Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter
Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter is a 1974 British action-horror movie about a professional monster hunter (Horst Janson) who battles vampires that are terrorizing a small European village. The film costarred John Cater, Caroline Munro, John Carson, and Wanda Ventham. It was meant to be the first in a series of films centered around Kronos, but the increasingly poor finances of Hammer Film Productions (they only produced two movies after 1974) scuttled this plan for good.
Plot Summary[edit | edit source]
When the young people of a small village start turning up dead, having seeming aged decades overnight, local doctor Marcus (Carson) calls in his friend Captain Kronos, a professional monster-hunter. Kronos and his assistant, Professor Grost (Cater), determine that the victims were killed by a vampire who steals youth, not blood, from its victims. Suspicion falls on the late Lord Dunward's children Paul (Shane Bryant) and Sara (Lois Daine), who are both young and beautiful. Kronos sends his friend (and lover) Carla to the Dunward house to distract the siblings while he and Grost sneak inside.
Later that evening, Carla wakes up to find a young and beautiful Lady Dunward (Ventham) standing over her. Knowing that no one would suspect an old-looking person of being a youth-stealing vampire, Lady Dunward wore a mask and pretended to be sickly and bed-ridden. In reality, she has raised her husband Hagen (William Hobbs) from the grave as yet another vampire. Lady Dunward hypnotizes Carla to offer her as a meal for Hagen, and then hypnotizes her children when they catch her in the act.
Kronos and Grost successfully manage to break into the mansion and confront Lady and Lord Dunward. Kronos uses his polished sword to reflect Lady Sunward's gaze back onto herself, hypnotizing her. He then battles Hagen, a noted swordsman, as the hypnotized thralls look on. With Grost's help, Kronos defeats the vampires and saves the day before riding off to the next adventure.
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Carla looks into Lady Dunward's eyes
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Lady Dunward hypnotizes Carla
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Carla is under Lady Dunward's control
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Under the vampire's control, Carla stands up.
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Carla in a trance
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Mesmerized, Carla is about to serve as food for vampires.
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Lady Dunward confronts her children, while Carla remains hypnotically frozen in the background.
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Lady Dunward turns her gaze on her children
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Paul and Sara are hypnotized
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Paul and Sara in a trance
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Kronos reflects Lady Dunward's gaze back at her
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Lady Dunward hypnotizes herself
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Kronos and Hagen battle in front of the hypnotized thralls
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At some points, quite literally in front of them...