Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter is a 1974 British swashbuckling action horror film, written and directed by Brian Clemens, produced by Clemens and Albert Fennell for Hammer Film Productions, and starring Horst Janson, John Carson, Shane Briant, and Caroline Munro.

Shot in 1972, but belatedly released on 7 April 1974, the film was intended as the first in a series focused on the title character and his companions.

[citation needed] Due to the film's violence and sexual subtext, Captain Kronos was rated R in North America.

Dr. Marcus calls in Captain Kronos, an old friend from his war service, to his village which is plagued by deaths marked by highly accelerated aging.

Kronos, Grost, Marcus and Carla set up a network of alarm bells in the woods to announce the passage of vampires.

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Neither straightfaced horror nor consistent send-up, it touches on too many conventions – Western, Grand Guignol, comic strip, movie serial – too quickly for the question of exact tone or proper genre ever really to be raised.

More bohemian audiences may find all manners of turn on, but the whole is an uneven tease ..."[5] The Radio Times Guide to Films Alan Jones gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "a bright and breezy blend of horror, comedy, swashbuckler and Italian western (...) A fun fear-frolic that became an instant Hammer cult.