Something is at large on the Durward estates; something that is draining the very youth from young women, causing them to turn into withered crones in the twinkling of an eye. Recognising that he is out of his depth, Dr Marcus (John Carson – Plague of the Zombies ) calls in the experts, in the shape of his enigmatic old army colleague Captain Kronos (Horst Janson) and the hunchbacked Professor ("I profess to be") Hieronymos Grost (John Cater).
Pausing only to rescue the beautiful, free-willed Carla (Caroline Munro) from the stocks to add a spot of glamour and a possible love interest/damosel in distress to the proceedings, Kronos and Grost arrive in town and immediately set to work determining what it is they are up against: "There is a time to think, a time to plan and a time to act" muses Cronos in between puffs on his spliff, er, man with no name-esque cheeroot containing, er, "an old Chinese herb"
Whatever it is, the monster certainly isn't a run of the mill Christopher Lee style vampire. Among other things it can move about freely in the daytime (a trait admittedly shared with the Karnstein vampires, whom Clemens's script references at one point), is unafraid of the cross – with one attack even taking place in the sanctity of the church – and make itself invisible. Indeed, it's evil power is so great that flowers wither at its passing…
But, after a duel in the tavern where Kronos dispatches three hired killers, including the fearsome swordsman Kerro (Ian Hendry) with one imperceptibly fast stroke of his samurai sword, it's clear that the vampire hunters are drawing close to their quarry and that if anyone is a match for this monster it's Kronos…
The decline in Hammer's fortunes at the turn of the 1970s saw the studio try to do something different, whether it be placing Dracula in the present day in Dracula AD 1972 and The Satanic Rites of Dracula or upping the sex aspect with the "Karnstein Trilogy" with their "lesbian vampires". The same period also saw ex-Avengers man Brian Clemens contribute two interesting variations on the Hammer formula with Dr Jeckyll an Sister Hyde , which he scripted, and Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter which he scripted, directed and co-produced.
But where Sister Hyde stays largely within the confines of Hammer gothic in its gender-bending take on the Dr Jeckyll story, Captain Kronos presents a more thoroughgoing reworking of the form, hybridising Hammer horror with the (spaghetti) western to produce something genuinely fresh. To use an analogy with The Avengers, if the old Hammer represented the first series of the Avengers, when it was relatively conventional investigative series starring Patrick Macnee and Ian Hendry, and Sister Hyde the second or third series, when the replacement of Hendry with Honor Blackman and a greater emphasis on spy material helped add that famous element of "kink", Captain Kronos represents the final, colour, Avengers series with Macnee and Diana Rigg or Linda Thorson battling mad scientists, robot monsters and suchlike.
Unfotunately the public at the time did not seem to take to Captain Kronos. Perhaps it was too different for the Hammer fans, whilst others failed to realise how different it actually was. Thus the plans for a series or possible TV spin-off – Kronos's name indicating his freedom from the constraints of time and place, like some sort of amalgam of Dr Who and Buffy the Vampire Slayer – came to naught. (Though, to continue the Avengers connection, a fruitful comparison might be made between aspects of Kronos and of The New Avengers.)
Whatever the reasons for the film's original failure, a lack of quality is not one of them. Although this was his first experience of directing a feature, Clemens acquits himself well, with some interesting compositions – shots of Kronos framed by a doorway and a belltower paying homage to John Ford's The Searchers and the spaghetti western respectively – and poetic touches, such as the aforementioned withering flowers, along with some well choreographed and edited swordplay, and some thoughtful attention to detail in the likes of Grost's stakes with their grooves for blood to channel down.
Some of the dialogue is perhaps a tad awkward, as when Kronos comments that what Grost "doesn't know about vampires wouldn't fill a flea's codpiece" or when Dr Marcus assures Kronos that "I know you've got guts… I've seen them" in a manner reminiscent of Whit Bissel's classic "civil tongue" line in I Was A Teenage Frankenstein . But, on the whole, it's no worse than one would expect from the likes of Jimmy Sangster or John Elder/Anthony Hinds and is never allowed to really get in the way of the action.
Janson look good and shows a facility with both dramatic and swashbuckling modes, even if his English dialogue had to be redubbed. The rest of his "Scooby Gang" of Cater, Carson and Munro turn in fine performances, even if all Munro really need do is play eye-candy like Charisma Carpenter in the first season of Buffy. Nonetheless, the film is all but stolen by Ian Hendry's turn as Kerro, the actor seemingly drawing on his own bitterness and dissipated nature – an alcoholic on a career slide, his talent largely unrecognised – to invest the character with a venomous swagger.
While the theme music from Avengers alumnus Lawrie Johnson has been fairly described as "gallumphing" it nonetheless suits the action, with the composer also showing that he is not tied to the one idiom via some quieter, more contemplative and moody pieces like the one that plays in the church scene.
In sum, while Captain Kronos is maybe of interest first and foremost as a historical curiosity and hint of what might have been, it is also a thoroughly entertaining adventure romp in its own right that deserves to find an audience among today's horror/fantasy fans.
Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter is available on both Region 1 NTSC and Region 2 PAL DVD. With both versions presented uncut, in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and with mono DD sound, the important differences are in the extras, the former featuring a full-length audio commentary with Brian Clemens and Caroline Munro moderated by Jonathan Sothcott, the latter a trailer and comprehensive 24-page booklet.
The commentary is a good one. Clemens displays a near eidetic recall and doesn't hold back with his memories and reflections on the world of low-budget commercial film production at the time, explaining – for instance – how, as a neonate director, he storyboarded every scene in a Hitchcockian manner – borrowing from the best, as he says – to ensure he would always give the impression that he knew exactly what he was doing. A chatty Munro remembers her involvement with affection, while Sothcott is always on hand to throw a piece of Hammer trivia into the mix along with some valuable – if occasionally contentious – insights, as when he comments that Kronos wasn't necessarily ahead of its time, more that it seemed such when arrayed alongside Hammer's increasingly dated product.
Copyright © K H Brown 2002-2005
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