Every time I watch these movies set during the Salem witch trials, I always get sad. I know these movies are overdramatized, but many women and others were actually burned and tortured under suspicion of being witches. With all my quirky oddities, I know I'd be one of the first ones in line to be burned, and thinking about this cruel evil that was perpetrated on many innocent people is just depressing.
In this movie, identical twin sisters come to live with their uncle after the death of their parents. They live in the shadow of a brooding old castle that is said to be a home for vampires. One of the twins is innocent, but one falls under the spell of the evil Count who lives in the castle and becomes a vampire. Which girl is evil, though? It's pretty easy to guess, actually, even if you don't see one of the movie posters that gives everything away.
Peter Cushing plays a devout witch hunter in this movie. He is the girls' uncle, and he is obsessed with ridding the land of evil (where "evil" is defined as anything he doesn't like or understand). In this movie he is contrasted with Count Karnstein, played by Damian Thomas, who is just as preachy and overbearing and smug, but he worships Satan instead of God. They're a couple of blowhards, and they both do a lot of evil and hurt a lot of people, all in the name of different gods.
There's some cool effects in this movie. One character is bitten by a vampire, and we see their reflection in a mirror slowly disappear as they turn from human to vampire in front of our eyes. That's a great shot, proving you don't have to spend millions on cgi to make your effects special. There's also a scene where a cross burns into a vampire's hand that actually looks real enough to make me cringe.. There's some good shots of vampires attacking victims and drinking their blood, and a graphic stabbing death that happens near the beginning of the movie. Plus some poor girls get burned at the stake. Humans can be just as cruel as vampires, clearly. Makes you wonder who the real monsters are.
Gustav makes my blood boil in this movie. I love Peter Cushing, but he does a great job playing a douchebag in this movie. What kind of unbelievable asshole would bring a murder victim into a class full of teenagers just to taunt the teacher? "Hey, you don't believe in vampires? Well look at this mutilated victim!" That's just all kinds of fucked up. He gives this speech later on about how he's always tried to be a good man, but I don't feel any sympathy for him. You don't get to burn a bunch of people at the stake and then whine about how you're misunderstood.
The climax of this movie really pissed me off. It had me cussing at the screen. God save us from your followers who are so sure they're doing what is right even while they do unspeakably evil things in your name. The ending to the movie is really great though, and we finally get to see the whiniest character in the whole movie actually do something useful. There's some more cool death/transformation effects here too. Overall this movie is a lot better than I expected it to be, and I'm definitely glad I checked it out.
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