Exceptional theatrical publicity shot featuring the voluptuous Ingrid Pitt (Marcilla/Carmilla/Mircalla Karnstein) in Austrian General Spielsdorf's (Peter Cushing) estate standing next to a large candelabra while looking straight ahead. The General was throwing a party to celebrate the birthday of his niece.

The Vampire Lovers is a 1970 British Gothic horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Ingrid Pitt, Peter Cushing, George Cole, Kate O'Mara, Madeline Smith, Dawn Addams and Jon Finch. It was produced by Hammer Film Productions. It is based on the 1872 Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla and is the first film in the Karnstein Trilogy, the other two films being Lust for a Vampire (1971) and Twins of Evil (1971). The three films were somewhat daring for the time in explicitly depicting lesbian themes. The film was a co-production between Hammer and American International, who were interested in a vampire movie with more explicit sexual content to take advantage of a more relaxed censorship environment. It was decided to adapt Carmilla.

Harry Fine and Michael Style were the two producers. They formed a company, Fantale, along with writer Tudor Gates. Harry Fine's wife knew Nat Cohen who introduced them to James Carreras. Fine suggested they film Carmilla. Tudor Gates said Mr. Carreras was very enthusiastic and he sold it "instantly" to AIP based on the poster. Before production, the script of The Vampire Lovers was sent to the chief censor John Trevelyan, who warned the studio about depictions of lesbianism, pointing out that a previous lesbian film, The Killing of Sister George, which ultimately had five minutes excised by his office. In response, Hammer replied that the lesbianism was not of their doing, but was present in the original story by Le Fanu. Trevelyan backed down as a result.

Production of The Vampire Lovers began at Elstree Studios on January 19th, 1970 and used locations in the grounds of Moor Park Mansion, Hertfordshire (standing in for Styria, Central Europe). Produced on a relatively low budget of £165,227, it was the final Hammer film to be financed with American money—most of the later films were backed by Rank or EMI. Gates thought AIP gave Hammer $400,000 so "Jimmy had change left over". He said Fantale, his company with Fine and Styles, had a 25% profit stake which was very lucrative.)

While filming the scene in which Carmilla attacks Madame Perrodot, Ingrid Pitt's fangs kept falling out of her mouth and dropping into Kate O'Mara's cleavage, prompting gales of uncontrollable laughter from both actresses. Finally, Pitt grabbed some chewing gum from the mouth of one of the crew members and used it to secure her fangs. Dave Kehr wrote a favorable retrospective review for Chicago Reader, writing that the film "resulted from the last significant surge of creative energy at Britain's Hammer Films, which thereafter descended into abject self-parody." Film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film a passing grade of two-and-a-half stars, calling it a "rather erotic Hammer chiller".