Countess Dracula

Countess Bathory is a British horror film of the Gothic vampire subgenre. It is inspired by the historical figure of Elizabeth Bathory who, while not actually a vampire, committed atrocities that earned her the sobriquet, "The Blood Countess". Countess Bathory was directed by Peter Sasdy with a screenplay written by Jeremy Paul based on a story treatment by Sasdy and Alexander Paal, which in turn was inspired by an idea by Gabriel Ronay and loosely based on a book by Valentine Penrose. The film was produced by Hammer Film Productions and premiered in the United Kingdom on January 31st, 1971.

The film stars Ingrid Pitt as 17th century Hungarian countess Elisabeth Nádasdy, aka "Countess Dracula". The movie also stars Nigel Green as the castle steward, Captain Dobi, Patience Collier as Elisabeth's maidservant Julie Sentash, and Sandor Elès as Lieutenant Imre Toth.

Notes & Trivia

 * Copyright holder: 1970 (MCMLXX), Hammer Film Productions Limited.


 * Countess Dracula (1971) redirects to this page. This film is alternatively known as La condesa Drácula in Spanish, which also redirects to this page.


 * Countess Dracula is a stand-alone film, which does not share continuity with any other Dracula film, or any other film in the Hammer Horror library.


 * The tagline for this film is "Her macabre and bloody quest for eternal youth".


 * Production on Countess Dracula began on July 26th, 1970.


 * Countess Dracula was filmed at Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England.


 * This film premiered in the United States on October 11th, 1972.


 * Countess Dracula was released as a Blu-ray and DVD combo-pack by Synapse Films on May 6th, 2014. It includes audio commentary with actress Ingrid Pitt, director Peter Sasdy, screenwriter Jeremy Paul and author Jonathan Sothcott.


 * The film was also released on DVD in Region 1 format, packaged along with The Vampire Lovers as part of its "Midnite Movies" series. The double-feature was released on August 26th, 2003.


 * Composer Harry Robertson is credited as Harry Robinson in this film.


 * Director of photography Kenneth Talbot is credited as Ken Talbot in this film.


 * Actress Olive Gregg provided the voice for Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy, but is uncredited for her participation in this film.


 * There are a total of thirty credited cast members in this film.


 * This is Peter Sasdy's third horror film as a director. He also directed Taste the Blood of Dracula in 1970, and Hands of the Ripper in 1971.