Brian Clemens Serves Up a Different Kind of Vampire Film with "Kronos"

Britain's Hammer Films dominated the horror genre from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s with its Gothic tales featuring Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Victor Frankenstein. However, its audience began to erode in the late 1960s as contemporary horror films, such as Night of the Living Dead (1968), staked their hold on the youth market. Hammer recognized that it needed to shake up its formula and hired Brian Clemens to write and direct a different kind of vampire film.

Clemens had earned a stellar reputation in British television as a writer for first-rate series such as Danger Man (aka Secret Agent) and The Avengers (he penned 32 episodes and produced many others). In an interview with The Monster Times, Clemens stated that he felt many of Hammer's movies had no heroes--the "monster" was the protagonist and the audience ended up rooting for the bad guy. His solution was to create a swashbuckling hero who hunted vampires--and thus Kronos was born.

German actor Horst Janson portrays Captain Kronos, a former member of the Imperial Guard, who travels Europe with Professor Grost (John Cater) with the sole mission of destroying the undead. His friend, Dr. Marcus (John Carson), summons him to the small village of Durward where several young women have mysteriously died...of old age.

The narrative itself is pretty straightforward. It's what Clemens and company does with it that makes Kronos so entertaining. This vampire doesn't drink blood, but drains the youth from its victims. Professor Grost explains that "there are as many species of vampires as there are beasts of prey." Grost also emphasizes that not all vampires can be destroyed with a wooden stake. That ultimately leads to a darkly humorous scene in which Kronos tries various methods of vampire destruction--stake, hanging, fire--trying to figure out which one will work on these particular vampires.

Clemens frames his shots to show that
evil surrounds innocence and good.

In his effort to dispense with vampire conventions, Clemens has his creature attack during the daylight. Most of the murders take place in a muted forest highlighted with pink, purple, and red flowers. Birds are chirping sweetly as a hooded figure enters the frame from behind the camera. Clearly, Clemens wants to show evil surrounding innocence--a motif he reinforces by frequently framing his shots with doorways, between trees, and even the mount of a cemetery bell.

Clemens embraces the folklore behind vampirism to the point of creating his own. The day after Grost buries a bunch of dead toads in the woods, Kronos digs them up. He explains his actions to Marcus by reciting this rhyme:

If a vampire should bestrode

Close to the grave of a dead toad

Then the vampire life shall give

And suddenly, the toad shall live.

Caroline Munro eyes Captain Kronos.

With his flowing blonde hair, the handsome Janson looks the part of a dashing vampire hunter--even if his thespian skills are merely adequate. But John Cater is perfect as his hunchbacked colleague Grost and John Carson provide solid support as Marcus. As a gypsy girl along for the ride, Caroline Munro has little to do besides act charming and look stunning (both of which she does well).

Composer Laurie Johnson, perhaps best known for his Avengers theme, composed the marvelous score. The title theme, which incorporates French horns accompanied by galloping strings, sets the mood immediately. With apologies to James Bernard, who did some fine work for Hammer, Kronos may be the best Hammer soundtrack.

It's clear from the closing scene that Clemens intended Kronos to the first in a series. Alas, that was not to be. Hammer provided lackluster support for the film and it failed at the boxoffice. In the U.S., it was released as Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter as the second half of a double bill with Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell. In the meantime, Hammer experimented with other genres (e.g., contemporary action, martials arts and monsters) with little success. It ceased film production after 1976. Fortunately for Kronos, it developed a cult following and eventually earned a reputation as one of Hammer's finest.