The Vampire Lovers is a 1970 British Gothic horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Ingrid Pitt, Peter Cushing, George Cole, Kate O'Mara, Madeline Smith, Dawn Addams, Douglas Wilmer and Jon Finch.

In Styria, 1794, a female vampire in a diaphanous gown materialises from a misty graveyard and kills a man she lures out of a tavern.

After talking with a mysterious man in black, the countess tells the general she has to go visit a sick relative and asks him to care for Marcilla in her absence.

Emma also falls ill and starts suffering from nightmares of the giant cat, while her breasts show the same wounds as Laura.

Meanwhile, Carmilla has started feeding on people from the nearby village, causing several mysterious deaths where the corpses are drained of all blood.

Morton, who was called home by Renton, meets General Spielsdorf and Baron Hartog, who were on their way to the ruins of Karnstein Castle, along with Laura's fiancé Carl.

Once located in her resting coffin, General Spielsdorf drives a stake into Carmilla's heart and cuts off her head, thus avenging his daughter's death.

The film was a co-production between Hammer and American International Pictures, who were interested in a vampire movie with more explicit sexual content to take advantage of a more relaxed censorship environment.

[6] Production of The Vampire Lovers began at Elstree Studios on 19 January 1970 and used locations in the grounds of Moor Park Mansion, Hertfordshire (standing in for Styria, Central Europe).

)[8] While filming the scene in which Carmilla attacks Madame Perrodot, Ingrid Pitt's fangs kept falling out of her mouth and dropping into Kate O'Mara's cleavage, prompting gales of uncontrollable laughter from both actresses.

[9][self-published source] Variety's review of the film was mixed, claiming the story was not great and it had "fairly flat dialog", but the script had "all the needed ingredients".

[10] A. H. Weiler of The New York Times called it "a departure from the hackneyed bloody norm... professionally directed, opulently staged and sexy to boot".

[11] The Monthly Film Bulletin declared, "Rather below par, even by recent Hammer standards, this involves the customary heavy breathing, lusty fangs and tolerably luxurious sets, with the innovation of an exposed nipple or two to support the lesbian angle.