Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter is a 1972 horror film about a master swordsman and his hunchbacked assistant who hunt vampires. It was belatedly released on 7th April 1974.
It was written and directed by Brian Clemens (The Tell-Tale Heart; Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde; Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense ) and produced by Albert Fennell.
The Hammer Film Production stars Horst Janson in the title role, along with John Carson (The Night Caller; The Plague of the Zombies; Taste the Blood of Dracula), Shane Briant (Straight on Till Morning; Demons of the Mind; The Picture of Dorian Gray) and Caroline Munro (Dracula A.D. 1972; Faceless). The original music score was composed by Laurie Johnson (And Soon the Darkness), supervised by Philip Martell.
In 2011, a novelisation of the film was released, written by Guy Adams under the title Kronos and published by Arrow Publishing in association with Hammer and the Random House Group.
In 2017, a comic book adaptation was published by Hammer in association with Titan Comics.
Plot:
When his village is plagued by mysterious deaths marked by highly accelerated ageing, Doctor Marcus calls in his old army friend, Captain Kronos, and his companion, hunchback Professor Hieronymus Grost, two professional vampire hunters.
Grost explains to the initially sceptical Marcus that the women are victims of a vampire that drains not blood but youth and that there are “as many species of vampire as there are beasts of prey.” The finding of another victim confirms Grost’s explanation.
Grost and Kronos’s companion Carla prove via a mystical test the presence of vampires, but their proofs are contradicted by an eyewitness who claims to have seen “someone old, very old”, while a youth-draining vampire should appear as youthful.
Marcus visits the family of his late friend, Lord Hagen Durward, and speaks with the Lord’s son Paul (Shane Briant) and his beautiful sister Sara (Lois Daine) but has to leave without seeing the bedridden Lady Durward. In the woods, Marcus has an encounter with a cloaked figure that leaves him shaken and with drops of blood on his lips…
Audio commentary with film historian Bruce G. Hallenbeck (new)
Audio commentary with writer-director Brian Clemens, actress Caroline Munro, and Hammer Films historian Jonathan Sothcott
Anything Goes: Hammer Film in the 70s featurette (new)
Theatrical trailer
Radio spots
Original trailer:
4K Blu-ray trailer:
Watch for free online on YouTube:
Choice dialogue:
Kronos: “What he doesn’t know about vampirism wouldn’t fill a flea’s codpiece.”
Cast and characters:
Horst Janson … Kronos
John Carson … Doctor Marcus
Shane Briant … Paul Durward
Caroline Munro … Carla
John Cater … Grost
Lois Daine … Sara Durward
Ian Hendry … Kerro
Wanda Ventham … Lady Durward
William Hobbs … Hagen
Brian Tully … George Sorell
Robert James … Pointer
Perry Soblosky … Barlow
Paul Greenwood … Giles
Lisa Collings … Vanda Sorell
John Hollis … Barman
Susanna East … Isabella Sorell
Stafford Gordon … Barton Sorell
Elizabeth Dear … Ann Sorell
Joanna Ross … Myra
Neil Seiler … Priest
Olga Anthony … Lilian
Gigi Gurpinar … Blind Girl
Peter Davidson … Big Man
Terence Sewards … Tom
Trevor Lawrence … Deke
Jacqui Cook … Barmaid
Penny Price … Harlot
Linda Cunningham … Jane
Julian Holloway … Kronos (voice)
Caroline Villiers … Petra
Film facts:
The film was originally the pilot for a planned Captain Kronos series.
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