AllMovie

Sherlock Holmes goes from investigating mere murder and mayhem to a fiend of possibly supernatural origin in this made-for-TV thriller. In the 1790's, a wave of murders hits the small British community of Lamberley; as the victims are young women who suffer severe wounds and bleeding from their necks, many locals believe a vampire is to blame, and that the aristocratic but mysterious Lord St. Clair is thought to be the creature of the night in question. A gang surrounds and lynches Lord St. Clair, pounding a stake through his heart and burning him. In the early 20th Century, a similar series of murders begin happening in the same small town, shortly after the arrival of John Stockton (Roy Marsden), a distant relative of Lord St. Clair, who often visits the grave of his dead ancestor. The people of Lamberley believe Stockton is to blame, and noted detective Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) is brought in to investigate. Holmes and his associate Watson (Edward Hardwicke) discover Stockton is a student of the occult who enjoys playing with the assumptions of others, but in time they wonder if he may indeed be a vampire after all. Sherlock Holmes: The Last Vampyre was adapted from the short story The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire by Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle.