Carmilla (1989)

Genres - Horror  |   Sub-Genres - Period Film  |   Run Time - 60 min.  |   Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Cavett Binion

Sheridan Le Fanu's erotic horror tale -- the inspiration for Hammer Films' bosom-heaving "Karnstein Trilogy" and Roger Vadim's Blood and Roses -- is given a bit of whitewash in this tepid episode of Shelley Duvall's made-for-cable "Nightmare Classics" series. Inexplicably relocated to the American Deep South in the 19th century, this transposes the tale of a young woman (Ione Skye) who falls under the spell of the enigmatic and beautiful Carmilla (Meg Tilly), a lesbian vampire whose lust for women includes a hunger for female blood. Tame when compared to the blood-and-breasts quotient of Hammer's Lust for a Vampire, this Southern Gothic variant nevertheless contains a few shocking scenes, particularly one character's horrific "surprise" death.

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Keywords

vampire, bloodsucker, lesbianism, sexuality, spell [magic], woman, homosexual, generation-gap, friendship