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Captain
Kronos
Vampire Hunter
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Review
by
Brian Lindsey
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7
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7 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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The
countryside surrounding a rural English village is plagued by
a rash of weird, mysterious deaths. Beautiful young girls, still
in their teens, are found drained of life their bodies greatly
aged, a few drops of blood upon their now shriveled lips. Stymied,
local physician Dr. Marcus (John Carson) summons an old army
comrade with a plea for help. But the good doctor isn't seeking
a second opinion in this case. His friend isn't a medical man
by trade... He is Captain Kronos, master swordsman and professional
vampire hunter.
Kronos (German actor Horst Janson) arrives
at Dr. Marcus' house accompanied by his hunchbacked friend and
colleague, Prof. Hieronymous Grost (John Cater), and a beautiful
gypsy girl named Carla (Caroline Munro) whom the two men picked
up during their journey. Based on the doctor's description of
the victims, occult scholar Grost is positive that a vampire
is responsible. ("What he doesn't know about vampirism wouldn't
fill a flea's codpiece," Kronos tells Marcus, assuring him of
the professor's expertise.) While Kronos and Grost, assisted
by Carla, set about gathering clues as to the vampire's identity,
more pretty lasses are fatally drained of youth. Men of the
village grow increasingly suspicious of the strange newcomers.
Someone with sufficient resources even hires a trio of thuggish
swordsmen to kill them. Undeterred, Kronos and Grost zero in
on a family of local aristocrats, the Durwards, as the prime
suspects. When all preparations are complete, the captain draws
a special blade which Grost has lovingly forged from a steel
cemetery cross. "Time to kill a vampire," Kronos announces
ominously.
Lovely Carla is to serve as the bait.
With Captain Kronos
Vampire Hunter, writer/director/co-producer Brian Clemons
(TV's The Avengers, Dr. Jekyll
and Sister Hyde) sought to turn the already stale Hammer
horror conventions on their collective head, breathing fresh
life into the genre and launching a new franchise character.
The first goal he achieved handily. Fusing reworked vampire
themes (many old clich้s are jettisoned) with motifs lovingly
borrowed from John Ford westerns and Japanese samurai films
was an inspired touch, a bright spot during Hammer's precipitous
period of decline. (The tightly-edited tavern scene, in which
Kronos uses a kitana to effortlessly dispatch the hired
assassins, wouldn't be out of place in a Lone Wolf and Cub movie
except there'd be a lot more blood.) Like Robert E.
Howard's Solomon Kane character, Captain Kronos is a swashbuckling
nemesis of evil, a champion of good. But distinctly unlike Kane
he's rather amoral in his personal life. (There isn't a moment
of hesitation when Carla offers herself to him and it's inferred
he smokes dope.) Unfortunately, a series of Kronos flicks was
never in the cards; Hammer collapsed financially not long after
this film was belatedly released in 1974, two years after it
was shot.
It's set in an indeterminate time period,
likely the 18th Century, though the availability of cheroots
and dearth of wig-wearing men would seem to indicate the Napoleonic
period. (In the disc's audio commentary see below Clemons
mentions the year 1600 but the costumes clearly preclude this.)
Yet the Kronos character could've just as easily stepped out
of the early 1970s with his long hair, frilly shirts and proclivity
for Zen meditation and smoking certain "herbs". Janson, though
dubbed, is fine in the role, doing all his own stunts and swordfighting.
(Some may construe his aloof, detached performance as being
dull but the character is supposed to be something of an enigma.)
Cater is particularly good as the sardonic Prof. Grost; Carson
is reliable as always in the key supporting role of Dr. Marcus.
Theater of Blood's Ian Hendry
makes the most of his brief scenes as Kerro, sadistic leader
of the assassins.
Last but not least is Caroline Munro, the raven-haired scream
queen who populated more than a few of my adolescent dreams...
Mainly on hand for eye candy here, her character does get some
nice moments with Kronos, including a demure yet genuinely erotic
love scene in a dimly-lit stable.
Genteel
even by the standards of its day, I can't help but feel that
the film would be even better had it been spiced up a bit with
just a little nudity or
extra gore.
But I'm quite content with it as is. A stylish blend of horror
and adventure, with a delightfully dry (even black) sense of
humor, Captain
Kronos Vampire Hunter
remains one of my all-time favorite Hammer films. (Note: The
R rating is totally absurd. It's PG material at best, shown
uncut on basic cable channels.)
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Out
of print for
many years on VHS and long sought after on DVD, Captain
Kronos belatedly arrives in the digital format courtesy
of Paramount, who quite honestly took their sweet damn time about
it. It's terrific to finally see the film in its original aspect
ratio of 1.85:1, fostering greater appreciation for Clemens' visual
compositions. A/V quality is quite good; compared to my old videotape
and cable television broadcasts (which are invariably washed out
and overly bright), the film has never looked better. The letterboxed
transfer is anamorphically enhanced for widescreen TVs and sports
a first-rate mono audio track.
Extras are regrettably limited to but a single bonus feature but
fortunately it's a worthwhile one: an audio commentary with Brian
Clemons and Caroline Munro, moderated by Jonathan Sothcott. There's
quite a difference between this commentary track and the one found
on MGM's DVD edition of The Vampire
Lovers (also hosted by Sothcott); whereas the Lovers
chat was dull, dry and nearly pointless, the commentary session
for Captain Kronos is greatly enlivened
by the obvious enthusiasm of the participants. With very little
prompting Clemons discusses in detail the creation of the Kronos
character, his ideas for the script, casting, shooting locations
and the like, while Munro chimes in periodically with her own
experiences. Fans of the film will certainly enjoy it.
10/29/03 |
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