Daughters of Darkness

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:	1971
Country of origin:	Belgium / France / West Germany
Director:	Harry Kümel
Genre:	Vampires
Starring:	Danielle Ouimet, Delphine Seyrig, John Karlen, Andrea Rau
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067690/
Tagline:	An erotic nightmare of vampire lust
Favourite line:	"Love is stronger than death... even than life"

Released the same year as Vampyros Lesbos, seems 1971 was a biggie for Sapphic tales of vampirism and lust.

The plot:
Newlyweds Stefan and Valerie, en route to England for their honeymoon, decide to spend the night in a rather opulent hotel on the Belgian coast. Strangely, when they arrive, despite the size of the establishment, it seems for all the world that they are alone in the building.
As night falls, some new visitors arrive, a middle-aged Countess called Bathory – see what they did there? – and her beautiful young assistant.
Greeting the newlyweds, it isn’t long before the Countess’ fascination with the young couple manifests, of Valerie in particular.
So just what is it about the Countess that makes Stefan so uneasy?
Is her assistant simply that, or is there more to the relationship?
And what links the Countess to a spate of gruesome murders in the local area?

Belgian director Kumel crafts an erotically charged tale of vampirism, lost innocence and the allure of femininity to the fragile male mind and ego.
A French, Belgian, German co-production this is classic Eurotrash, replete with wanton nudity, sleaze, soft-focus camerawork and variable quality in both acting standards and script-polish. But there’s guile and craft here, too, Kumel adept at infusing the hotel itself with a life all of its own, almost as if, The Shining-like, it were a character in its own right.
Though not as famous as Vampyros Lesbos, presumably due to the fact that it is not as provocatively titled – even the original release title of Blood on the Lips seems oddly muted – this is far higher calibre in terms of ambience and style.
Light on plot, though with some limited character development, especially on the part of Valerie, this is not a film to tax the brain cells too hard, but is intended more as a feast for the senses, the eyes in particular, though the music is evocative, too.
Dreamlike and surreal at times, there is a sense of menace throughout, and lashings of naked flesh for those after that sort of thing and still apparently oblivious that the internet exists.
No classic, but a solid entry into the cult canon, and a clear step up from the Eurosleaze peddled by Vampyros Lesbos auteur Jesus Franco and his ilk.
If pressed, we’d sandwich this one somewhere between Walerian Borowczyk’s La Bête and Ken Russell’s Altered States, in terms of atmosphere, weirdness and class.
Good all round.