Line #37 YMMV/CountessDracula


1	* BestKnownForTheFanservice: 1960s and 70s sex symbol Creator/IngridPitt being caught with a naked sponge bath of blood - easily the film's most iconic scene.
2	* CompleteMonster:
3	** Film: [[BloodCountess Countess Elisabeth Nádasdy]] is a [[VainSorceress vain noblewoman]] who [[BloodBath learns that blood may restore her youth.]] Murdering a servant for her blood, Elisabeth slowly begins to murder others while impersonating her daughter Ilona to have an affair with young Captain Toth, blackmailing him into staying her lover and betrothed when he discovers her secret. Steadily abducting and slaughtering more women for her blood, Elisabeth eventually tries even to [[OffingTheOffspring murder her own daughter]] as well.
4	** In the novel by Guy Adams: [[VillainProtagonist Elizabeth Sasdy]] is a [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]] movie star who, after she starts to age, [[ImmortalityImmorality resorts to murder to keep her looks]]. After accidentally striking a maid and discovering that the maid's blood reversed her aging, Elizabeth, inspired by the crimes of the infamous Countess UsefulNotes/ElizabethBathory, decides to [[BloodBath bathe in blood]] to regain her youth. Bullying her husband Frank Nayland into helping her, the two murder dozens of prostitutes to gain their blood, all in Elizabeth's selfish search for eternal youth.
5	* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments:
6	** While pretending to be Ilona, Elizabeth tells a story of how as a child 'Ilona' was swimming in the lake and saw a mysterious man cutting a rose - that she later found in her mother's room. 'Elizabeth' just said it was from one of her secret lovers. She then says it was "Uncle Dobi" - sending the whole dinner table into laughter. [[RefugeInAudacity Except Dobi of course.]]
7	** When bribing the village whore Ziza, Dobi tells her that she'll have to entertain a woman. [[MetaphoricallyTrue Who may have unusual requests.]]
8	--> "For a hundred, I'd take on a whole Turkish harem."
9	* GeniusBonus: The title itself is one. Some people may be disappointed that it doesn't feature Dracula or vampires at all but the title makes sense when you realize that the legend of Elisabeth Bathory inspired the character of Dracula.
10	* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: [[spoiler: Ilona's reunion with Julie. She still calls her "nanny". D'aww]]...
11	* HilariousInHindsight: Ingrid Pitt playing a hideous old woman who wants to become young and beautiful again. Well as the years went by, [[SilverFox she aged very well]].
12	* HollywoodHomely: Elizabeth doesn't look that bad at the start of the film, given that it's screen beauty Ingrid Pitt in old age make-up. She also has a frumpy hairstyle and dressed in a matronly mourning gown - both of which are swapped out for flattering alternatives when the makeover happens.
13	* MoralEventHorizon:
14	** Elizabeth crosses it in her murder of one of her servants when she notices the effect the girl's blood has on her.
15	** Dobi arguably crosses it when [[spoiler: luring a village whore into the castle with the intent to make Elizabeth catch her with Toth. And then he arranges for the whore to be Elizabeth's next victim]].
16	* NauseaFuel: The idea that you have to drain the whole body of blood and then ''bathe'' in it.
17	* NightmareFuel:
18	** The first time Elizabeth switches back to her older self is quite jarring.
19	** Not to mention [[spoiler: when it happens at the wedding, and she is at her ugliest form yet]].
20	** The very last scene with [[spoiler: Elizabeth and her accomplices in prison awaiting their execution, and relatives of the people they killed cursing her as a "devil woman"]].
21	* OneSceneWonder:
22	** Nike Arrighi (aka Tanith from ''Film/TheDevilRidesOut'') as a HotGypsyWoman that becomes Elizabeth's second victim. The fact that she's an InnocentFanserviceGirl who {{Squee}}s when offered a necklace as a gift makes her death surprisingly more tragic.
23	** Andria Lawrence as Ziza, the snarky whore at the tavern that becomes Elizabeth's third victim.
24	* QuestionableCasting:
25	** Olive Gregg as the dub voice for Elizabeth is a strange choice. First of all, the character is Eastern European like the actress playing her (Elizabeth was Hungarian, Ingrid Pitt was Polish). Second of all, Ingrid Pitt's English was perfectly good, as seen in ''Film/TheVampireLovers'' and ''Film/TheWickerMan1973''. There are other non-British cast members, so it's not as though they had issues with them using their accents.
26	** Arguably deliberate with Lesley-Anne Down as Ilona - who barely resembles her on-screen mother Ingrid Pitt. However it's said by Fabio that Ilona resembles her father more, and that's how he quickly figures out Elizabeth is only pretending to be Ilona.
27	* RootingForTheEmpire: At times you do feel sorry for Elizabeth, who just wants to relive her youth, and does sincerely love Toth in her own twisted way. However the film seems to be trying to subvert this by developing her victims just enough to remind the audience that she's bad news.
28	* TearJerker:
29	** That poor first victim of Elizabeth. Even before she's killed, she's horribly mistreated - her hand being forced into scalding water, cutting herself with a knife and getting slapped in the face. She actually looks terrified when Elizabeth comes to see her personally.
30	** The second victim is a gypsy who - rather than being stereotypically mischievous or thieving - was just happy that she got to entertain the countess with a tarot reading. She looks so pleased when she's given a necklace as payment, but the audience knows Elizabeth is just distracting her before the kill.
31	** One of the other victims is a peasant girl bought as a servant, who doesn't look to be older than sixteen. Given that it's her blood Elizabeth is busted with, [[NothingIsScarier how the countess coerced her is up to the imagination]].
32	** Ilona's kidnapping as well. She sees her carriage driver and attendants murdered in front of her and she's dragged screaming into the hut. She's only nineteen as well!
33	* ToughActToFollow: It was following Ingrid Pitt's turn in ''Film/TheVampireLovers'' and was seen as hard to measure up. However it has been given a warmer reception as the years went by.
34	* VanillaProtagonist: Both Toth and Ilona are quite dull - being just the love interest and DamselInDistress respectively. Thankfully Elizabeth as the VillainProtagonist is far more exciting.
35	* VindicatedByHistory: The film is seen as significantly better than most of Hammer's other releases in TheSeventies due to it being an original story (despite the title, it's not really part of the ''Dracula'' series), not gratuitous with the nudity and being quite sophisticated in parts.
36	* TheWoobie:
37	** The mother of the first servant that Elizabeth uses the blood of. It's not glossed over that the poor woman is worried sick about her daughter as soon as she notices her bed wasn't slept in. In the final scene she's cursing Elizabeth as a "devil woman".
38	** Ilona goes through a real TraumaCongaLine too. Her father dies after not seeing her in years, and she can't get back in time before he goes. On the way to the castle, she's kidnapped and locked inside a hut (not to mention having to see three men killed in front of her). To top ''that'' off, [[spoiler: her own mother then tries to kill her, and her nanny is likely going to be hanged]].
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Context YMMV / CountessDracula