Assorted Carmillas

I was going to include these in the little post on Le Fanu I wrote on Thursday morning, but there are so many variations on Carmilla that they deserve their own piece. Spend a few minutes Googling her and you will be left in no doubt that she's the only genuinely popular character Le Fanu created, leaving poor old Silas and company in the dust. First, book covers and illustrations.













In cinema we have an embarrassment of riches, thanks mainly to the success of The Vampire Lovers, starring Ingrid Pitt and Madeline Smith.



The influence on Dracula couldn't be clearer.



A shedload (or bedload) of lesbian vampires turned up after The Vampire Lovers, with Hammer cashing in by  making a 'Karnstein trilogy' that ended with Twins of Evil in 1971. Before that came Lust for a Vampire, with Yutte Stensgaard as 'Mircalla'.





Less well-known is a 1989 US TV adaptation (in the series Nightmare Classics) starring a somewhat wistful-looking Meg Tilly, with pop singer Donovan's daughter Ione Skye in the Laura role (here renamed Marie for some reason) and Roddy McDowall as the vampire hunter who has to do all the exposition.



Well before Hammer there was Roger Vadim, whose 1960 Blood and Roses is well worth a look.





Next, a 'cosplay' Carmilla, found here. The outfit is from the Japanese anime Vampire Hunter D, based on a series of popular novels. The novels are set in the distant future, so Carmilla must have bounced back (ahem) after her nasty moment in 19th century Styria.

Carmilla also lives on in video gaming, apparently. Here she is in Castlevania, which I know nothing about.

And there is at least one Carmilla doll. Which is where I admit defeat.