Long before it even crossed Abraham Lincoln’s mind, Captain Kronos was the go-to guy for Vampire Hunting. In 1974, Hammer was seeking to reinvigorate its flagging box-office, so Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee took a back seat and writer/director Brian Clements (The Avengers) was given the chance to create a fresh new franchise. It didn’t pan out, but there’s enough flash and fun is this rather jolly horror film to make that regrettable. The monogramed K on his clothes ‘stands for Kronos, Captain Kronos, vampire Hunter’ on of the characters explains; played by blonde-haired Horst Janson, he’s a swashbuckling type, riding a black horse with flesh coloured-trousers on, powering his way across the countryside followed by hunchbacked assistant Professor Grost (John Cater) and his carriage, drawn by two white horses. Add Caroline Munro as a woman rescued from the stocks by Kronos, angered by her punishment for ‘dancing on Sunday’ and Clements has quite a team to play with. The vampires are also originally rendered; they drain the youth rather than the blood from their victims. There’s great remake potential here, but for now, Captain Kronos is well worth hunting out.
Nice write up! One of the more overlooked and under-rated Hammer films. Nicely done!
Thanks, just found your blog; we park our cars in the same garage!