronos is one of my favorite vampire movies.  The thing I really love about it is that it’s a little different in its vampirism, and it mixes mystery with its horror.  The good Captain, shady to a degree himself, is kick butt bad, charms the ladies, has a cool hunchback sidekick, and  he is the only man alive feared by the walking dead!

A sleepy little English hamlet is plagued by some bizarre happenings.  Young women are being victimized:  they are being found with their youth stolen, having become aged, and they have blood on their lips.  Highly suspicious of the cause of the attacks, Dr. Marcus sends word to his old army buddy, Captain Kronos, to come investigate the incidents.  Captain Kronos and his sidekick, Professor Grost.  They be vampire hunters, yo!

Kronos finds a little time on the way to save the day to save a lovely, shapely, woman, Carla, from a stockade.  Freed from imprisonment, Carla travels with the duo to the village, where she quickly lights Kronos’ fire.  It isn’t much longer before Captain Kronos and Professor Grost get an idea of what they are up against.  Evil, baby.  Groovy.

Tavern brawls, vampire killin’, sword fights, an angry mob attack in a cemetery…vampire movies don’t get much better than this.  In fact, this is one of a handful of good movies I wouldn’t mind seeing remade, if done right and were the basis of a new series.  Hammer Films had originally planned for Captain Kronos to be the first of many adventures featuring Kronos and Grost, but, sadly, those plans never saw fruition.  It would be just a mere five years later that Hammer would release its last feature film.

If you are tired of the current state of vampires in film (or just in general), Captain Kronos:  Vampire Hunter is worth  checking out.  From the writing and direction, to the photography and set designs, and the fearless Captain himself (as protrayed by Horst Janson), this movie strikes the bulls-eye dead on. With a stake.

the_novacula