This has more style than most of Hammer efforts. For that reason I'm giving it a high rating. Its based on the story Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. As such it has a stronger narrative than the late Dracula films where the screen plays were not based on any novels. <br /><br />The story is about the resurrection of a long dead vampire girl by her vampiring relatives. For some unclear reason they feel she needs schooling and enrol her at an exclusive finishing school. Socially responsible these vampires. <br /><br />Part of the advantage for them is that it provides a supply of good looking women to appear for their scholastic vamp to suck on. This is only used a couple of times. Into this a stranger wanders along and is immediately given a teaching job without any checks as we are meant to have now days. He falls in love with Yutte Stensgaard's bloodsucker immediately. He is really inappropriate for a teaching post. What would he be like if he was there for 5 years?<br /><br />I knew of this film but hadn't got round to it as part of the Hammer canon until I read a review of Le Fanu by the writer and actor Stephen Armourae. On a couple of vampire websites also appeared a portrait of Yutte Stensgaard by him taken from the film. Yutte was a very good looking actress and I have recently seen an excerpt of a game show presented by Bob Monkhouse where she was assistant. Her performance was as wooden then as in this though she made a couple of good films later.<br /><br />A note on this film is that Peter Cushing was intended to play the Ralph Bates role but had to pull out due to ill health. This is to the film's credit. It would have been a shame to see Cushing die and the late great Ralph Bates does a good turn in a scene of desperation and appropriately enough lust.