I'm betting that few of you are familiar with Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter, a Hammer Film released in 1974 starring Horst Janson and Caroline Munro as the not-seen-often-enough Carla, a gypsy girl saved by the Captain and his hunchbacked sidekick, Prof. Hieronymos Grost -- Expert on All Things Vampiric.
The plot is as thin as it gets: a mysterious, cloaked vampire-figure is sucking the life and youth out of the young girls of a 19th Century village somewhere deep in Central Europe. Fortunately, the valiant Capt. Kronos is riding to the town to visit his old army buddy, Dr. Marcus. Kronos is a fearless vampire killer, and no creature of darkness is safe from his cleansing fury.That's it.
There's no exposition about Kronos' origins; how he got into the vampire hunting business, why he carries a Japanese samurai sword, or why all these continental Europeans all speak the Queen's English are unanswered questions. But there is no shortage of gloomy gothic atmosphere, buckles being swashed, or bodice-ripping.
My favorite scenes include: Kronos is confronted in a tavern by three bully boys in a vignette pulled from countless cliched Westerns. With lightning quick reflexes, Kronos dispatches them before they, or indeed the audience, relizes he's drawn
his katana. The only hint we have before the thugs crumble to the floor is a shot of Kronos' hand on the sword hilt, and a soft click as the sword slips back into the sheath.The other scene is an extended torture "gag" worthy of Quentin Tarantino. Kronos is fishing for information from a vampire. One of the movie's more ingenious conceits is that different breeds of vampires must be killed with different methods -- fire, stake, hanging, etc. The relentless earnestness with which the scene is pursued usually elicts a chuckle from jaded horror movie fans.
Captain Kronos is an early attempt at mixing horror's traditional tropes with those of other genres such as action and comedy. It largely succeeds. Released as it was in 1974, it was slightly ahead of its time, and perceived as a real oddity as horror films moved to more contemporary settings in The Exorcist, The Omen and The Amityville Horror. The genre mixing plays rather better today than it did back then, however it has a somewhat slower pace than modern audiences expect in either action or horror films. This lends it a fairy tale quality and it seems to unfold at a dreamlike pace.
Really geeky fans will recognize some images as reminiscent of Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane character, a dour Puritan swordsman given to vengeful quests and battling the supernatural. Anime freaks may see parallels with the Japanese film Vampire Hunter D. Some have even identified similarities to Wesley Snipes' first Blade movie.
And did I mention that it features Caroline Munro?
12 comments:
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That's really special. My blog has nothing to do with home business related stuff. It's just stream of conciousness JRF -- a tour of the inner workings of my mind, if you will.
While I'm sure your blog is excellent at describing your own "stuff," I'd appreciate your not butting in on our conversation simply for your own benefit. If you'd like to stick around and discuss the matters of sex symbols, martial arts, history, movies, and assorted weird stuff, please make yourself at home. If you're just going to advertise, go far away.
Captain Kronos? That name just doesn't evoke or create a feeling of 19th century Europe. It sounds too space-age or Russian...it just doesn't fit. That's where this movie probably went wrong at first. That title might have worked well on a radio show in the 30s and 40s.
I would never endeavor to view this movie from that title and that poster ad. Your review makes me a little more willing, but I hate vampires.
Something I forgot to mention earlier is the vague similarity between Captain Kronos and the "high concept" for the recent Van Helsing movie.
Now, Van Helsing sucked (no pun intended), but the idea of a younger, more heroic Van Helsing character in the swashbuckling vein (ok, pun intended there) wasn't too bad. If you thought so too, and hated that movie, perhaps Captin Kronos is for you.
Cool concept or not, attaching the old baggage of countless professorial Van Helsing portrayals with a fit fighter cut from the Batman or Zorro molds begged for trouble. At least with Captain Kronos, you don't have those stereotypical expectations coming along for the ride. It's just pure sword-brandishing fun!
I don't think it's odd that Captain Kronos used a katana. I myself have trained in European saber technique. Cross-training can be very helpful.
I guess "cross"-training is especially helpful to fearless vampire hunters. Ha!
I met Capt. K at a seminar on "Best Methods To Make the Undead Dead." He was a very serioous looking dude. I don't think he cracked a smile the whole time we were in a workshop together. Believe me, I tried. But he was very considerate of my unusual disability, and we did exchange phone numbers for networking purposes.
That struck me as odd. I mean, where does an old school vampire slayer get a cell phone? He's not Buffy.
(BTW, B is a heck of a girl. She gave the keynote address at the seminar, and I've never been so motivated in my life.)
Anyone seen JRF?
JRF must be too busy to post...
OH MY GOD, do you thing that he went and got him a life.
Oh what a sad day in the Blogosphere!
It has been a long time since he's posted. Hope you are OK, jrf. Shinobi is probably right, you've probably found better things to do. Far too much time is wasted on unconsequential things in cyberspace. There are definitely more meaningful activities I could be engaged in like...hmmmm....helping old ladies cross streets, feeding stray transients, raking the leaves of a neighbor who is sick with the bird flu, inventing a gigantic generator that runs using the rotation of the earth, reading a book to my kids. I think I'll go do that last one now.
What do I make of it?
Hoax.
Kronos is a great fucking movie. One of Hammer's best. I know because I've seen it at least 11 times. In one week.
Not ahead of its time...see Polanski's "Dance of the Vampires" made in 1967.
Clemens' film is a total rip off of this film combined with a mish mash of steals from "For A Few Dollars More" & the "Lone Wolf & Cub" comic book.
Clemens is known for being a rip off merchant.
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