A Collection of Writings
In THE INGRID PITT BEDSIDE COMPANION FOR VAMPIRE LOVERS, published by B.T. Batsford, Ingrid Pitt lifts the lid on the vampire phenomenon.
Drawing on her unique experience of film-making with Hammer, Amicus and other leading studios, she uncovers the fascinating relationship between the cinema vampire and its origins and suggests her own reasons for the undying popularity of the vampire on and off the screen.
Foreword by Ken Russell
"...a must-read .. Superb!" James Herbert
"Maybe my imagination's too vivid or perhaps I'm too squeamish, but I couldn't handle the images. Which augurs well for the book.". Ken Russell.
Extracts from: Bedside Companion for Vampire Lovers
ERZEBET BATHORI
.............. tortured and murdered between 600 and 650 virgins. Never! Where do you get 650 virgins in a town of 35,000 souls and nowhere to go on a hot summer's night but the nearest hayrick? Her trial was a political ploy to discredit Erzebet so that the King could get his hands on her valuables.
................the hors d'oeuvre of needles and judicious snipping, the tormented girl was levered into the iron cage and this hoisted up about ten feet. Erzebet's chair was then placed underneath it and her sidekicks thrust burning torches at the girl in the cage. In her efforts to avoid the flames the girl impaled herself on the razor sharp spikes. The blood, spurting from a dozen wounds, cascaded down on the Countess who would moan and.............
PETER PLOGOJOWITZ
.......... opened the door she was pretty surprised to see her late husband, covered in mud and looking a bit pasty-faced, leaning on the door post and demanding entry. Obviously this was one phlegmatic lady. Not everyone would be willing to entertain the corpse of their late spouse in the middle of the night, no matter how please she was to see him dead.
KRAVOLITZA (Russian Vampire)
.............. staggers around uncertainly on its thin, bowed legs, and, if it comes into contact with a rose-hip, loses a bit of rotting flesh, falls down and roars a lot.
PENANGALAN
...........comes from the school of beautiful but depraved demons - with a twist. The twist being that only the Penangalan's head and intestines do the vampirising while the body stays home and looks after the kids.