Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1973)

John Chard November 4, 2013

★ 8/10

Hampire, Campire, Vampire. Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter is written and directed by Brian Clemens. It stars Horst Janson, John Cater, John Carson, Caroline Munro, Shane Briant, Lois Daine and Wanda Ventham. Out of Hammer Film Productions, music is by Laurie Johnson and cinematography by Ian Wilson. Swashbuckling vampire slayer Captain Kronos (Janson) answers the call of his friend Dr. Marcus (Carson) to investigate the mysterious goings on in the village of Durward. Young women are being drained of all their youth, left at deaths door old and haggard. Aided by his trusty hunchbacked assistant, Professor Grost (Cater), Kronos’ search for the truth takes him to the Durward family estate… One of the last great Hammer Horror movies, Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter has done well to rise through the decades as a sort of culty camp horror classic. Initial plans…

Wuchak August 10, 2020

★ 8/10

_**Kronos coulda been a contenda**_ In 1800’s England a former officer & his hunchback companion (Horst Janson & John Cater) are hired to rid a village of a form of vampirism that sucks the youth out of young women. Caroline Munro is on hand as their lovely companion while Shane Briant & Lois Daine play the effete children of the aged Lady Durward (Wanda Ventham). Shot in 1972 but not released until 1974, "Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter" functions in the same world as Hammer’s Karnstein Trilogy, aka "The Vampire Lovers" (1970), "Lust for a Vampire" (1971) and "Twins of Evil" (1971). Tigon’s “Witchfinder General,” aka “The Conqueror Worm” (1968), is also in the same ballpark. “Captain Kronos” stands with the best of the lot and was intended to be a franchise. Unfortunately, Hammer had entered its decline and there would only be six more Hammer films until their r…

CinemaSerf July 24, 2023

★ 6/10

Believe it or not, this isn't as bad as you might think it's going to be! Hunky Horst Janson takes the title role as the "Conan" style warrior who arrives in a village where the folks seems to have prematurely aged. What's occurring? Well the trail leads him to the nearby castle of the "Durward" family where siblings "Paul" (Shane Briant) and "Sara" (Lois Daine) live. Now we already know that their ailing, bed-ridden, mother has a very specific diet - but we don't quite appreciate until the end just what her cunning plan is. It is going to fall to our hero to thwart this unnatural and downright dangerous plot from succeeding otherwise the menu is going to include a great many more folks! Nope, it's not good - there is far to much verbiage and nowhere near enough swashbuckling and impaling, but it's tongue is firmly in it's cheek and that makes it the more enjoyable. It's trying to be lig…

Sierbahnn June 29, 2026

★ 6/10

A bit of swashbuckling and a bit of vampire hunting. I'm not sure what the inspiration for Captain Kronos was when they were writing this script, but I feel that there's a great deal of both Conan and Solomon Kane in there. This feels a lot like something Robert Howard would write. The Vampire Hunter is going off and being a fair detective, but a far better sword fighter. Dealing with less ghouls and goblins and more goons and thugs. There's even a climactic sword fight at the end. There's mesmerism and lovely Hammer-style makeup and a great supporting cast. Why this didn't launch a whole franchise or at least a trilogy of Captain Kronos Tales, I can't tell you. But the movie is well worth a watch, even if it is getting on in years.