the stone tape (1972)

"What I want for Christmas is for you to go away."
An audio research team convenes in a Victorian house in an attempt to find a new recording format. But things start to go off tack when Jill Greeley (Jane Asher) witnesses a ghost and the director Peter Brock (Michael Bryant) decides to record the apparition but also to exorcise it...
A made for TV horror by Nigel Kneale that came up with some genuine scares

doomwatch (1972)

aka Island Of The Ghouls.
"Couldn't tear myself away, they make me feel so welcome here."
Dr Shaw (Ian Bannen) is sent to a remote Cornish island to investigate the effects of a tanker spill on the local wildlife. He soon notices that some of the locals are becoming violent and have noticeable deformities. With the help of the local schoolteacher (Judy Geeson) he tries to get to the bottom of what is causing these abnormalities.
Eco-disaster film based loosely on the hit BBC TV series, that has all the components, and entertains, without lifting itself above the average.

countess dracula (1971)

The aged Countess Elisabeth, (Ingred Pitt), with the help of her steward, and would be suiter, Captain Dobi (Nigel Green), is an old and brutal ruler of a medieval principality. She discovers that washing in the blood of young girls restores her youthful looks, and presses Dobi to provide the raw material for her remarkable make overs. The Countess, now a young beauty begins an affair with a dashing young man by pretending to be her own daughter, much to Dobi's annoyance. But all these young woman going missing is bound to be noticed sooner or later.
The story is based on the Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Barthory, who killed many women. But that is as close to Dracula as it gets, the film is less of a gothic horror than most Hammer films, rather its a study in the lengths women will go to to retain or regain youth. A well made film, but its leisurely pace is rather slow for me, a stand out Hammer, just not one of my favourites.

taste the blood of dracula (1970)

A travelling salesman stumbles into a horrific scene, a dying Dracula (from 'Dracula Has Risen From The Grave'). Once dead he quickly scoops up Dracula's cape and some residual blood. Cut to three respectable men in Victorian London. They are jaded, seeking new experiences and excitement. Excitement that Ralph Bates promises them but only if they are willing to sell their souls to the devil.
Here we have a fine and entertaining Gothic horror and although Christopher Lee appears for all of five minutes, we hardly miss his presence.

hands of the ripper (1971)

Eric Porter is a Dr who discovers violent tendencies in a young girl and takes her on as a patient. He comes to believe her possessed by her dead father's spirit, that compels her to kill. Angharad Rees stars as the daughter of someone with a peculiar talent in murder, Jack the Ripper, and who may have taken up fathers hobby.
An often overlooked Hammer, that slowly delves into the psychology of killing, but none the less manages to pack a few shocks along the way. A Pygmalian for the slasher generation that deserves a look.