BY THE 1970s, Hammer films, that most red-blooded of British cinematic institutions, was in dire need of a full-blown transfusion.
The success of movies like Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist had left their more traditional Gothic fantasies looking tired and outdated, and a change of tact was needed if they were to survive.
One of the ways the company sought to challenge these seismic shifts in public tastes was to turn to TV writer extraordinaire Brian Clemens for some fresh ideas.
A legendary figure in television circles whose unique CV included working on the hugely inventive and often subtly subversive fantasy series The Avengers for the best part of the previous decade, Clemens suggested a genre-bending excursion into something a million miles away from the Gothic castles and Christopher Lee-fronted fables of yore.
Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter was, as the title suggests, another period vampire film - but it was one cut from a much more postmodern cloth than anything Hammer had attempted before.
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Freshly released on Blu-ray in a stunning new deluxe 4K restoration edition by the newly revived studio, it remains as powerful a slice of cinematic escapism as the 1970s produced.
An intriguing mix of sword-slashing swashbuckler and classic Boy’s Own adventure all played with a knowing nod and wink, Kronos is the tale of the titular blonde haired ex-military hero (German leading man Horst Janson, re-dubbed by British actor Julian Holloway) who heads out on his horse across the fields of middle Europe fighting the scourge of vampirism wherever he finds it.
He’s accompanied on his moral crusade by his loyal hunchbacked assistant Professor Grost (played by the much loved British character actor John Cater) and a beautiful young female he rescues along the way called Carla (future Bond girl and current host of The Cellar Club on Talking Pictures TV, Caroline Munro).
Together, they tackle a particularly nasty strand of vampire evil that’s been robbing the young women of the countryside of not their blood but their youth, leaving their corpses drained of life and looking like haggard old crones.
It’s a simple but effective premise and Clemens, who aside from writing also directs the film, shoots everything with an inventiveness all his own. Eyes reflect in shining blades, shadows of crucifixes invert themselves creepily on church walls and everything is framed with an artist’s eye for detail.
The result is a strange, off-beat mishmash of styles that recalls the quirky charm of The Avengers more than your standard 70s horror flick, and it’s a beautifully crafted if undeniably low budget addition to the studio’s storied filmography.
Oddly, Hammer failed to fully get behind the film Clemens had hoped would turn into a series, and as a result Kronos eventually crept quietly onto cinema screens in 1974, meeting with little fanfare in the process.
Thankfully, its cult status as a fascinating curio and one of the studio’s last great genre movies has ballooned in recent times.
Pick up the new 4K restoration and wallow in the delights of a low-key classic of its kind one more time.