ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses a series of three lesbian/bisexual vampire films released by the British production studio Hammer Film Productions: The Vampire Lovers (1970), Lust for a Vampire (1971), and Twins of Evil (1972). These films are often referred to as the “Karnstein trilogy” and are based on characters that first appeared in Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella “Carmilla” (1872). These films could easily be seen as reinforcing heterosexist notions of gender and sex. This chapter, however, offers a reading that goes against the grain of the general interpretative consensus. The aim of this chapter is not so much to argue against extant analyses of the lesbian vampire film as to suggest, at least in regard to the Karnstein trilogy, that it can be read to disclose a more complex and provocative portrayal of female sexuality than some scholars have assumed.
