It was against formidable competition from The Exorcist (1973) that Hammer launched Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter (William Friedkin’s film had been released in the UK on 16 March 1974, just weeks before the Hammer film opened), a creditable enough attempt to ring the changes but one which all but vanished in the wake of Friedkin’s headline-hogging behemoth. The timing was simply all wrong – although the film had been shot in the spring of 1972, Hammer seemed entirely uncertain of what they’d got and left the film to fester on the shelf for two years before giving it a grudging and barely noticeable release (on a double in the UK with martial arts film Jin yan zi/The Girl with the Thunderbolt Kick (1968)) at a time when the public no longer seemed to want Gothic horror of any kind.
Captain Kronos marked the directorial debut of Brian Clemens, a veritable institution on British television, whose name has graced the writer credits of hit shows like The Avengers (1961-1969), which he also produced during its best years; Adam Adamant Lives! (1966-1967); The Persuaders (1971); and Bergerac (1981). He also penned the script for Kronos, cannily establishing not only a new character that he hoped would live on to fight through a series of further adventures, but a new body of vampire lore. The undead here, revealed to be Lady Durward (Wanda Ventham), aided by her hypnotised children (Shane Briant and Lois Daine), are is less interested in draining blood but stealing their youth.
Clemens does an impressively assured job behind the camera, giving the film a very different feel to most Hammer horrors – the set design and costumes are first rate and rooted in the company’s Gothic tradition, but Clemens’ direction is the product of the fast paced, colourful world of 60s British television and the film moves with an agility not that noticeable in many recent Hammer’s. Clemens also throws in knowing references to the spaghetti westerns and martial arts movies too, particularly in the inventive and exciting staged sword fight scenes. It was also unique at the time in that it almost defiantly went against the flow of recent productions by backing away from the increased levels of sex and violence that the company had been using to keep their dwindling audiences interested. The fact that the British Board of Film Censors only awarded the film an AA certificate (allowing anyone over the age of 14 to see it) probably didn’t do the film any good with Hammer’s publicity department who would have found it difficult to market a horror film without their customary X certificate.
In the title role, German actor Horst Janson lacks the necessary charisma to really make the character work, though he attacks the role with some gusto and cuts a dashing figure as he swashbuckles his way in and out of trouble. The supporting cast are more than adequate – John Cater is great as the eccentric, hunchbacked Professor Grost, bagging all the best lines, and it’s always a pleasure to see the likes of Caroline Munro and John Carson going through their paces. Former Avenger Ian Hendry is superb in a criminally short role – it’s little more than a cameo really – and his extended death scene is one of the most poignant, hilarious and shocking in any 70s Hammer.
Of all of Hammer’s 70s attempts to reinvent itself and to update its stock collection of situations, themes and characters, Clemens’ films (he also wrote the superb Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971)) is one of the most fun. It doesn’t really have the budget to do Clemens’ ambitions justice but its fresh take on a very well-worn theme, a cracking score by Clemens’ Avengers collaborator Laurie Johnson and a healthy sense of humour do much to make up for the lack of resources. Captain Kronos was barely seen when it was new, but it became a staple of late night television broadcasts for decades both in Europe and the States, ensuring that was finally getting the wider audience it deserved.
Although Kronos’ return to the big screen was scuppered by Hammer’s derisory distribution of his debut adventure, he did resurface in 1978 in a comic strip adaptation of the film in The House of Hammer magazine before belatedly getting a series of follow-up adventures in his own comic book in 2017. He also foreshadowed the 90s superhero vampire killers like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and Blade (1998) and had Hammer had more faith in the film (and not been tied into a returnable loan from the National Film Finance Corporation that meant that without a guaranteed distribution deal the film was doomed to obscurity) Hammer could have beaten them all to the punch by a good two-and-a-half decades.
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