Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter is a 1972 British horror film. It was written and directed by Brian Clemens (The Avengers), produced by Albert Fennell and Hammer Film Productions and was belatedly released on 7 April 1974. It stars Horst Janson in the title role, along with John Carson, Shane Briant and Caroline Munro. The original music score is composed by Laurie Johnson. It was originally the pilot for a planned television series.
When his village is plagued by mysterious deaths marked by highly accelerated aging, Dr. Marcus calls in his old army friend, Captain Kronos, and his companion, hunchback Professor Hieronymus Grost, two professional vampire hunters. Grost explains to the initially skeptical Marcus that the women are victims of a vampire that drains not blood but youth, and that there are “as many species of vampire as there are beasts of prey.” The finding of another victim confirms Grost’s explanation.
Grost and Kronos’s companion Carla prove via a mystical test the presence of vampires, but their proofs are contradicted by an eyewitness who claims to have seen “someone old, very old”, while a youth-draining vampire should appear as youthful. Marcus visits the family of his late friend, Lord Hagen Durward, and speaks with the Lord’s son Paul (Shane Briant) and his beautiful sister Sara (Lois Daine) but has to leave without seeing the bed-ridden Lady Durward. In the woods, Marcus has an encounter with a cloaked figure that leaves him shaken and with drops of blood on his lips…
” … it’s hard not to be charmed by Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter to at least some extent. If nothing else, it stands among the most determinedly peculiar horror films Hammer ever released, and it represents a then-unique attempt to do something new and different with vampirism.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting
“Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter has a goofy title and none of their usual players, so I wasn’t expecting much, but it’s actually one of their best vampire movies, and a must-see for any vamp OR Hammer enthusiast. ” Horror Movie a Day
