Books and Movies on Erszebet Bathory

Among the histories written about Countess Elizabeth Bathory are Erzabet Bathory, by Lazzlo Turoczi (Budapest 1744), recording the trial; Elisabeth Bathory (Die Blutgrafin). Ein Sitten-und Charakterbild mit einem Titelbilde, by R. von Elsberg (Breslau, 1904) Bathory Erzsebet, Nadasdy Ferencne, by Rexa Dezso (Budapest, 1908) and Erzsebet Bathory, La Comtesse Sanglante, by Valentin Penrose (Paris 1962) Discussed in the eleventh chapter of this book are the novels The Dracula Archives and The Witching of Dracula, both of which involve Elizabeth Bathory.

While the history of Elizabeth Bathory was rich enough to provide good (albeit gruesome) plot material for the motion pictures, it took until the 1970's, when violence and gore became film commodities, for her story to reach the screen. The Countess, now called 'Marthory,' appeared with such villains as Frankenstein's Monster, Montezuma, Attila, Satan, and the Minotaur in NECROPOLIS, an Italian film of 1970, made in color by Cosmoseion/Q Productions and directed by Franco Borcani. The avant-garde film consisted of various episodes in which the main characters hedonistically seek self-fulfillment.

The same year Hammer Films in England filmed the Bathory story as a supernatural horror film under the misleading title Countess Dracula, in an attempt to deceive the public into believing this to be another entry in their series of Dracula films. Posters for this film would inevitably carry such flagrantly misleading blurbs as, 'the more she drinks, the prettier she gets,' when there is no blood drinking in the picture, as well as no Countess Dracula. In the role of Countess Elizabeth Bathory was the current sex symbol of motion picture vampires, Ingrid Pitt, who had already portrayed undead females in The Vampire Lovers and the House That Dripped Blood. Countess Bathory is an aging widow who discovers that bathing in the blood of young girls restores her youth so that she appears to be in her twenties. Although these events follow reasonably closely those of history, the element of fantasy is employed and blood literally transforms her into a young woman. The Countess proceeds to order her daughter Ilona (Lesley-Anne Down) kidnapped and placed under guard while she masquerades as the young girl. When Elizabeth discovers that her regular blood baths no longer produce the desired effect, the scholar Fabio (Maurice Denham) reveals that only virgin's blood will continue the transformations, a secret for which he is soon put to death. The youthful-looking Elizabeth is to be married to a military officer named Imre Toth (Sandor Eles). During the ceremony Elizabeth predictably begins to lose her beauty, aging quickly until she appears to be some monstrous hag. In a last effort to regain her lost beauty and youth, the Countess lunges for her daughter, who had been freed, but she inadvertently kills Toth. The final scene in the film shows Elizabeth chained in a dungeon, awaiting her execution, as a woman bystander curses, 'Countess Dracula!' (the only such proclamation in the picture). Countess Dracula was, unfortunately, not only deceptive in its advertising; it is also a dreadful bore. Peter Sasdy's lackluster direction of Jeremy Paul's often confusing screenplay was further impaired by cheaply made sets and a lead character who could not approximate the incomparable evil of the historical Elizabeth. 20th Century-Fox added to the negative aspect of the film, which was not released in the United States until 1972. In an attempt to changed the picture's R rating to PG, the distributor excised scenes depicting nudity or the actual nature of the Countess' baths. The result is an ambiguity that proves even more confusing to viewers not familiar with the historical account of Elizabeth Bathory.

Countess Dracula, a novel based on the movie, was written by Michel Parry and published in England by Beagle Books in 1971.

A third motion picture, Daughters of Darkness, made in Belgium and directed by Harry Kumel, was released in color by Gemini Releasing Corporation in 1971. The film shows how Countess Elisabeth Bathory (Delphine Seyrig) survived into the seventies as an undead vampire. Countess Elisabeth and her pretty companion Ilona Harczy (Andrea Rau) arrive at an almost deserted European hotel. One of the guests, Stefan Chiltern (John Karlen), is a sadist who accidentally kills Ilona, while his girlfriend, Valeria Tardieu (Daniele Ouimet), becomes a victim of the Countess. Elisabeth and Valerie then slashes Stefan's wrists and drinks his blood. The Countess perishes when she is hurled through a car windshield, impaled on a stake, and cremated as the vehicle bursts into flames.

Another Elizabeth Bathory film was announced in 1971 by Hungarian director Miklos Jansco. Chapter 9 of this book discusses two other Bathory films: Nella Stretta Morsa Del Ragno and La Noche de Walpurgis. The Bloody Countess (1973) was made in Germany by Transcontinent Films. Blood Ceremony, which went into production in 1973 with Film Ventures International, starred Ewa Aulin as a Bathory-like bather in virgins' blood.

