Prichards12345
Captain Kronos was, by all accounts, meant to be a recurring character in 5 movies, with possibly a t.v. series to follow. He was to pop up in different historical eras (including, probably, the present day) to fight supernatural evil, and it would not be explained how he did it - though presumably he is some sort of time traveller.It's a shame then, that Vampire Hunter proved to be the 1st and last entry in the series, killed by lack of audience interest in the Hammer product. Kronos is an engaging character, like-ably played by Horst Janson, and his sole screen adventure proves an engaging one. Writer/Director Brian Clemens gives us a Western-style vampire whodunit, adding numerous touches of originality to the proceedings. The vampire attacks don't drain blood - they drain the life-force itself, leaving the victim horribly aged and the correct method for dispatching the vampire can only be found by experimentation.Kronos is called in to investigate a series of these attacks, and with his lively assistant Hieronymus Grost is soon burying dead toads all over the place in the quest to root out the vampire! There's a great scene with Ian Hendry as a tavern thug out to kill Kronos, and a splendid sword duel at the end between Kronos and his chief foes.There's also a nice twist to in this engaging vampire variant at the climax, when the real vampire is finally revealed. Brian Clemens directs ably, and there's also a rousing Bernard Herman-style music score. Perhaps the new Hammer could consider reviving the good Captain? And since his mum is in this they could do worse than getting Benedict Cumberbatch involved!
Rainey Dawn
Captain Kronos is a bit on the corny side but it is fun to watch. Captain Kronos is a swashbuckling vampire hunter that is reminiscent of a comic book superhero. He was featured in a grand total of 4 Hammer Magazine Comics: The House of Hammer » 3 issues (#1, #2, #3) and Hammer's Halls of Horror » 1 issue (#20).The movie is decent - funny sometimes. It's not a bad afternoon film. It's quite fun to watch, has a pretty good story, good costuming and sets, and a dashing, daring vampire hunter named Captain Kronos!Basically if you like vampire stories, a comic book feel to a film, swashbuckling, and a film that does not take itself to seriously then you might enjoy Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter. It's entertaining!7/10
dworldeater
Captain Kronos is a little different for Hammer, but a worthy addition to their canon of films. Fitting into Hammer easily with the same feel and Gothic style, but different in its approach with some original and new ideas for its time. Just like the title indicates our hero is Captain Kronos and his occupation is to hunt vampires. He is an expert swordsman formerly of the King's Imperial Guard, self employed with his hunchback assistant Grost. They investigate a village that has their young women drained of their youth by a vampire. Speaking of women, our hero Kronos has a great one, picking up gypsy girl(Caroline Monroe) who is gorgeous, talented and worked on many classic horror flicks, most notably the ultra brutal 1980 classic Maniac. The rules for killing vampires are different and varied in this film and according to expert Grost there are many different kinds of vampires as well. Our hero Kronos , played by Horst Janson is kind of a half vampire who survived getting bit by one and continues to hunt them. Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter is way ahead of its time as a hybrid of horror and action, throwing in elements from western and samurai films. The action is not nearly as abundant as in a film like Blade, but I'm pretty sure Kronos influenced it. Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter is one of my favorites of the later Hammer films, as well as being one of the most well made also. If you are a fan of both action and horror, Kronos comes highly recommended.
trashgang
If you buy boxes of Hammer you almost never come across this flick. It's not very known and I guess the reason is simple, it doesn't have Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing in it although regular Caroline Munro is in it. But back then Caroline wasn't a big name, she made it a few years later with a few horrors. She did appear in earlier hammers like Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972). The acting was rather good and the effects used were very simple but where this flick do fails a bit is the fact that we don't see that often the vampires. It's more a story about Kronos himself, played by Horst Janson. You surely will recognize a few popular faces like Shane Briant and Ian Hendry.Was it scary? No it never was although we do see severed arms and heads but it is low on the horror factor for the year it was made. If you look at The Exorcist (1973) then this flick here is a big laugh. It's also made at the end of the Hammer era. They tried to move further from the Gothic horror and this here shows but they failed. During the late 1960s and 1970s the saturation of the horror film market by competitors and the loss of American funding forced changes to the previously lucrative Hammer-formula, with varying degrees of success. The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974) was a big flop and even To The Devil A Daughter (1976) failed too. In 1979 they stopped with a remake of Hitchcocks The Lady Vanishes. In fact Rosemary's Baby (1968) started a new era in horror.Still, it's worth watching for the typical Hammer effects and for Munro going full frontal in one scene. Gore 0/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 2/5 Story 3/5 Comedy 0/5
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