The eleventh issue of the comic book, Forbidden Worlds (November 1952), published by the American Comics Group, presented the Bathory story sans tortures and bloodbaths and portrayed Elizabeth as a bat-winged vampiress.

The first Nightmares Annual (Skywald Publishing Corporation), issued in 1972, featured two illustrated stories based on Countess Bathory. 'The Truth Behind the Myth of the Bride of Dracula' written by Alan Hewetson and drawn by Xirinius, told the famous Bathory story. 'Beauty is Only Blood Deep' by Douglas Moench and artist Carrillo, was a Bathory-type story in which a Countess bathes in and drinks the blood of virgins, but dies because her last victim had been previously fed rat poison. The Marvel Comics Group depicted its own version of the Bathory history in 'This Blood is Mine!' by Gardner Fox and artist Dick Ayers, printed in Dracula Lives! no. 4 (January 1974) Count Dracula, regarding Elisabeth as a competitor, distributes pamphlets revealing the horrors of Castle Csejthe. After the Countess is walled up, Dracula drinks her blood, transforming her into a withered corpse. An aged Voodoo goungan acquires Bathory's diary and attempts to gain youth and immortality through similar sacrifices in 'End of a Legend!', a Brother Voodoo story by Moench and illustrator Gene Colan in Marvel's Tales of the Zombie no. 6 (July 1974). And the old Bathory castle was the setting for two episodes in the future world HUNTER series in Warren Publishing Company's Eerie, issues 56 and 57 (April and June 1974) by Bill Dubay and artist Paul Neary. In Hunter: Blood Princess and Hunter: Demon-Killer, the castle houses a nuclear bomb and the only existing member is the juvenile 'Blood Princess.' Blood Relation, by Manfred Oravec, published in Web Terror Stories, vol. 4, no. 6, (Nov. 1964) was influenced by the film Maschera del Demononio. The sadistic tale, with its many Dracula references, finds Elizabeth 'Bartholy' entombed with a mask of spikes imbedded in her face. Revived by a man's blood, her beauty tainted by the rotting flesh of her torso, Elizabeth attacks her rescuer, making him a vampire. In 1973, Elizabeth Bathory was represented in an exhibit at Hollywood's Weird Museum." (p. 30-37)

"The same year as Scars of Dracula, Hammer made a film with the misleading title, Countess Dracula. Actually not a part of their Dracula series at all, this was a horror film based on the life of Countess Elizabeth Bathory " (p.182)

"La Noche de Walpurgis ('The Night of the Walpurgis') was made in color in 1970 by Plata Films as a Spanish/West-German CO-production, directed by Leon Klimovsky. Although Count Dracula does not appear in this film, the French title is Dans Les Griffes de Dracula ('In the Many Claws of Dracula') Actually this is another of the many films based on the historical figure, Countess Elizabeth Bathory, though liberties have been taken with the original character.

Two young girls named Elvire and Genevieve search for the grave of Countess "Wandesa" de Nadasdy, a vampiress who maintained her youthful beauty by consuming the blood of virgins. Lost somewhere in the mountains of France, the girls come to the house of Waldemar Daninsky, who has been revived since a doctor removed the silver bullets that were imbedded in his heart. Since the Countess was impaled on a cross of silver, which might also end a werewolf's curse, Waldemar also hopes to find her tomb. After the grave is discovered, Genevieve removes the cross and accidentally cuts her wrist. The flowing blood revives Wandesa. The Countess proceeds to vampirize Genevieve, who then goes to attack Elvire until Waldemar impales her with a stake. Elvire soon becomes the victim Wandesa intends to sacrifice to her master, Satan, as if forsaking vampirism for witchcraft. Waldemar is overcome by the curse of the full moon and attacks the vampiress in his werewolf form, while Elvire stabs him through the heart with the silver cross." (p. 212-213)

"The next novel, The Witching of Dracula, brought Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess, to the series. Having gone through many incarnations, including Lilith and Circe, Elizabeth (now using her 'real' name of Sabor) is revealed to be a sadistic immortal who lives by draining away the thoughts of her victims. Sabor is also an ancient enemy of Dracula. A Hungarian peasant is led by a wolf to a secret chamber in Sabor's castle, where he finds the red-haired beauty lying naked in a glass sealed box, in which she has been Imprisoned by the senior Dracul. The peasant frees her, allowing Sabor to use her powers to find Count Dracula, creating an army of mindless slaves in the process. In Germany, Harmon becomes her prisoner and Cam is tortured by her rack and branding iron. Dracula finally confronts her, but is warded off with crosses. Only Harmon's disrupting the crosses with a toss of his wheelchair frees Dracula. Cam stabs Sabor with a lance while the Count finishes her off with his fangs. Later, lying dormant in her glass-topped receptacle, Sabor is sunk beneath the Rhine River." (p. 318-319)

Biographical Notes for the Life of Elizabeth Bathory: http://www.oxy.edu/~dameron/occult/bathory.html

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